Finnian Fitzpatrick Writing as Michael Fitzalan
My taste for writing started with my English teacher Mr Hinchliffe. Even though we were only eight, he introduced the class to The Hobbit, The Lion the Witch and the Wardrobe as class readers. It did allowed us to respond in pictures, words through creative writing and through comprehension. I began to enjoy English more than history and French which was great fun, responding to a cartoon character. We never learned Hinchy’s first name.
After Hinchcliffe we had a brilliant English teacher, Mrs Gregory. Again, we did not learn her first name, but she taught us grammar and proper sentences. Spelling as well as introducing us to Stig of the Dump and a myriad of other characters. Mike Thomas took us on and introduced us to Pygmalion on stage. It was a gripping play about submariners, and he also read us beautiful passages from Under Milk Wood by Dylan Thomas, brimming with alliteration and metaphor. He taught us as if we were young adults and were keen to learn. My prep school English teachers were truly inspirational.
At my senior school, The Oratory Michael Hunt actually allowed me to write a book after I took my English exams early. Thanks to him I was inspired to become an author. The top set for English, which thanks to Gregory, Hinchcliffe and Thomas, I remained in, were allowed to take their ‘O’-Level English Literature and English Language, in the September term. We studied The Power and the Glory by Graham Greene and Henry V by William Shakespeare. After that Michael Hunt read books to us such as Goldfinger by Ian Fleming and other modern writers. I asked him what work we would be doing. His reply was glibly that we could write a book if we wanted to, so I did.
The book which he marked, and I edited, My three sisters, Catherina, Georgina and Fiona typed up, and photocopied the manuscript and I sent it around publishers until the three manuscripts were lost. I still have my first rejection letter from Macmillan, dated 1977.
‘Never give up’ and ‘If you want to do something badly enough’ are words that echoed through my childhood. I put my writing to one side, I kept honing my craft but only whenever I could spare the time. However, running a brewery was a seven-days-a-week occupation and left little time for indulging myself. Monday to Friday, I worked 5 am to 11pm, helping to brew the beer and then going onto see customers right up until closing time Saturday was working from 11 to 7pm, and Sunday was just 7pm to 10.30 pm as Sunday lunchtimes were too busy for managers to talk to me. Of course, I also avoided the city pubs on Friday lunchtimes, preferring to see them when they had deliveries at 7am, 8 am or 9 am.
When I moved to New York, I was able to make more time for writing, but it was not until I went to university, at thirty, that I could devote large swathes of time to my craft. Then, it was a case of writing non-stop and success. My first book, The Taint Gallery was a great success and was followed by Waterwitch about my brother and i sailing around the coast of Spain and Portugal and Switch, a dark thriller about a driver dreaming of his own demise.
My journey was a long one but worthwhile. I remember being rewarded for my creative writing by being in the termly school magazine at Moor Park. The school featured in ‘Harry’ and those were generally recounts or poems. My first attempt at a novel was at about ten. A friend, also featured in ‘Harry’, Philip Crosthwaite-Eyre and I started the first chapter of a book.
We set the events in East Germany, far away and obscure enough for us not to worry about getting details about. Started on a rainy day, we never developed the story, school Ife and exams got in the way. A Writer’s Journey
My next attempt was more successful, writing a novel Vive La Difference, set in France, where my middle sister, Georgina lived. I could write to her for details and a school trip to the Le Mans 24-hour race, helped me to get a feel for France.
The book was written over two terms, my sisters, Catherina, Georgina. Fiona typed up all 200 pages and we sent it off to publishers after photocopying it painstakingly. A rejection letter and kind praise from Macmillan fuelled our enthusiasm, then the project died. At fifteen, I was ready to start the life of a writer, but school and ‘A’ levels stymied the sequel.
Leaving school, I wrote a few plays and even took up acting briefly. A proper job came along in the guise of working for the brewery that Patrick. My middle brother had started in 1977. Coming back from sailing with my middle brother Anton, I worked my way up from drayman to sales manager until the brands were sold to Gibbs Mew. Then, I left to help run a company in New York. Sadly, Gibbs Mew sold their brewery, which became a car park.
Returning to England at the birth of my first son, I went to university and retrained as a teacher. I written The Taint Gallery and Waterwitch followed by Switch, all of them published by small independents and I have not looked back since, writing when I can.
