The Origins of Czar Creek

Continuing the theme, we come to Czar Creek, the dark thriller that pitches a teenage man against a cold, calculated murderer.

The idea for Czar Creek came in the most simple form, a road sign. Czar Creek itself is a real place in Far Northern Queensland, though the people, events and locations are a product of my imagination. If you would like to visit it, watch out for the trucks, it is on the main highway between Cardwell and the little town of Kennedy. I had passed Czar Creek on many trips in that area and the sign never piqué my interest. Until one day my mind was freewheeling with ideas and story lines and my eyes happened to pick, what is now the old sign, low against the trees as I headed north. As I flashed past. When I say flashed past, I was in an old 90s Hilux so ambled past might be a better description, the name struck a chord and linked up with an idea. For the next few hours, I rolled the core of the story around in my head and pretty much wrote it in my mind as I drove.

I revisited the creek again in 2020 on another road trip and it had changed significantly over the years. If you want to get to the sign which I don’t recommend, the trucks are hammering past about a meter away. In the picture that supports this blog, you may not see the three meter drop behind me and the highway right in front of me. It was a fast photoshoot. What we do for art.

The original manuscript was quite short when I wrote it in 2003 and shelved it as an interesting piece. When the urge came on me nearly a year ago now to independently publish my work, it was an easy choice to pick the story up again. It had been quite a joy to write. The 2020 redraft was as enjoyable, and I expanded and doubled the size of the manuscript adding complexity to the story which though at times is a touch dark it created an easy reading and entertaining novel.

For those following my music tastes, the original draft was written to the deep sounds of Nightwish and Type O Negative while the redraft was almost exclusively to the sounds of one of my favourite bands, Alice in Chains. When it was all getting a bit much and I needed a pick me up, I turned to the great Australian festival band, Airbourne.

I am listening to Alice in Chains as I write this, ‘Down in a Hole’, for those who are fans.