As I mentioned before, I've started re-reading books by H E Bates and the first one is a collection of short stories called "Country Tales" 1938.
What I'm noticing, which I hadn't before, is that some of the stories reminded me of later books, such as The Fallow Land and Love for Lydia, which became a marvellous BBC TV series.
He must have thought to himself, there's the germ of a novel in this situation and turned it into one with different characters and setting. It's a bit like an artist repainting over a used canvas.
