In Conversation with Amanda Peters author of The Berry Pickers

With Erica Wiggins

Photo Credit: Audrey Michaud-Peters

Where did the idea for The Berry Pickers come from and how long did you spend creating it and writing its story? Did you need to complete research in order to flesh it out the way you envisioned?

The story is inspired by the stories my dad tells. When he was young, his family went to the fields in Maine each summer to pick berries. He tells some crazy stories about ghosts, fights, and good times. He laughs a lot. I think it was a very happy time for him when he was a kid. When he found out that I was taking writing courses, he said I should write about the Mi’kmaq berry pickers. I told him that I didn’t write non-fiction, but he would not be deterred. So, in the summer of 2017, we hopped in my Prius and headed to Maine, on a father-daughter road trip. He showed me where they used to pick berries, the lake where they used to swim, and the supply store where they used to get supplies. I recorded his stories and I still have those recordings somewhere. While on the trip, a story began to form in my head and the rest is history. The Berry Pickers is fiction but inspired by those stories. I wrote the first chapter and agonized over it for two years before I moved on. I was lucky enough to attend the MFA program at the Institute of American Indian Arts and got to work with some remarkable mentors and classmates on most of the book. Their advice and careful attention to the manuscript made it the story I wanted to tell.

There was some research. I have never been to Boston for instance. I wanted to go and just walk around and get a feel for it, but the pandemic prevented that. So, I asked a friend, a fellow writer who lives and knows that area and she ‘walked’ me around Boston with Google Maps. I hope I did the city justice.

Altogether, it took about four years to write it. And there were so many people who had a hand in making it a better story and me a better writer. I am so grateful to them all.

Tell me about your writing space. Where do you spend your time writing and creating and do you need to create a certain atmosphere to get you in the headspace of writing? A certain tea perhaps or music on?

I like to write in the quiet. I live alone with my dog and cat, so it is generally quiet. I do find that I need extended periods of time to sit and write. I can’t write for 15 minutes and then walk away and come back later. I need an extended time. I can sit, on a Saturday, from 8 am to 9 pm, stopping only to eat. I love those days. Not everything I write in these marathons is worth saving but I love the sense of getting something done, ready to be molded later. I like music, nothing with words or I will sing along. If I don’t know the song, I find myself listening to the lyrics. There is an album on Apple Music called Classical Music for Meditation and Yoga and I find that is my go-to. Unless I’m having a tough time getting started and then it’s Pink Floyd’s The Division Bell. I don’t know why, but that album stirs my creativity.

How did you select your character’s names? Did they spark immediately in your mind or were they based on people?

Joe is my grandfather’s name and Lewis is my great-grandfather's name. Ruthie is a name I always liked and thought that if I ever had a daughter, I might like to name her that. Leah and Cora are the names of two friends from high school. When I was writing those two characters, I had no intention of writing them as my friends but in my mind, they look a bit like them, so I gave them their names. I asked them and they were okay with it. The characters don’t have the same personalities necessarily, but they looked like them.

What was the hardest scene to write and for what reason? Did it require the most research, or take the longest, or was the hardest to emotionally process?

The hardest scene. The book is full of difficult scenes so that’s a hard question. I think maybe when Norma loses the baby. I felt so much for her. I wanted to crawl inside the story and give her a hug. I have never experienced this, so once again, I hope that I did right by the experience and gave it the care it deserves.

Did you ever consider a third perspective, or did you always know that this story would be told by Joe and Norma?

I originally thought the story would be told only by Joe. But Norma snuck up on me and demanded to tell her own story. And I listened. I think it worked out well.

How did publishing your first book change your process of writing?

I’m not really sure. I think I would say that it gave me a little more confidence to just write. If someone liked this story, they might like the next so just keep writing.

To gain a little insight into your creative self, if you had to describe yourself as a writer in three words, what would they be?

Determined. Hardworking. Insecure.

What is your “must-read” book recommendation and what book has had the most impact and influence on your writing?

This is such an unfair question. There are so many books out there that have inspired me. When I’m stumped or when I can’t seem to get into the groove, I will pick up The Underpainter by Jane Urquhart. I know that I’ve read this book at least three times. Sometimes, I just read the first couple pages and sigh with contentment. I love all her work, but this is the one I turn to. And I would have to say Heave by Christy Ann Conlin. This was the first book that I really recognized myself in. It takes place in the Valley and has characters like people I know. It made me think that if this person could write such an amazing story that takes place in the Annapolis Valley, then maybe I could too.

What advice would you give to aspiring authors who are trying to navigate the publishing world?

Ask for help, never be afraid to ask people for advice. Don’t be discouraged, rejection is part of the process. If you believe in what you are writing, keep going.

Do you have another novel in the works or is there a new project that you’re working on? When can readers anticipate it?

I have a short story collection Waiting for the Long Night Moon, but I’m not sure when it will be out. It will also be coming from HarperCollins. I am working on something new, but I am keeping that close to my heart. I want to make sure I can do the story justice before sending even a little bit of it out into the universe.

In Conversation with Nancy Mauro author of The Sugar Thief

With Kaylie Seed

Photo Credit: Ken Jones, 2021

One of the focal points in The Sugar Thief is on the Persian, a pastry famous to the Thunder Bay, Ontario area. While you have created a fictional Persian for your novel, can you give our readers a brief history about this delectable treat?

The original owner of Bennett’s Bakery in the mid-century was Arthur Bennett. Legend has it that he created the cinnamon bun and named it “Pershing” after the World War I hero, General John Pershing, of the US army. In the novel, we see how a pastry named after a military figure, Pershing, became the Persian.

Readers meet Sabine, a YouTube Star on the rise, as she heads back to Thunder Bay for the first time in a decade. How did you come up with Sabine’s character and did you find her easy or difficult to flesh out? Is there a part of her you loved writing the most?

There’s a lot to work with when you’re creating a character who judges herself completely by what followers on social media think at any given moment. I wrote many drafts of the novel before landing on this particular Sabine. Initially, I wanted a character who could carry a lot of autobiographical and historical elements of Thunder Bay. But it was only when I completely fictionalized Sabine and her cult of personality that things got fun.

Readers are brought through different points in time as well as different places around the world. Why was it important for you to include not only Sabine’s present but her father Francis’ history as well?

The first iteration of this story was as a personal essay exploring my family’s immigration from Italy to Northwestern Ontario in the mid-century. And the early fictional drafts were heavily steeped in this time and place. Even though hundreds of those pages went away, it gave me solid backstories for the main characters. In a book where characters are doing pretty outrageous, unthinkable things, you need to establish strong motivations.

Throughout The Sugar Thief you describe a variety of delicious sounding pastries in great detail (including the baking processes for them) that are bound to have readers craving something sweet! What kind of research did you have to delve into for this?

I read a lot of recipes and watched dozens of baking videos. I visited the real Bennett’s Bakery and was privy to the real Persian-making process! My parents used to be part owners of the bakery years ago, so I pulled from their memories and knowledge.

What is your favourite pastry to make? What recipe should our readers try in their own kitchens?

I’m not the best baker. My mother is the real baker in our family. But twice a year, I go all out on birthday cakes for my daughters. I made a rainbow layer piñata cake when my older girl turned five. I stacked four layers of sponge cake, hollowed out the centre with a long knife, and then stuffed the core with candy. I topped the whole thing with a final layer of cake, frosted it, and covered it with sprinkles. The candy spilled out when the cake was cut open, and the kids went crazy.

The Sugar Thief mentions a variety of Thunder Bay landmarks and those who may not be familiar to the area may not know what they are, like the Sleeping Giant. Why did you include the landmarks and street names that you did? Do any of them hold a significance to you?

Because this is, in part, the story of the Persian, it simply had to take place in Thunder Bay. So, a lot of the world-creating was already done. After establishing the setting, I used landmarks here and there as it helped me to visualize a scene. But these descriptions also had to serve the story in some outward manner. For instance, when one of the main characters, Wanda, describes the Sleeping Giant as a spirit turned to stone to protect the location of a silver deposit, this triggers her to think of the secrets that she herself is protecting.

What advice would you give to aspiring authors who are trying to navigate the publishing world?

It’s tough to publish traditionally. Writing a novel is a multi-year commitment, and what gets chosen for publication is often driven by market demands and trends. But if you have a particular piece of knowledge, experience, or even an obsession—if there’s a concept only you can bring to life—this will give you a leg up in the publishing world. There is a lot of value in having expertise in some area and turning that into a work of fiction.

Another tip relates to the actual craft of writing. Before you attempt a full-length novel, try to write it as a short story. Of course, you won’t be able to capture nearly enough of a novel’s plot or multiple character development in a short story. But if you can sketch it out roughly, it’s a great way to visualize your protagonist’s arc and how you want to tell the story.

Do you have another novel in the works or a new project you’re working on? When can readers anticipate it?

I have a female character, a setting, and a situation in mind, but I’m waiting to ‘find out’ what steps she’s going to take to set her story in motion.

What is your “must-read” book recommendation and what book has had the most impact and influence on your writing?

My writing has been influenced by a lifetime of reading. But two novels that I always recommend are Kevin Wilson’s “Nothing to See Here” and the middle-grade novel “When You Reach Me” by Rebecca Stead. These novels are both about the very basic, very poignant human need to belong—although the journey to belonging in each is wonderfully surreal.

A terrific writers’ guide I’ve gifted several times is “Story Genius” by Lisa Cron. I’m big on outlining (and re-outlining) my work. The author here has developed a method that helps you examine your work scene by scene at the outline stage to ensure that every movement in a story works to push the main character’s dramatic arc forward.

In Conversation with Nancy Vo author and illustrator of Boobies

With Carly Smith

Photo by Nancy Vo

Can you share with us what sparked your idea for Boobies? It is such a unique and special story and it must have come from a special place.
My previous picture book stories came from one of two places – inspiration or coping.

The Outlaw and The Ranger were inspired by other stories. The Outlaw was inspired after reading Patrick DeWitt’s Sisters Brothers; The Ranger was inspired after watching and reading the Coen Brothers’ adaptation of Charles Portis’ True Grit.

Boobies falls under coping, as did my first “trunk book” about my colicky toddler.
Boobies also began as a dare. And I’m not one to turn down a good dare – thank you, Silver. Your turn now.

This book has the perfect combination of humour, science lessons, and trivia. How did you choose which facts to include and which ones to omit? Is there anything you had to omit that you wish you could have included in the final version?
Thank you. I’m glad that you found Boobies both funny and factual.

Yes, I started with a pile of “facts”, and I knew that I wanted a sort of loosely linked narrative, even if this was never going to be a book with a proper plot and storyline. And yes, there were quite a few facts that never made it into the book – supernumerary nipples, male Dayak fruit bats, placentas and belly buttons, the animal kingdom chart, a bad pun involving ghosts and bees…

The facts that remain are the ones that work the best for this book. I have my publisher, and editor to thank for their guidance. The addition of breastfeeding was genius, Groundwood Books. Thank you!

Can you shed some light on your writing process for this book? Did you write from beginning to end? Or perhaps, did you collect pieces of information bit by bit and move them around to find a particular flow?
It is true that this book developed so differently from the previous two picture books. Those books at least had a sense of story from the onset, whereas Boobies was a collection of facts that I could rearrange until it felt like there was sort of a cohesive link from one page turn to the next.

The book’s humour also relies on visual gags that do not even come through in the text. The sun-toasted humans on the nudist beach, for example.

Illustration by Nancy Vo, The sun-toasted humans on the nudist beach.

Will this book have a sequel, of sorts, about a different body part?
Even though most boobies come in pairs, I am not working on a sequel.

When do you have the most creative flow for writing and illustrating? Under what circumstances or conditions are you most prepared and excited to do your work?
Two of my picture book ideas came to me when I was out running. But that isn’t the whole story. The latest picture book that I’m working on can be traced back to when someone said that I should watch a certain film. That film turned out to be a horror movie involving a Swedish cult. I couldn’t finish the movie but did start wondering if there were actual cults during the mid-1800s in North America. One idea led to another and now the story has nothing to do with cults. However, the first lines are still in the story.
“Once there was a runaway.”

So I guess the answer is that influences come from many places. The circumstances or conditions are not as I would necessarily expect them. Being open to possibility is part of the key, I suppose.

Is there a particular excerpt or illustration in Boobies that you are most proud of?
I’m happy with the cover.

I had another cover idea initially, but the publisher said that the concept of twin peaks was difficult to convey the way I had illustrated them. She sent covers of other humorous picture books, and I went away to think. All the covers that she sent had a forward-facing character. There was a certain assertion that caught my attention.

More thinking…

Of course! The blue-footed booby! Boobies the book should lead with our cos-playing seabird. And now I could really have fun with the title! A strategic arrangement of the oo’s, and we had a winner. The artistic director added his own special cover reveal. I’m so glad that Groundwood pushed me to rethink.

What is your “must-read” book recommendation and what book has had the most impact and influence on your writing?
It might not be fair to give a “must-read” book recommendation because the path is different for everyone. When I started books, I do remember that moment when I realized the possibilities of picture books. I picked up Jon Klassen’s newly published, I Want My Hat Back and felt something click. That was probably the emotional connection

I also just read a lot so that I could figure out what I liked and how picture books work. Children’s Picturebooks – The Art of Visual Storytelling, by Martin Salisbury was a great resource too.

What advice would you give to aspiring authors who are trying to navigate the publishing world?
Read a lot. That is probably the best thing you can do throughout your career.

Other things that help me are:
-being open to revisions and rethinking;
-accepting rejections gracefully.

Separate from a potential sequel to Boobies (which we’re hoping for!), do you have another book in the works or a new project you’re working on? What can you share about it and when can readers anticipate it?
I’m working to deliver book three in the Crow Stories trilogy with Groundwood Books. The Runaway will be published in 2024.

In Conversation with S.C. Lalli author of Are you Sara?

With Robyn Rossit

Photo by Ming Joanis, A Nerd’s World

Are You Sara? has a unique cast of characters from various backgrounds, as well as an exciting plot. Which came first when planning out your novel, the characters or the plot and how did you go about fleshing out the rest of the story once you had your hook?

The concept of the rideshare switch came first, and I would say the plot and characters emerged naturally from there. I found myself asking: who were these women, and what led them to that very moment? And why would anyone want either of them dead? It doesn’t always work this way for me, but because I had the premise first, I had to work backwards, and I ended up drawing on other fictional characters, situations, relationships, and plots that I’ve thought of before and combining everything. It’s a very messy process–my notebooks probably make no sense–but it was just about getting everything down and working through it, step by step, and creating an outline.

I found the concept of a “rideshare gone wrong” so relevant in today’s society with all the various company’s out there offering this service. What inspired this idea? Was it a casual thought while taking a rideshare yourself or a horror story from someone else’s experience? It certainly kicked off an awesome story!

Thanks! I got the idea when I waiting for a Lyft late one night in Toronto. I saw a woman waiting for a rideshare across the road, and our cars arrived at the same time. I found myself thinking what would have happened if we’d accidentally taken the wrong rides home? That was the genesis of Are You Sara?.

I always love to hear about the research process for a thriller novel. What was the strangest thing you had to Google/look up/deep dive into while writing Are You Sara??

The book is largely set in a fictional New England college town and Boston, but because of the pandemic, I wasn’t able to visit while writing the book. I spent a lot of time ‘walking around’ various places in Massachusetts on Google Maps to try and make sure the setting was as authentic as possible. The process made me want to visit even more!

What challenges did you face writing a book in this genre? Do you think this is unique to thriller stories or a universal challenge when it comes to writing a book and storytelling?

For me, the unique challenge to writing a thriller was figuring out how to layer in the clues to the mystery without the reader knowing. The thrilling part is often how the plot is delivered, rather than the plot itself.

Out of pure curiosity, what would you say is your most interesting writing habit or quirk?

I write best when I’m half awake first thing in the morning. As often as I can, I roll out of bed early, make myself a cup of tea, stay in my PJ’s, and go straight to my computer. If I don’t start early, then I find it very difficult to get into the writing frame of mind later in the day.  

Now that you’ve published your thriller, will there be another book in this genre from you in the future or are you thinking of an entirely new concept/genre to tackle? 

I have at least one more thriller coming out with HarperCollins! I’m still working my way through my first draft, but I’m having a lot of fun with it. Ideally, I would love to continue writing both rom coms and thrillers as I get to explore different themes and sides of myself, too.

What advice would you give to aspiring authors who are trying to navigate the publishing world?

Try your best not to worry about things you can’t control. They journey can be long and unpredictable, and all we can do is focus on our writing. Work hard to better your craft, don’t give up, and the rest will follow.

What is your “must-read” book recommendation and what book has had the most impact and influence on your writing?

Jhumpa Lahiri’s The Namesake. A beautiful book, and the first time I remember seeing my own sorts of experiences reflected in a book I was reading. I think having books like that empowered me to write my own stories, too.

In Conversation with Emma Hooper author of We Should Not Be Afraid Of The Sky

With Larissa Page

Photo by Sean Maylon

We Should Not Be Afraid Of The Sky was written from the perspective of five different characters/sisters and each of their voices is incredibly unique. Did you have any challenges in writing the voices of characters who were simultaneously so similar yet so different?

It was certainly a tricky line to tread: how to have the sisters be both notably connected (identical, even!) with all the shared rhythms that come of such a bond, but also remain distinct individuals? But it was also fun. I tried to let each character’s experience and role within the group distinguish them. I had a few methods to help me with this while writing, including having a different playlist of music for each sister that I could listen to before and while writing in their voice…

The setting and timeframe of this novel is not one we hear about often in historical fiction novels. What inspired you to write a story set during the Roman Empire and the beginnings of Christianity? Did you find you needed to research this time in history for information and what were some of your favourite details that you uncovered?

It was actually the character of St Quiteria who led me to this time period. My fascination began with her and, according to one set of legends, anyway, this was where and when she lived.

One of my favourite learned details was that the ancient Romans at this time had alarm clocks… but not domestic cats. More generally, I really enjoyed digging into how the cultures of that time overlapped, mingled and mixed. The movement and blending of peoples and traditions was much more an everyday part of life in the empire than I’d realised…

Who was your favourite character to write about and why? Was it one of the sisters or someone else in the narrative?

That’s tricky! I love all the sisters so much, it doesn’t seem right to choose between them… but I can say that of the non-sister characters I particularly enjoyed writing “don’t call me mother" Julia, the commander’s wife. She represents a certain traditional type of female role that I found quite interesting to play with and juxtapose with the sisters and their adventures. She’s ‘traditional’ but still a unique and interesting person with her own quirks and flaws within that role.

Did you find the process of writing this novel different from the process of writing your previous novels? How would you say this novel differs or is similar to your previous works?

This one definitely took a lot more research…! While the other books definitely contained elements I wanted and needed to learn more about to write convincingly (cod fishing, world-war-two, Canada folk songs…) We Should Not Be Afraid of the Sky was so much further away from where and when I’m from. This was also my first novel written in the first person, something that took a little getting used to, but which also opened up new ways to present the character’s thoughts, actions and relationships. I quickly learned that there is so much more to it than just switching “she” to “I”…

If you could go back and live in the setting of one of your novels (all are so unique), which one would you chose and why?

Well, I’d love to go back and visit the ancient Roman Portugal setting of We Should Not Be Afraid of the Sky but I wouldn’t want to live there. Women had drastically fewer rights and possibilities open to them then, something the sisters in the book are fighting against a lot of the time. I’m also a big fan of modern medicine! But it would be so so so fascinating to see the architecture, food, clothing, and everything else from so very long ago; so much of what we know is based on so little, really, and I’d love to be able to fill in the many knowledge gaps.

In terms of actually living, it might seem strange, but I’d probably choose the lonely Newfoundland island from Our Homesick Songs. I spent some time in similar places while researching that book (and before, just because I love it there) and there’s something incredible magical about it. One thing is how it’s foggy at some point almost every single day… it sort of blurs the boundary between yourself and the sea. Overall I love how much the sea and weather permeates so much there, from food to songs.

Now that We Should Not Be Afraid Of The Sky is making its way into the world, are you working on your next project? What can you share with us about it?

I am! But I’m still in that fizzy, sparkly early stage where things are very fun and changing every day… ask me that question again in a year’s time and I’ll have a firmer answer for you…

What advice would you give to aspiring authors who are trying to navigate the publishing world?

If you really love it then just keep trying. There’s no such thing as a failed book or project, as each one teaches you so much that you can use to write a better next one. It took me ten years and three novels to actually get to the stage of publication…!

What is your “must-read” book recommendation and what book has had the most impact and influence on your writing?

In terms of ‘must-read’: anything and everything. The most important thing, I think, is just to always have a book (or two) on the go…

Some authors that have really impacted and influenced me, however, include Ali Smith, Heather O’Neill, Karen Russel, and Jane Austen…

In Conversation with Sophie Jai author of Wild Fires

With Kaylie Seed

Photo by Sophie Jai

The main themes in Wild Fires are grief and family. Where did the inspiration for these themes come from? Were these difficult to write about?

I thought about the story I wanted to write most before I died. I once heard somewhere that a writer’s debut novel is a “clearing of the throat.” Now that I’ve cleared my throat, I feel like I can move on to other stories. Maybe thousands of years from now, someone – or an alien, even (!) – will stumble upon my book, and experience another story in the catalogue of human stories.

I was keen to write about family because it’s the first social universe we experience before we go out into the world. A house is a world on its own – perhaps the only real world. The space of a family’s house is incredibly intimate, exclusive, and delicate. Any change in its ecosystem can change its balance forever. I think grief is the most disruptive of these changes. It was enthralling to explore.

As this is your first book, what surprised you about the research you had to do and what areas did you dig into to help bring your novel to life?

In researching setting, there wasn’t much surprise for me. I was born and raised in Trinidad, so I could write about the island confidently by drawing from my own memories of its details. Sometimes the saboteur chimed in. It convinced me that I was, indeed, misremembering things, and what I was remembering was wrong, and Trinidadian readers would discover I was a fraud. For example, I remembered a car with a megaphone on its roof that drove around our villages announcing weekly news, like marriages and death. I was sure of the memory and yet unsure at the same time. I ended up Googling it and running it by my family for complete confirmation.

In terms of place though (the house), I wanted to explore the psychology of houses and its effect on its inhabitants. Gaston Bachelard’s The Poetics of Space was a steady companion to me for this purpose.

Wild Fires takes the reader between Canada and Trinidad. What did you enjoy learning and writing about these different places and their timelines?

Writing about Trinidad and Toronto allowed me to put in writing what I loved about these two homes of mine. I loved capturing their minute details, special only to my memories and the backdrop to my short time on Earth. I especially loved the contrast between a small, hot island and the wintry, cold city, and that even though one can get on a plane and move across the ocean, grief can take its seat right next to you.

There are many different characters in Wild Fires, who was your favourite character to write and why?

It’s a tie between Sangeetha and Rani. Sangeetha is the bathetic, melodramatic poet of the family. She wears a heavy eyeliner, red lip, and a dotted-on mole that moves with the phases of the moon. On a day in which she felt particular vengeful, she drew her eyebrows on in the shape of devil horns. She is wild, but empathetic, extroverted, but insulated.

Rani, on the other hand, is Sangeetha’s complete opposite. I loved writing Rani’s story because she was a character that other characters simply didn’t understand. In this way, the reader is privy to information that characters in the book aren’t. There’s a shared secret between the reader and Rani. It felt mischievous to write, pitting these characters against each other.

What is your “must-read” book recommendation and what book has had the most impact and influence on your writing?

Jefferey Eugenides’ The Virgin Suicides taught me the cohesiveness and tightness of good writing and storytelling.

Doireann Ní Ghríofa’s A Ghost in the Throat renewed my purpose in writing as a woman.

Shaun McNiff’s Trust the Process, which I read very early on as a writer, is a beautiful artist’s companion. It’s nurturing, meditative, and kind.

David Chariandy’s Soucouyant showed me (also very early on) that characters like me and my family do exist in fiction, and thus inspired me to put pen to paper.

What advice would you give to aspiring authors who are trying to navigate the publishing world?

Unfortunately, get on the hellsite that is Twitter. Following publishers, agents, book media websites, literary organizations, and emerging writer awards shows you how many opportunities are out there for new writers.

Do you have another novel in the works or a new project you’re working on?

I think so…

Author Biography

Sophie Jai is the author of WILD FIRES (HarperCollins, August 23, 2022). The novel was longlisted for the 2019 Bridport Prize Peggy Chapman-Andrews Award, and she was a 2020 Writer-in-Residence and Visiting Fellow at the University of Oxford, and will be a Kellogg Scholar at Oxford from ’22-’24. She is an alumna of the Humber School for Writers in Toronto where she studied under Olive Senior. She was born and raised in Trinidad, and grew up in Toronto. She currently lives between London and Toronto.

In Conversation with Jamie Ford author of The Many Daughters of Afong Moy

With Kaylie Seed

Photo by Eric Heidle

Readers learn about epigenetics (the study of how our behaviours and our environment affect our DNA, essentially changing how it works) and I’m curious, what kind of research did you need to do on epigenetics? Was this always meant to be a central theme in The Many Daughters of Afong Moy?

Fortunately, scientists, biologists, chemists, and geneticists at Emory University, MIT, Sarah Lawrence, and Harvard (just to name a few) have done a copious amount of research and as a writer of fiction I’m able to stand on their shoulders and look taller (and smarter) than I really am. Their trailblazing work is documented in countless scientific papers, which are written for peer review, not pleasure reading. My job was to harvest as much science as I could and present it in a way that would not only be understandable, but compelling. While also projecting where I think this technology might take us in a few short decades.

In a way, it’s analogous to how Arthur C. Clarke proposed the concept of satellite communication in 1945 before Sputnik 1 was launched into orbit in the late 50s. I have this vain hope that the concepts presented in the book might someday become reality, if only so I can iron out the wrinkles in my own epigenetic past.

That was always the central theme, to find a way to relive the past and correct mistakes or reshape regrets for the next generation. Because everyone wants a do-over, right?

As a follow up to the question above, what inspired you to look into epigenetics in the first place? It is a fascinating field of study to read about.

I owe it all to Van Halen. Seriously. My interest in epigenetics began, when my twelve-year-old son, Taylor, found Van Halen on YouTube and declared them the greatest band ever. I’d never played Van Halen’s music for him, but that was my first concert back in 1984 (with David Lee Roth in leopard print Spandex).

At the time, it seemed like a weird parent/child coincidence. Then he fell in love with Genesis, another band I liked back then and I became convinced that in addition to my hairline, overbite, and blood type, Taylor had somehow inherited my dubious taste in music. 

That’s when I began reading everything I could find on transgenerational epigenetic inheritance, which is the study of how behaviour and environment can alter the function of our genetic code. It’s also the study of how those phenotype changes in our DNA are heritable, affecting subsequent generations.

Readers may not know that Afong Moy was a real person, that she was known as the first Chinese woman to step onto American soil in 1834. How did you originally learn about her? Did you know that you wanted to write about her immediately or was she a historical figure that stayed with you awhile until you found the right story for her?

Back in the early 90s the San Francisco Examiner ran a full-page dedicated to Asian American Heritage Month. I remember a detailed chronology from 1587, when Filipino sailors first landed in what is now California, to Kristi Yamaguchi winning the gold medal in the Olympics in 1992. On that timeline were things like the death of Vincent Chin, the opening of the Angel Island Detention Center, and the Chinese Exclusion Act, but also a curious mention that read “1834, Afong Moy, the first known Chinese woman in the United States, is put on display in a New York Theater.”

Decades later that I thought about fictionalizing her life, but there didn’t seem to be enough there for an entire novel and her life story ends so mysteriously and tragic. But once I went down the epigenetics rabbit hole, I realized she could become a wonderful root character in a multi-generational story. I could give her a voice as well as a moment of redemption.

There are six different women characters that the reader will follow throughout The Many Daughters of Afong Moy, each set in a different period of time and many based on real life events. Was there a specific character that you enjoyed creating the most, and if so who and why?

I loved writing Greta’s story. Not because I’m a tech executive but I did take computer programming classes at Olympic College while in junior high, so I was kind of a turbo-geek. Or as Greta says, “I’m polynomial in a non-polynomial world.” I can relate to that struggle to fit in. I mean, I was a kid taking Pascal, and everyone else in the HP computer lab seemed like they were in their 70s. (In retrospect, I’m sure they were in their late 20s or 30s and I probably made them feel just as old as they made me feel like a toddler).

And in case anyone’s wondering, after being asked to write a program to track hotel occupancy (and not create video games as I’d hoped) I quit. Thus, becoming that rare fourteen-year-old college drop-out.

As a follow up to the question above, did you find any of these characters difficult to create, and if so who and why?

The hardest was Lai King because most of her story takes place on a ship. Not just any ship, but a steam barkentine. What’s that? Exactly. It’s a sailing ship that also has a steam engine, founded in this liminal space between the old world and the industrial age.

I should mention that despite spending a lot of time on the ocean in my 20s, I now get horribly seasick with even the slightest motion of the sea. Friend (and author) Hugh Howey once invited me to join him aboard his catamaran, which was in Fiji at the time. I said, “You will quickly tire of me barfing over the side.” To which he replied, “Don’t sell yourself short, I would never tire of watching you barf over the side.”

What was your process for writing this story? Did you know from the beginning the way each of the main character’s stories would intertwine or did parts of the story/characters come to you as you were writing?

Honestly, my process involved staring out the window and daydreaming for hours, wallowing in self-doubt, second-guessing myself, worrying endlessly about if I could ever write my way out from under the shadow of my first book, then finally taking a deep breath and going for it.

Since this book has a lot of moving parts, I wrote a fairly detailed synopsis with the story arcs of each character and how the novel would end. But the rest I make up as I go because I enjoy the discovery aspect of writing.

Also worth mentioning is that I always take my opening chapters out for a test-drive by reading them in front of a live audience. If people are dyyyyyyinnng to know what happens next, I keep going. If they’re staring at their phones, then I’ve failed and need to start again.

What is your “must-read” book recommendation and what book has had the most impact and influence on your writing?

My must-read recommendation is Fun Home by Alison Bechdel. It’s an award-winning graphic novel that is both timely and somehow timeless as well. I always recommend that book clubs read at least one graphic novel per year. If not, they’re missing an entire world of literature. In the U.S. we’re like teenagers looking down on other art forms without even trying them. The rest of the world has known graphic novels, manga, and other forms of sequential art transcend the written word and can do more to stir the imagination than film.

As far as the book that had the most impact and influence, I’d have to say the Prince of Tides by Pat Conroy. It was the book that turned me from a writer into a storyteller.

What advice would you give to aspiring authors who are trying to navigate the publishing world?

I’m going to quote the late, great Harlan Ellison who said, “Write for the wisest, wittiest, most intelligent audience in the universe. Write for yourself.” Though Jason Mott put it best when he talked in an interview about how at some point a writer needs to decide which is more important, writing for themselves, or writing for money. There’s certainly some overlap and there’s no wrong direction, but as an artist you need to figure out which is more important and lean in that direction. I have so much respect and admiration for Jason because he wrote Hell of a Book doubting an agent or publisher would want it, but it was the book he wanted to write. Oh, and it won a National Book Award.

Do you have another novel in the works or a new project you’re working on? When can readers anticipate it?

Because The Many Daughters of Afong Moy is fairly complex, has so many timelines, and features so many characters, as I was writing it I swore to myself that my next book would be easier. One point-of-view character, one timeframe, and in a contemporary setting. That was my plan. But once I started the research it was clear that plan was wishful thinking. I can’t say what it’s about but it’s another mash-up of historical and speculative fiction. And I will undoubtedly be cursing myself along the way for breaking that promise.

In Conversation with Jeanette Lynes author of The Apothecary's Garden

With Sara Hailstone

Photo by Matt Braden

The Apothecary’s Garden is set in Belleville, Ontario during the 1860s. With setting being an integral part of any story, why did you choose to set the story here and in this time?

Before I launch into the setting of The Apothecary’s Garden, I want to thank you, Sara, for this interview. From the 2008 – 2017 period, I spent considerable time in Kingston, Ontario, and became interested in the history of that whole area. I studied Canadian literature in university and knew that one of Canada’s prominent nineteenth-century authors, Susanna Moodie, had lived in Belleville. I also became in interested in Spiritualism, and places around Belleville were ‘hot spots’. The famous (or infamous) Fox Sisters, Kate and Maggie, seminal forces of spiritualism in nineteenth-century America, had family ties with Belleville. The town was prominent on the railway line. The train station is still a charming landmark and in general, the ‘old world’ vibe of Belleville appealed to me. In some almost inexplicable way, a place will ‘speak’ to you, almost as if it beckons you to explore it, and Belleville had this pull, for me.

The character Robert, the companion of the medium, has a disfigured face? Did you intend symbolism with Robert’s face? Is symbolism an important literary device in your work?

Good question about Robert’s face. I probably don’t think in terms of symbolism so much as literary tropes, or motifs. The Apothecary’s Garden gestures back to Victorian fiction and even earlier fiction, which had a fascination with deformity – and spectacle. People with physical differences were sometimes put on display as ‘freaks’ and monetized as a form of entertainment. This ‘othering’ is, of course, cruel. Various kinds of people were ridiculed or ‘othered’ in the Victorian world, including certain kinds of women – especially those without financial means - who lived on the margins of society. Those with physical differences. This anxiety around difference was part of that world. Robert’s disfigurement invites empathy and compassion. And on a more basic level, I wanted to avoid the typical, handsome romantic hero – if not ‘avoid’ entirely, because Robert has much about him that is attractive – at least trouble that a little.

You’re a Professor of English and Director, MFA in Writing with the University of Saskatchewan. Given all of your experience, what do you find to be the most challenging aspect in writing a novel and this novel in particular? What do you do to overcome this challenge?

The most challenging aspect of writing a novel is time – finding the time to maintain the discipline to see the project through. Long-form fiction, for me at least, requires regimented, structured writing time, ideally, a daily practice that is very regularized. If you step away from the novel for too long, you grow distant from it. The aim is to keep your head in the world of the story. I wrote the first draft of The Apothecary’s Garden in 2013 and there were periods where I had to set it aside – long periods. It took quite a while to return to the world of that story. I wish I had a secret tip on how to overcome this challenge, other than strategizing which windows of time you have for writing and guarding those windows fiercely because the world always finds a way to claw back your attention and time.  A particular challenge with The Apothecary’s Garden was pandemic lockdowns. I very much wanted to return to Belleville for some immersive research, but lockdowns prevented that. Luckily, my copyeditor is from Belleville – such serendipity! – and helped me with some setting details. All this being said, I’m fortunate that my job as a writing teacher is so closely tied to my passion – writing.

As the saying goes, hindsight is 20/20 and as writers we can endlessly tweak and adjust our creative projects. Looking back, would you change anything about the novel in terms of plot, setting, and characterization? Or, did The Apothecary’s Garden form exactly as you hoped and intended?

Hindsight, yes. I always had a sense of what mood I wanted to evoke in this novel – melancholy, lush, spooky, and I thought a lot about my late mother and my longing to somehow connect with her. And fairy tales were also part of this affective landscape: Hans Christian Andersen, for example.  So the ‘feeling’ of the novel was always there, but the plot evolved. In hindsight, I’d tie a few of the story’s elements together a bit more.

How much research did you need to do for your book? Did you research some of the more magical attributes to the story? What was your most interesting find?

I undertook a lot of research for this novel, especially the Spiritualism aspect – the magic. But equally, I combed through the newspapers of the period to find, for example, what businesses existed in Belleville. I read accounts of drug remedies in the nineteenth century. Two of the most interesting aspects of my research were: 1) how women physic mediums leveraged their work as a means of agency and empowerment. And 2) the world of pharmaceuticals was wild, unregulated, with all sorts of ‘quack cures’ and dubious substances that were sold. For instance, cocaine tooth drops, Mrs. Winslow’s Soothing Syrup which contained morphine and alcohol. But I loved all the research, including ladies’ clothing in the mid-nineteenth century.

If there is one thing you hope your readers will take away from The Apothecary’s Garden, what is it? Alternatively, what is your favourite aspect of the novel?

Honestly, I’d like readers to derive pleasure from the story, and immerse in its world. A love story written to entertain might be an antidote to the past two difficult years. Our times are dystopian, but I hope there’s still room for romance and pleasure. My favourite aspect of the novel is escaping to another time and place. And I confess I enjoy romance. This novel allowed me to indulge my inner romantic (laughs).

What is your must-read book recommendation and what book has had the most impact and influence on your writing?

It’s so difficult to choose one book that has had the most impact and influence on my writing. But some important authors are Bronwen Wallace, Lucy Maude Montgomery, Alice Munro, and Elizabeth Bishop. My copy of Madness, Rack, and Honey by American poet Mary Ruefle is never far away. Same with Stephen King’s On Writing. And Thomas Hodd’s recent edition of Mary Melville the Psychic proved timely with respect to The Apothecary’s Garden. See, I told you I couldn’t choose one.

What advice would you give to aspiring authors who are trying to navigate the publishing world?

My advice for aspiring authors would be to not fixate on agents – many newer authors tend to do this – but write the best piece you possibly can. Get your work out there. Read at open mics, that sort of thing. Also, talk to other writers. Ask them about their experiences. Joining a writing group can help. Deadlines help (laughs). Above all, try to maintain a regularized writing practice, even if it’s only every Sunday morning. The routinization is so important in making writing an integral part of your life.

Do you have another novel in the works or a new project that you’re working on? When can readers anticipate this?

I’m working on another novel, yes. It’s different, set in 2018, so can’t really be considered ‘historical’. It deals with characters in the latter phase of their lives. It’s never too late for a do-over. Thanks for these great questions, Sara.

In Conversation with Fawn Parker Author of What We Both Know

With Cassandra Navratil

Photo by Alex Tran

What was the inspiration behind What We Both Know? Were any of the characters or experiences in the novel taken from your own life?

I’d written two novels and was feeling frustrated, I think. It was important to me to experiment, to really throw myself into projects and prioritize truth and emotion and creative process. I’m not someone who generally cares about structure or careful plotting or anything. I don’t really have the MFA brain. But the feedback I was getting from friends and colleagues was making me feel claustrophobic. I felt almost like my friends were trying to “level” with me, as if they wanted me to admit, yes, these books were bad, but the exciting part was my potential! Maybe that doesn’t make any sense. Or maybe it’s a woman thing? But so I decided to write what I called, during the writing process, a “Penguin book.” I don’t mean any offence to the major publishers, really. I’m so grateful to have been published by M&S and to have their support. I guess what I mean is I resigned myself to writing something that felt more structurally sound, more clean, so people would be more open to what I’m trying to say. I learned that pure expression is not always coherent to an outsider. And I love this book because it’s full of real feelings, but the original inspiration came from a place of trying to make what I actually wanted to do more palatable. I wanted to stop feeling like everyone’s kid sister. Oh no, I didn’t answer your question did I…

Some of the characters share traits with real people I know, but for the most part they’re fictional. I was excited by the idea of writing a protagonist who isn’t really anything like me. Of course some of my real experiences always work their way in, but for the most part this book feels very separate from my life.

Your novel explores the difficult topic of adult children to care for and navigate elderly parents with Alzheimer’s. Was this a topic that you were familiar with, or did you have to do research? If so, did you have any particularly helpful resources?

I’m not familiar with Alzheimer’s personally though it is in my family. When I was writing this book I didn’t feel I was basing any of it off of my real life, but looking back, I do think some of the questions and emotions in the story come from my experience caring for my mother in the final years of her life.

I did have to do some research into medications and typical timelines, but for the most part I tried to keep things vague enough that no one could assign Baby any particular diagnosis.

Which character do you feel you can relate to the most in your story, and why? Were any structured after people in your personal world or were they pure creation without a source?

Perhaps what I liked about writing this book is I don’t really relate to any of them! Of course Hillary’s narration is first-person, so her thoughts and feelings come from within me, but I don’t feel that we’re too similar. It might be too morbid if I say Pauline!

Your writing style in this novel is quite unique, in that Hilary’s stream of consciousness from the beginning leaves us with very little information about the main characters and what is happening. We, as readers, are left to make assumptions and be patient as more is revealed. What made you choose to reveal certain plot points and elements more slowly in this story and how did this style of storytelling alter the way in which you wrote? Was this a conscious decision to reveal details this way?

Forgetting is an important part of this story, in my opinion. I don’t think Hillary always has a strong handle on what has happened to her or even what’s happening in present. I wanted readers to be there with her, to not have more information than she herself has, because that seemed unfair.

What are you hoping that readers take away from this novel? Is there a lesson or lessons to be learned through Hilary’s experiences? What lasting impressions are you wanting to leave with them?

I’m not sure. I always write in the hopes that people will feel less lonely, or feel understood. This novel is very sad but I think every character has something beautiful in their life.

What is your writing process like? Are you the type of writer who starts writing and doesn’t quit until they are finished, or do you prefer to write in small chunks and take breaks between?

My writing process is a sickness. I try to take breaks and all of a sudden I’m typing a note in my phone, or writing on the back of a receipt. When I’m working on a larger project I can’t relax until I’ve hit my word count for the day. I need a break! Help!

Do you have anything else in the works right now, or are you taking a bit of a breather now that What We Both Know was just released?

I have a novel called Hi, it’s me coming out in 2024. In the meantime I’ll be working on my PhD and putting together a collection of poetry with Jim Johnstone at Palimpsest Press.

What advice would you give to aspiring authors who are trying to navigate the publishing world?

Don’t take advice from your competition! In fact don’t take advice from anyone. I like to listen to writers talk about writing, and talk to writers about writing, but I don’t like personal advice. Of course if you’re in a workshop, or a class, that’s the whole point, right. And if you’re working with a literary editor that’s it’s own thing. But your work comes from inside you. It’s a very delicate thing sometimes, and you can’t trust just anybody to hold it. Sometimes I think of writing like being pregnant, and I want the project to at least be able to survive outside of me before I let anyone at it. You know what you need to do better than anyone. I think writing 500 stories you’re unhappy with is infinitely more valuable a learning experience than one person chopping up your story and trying to change it. Anyway don’t listen to me. I don’t know anything.

Lastly, what is your “must-read” book recommendation and what book or author has had the most impact and influence on your writing?

Harrow by Joy Williams! Incredible!!!

In Conversation with Jasmine Sealy author of The Island of Forgetting

With Christina McLaurine

Photo credit: Benjamin Gardere

The Island of Forgetting spans over many decades. When it comes to character development, did this broad time period make it harder or easier to move your characters through events and show the impact and change that time had upon them? Is there a time or place in the book that you wished you had expanded upon?

I always knew I wanted the book to span several decades because I wanted to show the way the decisions made during each character’s youth rippled outwards, affecting the subsequent generation. In many ways, though the characters are related to each other, they are strangers, each never fully revealing themselves to the others. In a sense the reader actually knows these characters better than they know each other, and themselves. This was intentional on my part, because I was interested in exploring time, memory and secrets and how they impact a family dynamic. But it was hard to leave each character behind at the end of their sections. I could probably write a novel for each one and still have more to say. 

Mental health and various forms of mental unwellness are present in The Island of Forgetting. What inspired you to include them in this novel and how did it shape the way you chose to tell this story? 

Mental health is something that isn’t frequently discussed in Bajan families. Within my own family, there is alcoholism, depression, anxiety, but we tend to speak of these things euphemistically, which is common for the culture. My grandmother had a brother who used to “wander”, much the same way that Iapetus does in the novel, but he was always referred to as “the mad one”, his mental illness dismissed or made light of. Only in adulthood, through conversations with my parents, have I learned of violence they experienced in childhood that impacted their own parenting, and by extension my life. I became fascinated by the idea that so much of my life, the things I understood about myself, were shaped by events that happened before I was born. These unspoken intergenerational traumas, many of which are tied to untreated mental illness and addiction, inspired the novel.  

The characters within The Island of Forgetting feature many different struggles/challenges and you’ve fed them so seamlessly into one another, in a way layering them? This must have been very challenging. How did you keep yourself organized?

I wrote the novel in two major stages. The first draft I wrote chronologically, beginning with Atlas and ending with Nautilus. Once I had those sections more or less drafted I began the work of weaving them together, building connections and creating that layering. It was a long and tedious process involving a lot of rewriting. I probably have a whole second novel in deleted scenes!

Your story re-envisions aspects of Greek mythology. Was there a story or aspect of Greek Mythology that drew you to want to write The Island of Forgetting for a modern day audience?

I stumbled across Calypso’s story while diving down a late-night, insomnia-fuelled Wikipedia rabbit hole. I was actually checking to see if there was an etymological connection between “calypso”—as in the Caribbean folkloric music—and the Greek myth (there isn’t). But once I started reading The Odyssey I was struck by this image of Calypso as a Caribbean woman, falling hard for this foreign man who was just passing through. The depiction of Calypso, as this wanton woman, a seductress, mirrors the way Caribbean women are fetishized and sexualized in the media. Funnily enough, in the 1997 TV adaptation of The Odyssey, all of the characters are white, except for Calypso who is played by a black woman. I wanted to turn this cliché on its head. To dig into this idea of “the temptress” and tell it from Calypso’s point of view.

Did you know where you wanted the narrative to go and how you wanted it to end when you first began writing or did it reveal itself to you as you wrote? 

A bit of both. I actually changed the ending of the novel very late in the editing process. I knew how I wanted the reader to feel at the end of the novel, I had an idea of the message I was trying to get across, but it took me a few tries to figure out the “how” of it. But I didn’t do much planning or plotting ahead of time. It was a trial and error process (hence all of those deleted scenes!)

Can you describe your writing process? Do you outline each chapter? Are you a 5 am writer? Do you have any writing habits?

My writing process is incredibly chaotic. I do not outline but if I have a sense of what needs to happen next in a given scene I will write a few bullet point notes for myself at the top of the page so that I can keep track. I write mostly in bed, propped up on too many pillows and wreaking havoc on my spinal health. I do like to write in the mornings, but I require a good chunk of procrastination time before I can actually get into a flow. I work in bursts, sometimes churning out thousands of words day after day and then going several days where I write nothing at all and lie around feeling sorry for myself. When I look back on it I’m surprised that I somehow managed to finish this novel at all, the entire time I was always on the verge of quitting, convinced it would never be done. I wish I had a better system! But I think I’m doomed to always be a “muddle through” kind of writer. 

What is your “must-read” book recommendation and what book has had the most impact and influence on your writing?

I don’t have a “must-read” recommendation, but I would encourage readers to explore other works by Caribbean writers. It is such a diverse and endlessly fascinating region and there are phenomenal contemporary works being released all of the time. I recommend How the One-Armed Sister Sweeps Her House by Cherie Jones and What Storm What Thunder by Myriam Chancy. 

As for books that have influenced me, there are several but the one that comes to mind first is Wide Sargasso Sea by Jean Rhys. I love stories where the mad woman in the attic is allowed to come downstairs and bare her soul.

What advice would you give to aspiring authors who are trying to navigate the publishing world?

Learn how to sell your own writing. Learn the skill of a good pitch. Knowing how to summarize your own work and make it sound compelling is something they ought to teach in MFAs, its importance cannot be overstated.

Do you have another novel in the works? When can readers expect to get their hands on it? 

I do! I’m working on another novel set in Barbados, a work of historical fiction that takes place in the late 1960s during the independence era, when Barbados broke away from British colonial rule. It includes murdered prime ministers and mysterious starlets and lots of women behaving badly.  

In Conversation with Heather Marshall author of Looking for Jane

With Hayley Platt

Photo Credit: Amanda Kopcic

I grew up in Toronto, where Looking for Jane is set, and I love being able to place myself in the shoes of the characters because I know the locations. Did you walk down the same streets your characters walked during the writing process? What about this location spoke to you?

This is a great question! I’m very familiar with the city, so it was easy to picture (or walk) the routes and locations described in the book. I really wanted it to feel like it was Toronto, not just any big city, which was why I included a lot of specific references to places like Massey Hall and Fran’s Diner. Although some landmarks have stayed pretty much the same (like the paths through Queen’s Park), the fun part of writing Toronto in the historical fiction genre was getting to do research on things like what the Sam the Record Man sign looked like in 1981 when Nancy is walking past it, because it changed a few times over the years.

Did you know from the beginning the way Evelyn, Nancy, and Angela’s stories would intertwine or did parts/characters come to you as you were writing? What was your process for writing this story?

So writers fall into two categories: plotters, who plan everything out in meticulous detail from the beginning (often utilizing impressive spreadsheets), and ‘pantsers’ who fly by the seat of their pants and figure it out as they go, scribbling down random ideas on napkins and the note app on their phone while they’re in the grocery line. As much as I would love to be a plotter (and have tried, and failed spectacularly), I’m definitely a pantser! But I find it allows for more flexibility in the creative process, because oftentimes while I’m writing, a new plot or character idea will occur to me and I like to have room to incorporate those new ideas as the story unfolds. With that said, with Looking For Jane, the last scene/chapter/line was one of the first things that came to me when I was thinking about writing this book, and one of the first segments I wrote. So I did know how it was going to end, and I sort of worked my way backward from there, interweaving Evelyn, Nancy, and Angela’s stories as organically as possible. 

Are parts of yourself written into any of the protagonists? As I’ll mention later, many women can identify with your characters, who do you identify closest with?

Funnily enough, I don’t *think* there is a lot of me in those characters, because with this book I very much felt like I was a scribe for other women’s stories. If I had to pick, I would probably say Angela. I can relate to her burning desire to get pregnant, and I think I also have a nosy/stubborn streak like she does. If I had found a letter with that kind of a confession in it, I know I wouldn’t have been able to just let it go, either! I would have needed to find the recipient. 

Was there anything you discovered while researching for this book that you found to be particularly shocking, intriguing, or surprising? What piece of information helped shape your story?

I had done some academic papers on the history of abortion access in Canada in the years leading up to the 1988 Supreme Court decision that decriminalized it in Canada, so as much as those stories were appalling, I was not *shocked* by them. The most shocking research for me was the maternity home system. I had only ever heard about ‘homes for unwed mothers’ in a very vague sort of way, and hadn’t thought much about it. But when I dug into that research and learned what those women (girls) had gone through, it was beyond heartbreaking. I couldn’t believe this was never in my history books, and I knew I wanted to shed some light on it. But it was an incredibly emotional research process, and I tried to make sure I was depicting their experiences as accurately as possible. I wanted to do it justice. 

You've written a story that many women will be able to identify with, either from shared experience or family history, was this your goal when you started writing Jane or did it occur organically?

I knew I wanted to tell a story about the history of women’s reproductive rights in Canada over the past several decades, and then the book and its messages developed from there. I really wanted to show the evolution of how far we’ve come, and in some ways how far we still have to go, which was why I decided to do this sort of sweeping story that covered several decades. And I think that’s one of the reasons the book has resonated so much, because for women of almost any age, there is at least one part of this story that occurred during their lifetime/formative years, so they can really put themselves in the shoes of these characters. A lot of the experiences and struggles, in one way or another, are quite universal. 

Has your perception of the book changed now that you are a mother?

Absolutely. I wrote it before I was even pregnant, then was editing it while pregnant and when my baby was a newborn, and it hit so differently at that point. I have a much clearer view of what the girls at the maternity homes would have gone through, having their babies forcibly taken from them, and also how a woman might feel trapped if she was pregnant and didn’t want to be. As far as the research process went, though, I’m actually really glad I wrote it when I did, because I’m not sure I could have handled that research now that I’m a mother. 

Are you currently working on another book? What can we expect next from you?

Yes! I’m just finishing up the first draft of my next novel, which is also historical fiction. I can’t say too much just yet, but it’s inspired by the life of a woman named Mona Parsons, who was the only Canadian civilian woman to have been sentenced to death and imprisoned by the Nazis during WWII. Her story also wasn’t in my history books, and it’s just incredible. I’m looking forward to shedding some much-deserved light on her life! 

What advice would you give to aspiring authors who are trying to navigate the publishing world?

I know it’s so difficult, I’ve been there, but patience and perseverance are essential. Looking For Jane wasn’t actually the first book I wrote. I have another manuscript that will likely never see the light of day; it never got picked up by an agent (mostly because I didn’t do my market research beforehand, so be sure you do that, too!). If you’ve been pitching your manuscript to agents for a while and just aren’t getting any bites, come up with another idea and try again! It can be a really tough slog, and sometimes take years, and often it feels very hopeless, but if you’re determined enough, you can do it. Keep at it. Some of the best advice I got on the publishing process was from a writing instructor who told me “you only have to have two of three things: a great book, perseverance, and a bit of luck.” Take your time, and don’t rush the process. Research the market, research agents thoroughly to make sure you’re targeting the right ones, pay attention to the format in which those agents want your manuscript pitched to them, and keep trying! In the meantime, take writing courses and keep writing. The more you write, the better you get.

What is your “must-read” book recommendation and what book has had the most impact and influence on your writing?

Oh my gosh! What a question. If I had to pick just one, I would say All the Light We Cannot See by Anthony Doerr. It’s a Pulitzer Prize winning book for a reason. It is nothing short of a masterpiece. He has a way of capturing the human experience in a way I’ve never seen from any other author I’ve ever read; it’s so succinct while being gut-wrenchingly profound. If I could hone my talent to even one tenth of his, I would be satisfied. And as a writer, it’s good to read books that are so incredible that they leave you feeling inadequate! You’ll only get better at tennis if you play against someone who’s better than you.

In Conversation with Louise B. Halfe author of awâsis

With Carly Smith

Photo by Kim Regier

I was drawn to this book because of the main character in your poems who is gender fluid, playful, and ever-changing. The essence of awäsis crisply ties together the varying subjects of the poems while also affording each poem individuality. I seek to learn more about your inspiration and hopes for the book, your choice to include the Cree language, and how you selected the particular poems found in the book. I wish to thank you for the interview and I encourage everyone to open your book and take what they can from it; I am certain that each interpretation will be different yet significant. 

What was the inspiration for the creation of this book of poems?

For each book written I watch and listen to conversations happening around me. There are plenty of themes that surface, and I wait for the right inspiration to occur, and I follow it. When that happens the subject becomes possessive, and I become obsessed. Then I know I am on the right path. 

Why did you choose awâsis as the main character of your poetry and why was it significant to have a common character amongst your poems? 

We all have a child within. And that child loves to have fun, play tricks on others, and hilarious private things happen to us that we often won’t share with us. I was tapping into that child, inviting it to come out and play, laugh and to love.

How did you choose which poems to include in awâsis – kinky and dishevelled? Are there poems that you wish could have been included but didn’t work or feel right? How did you make decisions on which to keep and which to set aside?

I write intuitively and I completely trust the process. These poems came about from both the native and white public. The native folks had no end of laughter and story, while as the white public had to really struggle of what funny incident happened in their lives. I presume the concept of “the stiff upper lip” dominates their lives. There were some poems that didn’t make it in though funny in their respective way they couldn’t translate to paper. The poems must translate unto paper and deliver their humour. I asked permission to author the stories and promised to keep them anonymous. I gave each contributor a copy of the book in exchange. 

What feeling or message do you hope the book’s audience takes away from it?

Native people are not stoic like the stereotypes portrayed in media. Nor are we any more violent than any other nations, nor do we have monopoly over dysfunction and pain. We laugh, love and cry. As human beings we have a lot of common denominators although experiences differ. 

Humour plays an important role in awâsis – kinky and dishevelled. Do you think that using humor as a way of storytelling and poetry-sharing is a way to open doors for bigger conversations?

Yes, for sure. In Indian country if we tease a non-native person, it signals acceptance into the community. Sometimes humor is destructive, and one must be judicious on the content and delivery.

Some words in the poems are in Cree, whereas the rest of the poem is in English. How did you choose which words to write in Cree, and why did you choose to do this?

I want to emphasize that I write intuitively. I don’t spend a lot of time harassing the intuitive. I invite it in. Cree is my first language and I want to share it and attempt to preserve it by the inserting the words. And why not? Many non-native writers take full advantage of inserting other languages in their text without bothering to supply the interpretation. I figured if they could do this what was stopping me?

I’ve asked what you hope the book’s audience takes away from this compilation of poems. What have you taken away from this book, or how has it shaped you as an author?

I’ve always LOVED my community for its humor, in particularly during our dark times. We find humor in so many things and some folks are rich and blessed with it. They bring us along. How has it shaped me? I continue to listen, to enjoy and to silently take in all my surroundings.

Of all the poems in the book, do you have one you’d call a favourite, that you connect with the most, or is there a particular one you yourself find reciting often? 

I love awâsis. I randomly let the pages fall and read from them. I don’t wish to divulge which poem is my favorite as I just love the character. If I chose a favorite, it would be like playing a child against the other. Not nice.

Now that awâsis is published, will there be another book from you soon? 

I am working on several different manuscripts some of which are old. Something is in the works.

With the experience you have writing and publishing, what advice would you give to aspiring authors who are trying to navigate the publishing world?

Write often, daily if possible. This will enrich the craft. Be safe. Be honest. Go to a therapist if there is a need. Examine and figure out the fears. Don’t pay attention to spelling errors, punctuation, etc. work on that later. Get help. Accept feedback, ruminate on it, and decide does it fit. Be Free. I ask those that I respect who have a command of whatever language I am exploring and using for editorship. 

Read, read, read. Be a critical reader. Read a variety of subjects. And if one subject captivates you, read many authors coming from a different point of view and have that common theme. Research. Research. Research, books, people, etc. observe, listen, record. Learn to use she/he, they if “I” is too personal. Ask permission for the idea.

Be disciplined. Persevere. 

Incorporate daydreams and night dreams into the writing. Learn to read what the dreams are teaching you. Writing is ceremony. Life is a constant ceremony. It has its ups and its downs; one is never without the other. The difficulties encourage and push you to grown. Relish the feeling of work achieved and well-done. Learn to live without the accolades as there will be a few and far in between. Immediate gratification comes from within. Humility is your best companion.

Send the manuscript to a writers retreat, like Sage Hill Writing Experience, or Banff. Apply for funding/scholarships, grants. Seek successful writers, editors, and find mentors who will encourage you.

What is your “must-read” book recommendation and what book has had the most impact and influence on your writing?

I came across a book called “The Road Less Travelled” by a psychiatrist M. Scott-Peck years and years ago. Its an old classic. It led me to my spiritual journey, and I implemented what I learned. Dreams, Ceremony, Elders, therapists, friends, mentors, and books have all walked with me in all my endeavors as a writer, as a person. I don’t dismiss any teachings even if they are hurtful. There is a need to examine everything. We all have choices.

In Conversation with Nic Brewer author of Suture

With Lauren Bell

Photo by Becca Lemire Photography

First, I just need to say that I loved reading Suture. I paint and write myself, and I know I that felt seen, especially within the character Finn. Do you see yourself in any of your characters?

Thank you!! I’m so happy that you said it that way, that you felt seen. I see myself in all of the characters, honestly--even the ones that are loosely based on other people from my life. Because I was writing Suture throughout my entire twenties, my characters kept shifting as I grew as a person and a writer, and I ended up infusing parts of myself in all of them. But Grace and Eva are the two main sides of my personality coin - the worst of me lives in Grace, and the latest of me lives in Eva.

 What inspired you to write Suture?

Content warning: suicidal ideation

This question comes to me somewhat frequently, and I try to give a different kind of answer every time. The origin story: it started as an assignment for a university class on Satire. The heart of it: it wasn’t something I felt I had a choice in, this story that grew of its own accord, that taught me and learned from me, that miraculously found a home with my favourite people at my favourite publisher. But one of the many constant things that inspired me to write Suture is that I kept not dying. I wasn’t always trying, but so often I wanted to, and when I would come out the other side of the deep dark, when I’d find the perspective that doesn’t exist inside the deep dark, I needed to know more about it, and to do that I needed to write. Writing is the only thing that has ever come naturally to me, and it felt like the only way I was going to be able to survive my rounds with the deep dark was to write about the ache of it, and to write about the getting through.

There is some debate as to what genre Suture is. Specifically, is it horror or literary fiction? But I see in your bio, you describe yourself as a “creator of genre-less fiction”? What’s your stance on Suture and the significance of genre-less fiction in general?

Oh goodness, I feel like I could write extensively on my thoughts about genre, but I will do my best to pare it down. I think genre has a few purposes: to guide readers, to guide writers, and to sell books. The value of genre-less fiction, in my mind, is that is offers no guidance and has no motives--there is a certain amount of work required from the reader to bring themselves to the  story, and for the writer it is a spectacularly difficult exercise in introspection: what do I want from this work? How do I want the reader to be able to situate themselves? What is the galaxy of this story, what are the minutiae of its goals? 

So, what genre is Suture? I love that we’ve chosen horror/thriller as one of its genres, because it is very much not what most people would consider horror - and yet, it’s suspenseful, it’s gory, and its violence must be addressed by the book’s end. I love that it nestles into this genre to reach unsuspecting readers, and I think that the horror genre generally is seeing a really inspiring diversification--ghost stories have always been stories a way to confront trauma, and we are now seeing those stories in the horror genre from writers whose backgrounds--whose traumas--have been historically underrepresented in any literature, and particularly in genre fiction. Also, there is so much scholarly work on queering horror!! I am not educated enough to go into it here, but a huge part of it is about reclaiming queer-coded villains. Okay, sorry, I have veered a little bit, but my point is that I feel very lucky to have my little gay book building a home in the horror genre.

Literary fiction, on the other hand, is something of a catch-all genre. Theoretically, literary fiction has to do with the quality of the writing, and the general non-existence of other generic tropes - but it has come to contain its own generic tropes, and I think we see a lot of really innovative, exciting writers wanting to eschew the literary fiction label. As a result, we get autofiction, we get linked stories, we get novels in verse, we get speculative fiction, and so on - we get genre-less fiction that needs a name, because as much as writing is art, bookselling is still a business. So for Suture, I also happy to have it living among other literary fictions, because is not quite like the others, and growth comes from difference. When stories don’t fit somewhere, they expand the possibility of what may be able to fit in the future, and that’s thrilling - that’s genre-less fiction.

You use a lot of imagery, especially when describing the character’s creative process, how did you prepare yourself/what strategies did you have for writing those scenes?

Content warning: self-harm, eating disorder

Although I have never liked gory movies, I have always been fascinated by the potential of body horror, and I think this probably stemmed from my long history with self-harm and eating disorders. As someone who never felt at home in my body, I was always trying to figure out how to make my sack of skin and bones bearable. I loved sports for this reason (individual sports only, I have never been good at teamwork), because I got to just hurtle myself through space with a really specific purpose - I got to do, without having to think much. So when I found myself writing a body horror story, the gore of it never bothered me at all, because in some way it felt like I was just writing about how it felt to try to exist in a body that seemed to betray me at every turn. It was also, surprisingly, never triggering, perhaps because the imagery went so far beyond what a person could ever realistically do, that it almost felt like relief to be able to have the action out in the world without needing to perform it.

Since we’re talking about imagery, some of your writing in Suture almost seems poetic at times, what made you choose to present Suture in narrative form, rather than poetry, or any other medium (e.g., film)?

I mentioned above that writing is the only thing that’s ever come naturally to me, so although I’ve absolutely envisioned Suture as art and film (would love it, would absolutely love to see Suture as a film), I knew I’d never be able to do the vision justice with my own skills or resources. 

As for a narrative form, rather than poetry--I am a die-hard prose person. I think prose poems are just flash fiction, and I love it so much when weird, fragmented, genre-less things fall into fiction instead of into poetry. I feel like there is a mindset around poetry that it’s allowed to be difficult, and that fiction should be more straightforward, and I reject that entirely. Fiction is just a story; prose is just writing without line breaks. Books like A Girl is a Half-Formed Thing or Girl, Woman, Other could just as easily have been called poetry, and I don’t think poets would have objected--poetry, for some reason, is perceived as being allowed to push its own boundaries, and I just want fiction to have that same freedom. (Also, for the record, I do love poetry.)

(Related to this rant: A section of The Odyssey was included in this year’s Short Story Advent Calendar, and I was absolutely thrilled by it. Because, yes! How is Beowulf not fiction? How is The Odyssey not a novel?)

Could you talk a bit about your dedication? (For reference, Suture is dedicated to “anyone who needs it”)

Suture is first dedicated to Tab, a friend of mine who died by suicide. Books have the power to save people and heal people, because being seen is a gift when you’re in an impossible situation. As I finished Suture, I couldn’t help but think that I hoped it was the kind of book that might have saved Tab, at least for a little longer, that it’s the kind of book that might have saved me. But I also hoped it was the kind of book that might help a parent or partner understand the impenetrable ache of a child or a spouse alone in the deep dark. So in this way, it was an olive branch, to  the sad readers, and to the readers who do not always understand the sadness: for anyone who needs it.

Suture addresses some serious themes, including love, empathy, and sacrifice. Why do you think Finn’s, Eva’s, and Grace’s voices need to be heard?

I think that Finn’s, Eva’s, and Grace’s voices are, honestly, already very well-represented in art. I’m not sure I even do feel that their voices are the most important part of the story, although obviously I believe their characters are the very heart of it. I think what makes Suture valuable are its secondary characters: the people who love Finn, Eva, and Grace, and who see them through the major moments of their lives. For characters, or people, like Finn, Eva, and Grace, I don’t think they can help but make themselves heard, but I have often wished to see behind the curtain of someone’s life, and hear from the rest of the cast -- that, I believe, is what needs to be heard. Not their voices, but the possibilities of how to have a conversation with them.

Now that Suture is published, will there be another book from you in the future?

I certainly hope so! I have become entirely obsessed with ghosts and haunted houses, and I’ve started drafting a possible plan for my own weird haunted house novel. I expect I will write it no matter what, and I certainly hope it may find a home with a publisher and make its way into the world as a book eventually.

With all the experience you have writing and publishing, what advice would you give to aspiring authors who are trying to navigate the publishing world?

My advice is probably some of the worst advice, because it is the queen of cliches: be true to yourself. Understanding your own needs, limits, and resources is so important for you and the people you love, and I think that pursuing any art form comes with a very real pressure of burning yourself out. I absolutely still struggle with this! I feel like I can only do a fraction of what other people manage to do, but I have prioritized my relationship and my physical and mental health, and there is only so much time in a day. If a book takes five years to write, so it takes five years. If a book takes ten years to write, so it takes ten years. If a book is written in fits and starts, on snow days and long weekends, great. If a book is written in a sprint during a two-week vacation, great. In my opinion, the single most important thing is to lead a life you are proud of, and do what you can to pursue what is important to you.

And try not to compare yourself. I mean, we all do it, but try not to put too much stock into it. You’re doing great. Go have a sip of water, though.

What is your “must-read” book recommendation and what book has had the most impact and influence on your writing?

Ah, the impossible question! Infinite Jest and A Girl is a Half-Formed Thing likely had the most impact and influence on my writing. I loved that neither of these books even considered making themselves more approachable to the reader, not even for a moment. They are genius, and they are so true to their own goals, and they made me feel like even if my writing never did make it out into the world, if I was true to my vision and didn’t cater to an imagined reader, I would be happy with what I produced - and that was very, very true. (Although I didn’t actually like Infinite Jest in the end, because I felt the last 300 pages undermined everything that had been set up thus far.)

My “must-read” book recommendation changes depending on who I’m talking to, but my favourite book is To the Lighthouse by Virginia Woolf. It is simply incredible, and it knocked Catch-22 out of my top spot a few years ago. I share and talk about a lot of what I read on the Instagram account @sadgirlsreading!

In Conversation with Terry Fallis author of Operation Angus

With Dahl Botterill

Photo by Tim Fallis

The High Road was released over a decade ago, and you've written a number of successful novels during the years between; what brought you back to Daniel and Angus? Is this something that's been brewing the entire time? How did the years apart influence or help the story?

When I finished The High Road, I never really had any intention of returning to Angus and Daniel again. I wanted to see if I could write something other than political satire. So over the next eleven years, I wrote five more novels, all different and none about politics. But a funny thing happened during those eleven years. At every reading and talk I would give, someone would always ask, (and I do mean always) When is Angus coming back? It’s humbling and gratifying to create characters that seemed to have struck a chord with so many Canadians. So I finally said to myself, “Why am I fighting this?” So Angus is back by popular demand. I wondered if after eleven years I still knew the characters. But I soon learned as I started to map out the new story that they had been in my head and heart the whole time, just waiting to return for another adventure. It was like pulling on a favourite sweater again. But I decided not to make it a purely political satire like the first two. Rather, I wanted to attempt to write a comic thriller of sorts, where the high stakes and danger of a thriller come together with humour. I’m still not sure if I’ve succeeded in treading that fine line, so I’ll leave that to the readers to decide.

Daniel and Angus were first introduced to the world in your debut novel The Best Laid Plans, and in some ways you were, too. How does it feel coming back to the characters that gave you your start and why do these specific characters stay with you? 

While I was nervous before I started, I need not have been. It really did feel wonderful to be immersed again in the world of Angus, Daniel, and the rest of the crew. I think I’m fond of the these characters for the same reason so many readers are. Angus is one of a kind. His principles, his honesty, his ethics, his curiosity, his commitment and his kindness come together in a way that just makes people like him and want to support him. And Daniel is just a good guy, trying to do the right thing, while keeping Angus out of trouble. They are both people you wouldn’t mind having at your side in moments of high drama. I also think Angus represents the kind of politician many Canadians want to elect. 

Was it at all difficult to revisit Angus McLintock's Ottawa? Were there any unexpected challenges in returning to this setting? Conversely, were there any aspects that you expected to be difficult but discovered to be surprisingly easy or comfortable?

Ottawa hasn’t really changed that much and the new novel opens just a few weeks after The High Road ends. But adding the assassination plot as the story driver did make the novel feel a little different to write, because I was having to adapt to a faster pacing and more action packed scenes than in the previous two novels. Balancing the humour with the action was a little tricky, too. But I was immediately comfortable writing Angus, Daniel, and the other familiar characters again.

Operation Angus has a very Canadian feel to it, but at the same time there's something unexpected and amusing about the juxtaposition of Canadian politics and a classic spy tale. What process brought you - and Daniel and Angus, of course - to the genre? 

I always try to challenge myself as a writer to do something at least a little different in each novel that I haven’t done before. In this novel, it was the idea of writing a comic thriller or spy story. While I’ve read and enjoyed lots of thrillers, I’d never written one, let alone a funny thriller. So it was a way to return to these wonderful characters, but with a fresh story that thrust them into a different world and challenged them in many new ways.

You've spoken in the past about how a confluence of enormous luck and fortuitous small details affected your journey from writing The Best Laid Plans to becoming a published author of multiple books. Does your literary success play much of a role in your writing such as your process, themes, concepts, or overall experience or are you able to pack away those thoughts and enjoy the simple pleasure of writing?

I still have difficulty believing that I actually now have eight novels under my belt! I’m always accompanied on the journey by self-doubt and I like it that way. I want to be the same writer who sat down 15 years ago to write The Best Laid Plans without knowing I could do it. So I have no difficulty pushing away thoughts of literary success because I always doubt that it will happen. I’m still writing in the same room in our house as I was on my first novel, so it all feels just the same. And that works well for me, I think.

Can you tell us a bit about what project you’re working on next?

Without giving too much away, I’m working on a funny novel that looks at aging, male friendship, grief and recovery, and family, with a little bit of music thrown in for good measure. The novel will be set in Toronto and Paris. The challenge I set for myself in this novel is to write a narrator who is my own age, 62. All of my narrators to date have been younger than I am, likely because I still feel like I’m locked in amber at about 35 years old! 

What advice would you give to aspiring authors who are trying to navigate the publishing world?

I would tell them not to worry about the publishing side until they’ve written, edited, and polished, the very best manuscript they possibly can. Put all of themselves into the writing. That’s what’s important. When they get to the publishing part of the equation, they should pack a lot of patience and perseverance. They’re likely to need it. But it’s the writing that really counts.

What is your “must-read” book recommendation and what book has had the most impact and influence on your writing?

It’s hard to pick just one, so let me suggest that for my “must-read” pick, I’d go with A Gentleman in Moscow by Amor Towles. I really loved this story and the main character. I chose it for our book club and it ended up being our highest-rated book of the year. 

As for the book that had the most impact on my writing, I would say John Irving’s A Prayer for Owen Meany. You may not know that John Irving is my mentor. Don’t worry, John Irving doesn’t know either. But I have learned so much from reading Irving’s novels, particularly his skill at juxtaposing humour and pathos.

In Conversation with Dawn Quigley author of Jo Jo Makoons

With Christine McFaul

Photo supplied by Dawn Quigley

I love the voice and character you created in Jo Jo! Was she always clear in your mind or did you go through iterations of her before getting to that final version?

Thanks for loving Jo Jo’s voice! I am a quiet, reserved person around groups I don’t know well, but I always am thinking snappy comments in my head. So, I thought: what would it be like to have no filter, be in 1st grade with a little different take on the world, and have it set in a contemporary setting? I wish I was like some writers who work on crafting a character, but I see whoever pops up in my mind. It’s like Jo Jo showed up and I just started following and documenting her hijinks. I’m really just a secretary taking down what she does in my mind!

Humour, especially for this age group, is not always easy to write. What is your approach? Did you ever find yourself laughing out loud while concocting some of the more humorous exchanges?

I LOVE laughing and having fun in life. I’m a professor for my “day job”, and sometimes I feel it’s very formal and stuffy. I take my work very seriously, but I don’t take myself seriously at all. I found writing in the first person works best for me with Jo Jo since I can imagine what she is seeing and feeling. I find myself even sitting differently as I’m writing about her- and my head does a lot of moving back and forth as she “explains” things to the other characters. Thanks for thinking my writing is funny! My own kids just roll their eyes at me most of the time and tell me I’m not supposed to laugh at my own jokes (says who??!). I haven’t laughed out loud yet reading Jo Jo, but I’m so glad others do. 

The book tackles some very relatable problems, such as friendship dynamics and worries over vaccinations, but it also carries some more subtle explorations of what it means to be successful at school. What would you most want young readers to take away from this story? 

I taught in K-12 for 18+ years and have two kids of my own, so I’ve seen many common themes over the years with young children: wanting/trying to make friends, losing friendships, being hesitant of vaccinations, love of pets and figuring out how this “school thing” works. When I was teaching I loved helping students find their way to “be successful”- and not necessarily”book smart.” I’ve had a very talented 1st grader create amazing artwork, another student was incredible with geometry, still others had success in understanding how to be a friend. I hope young readers will first, be happy and joyful reading Jo Jo Makoons, and then to also see how many ways there are to live and interpret the world. 

The illustrations in this book are fantastic. What was it like working with Tara Audibert? Were her illustrations how you pictured the characters/scenes while you were writing them or did they surprise you?

I love Tara’s illustrations! She truly made Jo Jo come alive with her rendering of the little Ojibwe 1st grader. I look at all of the cute details she puts into each drawing (the little box of rocks under Jo Jo’s bed is SO cute, AND her bear pjs). I’m just going over Tara’s illustrations for Jo Jo book #2 (out this spring), and I’m just amazed at how she can interpret my words to make the book even better and funnier.

What do you think is the key to writing a first person narrator for the 6-10 age range? Any dos or do nots for creating a strong, memorable, and believable character? 

It helps to write for young children if you’ve been around them a lot (e.g., teacher, parent, relative, worker) because they most definitely have a unique way of looking at the world. I have readers and an editor who helped point out words, or concepts, that a 7 year old wouldn’t say. It also helps, I believe, that I was a reading teacher for young children which lets me know the vocabulary grasp and how long a sentence, chapter should be, etc. 

Do you have any advice for anyone who may be thinking of writing a Chapter Book series?  What advice would you give to writers in general? Either about writing for children or navigating the publishing world? What have you learned that’s been key to your success?

Do it! Also, read tons of mentor texts that you’re trying to write. Also, it’s key to have a writing community. My inspiration for writing the Jo Jo Makoons chapter book series was born from a rejection. I had a picture book rejected in the spring of 2019 (and rightly so! It wasn’t ready to go on submission). Then, Muscogee author and educator Cynthia Leitich Smith said, and suggested I try a chap book asking “I wonder if you might consider writing a young chapter book?; I thought: Well, I can’t write a chapter book because I’ve never written a chapter book before. But then, a little spunky little Ojibwe girl began running around in my mind making me smile at her antics! And the Jo Jo Makoons chapter books series was born. All because of a suggestion. :-)  Jo Jo is a team effort.

Can you tell us anything about the next book in the Jo Jo Makoons series? Do you have any other projects in the works?

Well, the second Jo Jo book is all about her trying to figure out how to “be fancy” for an upcoming special event. And, as we know, Jo Jo interprets things very uniquely. There will be plenty of laughs and heart-happy moments.

Also, I’m working on about four new projects (and so WHY do I not get off Twitter and write??!!)

What is your must-read book recommendation? What has inspired you or taught you the most about writing?

I don’t have a writing degree, but my greatest writing teachers have been reading the amazing books coming out in the last few years (especially by BIPOC authors). I learn from every book I read! I believe that reading is 50% of my writing process since that’s how I get inspired and learn about the craft of writing. Also, my writing critique group really helps as we all support our work, but also give honest feedback because we want everyone to succeed.

In Conversation with Jordan Tannahill author of The Listeners

With Erica Wiggins

Photo by Caio Sanfelice

To begin our questions, I think it’s best to begin with the overall concept. I’ve heard of this concept before – people who have sensitivity to sounds and live in “quiet” towns. What inspired you to write about this topic?

When I first stumbled upon an article about The Hum seven or eight years ago, I was intrigued by how only a select few people could hear it, sometimes only a single person in a family, but how for those who did, it could be debilitating. It made me think about truth, illness, and mania. The fact that there is still so much debate about what The Hum is, or if it's even a real phenomenon, also compels me, and speaks to questions of faith, and how we reckon with that which defies certain explanation.

I found myself questioning whether I was getting a truthful story from Claire as she seems unreliable at times. Did you start out with the intent to write her this way or did she develop into an unreliable character along the way? Why did you decide to write The Listeners from Claire’s perspective? 

Yes, I set out with the intent to write Claire as someone whose sense of truth is called into question. Since the idea for the story first presented itself, Claire and her journey have always been at its center. Initially, I thought I would write The Listeners as a play. But this didn't afford me the kind of immersion in Claire's psychology that the story required, which is why I ultimately wrote it as a novel from her first person perspective. 

I felt a kinship with Claire who was seeking to find someone who understood what she was going through. Why did you make her first connection with a student? 

It is just how the story presented itself. From the start, I knew Claire was a teacher, and that the first person who would, in a sense, listen to her, was one of her students. I knew they would develop a powerful bond, and that this bond would ultimately destabilize her marriage, and cost her her job. It was this relationship that first hooked me into telling the rest of the story. 

The group developed a cult-like feeling; what was your objective in creating this group of people? 

I wanted to write about a group of people seeking a sense of community and mutual support. A group which begins as something innocuous like a self-help group, but through their ever-increasing reliance on one another and gradual alienation from the rest of the world, transform into something far more intense. This tends to be a trajectory shared by groups formed around faith and conspiracy -- two forces which are exacting major political and social influence in America at the moment, and which I seek to examine in this book. 

Can you tell me more about the process of translating this story into an opera? I’m curious if you had always intended to turn The Listeners into an opera and if so, how did that affect your writing of it.

I actually haven't been involved in the opera in any capacity. I am a great fan of Missy Mazzoli's music, but she and Royce Vavrek, the librettist, have worked entirely independently on adapting the story.

What does your writing process look like? Are you systematic with a strong routine – if so, what does it look like? Or would you describe it as less “routine” and more of a an ebb and flow? 

I don't really have a process or routine. I just try to write whenever I can, around meetings, errands, and travel commitments, which sometimes means having an afternoon to write at home, or sometimes means writing for a couple of hours on a train somewhere.  

You have achieved great success in your work. Can you tell me what your favourite project was/is to date? 

I suspect like most artists my answer is: the thing that I have just finished. I am proud of The Listeners, and it is probably my favourite piece of my own writing.   

The Listeners is such an interesting and unique story. Are you planning another book? Will it be similar to The Listeners or do you have a different idea in mind?

I certainly plan to write more books, but I haven't settled on a new idea yet. 

What advice would you give to young aspiring authors who are trying to navigate the publishing world?

Write your big book now.

What is your “must-read” book recommendation and what book has had the most impact and influence on your writing?

My must-read book recommendation at the moment is Lote by Shola von Reinhold, and the book that has had the most impact on my writing is Maggie Nelson's The Argonauts. 

In Conversation with Gail Anderson-Dargatz author of The Almost Wife

With Robyn Rossit

Photo Credit: Mitch Krupp

The Almost Wife touches on some sensitive topics, such as suicide and psychological trauma. How do you navigate such sensitive and heavy topics and how do you prevent yourself from becoming personally impacted by them while writing?

The Almost Wife is a domestic thriller, a psychological thriller, and this genre does tend to deal with harder topics, like trauma or spousal abuse, as many genres do. The key, I think, is pacing, to offer the reader those “thrills” that they expect, but then also offering breathers and perhaps humor to give the reader a bit of a break, before charging forward again. 

But how does a writer avoid being emotionally impacted by those tough subjects when writing? I’m not sure we can avoid it. I joke with the fiction writers I work with that if we weren’t already anxious going into this occupation, we certainly are once we’re in it, as we spend our days thinking up the worst possible things that can happen to our characters, and as we’re writing those events, we live it. Not only that, but we relive those fictional events again each time we rewrite (and any project requires a great many rewrites). Both the research and the writing of difficult topics can be stressful to process and leave a writer emotionally raw, especially if we are sensitive, which many writers are. 

That’s one of the main reasons writers tend to avoid writing conflict on the page, in the same way we do in our everyday lives. But conflict avoidance makes for very dull fiction and leads to what is likely the most common problem writers deal with: the passive protagonist who observes and reports but isn’t fully engaged in their own conflict. So, a large part of the writer’s job is to put on a kind of emotional armor and purposefully gain distance from the subject to write the scenes of conflict that are necessary to any novel. In a sense, we’re actors, playing a role, so in the same way an actor both makes use of their emotions to portray a character, but at the same time “pretends” or keeps an emotional distance, writers have to strike a balance in using their own emotional engagement to create an emotional scene for the reader, while at the same time maintaining a kind of distance. I still put off writing the hard scenes until I feel emotionally ready. But I also still feel disturbed by the difficult scenes that I write, as I should. Our job is to engage the reader on the emotional level. We never want to shy away from the hard subjects, like trauma, in fiction. These difficult subjects and the emotions they create are the engine of the narrative.

Where did the idea for The Almost Wife come from? Was there a spark of inspiration or did you stumble across the idea while writing another book and saved it until you could flesh it out into its own story?  

There wasn’t a specific idea or spark for this novel. It was more that I wanted to write a thriller as I really love the structure. When it comes to subject matter, I was working within the confines of the domestic or psychological thriller and the subjects that these novels deal with. The only personal inspiration, and it’s a big one, was this: we made the trek across country from rural BC every year to spend summers on Manitoulin Island to be with family. But moving back and forth between these two very different regions, I found it hard to fully commit to either location and deeply homesick for both. You’ll see that ache and indecision as an undercurrent in The Almost Wife, where the protagonist Kira struggles to make a choice between two lives, one on Manitoulin and one in the city.

My favourite part of The Almost Wife was the setting in Manitoulin Island. What is it about this area that you found the most inspirational? 

I absolutely fell in love with Manitoulin, and anyone who spends time on the island knows just how magical it is. I hope my own affection for the island comes through in the book. The unique beach and forests provided not only the setting for the action, but the mood and the tools for conflict. And, of course, I used some details as plot devices, like the lack of reliable cell service that we dealt with there until the cell tower was installed, and the “sweet spot” where we could actually make calls. The setting is a character in its own right. Having said that, the Manitoulin in The Almost Wife is a fictional Manitoulin, just as the Shuswap of my previous novels is a fictional Shuswap. If you know the region, then you’ll recognize parts of it within the fiction, but it’s still very much an imagined landscape.

Authors tend to have interesting web browser histories. What was the strangest thing you had to research while writing The Almost Wife?

Oh, my god! Every day I’m looking up weird things! I guess for The Almost Wife the strangest was likely looking up how to go about getting a DNA sample from a partner for a paternity test without him finding out.

What would you say is your most interesting writing habit or quirk?

I used to wear my dad’s old mustard coloured sweater when I wrote. I had to wear it. Go figure. I have fewer obsessive habits now that I’m older (or I like to think so), but I still have to circle my desk several times before I sit down to write, tidying up or finding little chores to do. Once I get into the flow, of course, I don’t want to leave. But it seems I have to settle into writing like a dog into its bed. I also do a great deal of writing while walking. On Manitoulin, I started writing The Almost Wife while walking the boardwalk at Providence Bay.

As someone who has taught creative writing and now mentors other writers, what is the most rewarding part of sharing your knowledge?

The social aspect to teaching is what I enjoy most. I mentor emerging writers, but I also work with my peers, other published writers, as they work out structure and other elements of their new projects. Brainstorming over the story and structure and in particular rethinking situation so that the protagonist is more firmly centered in their conflict is hugely fun, like putting together a complex puzzle. I really enjoy tossing around these ideas with another writer. It’s play! And, of course, seeing a writer learning the craft to the point where they can tell the story they really want to tell, their own story, is hugely gratifying.

Now that you’ve published your first thriller, will there be more thriller titles from you in the future or do you have another story planned in different genre? If so, what can you share about it?

I’ve been using thriller elements in my fiction from my very first novel, The Cure for Death by Lightning, have taught and worked with other writers on the thriller structure, and The Almost Wife isn’t actually my first thriller. I’ve written four hi-lo thrillers for adults working to improve their literacy skills. (The thriller structure really engages a struggling reader and keeps them interested in the story.) It was in writing these hi-lo thrillers that I fully fell in love with the structure. I approached my agent about writing a full-on commercial thriller thinking she would talk me out of it, as I’m known as a literary writer, but she encouraged me to jump in, found me a supportive editor at HarperCollins, and The Almost Wife is the result. I’m under contract to write a second for HarperCollins, which I’ve just about completed, and I already have ideas worked up for the next one. So yes, you’ll see more thrillers from me. They are so much fun to write. I’m also incorporating much of what I’ve learned in writing the thriller structure into upcoming literary projects. The next thriller is set back in BC, in an inland rainforest. Spooky!

What advice would you give to aspiring authors who are trying to navigate the publishing world?

My advice to aspiring authors is the same as my own mentor Jack Hodgins gave me: don’t be in a rush to publish. So many writers are self-publishing these days, often before the project is anywhere near finished, and even traditional publishers will sometimes publish a book too soon, before it’s fully cooked. If a book isn’t fully developed, then it will likely just sink on publication, and the writer will have lost the chance to create something truly exceptional. And if a first book doesn’t find an audience, then publishing the second book is that much harder. So, take your time, learn your craft, develop the conflicts in your novel, and find supportive mentors and editors who can help you learn the ropes. Be patient and understand that writing fiction is a very complex and high-level skill set that simply takes time, practice and mentorship to learn, much like learning the piano.

What is your must-read book recommendation and what book has had the most impact and influence on your writing?

My must-read book recommendation is Michelle Good’s Five Little Indians. Every Canadian should read this book to gain perspective on the lasting impact of residential schools.

The book that has had the most impact and influence on my writing? Wow. There are so many that I would find it hard to narrow down to just one. I can tell you the two books that I most commonly recommend to other writers when talking about craft: Jack Hodgins’ A Passion for Narrative as a good practical guide for writing, and Toni Morrison’s Beloved, as the subjects in this novel are deep and thought-provoking and the writing is masterful, but still highly entertaining and accessible. A balance I always aspire to reach. 

In Conversation with Cedar Bowers author of Astra

With Larissa Page

Photo Credit: Michael Christie

One of the things I loved the most about Astra was how unique the concept was: sharing one woman’s life story through interactions with ten other characters. How did you develop this concept? Did it evolve as Astra evolved or was this the idea for the novel from the beginning? 

When I started writing, I didn’t know that my first attempts would end up becoming a novel. At that point my only goal was to learn more about the craft, so I started where most people do: with one short story. That story was about a man struggling with the responsibility of becoming a father, weighing the imagined horrors that might arise by sticking around, against the relief he might feel if he just left in the middle of the night. Next I wrote a story about a teenage girl as seen through the eyes of her first boyfriend. About halfway through, I realized that the girl was the daughter of the man from my first story, that I had the seeds of a novel, and that this child was axis around which everything would turn. But it felt imperative that I continue to learn about Astra in the same manner I had in those first stories. To observe her from a distance. To not hear from her directly. To spy on her through the eyes of friends, family, and acquaintances as she aged, leaving the reader to wonder which narrator was right, which was wrong, and if anyone ever knew the “real” Astra at all. Though this concept and structure felt sort of risky and irresponsible, that was what made it exciting too. Writing about a person through all those lenses, allowed me to explore themes like gossip, judgment, control, and emotional misunderstanding, all subjects I find endlessly interesting and timeless. 

I was incredibly impressed by the character development within each of the individual character’s chapters as well as Astra’s character throughout the novel. It is a feat of incredible writing to be able to develop a character so well in such a short time as you did with each of the individual voices. Did you find any of the characters particularly challenging? By contrast, were any of the characters exceptionally easy to develop?

This is a great question, and my answer is: yes and yes! Those first two stories, which soon became chapters in very different forms, ended up being my biggest struggle. Over the years I probably rewrote them twenty or thirty times, each pass from a different perspective, or a different time, or a different season, or with a different outcome. Of course they were challenging because they were some of my first pieces of writing, but those chapters were additionally tricky because they needed to capture a sense of place, to orientate the reader, and to root Astra’s start in the world. So that took time, and work, and heartbreak, and failure, and loads of patience. Other chapters came much easier. Astra’s childhood friend Kimmy for example, and Doris, one of the mother figures in the book, and Astra’s two employers, Brendon and Lauren, all those characters were an incredible joy to write for different reasons. 

Did you write any part of yourself into the character of Astra?

The short answer would be no, but also… a bit? If pressed I would say that Astra is about five percent me. We didn’t have the same childhood or family dynamic at all, but my parents were more alternative than most. We didn’t have the same experiences in our teens or twenties, but I too was a little directionless. I drifted in and out of friendships and jobs and cities and houses, so I know what it’s like to take your time finding your place in yourself and in the world. At one point in the book Astra takes a similar geographic path as I did. When I left home I also moved to Calgary and got a job in a mall. Astra and I had different experiences there, but I loved writing from that place of knowledge.

In addition to the characters in the novel being well-developed, I also felt like the commune was fully conceived and expressed. In fact, the commune as a setting was almost a character itself. How did you prepare yourself to write about the commune in British Columbia? Did you complete any specific research on the communal style of living and raising children before developing it? 

I grew up on Galiano Island, a place that drew a large population of hippies and back to the landers in the 70s and 80s. My parents and most of their friends had spent at least some amount of time living in intentional communities, or in communes, or founding worker cooperatives, and as a child I was fascinated by their stories of collaboration and the dramas that arose with these attempts. Yet at the time I thought all of this was fairly normal, it wasn’t until I left home and moved to the city that I realized how on the fringe the adults in my life had been. In my twenties I really wanted to make radio documentaries, and my first idea was to focus on children who had grown up in alternative communities and communes, to hear their stories, to see where they ended up once they left. I read everything I could on the subject. Fiction, non-fiction, and research papers that focused on the childrearing practices in some of the most famous communes in the United States. So it wasn’t that surprising that when I sat down and wrote my first story, I found myself writing about a commune. It was really satisfying to turn this interest and years of reading into Celestial Farm. My fictional commune is not like any place I’ve read about, but that’s one thing I learned in my research—each commune was completely original, each conceived by a dreamer, so there were no rules, I had complete freedom when it came to creating Celestial. I built the place that Raymond and Doris wanted, and I then watched with sadness as it crumbled.

One of the undercurrent stories I appreciated was Astra as a mother while she’s also growing as her own self. I felt like I could relate to the mother/son relationship she had with Hugo early on as my children are still young, particularly because she seems so attached to Hugo and her parenting style may be described as attachment parenting (whether by choice or by trauma). We see this contrast in mothering when Lauren enters the picture. How much of your own mothering experience did you draw upon to create that relationship between Astra and Hugo? Or were you inspired from another source?

I started writing Astra when I had a newborn and a four-year-old at home, a time I can barely remember, a time filled with a myriad of joys and challenges, so I’m not surprised that some of those feelings and emotions ended up working their way into the book. As a new parent I was often faced with the question, how much is too much to give, and how much is too little? Should I help my child button their shirt, or watch them fail? Should I run to them with open arms when they fall, or wait and see if they call me? Should I let them climb precariously onto the counter to grab a glass from the shelf, or serve them everything? Should I let them push another child down and sort it out on their own, or should I remove them until they apologize? Should I insist they say please and thank you every time they ask for something, or only when we are in public? It was exhausting and terrifying to know that my responses to these situations would affect my children’s relationship with the world going forward, and it was hard to forgive myself when I got it wrong. I explored this a little with Astra’s son Hugo. She was parenting to the best of her ability with the paltry toolbox she’d been given as a child, yet Lauren and the other characters in the novel judged her for her approach. I believe Astra, like everyone, was doing the best she could with what she had.  

Your partner is also a writer of literary fiction. What was it like to be writing your own novel while he was writing his? Were you able to play off each other or did you need to keep your thoughts separate until you had completed your work?

It’s a gift to share an interest and passion with your best friend and partner. Every day we talk about writing, what we’re currently reading, or the struggles we may be having with our work, and those conversations are indescribably helpful. I don’t tend to discuss the specifics of my project until I’m ready to share a draft of my work, but when I do, he always reads it right away. I feel incredibly lucky to have such support!

Now that you’ve published your first novel, will there be another book from you in the near future or are you working on another creative project? 

I am currently working on another novel. I can’t say much more about it at the moment because it’s in a delicate fledgling stage, but I am really excited to be trying my hand at this again!

What advice would you give to aspiring authors who are trying to navigate the publishing world?

It might be a cliché by now, but write the book you want to read! Then take your time and rewrite and edit your work as much as possible. I don’t believe you need a large writing community to look at your work, but find at least one person, preferably a strong reader who you already talk to about books, someone who understands what you’re trying to do, and then take their feedback and reading experience to heart. It took me eight years to write ASTRA, but I believe it was because I took that time that the novel was ready to find an agent and a home when I sent it out. 

What is your must-read book recommendation and what book has had the most impact and influence on your writing?

Naming a must-read book is hard! I spent years working in libraries and bookstores and when recommending something, I always asked a reader what their favourite books were before I started pulling titles from the shelf. I didn’t want to send someone away with a book I adored, only to have them despise it. Reading is really subjective and every title is loved by someone! But I do read and re-read vigorously while I write. I love to read current fiction to see what folks are excited about in that specific moment, and then for inspiration and guidance on character and structure, I return to the works of Elizabeth Strout, Rachel Cusk, Louise Erdrich, Alice Munro, Kent Haruf, Anne Enright, Tessa Hadley, and Ann Patchett to name a few.

Thank you to Cedar Bowers and McClelland & Stewart for facilitating this interview!

In Conversation with Mark Henick author of So-Called Normal

With Christine McFaul

Photo credit: Darius Bashar

So-Called Normal was one of my favourite books I’ve reviewed so far in 2021. I read the whole thing in one sitting - couldn’t put it down! Thank you for giving me this opportunity to chat with you about the process of creating such a powerful, important, and candid memoir.

How did you approach the process of writing such an intimate narrative which gets real, not only about aspects of your own life, but by necessity the life and choices of others in your family and small town as well? 

For months, I tried to write it in my spare time, off the side of my desk. It just wasn’t working. It eventually got to a point where the necessity inside me overtook everything else. So I quit my so-called normal job, and dedicated my whole self to the book. 

I wrote the entire first draft (which was way too long) over the course of about six weeks while living at a Trappist monastery in the woods. I’m easily distracted, so I needed the right environment. Having that uninterrupted focus is what made all the difference. I couldn’t run away. I just had to face it all, the whole story, every day. I had to walk through it all to get to the other side. 

Fortunately, my wonderful editors then helped to carve that story into something more manageable. I went through more than a dozen cover-to-cover edits before letting it go.

What did you find most challenging about the writing process and conversely,  most enjoyable?

The most challenging thing for me, initially, was to see the bigger picture. I had a rough outline, but the final product looked nothing at all like it. I was so deep into the trees that it was hard at first to see the shape of the forest. That came eventually, piece by piece, with patience, and distance.

The most enjoyable part of the process for me was the process itself. I loved the routine of it all. On that first draft trip to the monastery, and on the many subsequent trips, I’d follow the same schedule. I’d wake at 3:00am, chant with the monks, write for two hours, chant again, write again, chant, write, chant, write, chant, write. I’d go to bed by about 8:00pm. Then I’d wake up and do it again, the exact same way, every day. Not needing to worry or plan anything about my day unleashed an incredible creativity that I didn’t know I had. 

Based on your recent author experiences, do you have any mental health advice specifically for others in the writing community?

There have been few feelings I’ve felt that were more uncomfortable than the feeling that you don’t own your own story. It’s the feeling that everybody else seems to tell your story for you, and you’re defined by everybody and everything outside of you. 

Reclaim your story. Whatever it is, it’s yours. As long as you’re honest, you get to do whatever you want with everything you’ve ever thought, felt, or done. There’s an incredible reserve of raw story material inside you and, for some of us, it’s a source of anguish to not express that in some way. So express yourself, work it through, hold it lightly. Then, let it go. That’s when everything else seems to start falling into place.  

Since you were a teenager, have you noticed any changes in how the mental health system in Canada supports teenagers seeking help? 

It hasn’t changed much. We’re perhaps even more now into a hardline medical model of mental health treatment, despite that fact that it generally speaking isn’t working very well. We know a lot more now about the biology, neurology, and chemistry of mental illnesses – and that’s a good thing – but it hasn’t yet solved for our loneliness. And that’s because, while a scientific lens on suffering is necessary for progress, it’s not sufficient for recovery.  

We need to build more holistic systems of support that not only treat brains and bodies, but that also address the social and psychological factors that are often at the root of their suffering.  

Similarly, what do you think are the strengths of Canada’s mental health system overall and what most needs to see the most change?

Canada absolutely benefits from partially-government funded healthcare. That helps enormously to ensure that most people don’t experience significant financial barriers to receiving routine healthcare. Money is a top stressor for most people anyway, so that’s a strength that I think we take for granted. 

That said, we don’t have universal healthcare in Canada. If we did, effective, evidence-based, medically necessary mental health treatments like psychotherapy would be freely available and accessible to all. That is far from the case, and that needs to change now. 

If you had to pick a favourite interview from your So-Called Normal podcast, which would it be and why?

I absolutely loved my conversation with Rosie O’Donnell. She is among the most authentic, supportive, generous people I’ve ever had the privilege to encounter.  

Do you have plans for more writing projects? What can we look forward to next?

While I was writing So-Called Normal, I kept a notebook nearby. With so much raw creativity pouring out of me every day, I knew there’d be a lot that wouldn’t be right for the book. So, every time I’d get an idea that could be worth exploring for a book, an article, or a story of its own, I’d scribble it down and move on. Three bubbled to the top, and one in particular has been working its way through my mind. 

Directly related to the linear way in which I wrote my memoir, I’m fascinated by the cumulative process through which people “learn” from the most basic stages how to have depression. This is partly a psychological and intellectual process, sure, but it’s also how our thoughts and experiences change our brain. Further, each of our experiences is part of somebody else’s story too – for better or worse. 

So, this is the project that I’ve been working on now, a sort of epic journey through the biopsychosocial development of depression, and how by understanding the process, the nature of the beast, we can change our trajectory at many points along the way.

What advice would you give to writers wanting to tell their own memoir or story?

Don’t waste too much time with wanting. You tell your story, or you don’t. Both are valid paths. But if you want to be a writer, then start writing. That’s it. Write every day. It doesn’t matter if it’s any good. It doesn’t matter if it’ll ever be published. Writing is exercise. Storytelling is recovery. Everything that happens to us is just data. We need to make our stories make sense, and that takes work, it takes persistence, it takes process. Everything outside of process is how you distract yourself from the fact that you’re scared. Write scared. 

What novels have had the most influence on your writing and which novels do you recommend as must-reads for either enjoyment or for learning?

I rarely read novels, only for the reason that I’m so fascinated by so much in the world that I’m usually reading something else. From those, not only my writing, but really my entire visual conceptualization of my own recovery was deeply informed by Dante’s Divine Comedy, particularly the Inferno. I first read it about ten years ago and have come back to it many times since. 

The work of Joseph Campbell, and especially The Hero With a Thousand Faces, should be required reading for storytellers. And if you want to write memoir, then read a lot of memoir. I love Joan Didion, Anne Lamott, William Zinsser.

I am currently reading, and loving, The Gene: An Intimate History by Siddhartha Mukherjee.

And don’t forget to nurture your soul at least as much as your mind. Mary Oliver has stirred me to my core more times than I can count. Whatever you read, let yourself get lost in it for a while. The world will still be right here where you left it. Sometimes, if you’re lucky, you’ll come back a little bit different than you were.

In Conversation with Marissa Stapley author of Lucky

With Tyra Forde

Photo Credit: Eugene Choi

What inspired you to include in each chapter of Lucky both a flashback from the past and a snapshot of the present? The result formed an incredible overview of Lucky’s life. How did you keep the different timelines separate yet cohesive to form the bigger picture in the story?  

It was so important for me that my reader really want Lucky to be able to redeem that lottery ticket, to be rooting for her the entire book through – and very early on in the writing process I realized the only way to do that would be to go back in time. I knew if the reader understood her the way I did – which is to say, knew everything that had happened to her from birth to the present moment – they’d want her to win. And I wanted that because I wanted the ride with Lucky to be fun, and to feel good. I figured with everything that was going on in the world (and in my personal life; my mother was very ill as I was writing the novel and eventually passed away) this was exactly what was needed. 

Keeping track of timelines is a tricky thing. I have author friends who use special programs and software. I’ve tried that, and I probably should try it again. But I always find myself drawn to simply using large sheets of paper and a pencil, mapping it all out by hand. I get lost sometimes, and other times realize I need to rearrange things so the story flows better. At that point it feels like a jigsaw puzzle, which is to say challenging and frustrating – but also incredibly satisfying to get right. 

As a follow-up to the first question, what was your writing process for Lucky? Did you write each chapter in order or did you write large sections of either the past or present narratives individually? 

I had already written about half of the novel before I realized I needed to start putting everything I knew about Lucky’s childhood on the page. So I ended up writing most of her really young childhood chapter portions at once. But when her past started to catch up with her present, I tended to write those chapters and timelines in tandem. 

What I loved most about writing those past chapters – particularly the ones involving her as a young child – was that I was getting a chance to show what I already knew about her. That doesn’t always happen, even though most authors do know (or should know) everything there is to know about their main characters. In some of my past books, I’ve had scenes I’ve loved and wanted to include, scenes that dealt with past events, but they ended up cut because as much as I liked those scenes they had no proper bearing on the moments at hand. That was never the case here, because I was weaving the past with the present – and as I did it, it came so easily and I knew each of those past scenes had a place in the story. I found writing Lucky to be exactly the pleasure I needed it to be, in large part because of those dips into a past I was already so familiar with and compelled by, and will be grateful for that for a long time. 

Lucky is a character that readers will root for until the very end. How do you write characters that are neither good nor evil but manage to keep them likable to readers even when the characters might make the wrong decision?  

I got to share Lucky’s past with my readers. With other books, I may not have been able to share it all on the page, but I always knew it – which meant, no matter what (even with characters like Miles from The Last Resort) I understood where the character was coming from. Even if I didn’t like that character (Miles!!), I felt something for them. You have to, to write anything truly authentic.  

I remember watching the moving ‘Maleficent’ with my kids when they were little and feeling like it was a lesson for my kids about the world: that people who are hurt and damaged will hurt and damage in return, but that does not necessarily make them bad people (and we need to be careful not to hurt others, because it will start a bad pattern). But it was also a lesson for me about characters. It reminded me to always go back and try to find that moment when the character begins to become who they are when we meet them. With most of my characters, that’s easy to do and a labour of love. With characters who may have more evil than good in them, it can be tough – but it’s still necessary. 

With Lucky, I didn’t want to create a criminal character who was compelling and fascinating, yes, but also unquestionably bad. I never like the way I feel at the end of a story when I’m rooting for someone without a moral compass. I needed her to feel every crime she commited, to have regrets and a desire to set things right. That’s also why I chose to make her a con artist. People love con artists -- in fiction, at least! As far as I’m concerned (and I’m up at the cottage re-watching the Oceans movies with my son, so am really feeling it keenly) there is nothing more entertaining on screen or page than a good con or heist. It’s just so much fun to watch! And was fun to create, too.

Lucky takes readers on a riveting road trip from the West to East Coast. Was there a location featured in the book that had special meaning or was of particular interest for you to write? 

A few years ago I went on a road trip with my family to the Adirondacks. I knew at the time I wanted to set something there, or at least write something where some of the meaningful scenes happened in the Adirondacks. So when Lucky came along, and she was traveling from coast to coast – and, especially when her father wanted to take her somewhere he considered special on vacation – that location came to mind. 

One of our best memories of that trip was swimming at Chapel Pond, so I’m really glad I was able to work that into the book and make it such a poignant moment. Also, I don’t drive so having Lucky needing to get from place to place without the use of a car was easy for me to write. 

Did your former career as a sports journalist influence your career or writing style as a fiction author? 

I love that you asked this question because I’m mulling over a book right now that is bringing me back to those early days in my career as a sports journalist. That’s all I can say at the moment.  It often feels like so long ago that I forget it happened! But it did happen, and working as a journalist certainly did inform my future career as an author. I’m now very deadline oriented, and find it almost impossible to work without one. So if my editors don’t give me a deadline, I create one for myself and work towards it. The people I work with are often surprised by how prolific I can be -- and I know that comes from having worked in a world where deadlines weren’t a choice. In journalism school, the idea of never missing a deadline was really emphasized. And my dad was a newspaper reporter, so I understood the concept of a deadline, and what it meant to miss one, at a very young age.  

Working as a sports journalist also made me able to see the story in everything. To this day I love good sports journalism because it can contain a particular kind of beauty and joy I’m constantly nostalgic for. 

What can we expect from your upcoming novel, The Holiday Swap, cowritten with Karma Brown under the pen name Maggie Knox?

Karma and I hatched a plan to write a feel-good holiday rom com in March 2020, during our first lockdown. We were lonely, and the world was in turmoil. The idea to write a holiday romance was really just a lark at first, a way for us to distract ourselves from everything going on.  I don’t think we believed we’d actually do it, but found it entertaining to throw ideas around and talk about the most delicious and delightful  plot ideas we could come up with – just for fun! But somewhere along the way, we fell in love with the idea. We wrote a book that has everything we love and look forward to about the holidays: snow, baking, family …  and threw in the kind of love stories that can only be found in holiday romance movies, which we both enjoy. (There are two love stories in our book because it’s a twin swap. SO fun!) I think the result surprised us both. It’s charming, but also poignant and compelling. And I think because of who we are as writers it offers more than a typical romance might: it’s modern and feminist, too. It feels like the perfect holiday read, and we can’t wait to share it with readers soon. 

Lucky is a story about hope. What advice would you give to aspiring authors who are hoping to get published?

My best advice is that publishing is a marathon, not a race. It will likely not happen at the pace you want it to – and is a tough road! You have to be resilient and determined. You have to be willing to put one project aside and try something new. I have a few unpublished manuscripts in drawers, and that’s ok! Each had something to teach me. But yes, putting them aside did break my heart at the time.  So maybe that’s the last bit of advice I have: know that even if you do get your heart broken, it won’t be the end of your publishing dreams –but only if you have the strength and will to get up and keep trying. And the ability to learn something from those unpublished books and stories. 

What is your “must-read” book recommendation and what book has had the most impact and influence on your writing?

A Prayer for Owen Meany. My husband doesn’t read much fiction (except mine) and a few years ago asked me to recommend one guaranteed good fiction read. The pressure! The anxiety! But he loved it. (Despite the fact that he spent most of his time reading it dealing with me watching him nervously.) He read the last page,  looked up and told me he was a better person for having read it. 

Owen Meany might be the book that has had the most impact and influence on my writing, too. Or at least, one of them. There have been many. But I know after I read it (and I was quite young, maybe 14?) I felt this call to become a writer who could at least attempt to make people feel the way I did as I read it. A good story should be so much more than just a compelling yarn. There should be mystery, secrets kept and revealed, the unrelenting urge to turn those pages, yes – but for a book to be great, there needs to be more. I want my books – even the holiday rom coms! – to achieve that more. Thinking about this is a good reminder of  what I want to try to create in the future, and why I want to write at all.