by
Ryan Clement
IN ‘A writer’s diary for this summer,’ I wrote, “THERE CAN BE NO DOUBT that when the book is published, I would associate it with these Diary blogs and Kos even though 95% of it was written outside the Greek island’s jurisdiction…I HAVE THE SAME FEELING whenever I think of Like Father. It was a sunny but crisp Sunday morning, and the idea came to me. I had a beginning and an ending (the middle took care of itself as I trusted the protagonists, Rupert, Patricia, Dexter, Donna and Josephine, to deliver, which they did emphatically!). So I called my soulmate at the time, Sue, who, sadly, has since said goodbye to this world 🌎 (Gone Too Soon! 😔), a victim of C! I TOLD HER THE PLOT as I had it in my head that morning whilst we sat in an ice cream 🍨 parlour on Chiswick High Street in West London. She liked it and therefore I wrote it. She was my first critic. Years later the publisher went bust, so I decided to publish it myself.”
ON DAY FIVE of a writer’s diary I wrote, referring to Like Father, Like Son, “THEREFORE, for me, editing projects that I wrote of length can be somewhat boring (Like Father, Like Son is over 100,000 words, which I read over and over and over again during the editing process. By the end I had pulled all my hair out, which has since refused to regrow in fear of being wrenched out again during editing future projects!). But I accept that it is a major and significant part of the writing process. It enables me to capture quickly what’s on my mind before I polish the manuscript but try to keep it as true to my original thoughts as possible (usually the original thoughts are the best because they seek to ‘keep it real!‘) unless there are good causes for doing otherwise.” I recall precisely where I was in Kos when I wrote that extract, which now seems a long long time ago.
WELL, this is a recording of the opening, which starts with a reflection of what had taken place in the book itself. It involves Rupert and Dexter. As mentioned above, in ‘A writer’s diary for this summer,’ I wrote how the book was born. Although the characters in the book are purely fictional, I wanted a ‘son‘ and a ‘father‘ to speak on the recording to reflect the, “Like Father, Like Son” elements of the book’s title. So, I managed to get my son to stop playing his PS5 for a nanosecond to record the opening, “Like Father, Like Son;” Caz sent me her recording of, “by Ryan Clement;” my editor, Andey, narrates the ending of the book, which was recorded for a promo over 4 years ago; and I end the piece by saying “Like Father, Like Son,” to conclude; both my son and I begin and end with, “Like Father, Like Son;” albeit the son speaks before the father, of course, but let’s not be too pedantic and we shall overlook that order 😳 and applaud creativity 👏🏾👏🏾👏🏾 There was a method in my thinking, a theory behind my thoughts! 🤔 Enjoy!
He’s right. It was us, not them. We did it. We are solely to blame. We had it too good for too long, so we meddled with our Everyday and Unremarkable in exchange for the Different that Disharmony and Irregular bring. “Never truer words spoken,” I reply. “Never truer words!” RUPERT
Copyright © Ryan Clement 2025
Ryan Clement 