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Drew Payne

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  1. Drew Payne

    Twenty-Five

    Drew Payne commented on Drew Payne's story chapter in Twenty-Five

    Thank you. In a way this is the best thing his mother could have done for him. She has all the maternal feelings of a stone. He'll now slowly be able to see that but that will take time. Fortunately, he has been here who care about him, including Janet who "managed" his mother. Unfortunately, I have to deal with his sadness first. And very unfortunately, these chapters are taking longer and longer to write.
  2. Drew Payne
    He’d been again sat in the Common Room that Saturday morning when his mother arrived unannounced. He hadn’t been expecting any visitors that day. Mark had told him he wouldn’t be visiting him for another two weeks. He’d found himself a quiet corner of the Common Room to read his book. Mrs Williams had given him a copy of The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe and she’d asked him to write a review of it. She’d also given him copies of book reviews, printed off the internet, so he knew what was
  3. Drew Payne
    I really recommend it, it is the best thing he has written in years. But it does end too soon. I got so swept up in reading it that I reached the end far too soon.
  4. Drew Payne

    Twenty-Four

    Drew Payne commented on Drew Payne's story chapter in Twenty-Four

    The present day section is set over one, rather bad Sunday in Liam's life. He's needs a bit of perspective and he's going to get it, but there are many things we need to know about his life at Nurton Cross first.
  5. Drew Payne

    Twenty-Four

    Drew Payne commented on Drew Payne's story chapter in Twenty-Four

    Oh, spoilers, spoilers... Do remember that this story is about redemption. Just as Liam is being redeemed in the flashback sections of this story, so he will be in the present day sections. No one has recognised him since he was released.
  6. Drew Payne

    Twenty-Four

    Drew Payne commented on Drew Payne's story chapter in Twenty-Four

    You do know that he stabbed to death another boy when he was twelve? Liam is such a lost soul, I didn't realise it at first how much he is. But I wanted to write about how he pieces his life back together after one, very stupid act. We should never condemn someone for what they did as a child. (And please don't get too involve with Liam, he's got his eyes set on someone else.)
  7. Drew Payne
    Liam sat at the little table in his room in the B&B hotel and pushed another forkful of food into his mouth. It was gone three o’clock and he hadn’t eaten since his breakfast of two dry pieces of toast, at nine o’clock that morning. He didn’t feel hungry - his appetite had vanished hours ago, but he had started feeling tired and light-headed. So ignoring his lack of appetite, he’d cooked his planned meal of sausages and baked beans on toast. First, he’d fried the sausages in the bottom
  8. Drew Payne

    Twenty-Three

    Drew Payne commented on Drew Payne's story chapter in Twenty-Three

    Liam's mother is a horrible narcissist, so selfish that she should never have been allowed to be a parent, but her behaviour explains so much about Liam, why he finds it so difficult to make friends. She was also a difficult character to write, she doesn't see her behaviour as wrong, she's looking out for herself because, in her eyes, no one else will do so.
  9. Drew Payne
    His first visitor at Nurton Cross was his mother. It was a Saturday morning and he had been there for just under a month. He’d been sat in a corner of the Common Room, reading The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time. It was a book Mrs Williams had given him to read, saying it was another book on that year’s reading list. He was enjoying it, but it was a strange book. It was narrated by a boy with Autism who was trying to solve the killing of a neighbour’s dog, but his investigatio
  10. Drew Payne

    One

    Drew Payne commented on Drew Payne's story chapter in One

    @Paqman, oooh spoilers. I've just posted Chapter 22 so it's not really a spoiler to say your right. But so much of this story is how he got where he is now and who he is.
  11. Drew Payne

    Twenty-Two

    Drew Payne commented on Drew Payne's story chapter in Twenty-Two

    Thanks for the feedback. Liam is being looked after by professionals, finally getting the help he needs. These people know what they are doing, they don't just take things at face-value. Of course, this won't be an easy or simple process, and it will take more than a low dose of antidepressants, but if it was I won't have much of a story.
  12. Drew Payne
    The last person he met at Nurton Cross, the last professional who would have such an impact on his life there, was Dr Farah Sayeed, his psychiatrist. He had been there nearly a week when he did meet her. It was Friday afternoon and Aiden come up to the Education Centre to escort him back to the ward. It had been Cindi, another nurse on the ward, who escorted him to the Education Centre after lunch, and it was usually the same nurse who collected him from there, or it had been the last three
  13. Drew Payne

    Twenty-One

    Drew Payne commented on Drew Payne's story chapter in Twenty-One

    Liam is now being looked after by skilled professionals. Cecelia Williams is a teacher to the very tip of her fingers, and she can spot a child's protentional. Aiden and Janet are both very skilled nurses, they know people and the workings of the human mind. Of course, Cecelia Williams has a lot of resources to call upon. She was able to give Liam one-to-one attention. His old English Teacher, Miss James, barely had enough resources for the very bright kids in her class, let alone for all her pupils. But no journey is ever on a smooth and gentle path. Liam still has a lot of things to deal with and he has to learn to open up to people, which is something alien to him.
  14. Drew Payne

    Twenty-One

    Drew Payne commented on Drew Payne's story chapter in Twenty-One

    He likes having someone paying him attention and showing him he is not stupid, as he was previously told he was. About time too.
  15. Drew Payne
    He met Mrs Williams on his first full day at Nurton Cross. All the nurses called her Cecelia Williams, but to him, she was always Mrs Williams. That was what he always called teachers. Just after nine o’clock that morning, Liam and two other lads were taken to the Education Centre by Gary, another nurse there. Gary was a short wiry man, whose short dark hair was streaked with white highlights, but there was something strong and commanding about Gary. Liam didn’t want to question any of Gary
  16. Drew Payne

    Twenty

    Drew Payne commented on Drew Payne's story chapter in Twenty

    I couldn't not have had his mother make an appearance, she really explains so much about Liam's behaviour. But she was an awful character to write.
  17. Drew Payne

    Twenty

    Drew Payne commented on Drew Payne's story chapter in Twenty

    As his barrister, Mrs Stewart-Graham, said, Liam would never have survived in a young offenders’ unit (prison). He barely survived his school. But there isn't an alternative than this hospital, and at least he'll get therapy and treatment here. Yes, there was certainly something disturbed about Rhys Clarke, he bullied to fulfil something missing in his life. His mother's evidence, at Liam's trial, showed someone who didn't know her son or who was in complete denial about him. This is a very strange world but he hasn't been here a whole day yet.
  18. Drew Payne

    Twenty

    Drew Payne commented on Drew Payne's story chapter in Twenty

    His previous life hasn't equipped him to be a social able person, who values people and can manage friendships. But he's at the start of such a big journey here, he's going to learn so much. As for his upbringing, wait until you met his mother (!!).
  19. Drew Payne

    Twenty

    Drew Payne posted new chapter in The World Out There

    The first person he really met at Nurton Cross was his nurse, Aiden. He’d been sat there in his room waiting for whatever was going to happen to him, when he heard someone knocking at his room’s door. He’d looked up at it but didn’t say anything - he couldn’t deny anyone entry there. It was just like at home - he could never stop his mother entering his bedroom. He just waited for what was to come next. He heard the sound of a key turning in the door’s lock. The moment the door was pul
  20. Drew Payne

    Nineteen

    Drew Payne commented on Drew Payne's story chapter in Nineteen

    I don't want to say anything, spoilers and all that, but this the next part of his story, and this is a modern psychiatric hospital.
  21. Drew Payne
    The first time he saw Nurton Cross was when he was taken out of the prison van, the day he arrived. The place looked like an office building from some out-of-town commercial development, it certainly didn’t look like what it was. That realisation was not reassuring though. The prison van had arrived at Rokeby House that afternoon to collect him. He’d spent the morning carefully packing the few belongings he had into two holdall type bags. One was the bag his mother had brought him clothes i
  22. Drew Payne
    Thanks for reminding me about the Dave Branstetter novels. I don't think I'll review them but I will write a blog about reading them, they were so important to me at a difficult time in my life. It would be a great way to write about the importance reading and good novels. I want this blog to be more than just how I write, hence the book reviews and essays. I self-published earlier this year and trying to promote it has been such hard work. I started writing book reviews to try and raise my profile on Goodreads, but I decided to use them here too. They add a bit of verity here too. Maybe I should review some of awful books too. Who doesn't love a bit of trash, now and again?
  23. Drew Payne
    I read the whole Dave Brandstetter series of novels in my twenties and I loved them. They were the best things Joseph Hansen wrote and they were damn good mysteries. He wrote them in the style of the classic PI novel, expect Brandstetter wasn't a PI, was very happily gay and had a life outside of his work (I was so jealous of his wonderful house). They were such a breath of fresh air to me back then. In my twenties I read anything I could find with a gay protagonist, and I read so much shit. Novels like the Dave Brandsetter series stand out, in my memory, like a shinning jewels. I must go back and re-read them. Thanks for reminding me of them.
  24. Drew Payne
    Thanks so much. I am a very eclectic reader, especially since I got a Kindle. I am working my way through the books I've read and writing reviews of the best ones, which I will post here. I hope they'll introduce people to some new books/authors. I have always enjoyed Ruth Rendell's books; her plots are so driven by her characters and the often bad choices they make. For many years, I lived in Ladbroke Grove, the part of London this book is set in, though the area had changed so much since when this novel was set.
  25. Drew Payne
    Thank you for this. When I first wrote it, I wanted to find a way to write about my mother, but I didn't want to write one of those awful essays were I just wittered on about how wonderful she was. I wanted to write about her personality and that photo was a way into it. It took me quite a few years to even think about this piece, certainly before I could think about rewriting it (The first draft was horribly over-written), but I am glad I came back to it.
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