Duty

Sorted.  Done.  Ticked off the list.  I’ve finally seen ‘The King’s Speech’.

As the ecstatic tweets, blogposts and reports of packed movie houses tumbled into my machine as I tried to get on with my rewriting, it started to become less of a film I’d like to see, and more a film it was my duty to see.  Perhaps it’s the subject matter and setting – royalty, and the imminent arrival of World War Two; potent subject matters, which still resonate now, whether we have a direct connection them or not.

I think at it’s heart though, the notion of duty within the story is what touches people the most – and the consequences of following your duty to your country, or your family, or simply to yourself.  We all have duties of one sort or another, and watching the weight of those duties fall heavily on the shoulders of characters we normally see as icons of restrained calm is fascinating stuff.  It’s a great film, and my hat goes off to everyone involved in it – there’s a great QUADcast interview with Gareth Unwin, producer of The King’s Speech here.

That idea of duty is something I can see reflected in Hidden Daughter, my first novel, as it begins to tell the story of Penny, driven by an overpowering duty to travel through time – and steal, so her daughter can live a normal life.  And how it’s my duty to tell Penny’s story.  Which is why I need to finish my edits, and get going on Book Two…