My aim is to write a 70,000-word book. This follows that each section, or chapter, has an allocated percentage. Writing a potted history of Leith in 7,000 is a challenge. The aim is to demonstrate a) that Scotland is not England, and Leith is not Edinburgh, and b) that in consequence Leith has always been an edgy, exciting place to live in. I could write far too many words on pre-20th century history. It’s a problem, because I have really good information on just how badly Leith was treated after WW2, how Irvine Welsh’s generation was the generation without a cause. So a lot of the early stuff is being saved for another time – and while I’m writing about Leith 1950 – 1990 I feel the despair and resentment that, in part, Welsh was writing about in Trainspotting. If you have any insight or information to share with me I’ll be pleased to have it. But time is running out – the drafts are getting finalised.
