PEST - A one-track-mind

My Novel PEST was conceived after a conversation I'd had with a friend about the effect porn was having on his life and the negative consequences he was suffering due to his inability to think about anything else. He revealed, that he was at a stage where he literally couldn't hold down a thought for more than a minute without turning it into something salacious. Everything he saw or heard, in the street, at home or at work became inextricably linked to the porn he was viewing on a daily basis, leaving him in a constant state of arousal, at times, he said, so overwhelming, he thought he'd go mad if he didn't get a 'fix', thereby confessing, without actually saying it, that he had become quietly addicted. I joked that it was normal and that men thought about sex all the time - every seven seconds - isn't that what they said? We laughed about it but I could sense his reluctance to pursue the subject any further and I didn't push.

When I got home however, I realised I had a character in the midst of great conflict - the basis for all good drama. Here was a man lost in a stream of endless content that he wants to walk away from but can't, no matter how hard he tries.

As with every generation, the advent of new technology, changes the way we live, the way the world operates, the way business is run, alters the social make-up of our lives. Nowadays, for a lot of us, sitting in front of a computer, tablet or mobile phone has become the norm, often done in solitude. What effect is this having on the way we think and feel?

This was to be the crux of the story: a character so entrenched in the act of being continuously alone and used to a certain type of stimulation, that basic skills of 'live' communication become distorted or lost; a place where decision-making is non-committal and where relationships fail or are simply 'unnecessary'. Porn was to be the vehicle for this: throw in probably the most powerful driving force, concerning humans - sex - and you have a very tough cookie to crack. By the same token, as humans, we respond to the 'human touch', not a cold, inanimate machine. For Alex, as with any addiction, the conflict would be unbearable.

There is no evidence from academics and the like, to suggest that porn is as addictive as say, gambling or drugs or alcohol. However, the research I did for the book via various forums, books, websites, my own experience and my friend's confession, led me to believe this wasn't the case. More and more people are using porn as their drug of choice and means of escape to fill the 'hole in their lives'.

When I started writing the book, it seemed every other story in the press or on the radio was about internet porn and the detrimental effect it was having on people, especially the younger generation. Our coming into awareness of sex is all part of growing up. I'm sure we all recall the first time we masturbated, received that strange look from the boy or girl across the room that sent our hearts aflutter and filled our stomachs with butterflies, or the day we found that curious, little book in our parent's bedroom, packed full of naked bodies, working themselves into all kinds of strange positions?

I'm of the generation before computers (as we know them), mobile phones and the like, (actually, I'm on the cusp) and I remember how things seemed far more 'innocent' growing up. Information had to be sought out, dug up, worked on before an answer revealed itself, often having to speak to others to obtain it. Now information is available to us in seconds at the click of a button. Porn has also changed with the times: everything is available - all the time. Is it any wonder that youngsters moving into adolescence, raging with hormones and with a mobile phone or computer at their disposal, succumb to the ubiquity of porn? How is this shaping the future?

As with every condition - good or bad - it is usually the human touch that provides the salve. In the book, the group meetings were important in this aspect. They were the blood and bones concerning a cure that Alex so desperately sought beyond a cyber-world devoid of real emotion and his own voyeuristic interpretations of the life around him. They also highlighted Alex's dismay at being in a working environment and finding little else to stimulate you but your own perverse thoughts. They were a portal to a world in which Alex could raise a voice and be heard, above the hellish introspection that makes up the bulk of his life, despite his initial scepticism. It also provided the story with a group of characters that give us - for me - some of the most laughable moments with their anecdotes.

I wanted to convey this story in a way that engaged the reader viscerally - on a gut level - had them moving from room to room in the same claustrophobic manner as Alex, experiencing the things he's going through, through his eyes. Externally, he looks like a man of unremarkable means, normal, simply and quietly going about his business, but inside...busy, busy. Much of the book is spent with Alex seated in front of his computer. As one reader put it: 'it's a book about the things that don't happen, as opposed to the things that do'. Descriptions are purposefully repetitive, lurid, matter-of-fact and usually concerned only with sex. As with a lot of my favourite novels, this first person narrative brings us closer to the protagonist, immersing us into their world until every trait, word and flaw become our own.

The book asks a few questions, I suppose: will technology one day eradicate the need for human interaction? How do we find ourselves in a world increasingly bombarded with information? And why are some people more susceptible to the lure of addiction than others? Ultimately, the book is about a young man reaching a crossroads in his life and deciding upon which road to take.