Kevin Chandler

TWO OCCUPATIONS

My working life is neatly divided between the roles of paid listener and unpaid scribe (unpaid that is until the first royalties of my novel start dribbling, I mean flooding, in!) The two jobs share certain things in common, not least the ability to conduct both activities from the confines of my own home; a mixed blessing, for while travel costs may be low, I really do need to get out more! More significantly, both occupations are essentially about storytelling.

Therapy is such a grand setting for drama, with its artificial and closely defined structure, the absurdities and pomposity of its language, the small rituals and paraphernalia of the therapy room, and its mercurial capacity for healing and growth, I wanted to tell a fictional story about the conundrum of therapy, such a strange and intriguing occupation (that bares more than a passing comparison with prostitution) in which money is exchanged for the kind of intimate attention one would normally expect to find only in a close, personal relationship for free.

I am fascinated by the interface between our personal and professional selves, and how each impact upon the other, and fiction seemed a far better way to explore these issues and bring them to a wider audience, than by writing a dry academic paper for a professional journal.

My central character, Patrick Chime, is a talented therapist but a terrible husband, and when a gun-toting former client and social misfit, obsessed by porn and the artist Degas, walks into his office, Patrick’s world starts to unravel as he’s forced to tackle his own personal demons. The focus of the narrative alternates between Patrick’s sessions with his clients, and glimpses into his home life, where the impact of two powerful secrets slowly unfolds.And at the end, Patrick is left musing on where he is more genuine, in his therapy chair, or in real life.”

LISTENING IN a novel of therapy, and real life is published by Accent Press on 6th April 2009.