Ron Emmons          Writer & Photographer
  • Blog
    • Introduction
  • Teaklord
    • Description and buying options
    • News of Teak Lord
    • The Making of a Book Cover
    • Tracking the Teak Lord 1
    • Tracking the Teak Lord 2
    • Review of Teak Lord
    • Teak Talk
  • Publications
    • Books
    • Periodicals >
      • A Culture Blossoms
      • Black, White and Blue
      • Deep in the Delta
      • Strange Town
      • Blissful Bloom
      • The Wonder of Water
      • Striking Signs
      • A Hike up Chiang Dao Mountain
      • Quirky Chiang Mai
      • Trailblazer
      • On the Road to Rio
    • Digital content
  • Portfolio
    • Searching for Shangri-La
    • Travel
    • Biography
    • Nature
    • Buddhism
    • Photography
    • Article List
  • Short Stories
    • Beyond the End of the Road
    • The Green Monkey's Tale
    • The Red Lion's Tale
    • Eruption in Ethiopia
    • First Flight
    • As Dawn Breaks over Choroni
    • The Hungry Eye
    • On Spirit Mountain
  • Biography
    • Ron's CV

Welcome!

What an amazing world we live in...to watch an audio slideshow introducing my website, please click here.
Open slideshow

Dunkirk: Birth of a Writer

28/4/2016

2 Comments

 
Picture
When I was about seven years old, my Dad took me to the cinema to see a film called ‘Dunkirk’ starring John Mills and Richard Attenborough, about the evacuation of hundreds of thousands of British soldiers from the beach at Dunkirk as the Germans overran France in the Second World War. It was one of the first times I had been to the cinema, and the film made a strong impression on me, particularly the scenes of helpless, terrified soldiers trying to take cover in the sand dunes as German planes dropped bombs on them and strafed them with machine-gun fire.
A few days later at my primary school, our teacher asked us to write about a book that we had read or a film that we had seen. I picked up my pen, opened my notebook and started writing about Dunkirk. Somehow the next 40 minutes flashed by and at the end of the class I had written several pages, but still hadn’t got beyond the introductory stages of the film.
 
The following week, when the rest of the class was given a different task, our teacher suggested that I continue with my story of the film, which I did. Again the time melted away, but at the end of class I still hadn’t finished recounting the events of the film. This process continued for several weeks, until finally I finished my account of the film, using up about 30-40 pages of my notebook. The teacher expressed great pleasure when I was done, and told me she was going to put my ‘book’ into the school library.
 
I had completely forgotten about this incident until a few days ago, when I was watching a film called ‘Atonement’, based on a book by Ian McEwan, who incidentally is one of my favourite writers. Near the end of the film, there was a scene of the same events at Dunkirk that suddenly unlocked my memory of all those years ago. I remembered bending over my notebook as a young boy and going into a kind of trance as the words tumbled onto the page, sensing a thrill of creating the story anew and feeling great satisfaction as I completed the last sentence.
 
I can’t say that I made up my mind there and then that I was going to be a writer when I grew up, but some kind of seed was sown, which gradually grew into a love of literature and of writing. I can’t even remember the name of the teacher who set us our writing task on that day so long ago, but I’ll be eternally grateful to her for unleashing a passion that I never knew existed within me.

2 Comments
Su Blakey
28/4/2016 04:19:54 pm

How brilliant to read that and learn so much about you all those years ago. I love the fact that your dad took you to the cinema and made that special memory. I think you must be talking about Mrs Redgrove because all our other teachers were male. She would be so proud to hear the impact her encouragement has had on your life. I am proud of you too x

Reply
Heinz Buesching
26/10/2016 04:59:12 pm

Hello there! I wonder that you ever set a foot on German soil after this remarkable incidence. And I'm thankful that you did. Otherwise I would have missed some very dear friends that came across. I remember the book of your short stories you gave me to read in BKK in '89. I was impressed then and still am. Keep on writing (and photographing of course). Heinz

Reply

Your comment will be posted after it is approved.


Leave a Reply.

    Ron's Blog

    Categories

    All
    Buddhism
    Hiking
    Historical
    Myanmar
    Nature
    Personal
    Photography
    Post Apocalypse
    Publishing
    Reviews
    Social Issues
    Thailand
    UK
    Vietnam
    Writing

    Picture

    Ron Emmons 

    is a British writer and photographer based in Chiang Mai, Thailand.

    Categories

    All
    Buddhism
    Hiking
    Historical
    Myanmar
    Nature
    Personal
    Photography
    Post Apocalypse
    Publishing
    Reviews
    Social Issues
    Thailand
    UK
    Vietnam
    Writing

    Archives

    March 2023
    February 2023
    December 2022
    November 2022
    October 2022
    September 2022
    June 2022
    November 2021
    October 2021
    August 2021
    June 2021
    March 2021
    October 2020
    July 2020
    May 2020
    February 2020
    November 2019
    October 2019
    February 2019
    December 2018
    November 2018
    May 2018
    April 2018
    March 2018
    January 2018
    July 2017
    March 2017
    January 2017
    July 2016
    May 2016
    April 2016
    February 2016
    December 2015
    July 2015
    May 2015
    February 2015
    January 2015
    October 2014
    September 2014
    July 2014
    March 2014
    January 2014
    July 2013
    May 2013
    April 2013
    March 2013
    February 2013
    January 2013
    December 2012
    April 2012
    March 2012
    March 2011

    RSS Feed

Text and images copyright © Ron Emmons 2000-2023

Contact details:

Ron Emmons
122 Moo 7, San Pisua,
Chiang Mai 50300, Thailand.

Tel/Fax: (66-53) 115150
Mobile: +66-841758104

ron@ronemmons.com


Contact Ron
  • Blog
    • Introduction
  • Teaklord
    • Description and buying options
    • News of Teak Lord
    • The Making of a Book Cover
    • Tracking the Teak Lord 1
    • Tracking the Teak Lord 2
    • Review of Teak Lord
    • Teak Talk
  • Publications
    • Books
    • Periodicals >
      • A Culture Blossoms
      • Black, White and Blue
      • Deep in the Delta
      • Strange Town
      • Blissful Bloom
      • The Wonder of Water
      • Striking Signs
      • A Hike up Chiang Dao Mountain
      • Quirky Chiang Mai
      • Trailblazer
      • On the Road to Rio
    • Digital content
  • Portfolio
    • Searching for Shangri-La
    • Travel
    • Biography
    • Nature
    • Buddhism
    • Photography
    • Article List
  • Short Stories
    • Beyond the End of the Road
    • The Green Monkey's Tale
    • The Red Lion's Tale
    • Eruption in Ethiopia
    • First Flight
    • As Dawn Breaks over Choroni
    • The Hungry Eye
    • On Spirit Mountain
  • Biography
    • Ron's CV