This week filming began on what has to be one of the most talked about movie adaptations of next year – Fifty Shades of Grey.
E.L. James’ racy novel caused a stir when it was published in April last year.
But closer to home another so-called “racy” novel was also attracting controversy – one written by a Highland minister.
The Scent of Time by Alan T McKean, was published in August last year as part of a trilogy. And while he admits he was warned that as an author you can’t please all readers, he wasn’t quite prepared for the media storm which would follow.
Alan, minister to the Avoch, Fortrose and Rosemarkie congregation, said he wanted to write stories people could enjoy. The aim of the book, he said, was to introduce readers to God in a believable way.
“Most people when they come in contact with the Lord they come gradually and the hero in my book, Drew, comes to faith over three books,” the 63-year-old said.
“Bob Dylan wrote a song called Slow Train Coming when he became a Christian so for most people it’s like that.
“You have to make the characters believable otherwise folk won’t pay attention to it. People get things wrong, they make mistakes and God helps them put things right.”
The book follows hero Drew Faulkner who decides to travel back in time to the 1800s to win the heart of a girl. It is a tale of adventure, romance, history and of course, time travel.
Alan said the idea first came to him in 2005 and it was a love of history that made him write it.
He said: “People like time travel and a lot of people have very boring jobs and they like something that will let them use their imaginations. People do think about what it would have been like to live in the past.
“So I wanted to show people what it would have been like. I tried to make them as historically accurate as possible, especially because I love history and I think a lot of other people do as well. And I think if you can bring history to life, then people will really enjoy it.
“I know people who have read the book and the feedback that I have had, they have all enjoyed it.”
IT’S NOT MEANT TO SHOCK
Although Alan didn’t tell anyone about his literary debut, news of his novel soon spread around the Black Isle with the majority supporting and enjoying the book.
But there was a minority who were shocked to find out the book, described as “racy” by some, had been written by a minister.
Some felt there was a conflict between his job and the sexy passages in his book. They claimed it was “too sexy”.
But Alan admits he never set out to make it controversial, that the so-called racy scenes were natural parts of the plot.
“The characters have to be believable. Drew, the hero, has one girlfriend throughout, but some of the press articles that came out at the time had him having several girlfriends and that just wasn’t accurate,” he said.
“The people who have read it have seen that part of the story as part of the plot. It’s not meant to shock or do anything else. It’s part of how a 24-year-old man with no clue about God would be living and it just kind of grew from there.
“I’m hoping the books will sell for the story and not for any misconceptions. I mean, one woman who read it said ‘If you are looking for a raunchy read, you are wasting your time’.
“I think people expect ministers to write theological tomes that nobody will read and I wanted to give people a story that they will enjoy and will honour God in my case and have something to say.”
While the media whipped up a frenzy, Alan says the reaction “wasn’t as bad as was made out”. “Two or three people said they didn’t like it and they put the fact that they didn’t like it in some of the papers,” he said.
“When you are an author, you aren’t going to write a book that will please everybody.
“The people that didn’t like it weren’t very clear on what they didn’t like about it, they didn’t go into detail, they just said they didn’t like it, which they have every right to say.”
He admitted those who didn’t like it now attend another church but he could not say if it was to do with the book.
“They never gave a reason why they left and you can’t read into people’s minds. They just decided to go to another church, that’s their choice. People come and go all the time in any church”, he added.
There were also claims in the media that the controversy was so bad that Alan had considered quitting his job – with one claiming he had even considered taking his own life.
“The media attention was upsetting but my wife’s an author and she had told me that was par for the course so it didn’t really bother me,” he said.
“You either stop and go hide in a shell somewhere or you carry on and write what’s in your heart.
“When I read some of the comments in the papers I felt really down and I thought OK, this is just part of the thing. You write a book and you have to expect different reactions to it. So we sat down and talked about it and prayed about it and we got peace.
“I mean famous authors have been rejected, criticised, laughed at and condemned but the books that they wrote are still there.”
FIFTY SHADES
There were also some who put Alan’s book in the same boat as Fifty Shades of Grey – a comparison he is not happy with.
He said: “I wouldn’t want anything to do with Fifty Shades of Grey, I mean I’m a Christian and I certainly wouldn’t write something that would be compared to that, no matter how popular it is.”
The book, however, had great success, reaching number two in the Kindle Chart, which Alan said was “very nice”.
“You write a book in the hope that it will sell, there’s no point writing a book otherwise. But you also write a book if you have something to say.
“One of the parts I feel strongly about is there is a character in it who the hero rescues from a child brothel. And child and adult slavery still goes on today. So that was put in to draw people’s attention to that so it could be used to warn people and raise awareness of it.”
And it seems Alan could spread his messages even further after a Christian film company expressed interest in adapting the books last year.
He said discussions were still ongoing but he would be interested to see what it would look like on screen and see his characters brought to life.
“I don’t normally go to the cinema but it would definitely be nice to see that,” he said.
“It depends on what a film company would do with it I guess. I was trying to think what the likes of Mel Gibson would do with it. But I would rather the Christian company took it on.”
Now Alan has finished the final instalment in his Scent trilogy. The Scent of Eternity is currently with his editor and should be released next year.
He is also working on another time-travelling novel, this time for the young teen market.
So clearly the whole experience hasn’t put him off writing then?
He said: “If you have something to say that you are not ashamed of – I mean if you know you shouldn’t be writing it, then you shouldn’t be doing it – but normally you just have to write. The time when I stopped writing, I couldn’t get any peace.
“In the ministry you don’t see a lot of starts and finishes to the things that you do, but in writing you do. You start off with a blank computer screen and so many months later you have thousands of words on it and you get a great sense of satisfaction from that.”
So does he regret anything or wish he could change what happened looking back?
“No. I don’t wish I’d done it differently because as the books move on, Drew’s behaviour and attitudes move on and he becomes more thoughtful and as he becomes closer to God he becomes more determined to live the way He would want him to”, he added.