Spotlight Profiles: 2024

Absolute Lad. Alex Kellett 

 Lee “Tonka” Stevenson, a once promising footballer, tries to salvage his train wreck of a life when Julie, his childhood sweetheart, returns to the town he never left. Can he kick his toxic habits and recapture his glory days, or will he miss his big chance for a brighter future? 

Alex Kellett is a writer and communications specialist from the East Midlands. After more than a decade working in comms, predominantly in the housing sector, Alex decided to get stuck into fiction with Absolute Lad – a story inspired by an early adulthood spent playing amateur football and working in pubs. Alex is also a father and husband, and made the sensible decision to stop playing football a long time ago. 

 Alex’s first page

Overview

Absolute Lad is, as the title suggests, a novel about the archetypal lad, only in this instance Lee he is in his late thirties and has become a parody of himself. In his youth, he had placed all his dreams on football success, but this didn’t happen for him, partly because he is not a team player. The only hope for change comes in the return of an old girlfriend, now divorced. 

 The manuscript has a good pace and plenty of action, with towards the end, catastrophe piling upon catastrophe. Interspersed throughout the central narrative are glimpses of his childhood. A series of deceptions by those who should have cared for him, are gradually uncovered. There are also some chilling moments, when the true nature of various father figures slip out.

 This is a novel about the essential loneliness of masculinity, about fathers and sons and about the vulnerability hidden behind a facade of bravado. 

In the mentoring process, we took a two tiered approach, looking at how working class representation works within publishing as well as the key elements of fiction, in this instance voice and how to most effectively hone the material and pull out the central themes.

 Alex was mentored by Marion Urch and Neil Campbell.

 ‘This is a story about working class masculinity and a convincing portrayal of how these men speak. I enjoyed reading it, especially the part on the building site. The language of the working class is alienating to many, but you need to stick to your guns and write the novel you want to write. I do genuinely think there is a lot of potential here.’

Neil Campbell