'In Separate Time' after The Book of Strange New Things

'In Separate Time' is a creative response to The Book of Strange New Things, a novel by Michel Faber about a man, Peter, selected to be a Christian missionary on the planet Oasis, leaving his beloved wife Bea behind on earth. Any carefully composed novel is multifarious, containing many untold stories, multiple potential interpretations, with lots of possible points of departure, and Faber’s novel is bursting with possibilities. So, what exactly is my story a response to, and how do the mechanics of it work? The following commentary is in two parts. First, a look at Michel Faber’s engagement with the art of the creative response, using case studies from his oeuvre. Second, an interrogation of my own creative process.