Stories behind and stories within

 I always have a yen to know "the story behind the story". Whilst I can enjoy an author or a poet's work as it stands, I find that I enjoy it more when I know something of the creator as a person - something of their background, what has influenced them. I like to be able to see them in context. And a recent visit to North Wales has helped me to better understand the author Kate Roberts, to see her in her context.

In Wales Kate Roberts has long been known as "Brenhines Ein Llen", the queen of our literature. She was born in 1891, writing many novels and short stories between the 1920s and her death in 1985. A long time political activist, she brilliantly but simply portrayed the harsh conditions of working class life in the first half of the twentieth century. In later life she bequeathed to the nation the home in which she had been brought up, Cae'r Gors, a tiny stone cottage in the village of Rhosgadfan near Caernarfon. It was there, amongst the spoil heaps and remains of the once flourishing slate industry, that her writing came into perspective for me. I had just finished rereading "Feet In Chains", perhaps her best known novel, in which the reality of life for a slate-quarrying family in the days before industrial safeguards and union representation meant fluctuating income, poor health and limited horizons. For women, keeping hearth and home and family together was tough. Standing at the foot of the slag heaps on the mountainside behind Cae'r Gors, the weight of that world was almost palpable.

Being away for a few days also gave me the opportunity to reflect on my present project, to cast a rather more critical eye over progress to date. Whilst I've been happy with the content I've generated so far, I've been less sure of the structure and I've been trying out a couple of alternatives.  One seemed a better "fit" but I still wasn't a hundred per cent committed to it. Casually flicking through a magazine I'd picked up whilst we were away, I happened to come across an excellent example of an approach I'd initially discounted. A simple enough idea - a "story within a story". There was a sudden realization that this could work (and could have worked all along). Now, I'm glad to say, it certainly seems to be doing so!