A Conversation with Adrian Stead on: The Story Behind the Story
A novel that began with a single “what if” and unfolded into a layered story of history, identity, and quiet persistence.
Adrian Stead is an Englishman by birth and an Australian by citizenship. He began novel writing after retiring from the business and finance worlds, bringing with him a natural inclination for structure and precision.
A lover of the English language and its literature (and a self-confessed pedant), he now channels that attention to detail into storytelling.
The Conversation
What led you to write this book, beyond the surface?
The Lost Sketchbook evolved from a single “What-if?” moment.
The brief storyline of the novel is:
1819 Venice - renowned nineteenth-century artist JMW Turner has a sketchbook containing controversial drawings of his host, Lord Byron, taken from him. The book disappears until it is found in 1961 by a London seller of fine books.
An Italian descendant of Byron’s then mistress learns of the sketchbook's existence and claims a familial right to own it. The men meet. Ownership rights ensue, leading to blackmail over the book seller’s homosexuality with far-reaching consequences.
One man is prepared to do whatever it takes to own the valuable book; the other will do all he can to make it his.
I had read, many years ago, that Turner had visited Venice at a time when Lord Byron was staying there, but there is no record of them ever having met up there. That stayed with me for quite some time until eventually I wondered what if Byron had invited Turner to stay with him at his palazzo, which he shared with his lover and his man servant – what then?
From that small seed, a whole world of what-ifs sprang up:
What if Turner secretively sketched Byron in sexually explicit circumstances?
What if the sketchbook was stolen or lost and fell into the hands of Byron’s now abandoned lover?
What if the sketchbook over the years was forgotten about until it turned up in a bookshop in Venice and was found by an English bookseller?
What-if a descendant of Byron’s lover learned of what he considered to be a valuable family heirloom?
What-if; what-if; what-if …?
I really can’t emphasise the value of a what-if approach to story development. The options and opportunities that each what-if presented to me were like doors to be opened and corridors explored to see where they would take me. Some what-ifs were unusable, some took the story to places I hadn’t considered but which became central to the story.
For instance, in England in 1961, homosexuality was a criminal offence. Literally. No matter where same-sex activity took place, including the privacy of one’s home. I found such discrimination and ignorance abhorrent. Research into the ‘disease’ was fascinating and eye-opening. It enabled me to add substance and depth to the storyline. Some of the real-life reports were horrible, and whilst I am not gay myself, I found the research so sad.
I am, by nature, a Planner when it comes to my writing. I have spent a lot of my working life in both finance and business management where planning is integral to successful operations (could you see a bank manager handing out loans based on a pants approach?). So, for me, plotting is the way to go, but with a little leeway — some pantsing within the plotted structure. It was in this planning stage, however, that most of my what-iffing occurred.
When I was in the process of writing The Lost Sketchbook, a friend asked me what I thought would constitute a success for my inaugural novel. I thought of the prize-winning author, the best-seller, the conversion to a Netflix movie. Then I asked myself why I had authored the book.
The answer was much less fame-driven.
At 71 years of age, I was determined to keep my mental faculties sharp and, as well as running my credit management business, wanted to use the creative side of my brain more. The hard part wasn’t the writing of the book, but the self-publishing and marketing elements that I am still coming to grips with.
So, for me, the book is a success when a stranger buys the paperback via my website or its ebook equivalent via Amazon.
Closing Note
Some stories are built. Others are uncovered, one question at a time.
This one began with a quiet what if and never stopped asking.
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