Michael Sheath, author of 'Crossing the Line' guested at Writing Strong on Saturday 23rd September. It was a great session, which provided group members with helpful guidance and inspiration.
Below is a Q&A representing the questions and ideas that were explored during the session.
Thank you to Michael for coming along to our writing group, and for scribing the answers to the questions below so that our readers and those who were unable to attend the session can gain an insight into what was discussed.
What prompted you to write 'Crossing the Line'?
I'd entered, almost without thought, a play writing competition in Worcester, where I live, at the end of 2015. It coincided with a disastrous professional experience, and I was looking for distraction. I wrote a one scene monologue from the point of view of a woman whose husband had been arrested for the possession of child abuse material. By some miracle I 'won', and the play was performed in the spring of 2016. After that I was asked write more, by an actress who came across the play on a creative writing course. I wrote other scenes about the detective, who appears in the first play, and about a mother, whose daughter, I infer, had been in the indecent images collected by the partner of the woman in the first scene. I wrote two further scenes later, one from the point of view of the downloader, and another from the point of view of his daughter. I was intending to resign from my job at The Lucy Faithfull Foundation to coincide with my 60th birthday, and thought a book would be a good means of marking it. I combined all the scenes with text to explain my thinking about each character and their situation, as if I were creating a 'Coles Notes', if you remember them, which got me through my A level English Literature exam, by explaining the mysteries of WB Yeats. Once the book was finished, and my wife proof read it, she suggested it was 'the longest resignation letter I've ever read.' I realised, at that point, that the publication marked a semi colon, if not a full stop, in my 'career' in child protection.
Are the characters based on real people you have met?
I'd met and assessed, for Family Court reports, around a hundred women whose partners had been arrested for possession of CSAM, around two or three hundred men charged with that offence, and I'd trained a few hundred police officers in working with CSAM viewers. I had, on that basis, some hundreds of stories and personalities. The characters in the book are a distillation of those people and their stories. I'd also say that various memories from my own childhood are in there, as well as my father, my mother in law, and my adopted daughters. I think people who read the book and find authenticity in it are simply connecting with things that have happened and things that have been said.
Can you talk us through your writing process?
The first four scenes of the play almost wrote themselves, I'd just sit down and type, without revisions. The last scene, 'The daughter', was a real struggle as some of the subject matter was very close to home by then. Once I'd decided to add explanatory notes to the scenes, to make a book, the notes took longer, and by the end I was grinding along, very slowly! I had a deadline from my publisher, and without that I think I might have put the whole thing aside. I think, on reflection, I used my own emotionally difficult experiences, burnout, vicarious trauma, and so on to provide the energy for writing, and my professional experiences and training to provide the content.
Did you hire the services of an editor?
No. I never even considered it! I think, in retrospect, an editor would have rejected the book: it's not really a play, it's not really a text book, it's not really an autobiography or a memoir. I think an editor would have suggested massive revisions, and by the time I was writing the conclusion I wasn't in the mood to take advice! My wife did the proof reading, and my daughter suggested how the cover might look, and that was it.
What was your route to getting published?
I bimbled about on Google looking at self publishing sites, since I couldn't imagine any publisher interested in profit would touch it. I found a lot of expensive ones! In the end I visited a printer in Worcester, having seen his factory, and he suggested a printers in Malvern, called Aspect Design. They are a family firm, literally a couple, their son, and a couple of other workers. I provided the text, and the son worked up the cover, and that was it. I heartily recommend them. I had a hundred copies printed, gave most of them away, and tried to stir up interest on Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn and so on. Some purchasers bought the book via a link on Amazon, although most went to the publisher, direct. I'd already decided to offer any profits, (pause for laughter), to a charity, and after some toing and froing, Children Heard and Seen were nominated. The CEO wrote a foreword, and the charity offered some publicity, as did my then employer and some other agencies I had contact with.
How did you envisage that 'Crossing the Line' might be used? i.e did you have an educational purpose in mind or a particular group of people who you wanted to reach?
I had filmed and shown one of the five scenes to police and social work audiences during training events between 2016 and 2022, to some effect. I found that offering something 'dramatic' and affecting had a better impact that just offering yet another PowerPoint presentation. As I was writing I did think that each scene might be filmed for the same purpose, and that the whole book might be read by both 'professional' audiences, the 'lay' reader, and people affected by the issues discussed in the monologues and text. At another level I just wanted to get it done!
What is something you wish you had known before you started writing?
Mmmm, crikey. Probably that the thing you start doing might not be what you end up with. But there's no fear in that. I think it's best to write to please yourself rather than an imagined audience, although you have to avoid self indulgence. It's a bit of a tightrope, in truth.
What has the reaction been like to Crossing the Line?
The most common reaction from any lay reader is how sad it is. My reputation amongst friends and relatives is that I'm always light hearted and jokey, so I think some were taken aback at the reality of my work over just under
four decades. Professionals, especially police officers have said that they recognise themselves and their situation in it. Other people with 'lived experience' of the subject have been very positive about it as they feel their experience has been recognised and empathised with. My happiest experience in terms of dissemination has been 'Google' ordering a dozen or so, and Interpol ordering 30. My most gratifying feedback was from a Detective Sergeant in West Mercia, my local force, who said he'd hand a copy of the book to anyone thinking of joining his team.
What advice/ tips do you have for someone who is thinking about writing?
Just write. It's the same for anything. If you're thinking about cycling, cycle. If you're thinking about knitting, knit. If you don't enjoy it, stop. I live by advice from Tommy Cooper. 'Man goes to the Doctor, and says (raises arm) Doctor, my arm hurts when I do this.' Doctor says: 'Don't do it then.'
Your work has been performed on stage on several occasions. Do you have any plans for further events?
Yes, aside from the Worcester event in 2016, one scene was performed at the Buxton Fringe Festival in 2017, and the three scenes were performed at the same event a year later. I have been making efforts, for some years, to have the scenes filmed professionally, for use in professional training events or as a public education tool. There have been promises made....and some of them may yet be realised.
Do you have plans to write in the future or do you have any projects in the pipeline that you are able to share with us?
No idea! I have been asked to write a scene from the point of view of a social worker, but I have yet to make progress. For the first time, ever, I have produce six or seven paragraphs and deleted the lot. I think I just can't get into the culture or mindset, which is peculiar, because that's my actual profession.
Crossing the Line is available from Aspect Design
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My name is Annie Hope. I am a writer with lived experience as a family member of someone who had the Knock. I am a professional writer, and I am able to work with your organisation, charity or with you as an individual in a variety of different ways. Please have a look at my website to find out more.
I run a free writing group for family members of those who are convicted of sexual offences. You can find out more about the group here. You can find blog posts with free advice about writing and helpful tips in my main blog index here.
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