A Novel Approach (To Me)

Amy Tan has a number of bestsellers to her name, including The Joy Luck Club (adapted into a film), The Hundred Secret Senses, and The Bonesetter’s Daughter. Her entertaining 2008 TED address deals with all the ups and downs of the creative process. A great talk for writers who might need a little boost of confidence when it comes to believing in their own methods.

I stumbled across an article in the Globe & Mail that questions to whether Canada is a good place to work as an author.  Authors like Margaret Atwood and Wayson Choy weigh in on the subject. It’s an interesting read.

Procrastination and last minute panic as the driver of creativity.  Calvin might just have something there…

Jonathan Franzen talks about his controversial novel “Freedom” and the post 9/11 family.  He also talks about his feelings on doing author vidoes. Interesting fact: this video took home the 2011 Moby award for the worst author video. In fairness, he does express his “profound discomfort at having to make videos like this” right at the beginning. On a certain level, the award actually validates the point he’s trying to make.

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I found this great cartoon on the web. Sound familiar?

(PS: Thanks to the artist who created it. I couldn’t find the name to give proper credit or ask permission to use it)

I feel more and more like I’m in a relationship with my novel lately…and that my novel is a cranky, jealous spouse. It would be easy to lose focus and stop writing it. Most people do.  They start, and when it gets hard they walk away.

My conversations with my novel go something like this:

“You aren’t spending enough time with me lately,” says my novel.

“But we’re together almost every day? I don’t understand what you mean?” I say. I look at the floor sheepishly.

“But you aren’t spending enough QUALITY time with me?” my novel whines. “You come home, you’re tired, you hardly spend more than an hour with me? Where’s the romance in that?”

“That’s not fair. I work long hours, I’m busy, I need to spend time with my kids too you know.”

“You seem to be able to make time for the short stories. Yes, you’ve had plenty of time for them lately,” my novel says.

Ouch. That one stings. “Don’t be jealous.  They’re just friends.  You’re the one I love,” I say

“You don’t act like it,” my novel says.

Hmmm…fair point. It’s time to push through the distractions and get this project done.  I’ve been writing it part-time for just under a year.  Sure, the “fun” of writing it has worn off and it’s become work.  But it’s good, hard, rewarding work and I wouldn’t have it any other way.

Here are a few tips from Mr. Orwell that I found on the web.  Enjoy!

One of my favorite web finds recently is Sarah Selecky’s website.  Canadian’s who follow the Giller Prize will already know that her collection of short stories “This Cake is for The Party” was shortlisted in 2011.  I read the collection and loved it.

What I didn’t realize is that Sarah, like many other authors, is also a teacher.  Her courses are specific to the short story format, if that is what interests you.  They are reasonably priced vs. others that I’ve seen offered.  Some are in class courses, but she does offer some of them by correspondence. She also provides great free content on her website.  Sign up for her newsletter and you’ll receive an e-book called the Ten Biggest Mistakes Short Story Writers Make.  She should know what makes a story work.  She’s been a juror for the Journey Prize and for the Toronto Star Short Fiction contest.  She’s read thousands of short stories and knows what makes one stand out from the rest. You’ll also get advance notification of upcoming courses via her newsletter.  Her courses are small and often sell out, so this is an advantage.

I love her philosophy…write what you want to read.  Who can argue with that?

Here’s another fun thing I found on the web. Who can argue with Elmore?  I love #10.  Enjoy!

The Trillium Award shortlist has been announced and it’s no surprise to see Emma Donohue’s name on the list for her novel ROOM that has garnered much praise this year. Michael Winter is on the list for his book THE DEATH OF DONNA WHALEN, which he describes as “documentary fiction”. Both books were also nominated for the Roger’s Writer’s Trust prize, which Donohue took home.

They share the shortlist for the $20,000 prize with:

Donoghue and Winter face four rivals for the English language version of this fiction prize, worth $20,000:

* What Disturbs Our Blood, by James FitzGerald.
* The Amazing Absorbing Boy, by Rabindranath Maharaj.
* Book, by Ken Sparling.
* The Reinvention of the Human Hand, by Paul Vermeersch.

Here’s a charming video of Emma talking about ROOM:

In the spirit of competition, here’s a video of Michael talking about the writing process. It does appear that the Winter children are having a very good literary year (his sister Kathleen was nominated for the Giller Prize for her book Annabel). I love his commentary about dialogue and his comments on why we write.  I have to say though, the camoflauge jacket and background scenery are distracting. LOL!