Julian Gillespie

What does someone do when they aren't doing lawyer impersonations? They write a book.. well, one at least.

The idea for Double Christ came to me over drinks in a bar, after many drinks that is, and was really one of those little light bulb moments. I had grown up in a Catholic house, one of those things you inherit until you grow older and make your own decisions, so I had been pretty well indoctrinated from an early age. Hey, I was even the head altar boy once. But that's far in the past, where now I am an agnostic, mayhaps an atheist - depends which way the wind is blowing, it seems.

Anyhoo, from a timeline perspective yes, there is this great big whopping gap in the bible - those three days while Jesus is said to be laid out in his tomb - but the thing is, he does get up to something during that time, as every version of the bible has this one line, of him descending 'into the pit and with the key releasing the souls'.. or words to that effect.

Point is, Jesus went on a journey during his 'tomb time'. He wasn't just laying there dead all wrapped-up no, he was off on some mission, the details of which are very thin on the ground no matter how much research you undertake.

So Double Christ was born.

First I tried writing it as a film script, and got to about 6 or 7 drafts.. then I canned it, unhappy with the characters, their development, and the general twists and turns I had taken. So onto the shelf the idea went, for about 5 or 6 years, while I plugged away at my lawyer impersonations..

Then in 2009 my Mum was diagnosed with a terminal illness. I attended to her needs for her final months with my brothers, then after her passing and spending time wrapping-up her estate, I needed a break - but what was I going to do? Go travel and write was the answer I received. But what to write? Finish that damn Jesus idea off, once and for all time, was the second answer.

So, off to Paris I went for a month, where I picked-up the research again, but this time went very deep into all the apocrypha writings and they were the key I needed. After Paris I headed to the south of France, in mid winter, and lived by myself in a renovated 400 year old farmhouse. It was the perfect place for sitting and concentrating, with the snow at my door, and a good fire each night.

So for about four solid months I thumped away at the keyboard. I had expected the story would end up being longer, but there was only so much I could reasonably fit into three days, and I didn't want to step outside of 'established' apocrypha too much. As it turned out, fitting the apocrypha together into a coherent piece that wouldn't offend biblical scholars was the real hard part. Sure I had tons of artistic license to use had I so chosen, but I didn't want to go down the Dan Brown route creating tons of new and wild stuff, that was totally foreign to scholars. No, I wanted to create a story that was, at the end of the day, plausible. And that's what I did.

Anyways, I have tons of other writing projects I would like to get off the ground, but presently I find myself trapped in Australia, without work, no money, and not a spark of creative energy for setting the words down and in motion. I also don't 'produce' when I am living in Australia, so any future writing efforts will have to await my next travels overseas.

But for now, I hope you enjoy Double Christ, and I would love to receive feedback, good or bad. I never had the benefit of a professional editor (or any editor!), so any learned criticism would be a treat.

Until next time!

Julian Gillespie