For most people, clearing out a loft would be classed as a tedious task. Not so for Mac Black, whose attic finds, which included a First World War air raid warden’s helmet, inspired him to write a book mixing historical fiction and quirky present-day drama.
Lofty Issues is written like a treasure hunt for adults, in the Fife author’s signature humorous style.
The main character, 42-year-old Tom Findlay, ventures into his loft to fetch a jelly pan for his mother. But he had forgotten that his parents had become hoarders.
It was by accident, in that dark and overcrowded place, he discovered that his departed, mischievous grandmother, had left behind a challenge for her offspring, a challenge that the family would soon become engrossed in – a treasure hunt.
Along the way, as they try to solve her poetic puzzles, they begin to learn more about their predecessors, especially Alexander Findlay – a war hero whose exploits would dramatically affect their lives.
Unlikely inspiration
“The idea for the book came to me when was helping to clear the loft of a wife’s older relative,” says Mac. “The family had accumulated stuff as they never threw anything out. There were things in that loft from the First World War and I thought it was amazing, all that history behind these objects.
“I began writing Lofty Issues seven years ago. It was one of the first things I started writing and I ended up going back to it.”
An industrial career
Born and brought up in Glasgow, Mac spent his youth in shipbuilding on the Clyde before moving on to tyre manufacturing in Dundee. Later, he went into food production in Fife, where he settled down with his wife, raising his family in Cupar where he still lives.
It was only when he retired from full-time work 10 years ago that he began to write, almost by accident, Mac explains.
“I started writing when I got a computer – I was wondering what to use it for and decided to start researching my family tree.
Family tree
“I built up a bit of information and then decided I was going to write it all down in Word. In the end I collated it all into what became a little booklet.
“But I exaggerated some of the stories to make them more amusing, so it became sort of half true and half fiction. I printed it off on the computer and bound it, then gave copies out to my family.
“Out of that came the idea to start writing fiction stories. I started to write a murder mystery but then found that I was put off by having to think of ways that people were killed!
An ongoing process
“So I kept experimenting with different ways of writing and it all developed from there. My books tend to be light hearted. They’re based in reality but with a lot of exaggeration.”
Mac’s computer continues to be central to his creativity – it gives him the flexibility to go back and forth, changing aspects of his work.
“I can’t imagine how, in the olden days, writers could put pen or pencil to paper and write a story or a book that way.”
