I’VE been getting to know Michael Morrison for a decade or so, but do I like him? Admire him? Want him to succeed?
He’s annoyed me, delighted me, disappointed me, pleased me and, like many of us, over-thinks the way his life has panned out.
You can’t be ambivalent towards the characters you create and as I made him the protagonist in The Choreography of Ghosts then I must back him all the way.
”It’s about Andrew,” my mum said when my brother inquired as to the nature of the book.
It’s not, but in some ways every story must contain some of the author within its characters.
So it is that Michael Morrison wrote the successful novel I didn’t, became a lecturer, freed up time to write. So it is that he became disillusioned and fell out of love with the written word. So it is that he searched for a new life and found one.
He’s done a lot Michael Morrison. A lot of things I would have liked to have done - maybe still can (that new life in Italy sounds good) - and that’s where my mum was right. He achieved my dreams but didn’t make the most of them. Didn’t enjoy the moment.
Why? Because he’s a searcher, a seeker, always looking for something better, never satisfied with what he has got. It’s not about money or possessions, it’s all about the mind. A mind that won’t allow you to settle.
Does Morrison find fulfilment, love, happiness in his new life? Of course not. Well, not immediately because that would be him making it too easy for himself - and it wouldn’t make for much of a story.
Three deaths don’t help. Or do they? And is it his choice anyway or is it all directed by the choreographer of ghosts?