Creative Writing lecturer at New College, Stephen Tuffin (59), recently found publishing success, after being inspired by a former student’s success with writing.
Most of the stories written by Stephen come from personal experiences, from past jobs to where he used to live by the seaside; however found that his first attempts in writing weren’t what the market was looking for “they only buy it if they can sell it” claimed Stephen.
His first novel was called The Scenic Railway a book about 3 tramps who were all on a journey to kill themselves, but none of the others knew they all were going to attempt suicide. “You have to take what you know and dramatize it…” one of the characters in this story was named Mrs Moat who had split personality disorder, who was partially inspired by a lady at Terrance House while he worked there named Florrie Christmas.
His other works such as The Boy from the Gate were partially inspired by his childhood memories… however when asked what advice he would give to our class he replied, “don’t be afraid to fail, because you are more likely to succeed,” and told us “to be nice to people,” as he went from a mind-set of judging in his childhood to being more open minded after going to college and becoming a Creative Writing teacher. He always found a motivation even after having his work rejected.
His recent publishing success came from a story in the book Sleep is a Beautiful Colour, the Flash Fiction Day anthology. “The Sun on the Dash” is about two builders, where one is in love with the other, however the other doesn’t know. The idea surrounding it is that people can love whoever they want no matter what they look like, or who they are, appearances don’t matter; the title reverts to the Sun newspaper on the dashboard of their van and the story highlights how restrictive masculinity can be.
The idea for “The Sun on the Dash” once again came from Stephens’s personal experiences as he was once a carpenter by trade however was forced to retire after he fell off scaffolding due to an injury, which is how he found out he had a specific arthritis which fused his neck bone to his spinal column, causing him to be unable to move his head more than a centimetre or so in any direction.
Along with job such as being a carpenter, he has been: a butcher, worked in retail, a chef, worked in mental aftercare at Terrance House and 4 other homes which included managing one (and finding dead bodies) and a road worker, before his wife, who was training to be a nurse, inspired him to attend New College as a student and eventually to become a Creative Writing lecturer, at Bath Spa University and currently at New college, Swindon. He has also performed at the Guild Hall in Bath, where he had the opportunity to perform one of his stories on stage.
Stephen is a Creative Writing teacher at the college; however this specific course was recently cut from the curriculum, but he wasn’t particularly upset at the prospect. In fact he stated that when he started he found it hard to teach and isn’t actually sure it’s manageable as an academic subject… “it’s a good craft, learning how to write to a good standard, not just writing you need to learn the rules, before you can bend them,” there is “no such thing as good writing,” you need to care about how you present your work and read out loud to help see where you need to improve.
The lecturer claimed he already has something new in the works, a novel named “View from the Gas Works”: a collection of short flash fiction stories about a community in the 1970’s all linked to each other by repeating characters within different stories. He also has an idea for a book about a guy named Nathanial Smalls, but didn’t lend much information about the idea for the story other than it came to him in a dream.
The ideas and stories that Stephen come up with are both interesting and gripping and I look forward to reading more of his work in the future.
By Victoria Whiteley
