12 or 20 (second series) questions with Leah Mol

Leah Mol is a writer and editor who graduated from the Creative Writing Program at UBC. She’s the author of the novel Sharp Edges, and her fiction won the 2018 CBC Short Story Prize and the 2020 Bronwen Wallace Award. She lives in Toronto. You can follow her on Twitter and Instagram @leahmol. 

1 - How did your first book or chapbook change your life? How does your most recent work compare to your previous? How does it feel different?

My first chapbook opened up the idea of creative writing as something that could be a career. It also brought me into a writing community, which was incredibly important for me as a young writer.

My first novel, Sharp Edges, changed the way I write—I’m okay with throwing things out now, admitting when something isn’t working and starting fresh, or trying a few things and making a choice. I used to be really obsessed with making everything work, like, fitting everything I wrote into a project. But now that I’ve written a book, I know I can write another book. I don’t need to put everything into one project, because it doesn’t have to be the last one.

2 - How did you come to fiction first, as opposed to, say, poetry or non-fiction?

I’m not sure what I came to first anymore. I’ve always been more drawn to prose—I’d argue that any poetry I’ve written in the past is really just prose with line breaks—and I had a long period of writing mainly nonfiction. But fiction is what I loved most as a kid, it’s what I work on now as an editor, and it’s the vast majority of what I read. It’s what I know best.

3 - How long does it take to start any particular writing project? Does your writing initially come quickly, or is it a slow process? Do first drafts appear looking close to their final shape, or does your work come out of copious notes?

It depends on the project. My CBC short story took me a couple hours to write the day before the prize deadline, while my Writers’ Trust story took months of weekend writing and rewriting. I wrote the first draft of Sharp Edges in about three months, in 500-words-per-day chunks. I had no notes, no idea of where I was going—I just started writing one day and added to it every day until I had 60,000 words. Much of that first draft was reshaped and rewritten over another year or so, but the tone and voice were already there and didn’t change.

But…it was super difficult to take 60,000 words I’d basically vomited onto a page and turn it into something that had a plot—like, painfully difficult. So for the book I’m working on now, I’ve spent the last couple years thinking and doing research and creating a kind of structure first.

4 - Where does a work of prose usually begin for you? Are you an author of short pieces that end up combining into a larger project, or are you working on a "book" from the very beginning?

I always know what something is going to be when I start. I’ve never started a short story and ended up writing a novel. But I am a person who likes vignettes and novels in pieces. I’ve always been a big fan of first and last lines, so I like my work to have as many sections as possible—then you get first and last line of the book, first and last line of each chapter, AND first and last line of each subsection. It’s like first-and-last-line-a-palooza.

5 - Are public readings part of or counter to your creative process? Are you the sort of writer who enjoys doing readings?

Readings are fun. I enjoy doing them (probably because I like attention?), but I don’t know if most people truly enjoy watching someone read from a book. Some writers do it really well, but it’s a very different skill from writing.

For me, a huge part of readings is the social aspect, and a sense of community. I’ve noticed a switch in the last few years that a lot of book events are now discussions with the author or panels, and I feel like I always have more incentive to buy a book if I like the author and feel I know something about them. I think it just depends on the purpose of the event—if you’re selling books, I’m not sure how much a reading will accomplish. I’d much prefer to go to an open mic where everyone gets 2 minutes to read, or an event where people are trying out new material.

6 - Do you have any theoretical concerns behind your writing? What kinds of questions are you trying to answer with your work? What do you even think the current questions are?

It depends on the project. For Sharp Edges, I was thinking a lot about society’s treatment of women and girls, politics around sex work, gender expectations, sexuality, adolescence. But my focus is always character and voice.

7 – What do you see the current role of the writer being in larger culture? Do they even have one? What do you think the role of the writer should be?

Writing is a job. I do think writing can create change—I think books and television and music can build empathy and help people recognize viewpoints they’d never have been able to consider otherwise—but I don’t think it necessarily works when writers set out with that as their role. A writer’s role is whatever they want it to be; and that might be a career-length choice, or it might change project to project.

8 - Do you find the process of working with an outside editor difficult or essential (or both)?

I couldn’t write if I didn’t have people reading my work through the process. I do think it’s important to get a draft done before getting reads—those first pages are just so raw and tender and I can’t imagine letting someone read something until I have an actual complete story, novel, etc. Even if you don’t change or rewrite those pages, there’s something about time and space and a sense of completeness that provides distance. But at that point, I get anyone I trust to read and give me as much big-picture feedback as they can. And for my novel, after all of those reads, my editor at Doubleday, Melanie Tutino, was really helpful with filling in gaps and making final connections. I just can’t imagine moving a book from one draft to the next without editors.

9 - What is the best piece of advice you've heard (not necessarily given to you directly)?

I honestly don’t know. I feel like every piece of advice comes with downsides and contradictions, and there’s always an exception to the rule. Like, in general, as someone who has anxiety issues, I think “Other people aren’t thinking about you” is pretty comforting. But also, aren’t the best little joys in life when you find out someone is actually thinking about you?

So maybe the best advice is “Be kind.” Nobody can argue with that.

10 - How easy has it been for you to move between genres (short stories to creative non-fiction to the novel)? What do you see as the appeal?

I’ve never struggled with it—but I also generally work on one project at a time, which might make it easier?

11 - What kind of writing routine do you tend to keep, or do you even have one? How does a typical day (for you) begin?

It changes with what I’m working on:

A short story—bits and pieces of writing here and there.

First draft of a novel—a specific number of words a day (and after I hit that number, I stop writing and just jot notes for myself the rest of the day).

Later drafts of a novel—usually an hour or so a day of staring at a screen and moving words around.
And then there are huge chunks of time where I don’t write at all, but I think about writing a lot and read and make notes constantly. Regardless, my day usually starts with coffee and walking my dog.

12 - When your writing gets stalled, where do you turn or return for (for lack of a better word) inspiration?

I think it depends where I am in a process. I wouldn’t say my writing ever really gets stalled. If I want to write 500 words, I can sit down and write 500 words. It might feel like pure garbage, but at least it’s easier to write more the next day, and maybe I’ll get a line or a couple words out of it that spark something new. I’d say I’m more likely to get stalled in big-picture things like structure. And that just takes time and thinking, finding some new ideas that might provide inspiration—TV, movies, books. I go for walks. Mostly, I take a lot of showers; the shower is the best place for ideas.

13 - What fragrance reminds you of home?

Clean laundry and chocolate.

I always think of my childhood home when I smell clean laundry. And the home I’ve had for the last decade is next to a chocolate factory.

14 - David W. McFadden once said that books come from books, but are there any other forms that influence your work, whether nature, music, science or visual art?

Honestly, kind of everything. I read a ton, but it’s just as likely for me to get inspiration from other forms. My characters are people, and they live in a world and notice things about that world. They have a broad spectrum of interests, and the only way for me to write that believably is to take inspiration from a wide variety of sources.

15 - What other writers or writings are important for your work, or simply your life outside of your work?

Oh my god, I don’t even know how to answer this question without pages and pages of names. One of the most important writers for my work was Elizabeth Wurtzel. I remember reading Prozac Nation in high school and being blown away that someone could be so honest and brutal about themselves. It gave me a whole new idea of what writing could be. I also started reading Bret Easton Ellis around that time, and I’ve always admired the style and voice of his fiction.

Being a writer also luckily means getting to spend lots of time with writers. And I’ve been so spoiled with great writer friends who’ve had a huge effect on my work. Honestly, there are too many to name here, but I’m especially thinking of writers out of In/Words in Ottawa, Word and Colour in Montreal, and the UBC Creative Writing Program in Vancouver.

A few more authors who have been super influential for my writing and/or life: Heather O’Neill, Virginie Despentes, Dennis Cooper, Ottessa Moshfegh, Tamara Faith Berger, Barbara Gowdy, Carmen Maria Machado, Casey Plett, Aimee Bender, Charles Bukowski, Mary Gaitskill, Flannery O’Connor, and Miranda July.

16 - What would you like to do that you haven't yet done?

Sometimes I say I want to travel more, but every time I travel, I mostly hate it.

Writing-wise, I feel like I’m at a point in my career where I can kind of try whatever I want (not to say that someone will necessarily buy it!), which is kind of freeing, but also, I mostly just want to write another novel. At home.

17 - If you could pick any other occupation to attempt, what would it be? Or, alternately, what do you think you would have ended up doing had you not been a writer?

I’ve had a lot of jobs, sometimes four or five at once, and I think I’ll probably continue to have random jobs throughout life. I get antsy and once in a while, I’ll be like, “Oh, I don’t have enough money”—and I decide to apply for serving jobs even though I already work full-time and work freelance and write (and another couple of side jobs that are done more for good anecdotes than money).

Right now, I work as an editor, which is a very different job than writing, but also, my life is books. Sometimes I think about what I would do if books just stopped being a thing or publishing stopped existing as an industry, and I can only imagine a terrifying dystopian world where people are, like, murdering each other to survive. If books were no longer a possibility, it’d obviously be a really shitty world where very bad things had happened.

Before I won the CBC Prize, I did seriously think about quitting writing and going back to school to become a coroner. I was really obsessed with Da Vinci’s Inquest growing up, and I’m sure being a coroner would be exactly like it is on TV.

18 - What made you write, as opposed to doing something else?

I do lots of things—I’m pretty crafty, I like playing music, I can spend literal hours watching reality TV, and as previously mentioned, I do lots of other things for money. So I could always find other things to do (to make money or not).

But there’s something about that moment when you write a really good line where it seems like everything just clicks—and your brain just stops for a second and appreciates it and you feel so great. Those moments make all the bad days worth it.

19 - What was the last great book you read? What was the last great film?

Film: Pleasure, directed by Ninja Thyberg. It’s a brilliant, character-driven film about the porn industry, and I loved it!

Book: I read Rosemary’s Baby for the first time recently and was so impressed. I guess I should have known it was good, but it was surprisingly super great. I also really enjoyed Tomorrow, and Tomorrow, and Tomorrow by Gabrielle Zevin.

20 - What are you currently working on?

A novel about alien abduction and pregnancy and cults and obsessive friendship.

12 or 20 (second series) questions;

12 or 20 (second series) questions with Sophie Mccreesh

Sophie Mccreesh is a writer living in Toronto. She is the author of Once More, With Feeling published by Doubleday Canada.

1 – How did your first book change your life? How does your most recent work compare to your previous? How does it feel different?

Right now, I’m just enjoying the feeling of having published my first novel. I have been appreciating all the support and kind messages from people who enjoyed the book. It makes my day when someone sends a note about the novel. I’m also really enjoying seeing people post photos.

2 – How did you come to fiction first, as opposed to, say, poetry or non-fiction?

For a while, I wrote poetry but then I realized I wasn’t very good, and I just stopped. At the risk of giving a boring answer, I’d say that I was drawn to fiction just from reading it when I was a kid. When I started writing, most of my stories evolved from a piece of dialogue that I found funny or interesting, so it makes sense for that to be the medium I chose. It’s also easier to for me to try and make jokes while writing fiction.

3 – How long does it take to start any particular writing project? Does your writing initially come quickly, or is it a slow process? Do first drafts appear looking close to their final shape, or does your work come out of copious notes?

I try not to overthink things when starting a new project. It’s important for me to try and navigate the pressures of perfection in the sense that I often remind myself that the project doesn’t need to be fully formed immediately. It’s easy for me to dwell on a piece, thinking over possible ways that it could simply be bad. For that reason, I find it useful to get a first draft out quickly without weighing in too much how I perceive its quality. I usually try and reach a point where I cut it off. My aim is to convince myself that it is the best that it can be and that only time can make it better. Then I move on to something else for a while.

4 – Where does a work of prose usually begin for you? Are you an author of short pieces that end up combining into a larger project, or are you working on a "book" from the very beginning?

When I write, I’m always conscious of character, as that is always the first thing I am drawn to when I am reading a novel or even watching a show. I usually start with an idea of a character in mind as well as a vague question that I want an answer to. I try to figure out the answer to whatever questions I have, writing though the character’s perspective, asking how they would respond to whatever situation I’m playing out. How can I show what I think and feel through their perspective? How is their perspective helpful? Can it add either humour or insight into the situation?

5 – Are public readings part of or counter to your creative process? Are you the sort of writer who enjoys doing readings?

It’s great to share my work with my friends and I usually enjoy hanging out at whatever bar the reading is happening at. Although I feel like some of my material doesn’t always translate as well in a live reading (as a good deal of it is heavily based in dialogue), I still enjoy doing public readings. I like to see how some of the more humorous aspects of a piece will land with an audience—are people laughing, or did whatever joke I thought was funny not land?

6 – Do you have any theoretical concerns behind your writing? What kinds of questions are you trying to answer with your work? What do you even think the current questions are?

I usually end up writing about whatever vague, unanswered questions that feel important to me, or whatever I’m obsessed with at the time. I find that any questions or theoretical concerns I have change throughout the process of writing and publishing a short story or novel, so for that reason it’s hard to pinpoint any.

One of my goals for Once More, With Feeling was to write about female friendship in a way that was new and interesting, which I hope comes out between Jane and the character Kitty. As I kept writing, I found I was relating some of my own ideas to do with feeling vaguely inadequate while making art to the two friends. I wanted them to navigate wanting a career and a certain fear of failure.

7 – What is the best piece of advice you've heard (not necessarily given to you directly)?

To get a silk pillowcase.

8 – How easy has it been for you to move between genres (short stories to the novel)? What do you see as the appeal?

It’s usually pretty easy for me to work on multiple projects at the same time. What I work on can depend on what mood I’m in. Sometimes, writing short stories can feel a bit more light-hearted and fun. When I’m working on a novel, I can start to take things too seriously, as I feel every scene/ interaction/ piece of dialogue must have more meaning in terms of the movement of the story.

9 – What kind of writing routine do you tend to keep, or do you even have one? How does a typical day (for you) begin?

Although I tried to make myself into a morning person, I really only get meaningful work done at night. I think there is something about the emptiness of the late hours when everyone has already gone to bed. For a while, I was experimenting with a set word count. The number of words kept slowly decreasing until I decided it would just be better to spend a certain amount of time writing. Sometimes deleting a sentence can be as important as writing a new one.

I worked on parts of Once More, With Feeling at night after work so I would listen to electronic music to try and keep myself stimulated, awake, but not distracted.

10 – When your writing gets stalled, where do you turn or return for (for lack of a better word) inspiration?

I try to start by reading more. Giving myself permission to pause the writing for a bit while I carve out time to read and experience new things.

11 – David W. McFadden once said that books come from books, but are there any other forms that influence your work, whether nature, music, science or visual art?

It’s hard to speak specifically about how all these forms influence my work. I used to like to go to the AGO alone to relax and listen to music. I like it when it’s quiet and there’s no one there. I have attempted to write about music in my fiction—something that is a way for me to grasp how I relate to it personally.

Music comes up in different ways in my novel, Once More, With Feeling. The main character Jane is always conscious of what’s playing around her, trying to place the name of the song in her head. Maybe it’s a way for her to make sense of things. In a way, I think Jane views whatever music she is listening to as a way to connect to her emotions while she feels isolated and alone.

12 – What other writers or writings are important for your work, or simply your life outside of your work?

I really like Mary Gaitskill’s writing.

13 – What would you like to do that you haven't yet done?

Make music. Or at least get to a point where I feel comfortable writing about it.

14 – If you could pick any other occupation to attempt, what would it be? Or, alternately, what do you think you would have ended up doing had you not been a writer?

I would be a ballerina, simply because I love watching ballet. I also like the idea of being an architect. Sadly, I think I lack the skills for both.

15 – What made you write, as opposed to doing something else?

I can’t really think of a definitive moment when I decided to be a writer. Writing just feels like something I enjoy doing and feel committed to improve upon. Forgive this answer, but I always liked the idea of being a person who “writes novels.” haha

16 – What was the last great book you read? What was the last great film?

I really enjoyed Patricia Lockwood’s No One Is Talking About This. I recently watched The Lost Daughter

12 or 20 (second series) questions;

12 or 20 questions: with Nicholas Ruddock

NICHOLAS RUDDOCK's [photo credit: Koko Bonaparte] writing has been published in The Dalhousie Review, The Antigonish Review, Fiddlehead, Prism International, Grain, sub-Terrain, Event, and Exile. His short story "How Eunice Got Her Baby" was published in the Journey Prize Anthology in 2007, and a short film adaptation, narrated by Gordon Pinsent, has been made by the Canadian Film Centre. Ruddock is a family physician. He lives in Guelph, Ontario.

1 - How did your first book change your life? How does your most recent work compare to your previous? How does it feel different?

My first book was a book of short stories (How Loveta Got Her Baby). It had been accepted for publication when my novel suddenly went into high gear. So I put the short stories away and opted to go first out into the world with the novel (The Parabolist, Doubleday Canada). There was no change in my life, just a step in a different direction. The novel differs in style and location, but it's much the same in theme. It's a bit more serious than the stories, but preserves the same sense of humour.

2 - How did you come to fiction first, as opposed to, say, poetry or non-fiction?

I have never written non-fiction. Reality seems to be off limits for me. I went from one-sentence short stories--published as poems-- to short fiction, then to the novel, the classical progression.

3 - How long does it take to start any particular writing project? Does your writing initially come quickly, or is it a slow process? Do first drafts appear looking close to their final shape, or does your work come out of copious notes?

I start with one simple idea and let it loose. I have no plan. It is not a slow process; I stop if it's a struggle. First drafts can be altered, thrown away, deleted, cut-and-pasted, dragged several paragraphs further, or left entirely intact. I like to compile inventory, in the hope that the light of another day will prove that the spontaneous work hit the mark. I do not work from notes.

4 - Where does fiction usually begin for you? Are you an author of short pieces that end up combining into a larger project, or are you working on a "book" from the very beginning?

I have worked on my one book as a novel...as soon as I recognized it was not a short story.

5 - Are public readings part of or counter to your creative process? Are you the sort of writer who enjoys doing readings?

I have always enjoyed public reading. I don't see how they could be counter to any other activity.

6 - Do you have any theoretical concerns behind your writing? What kinds of questions are you trying to answer with your work? What do you even think the current questions are?

I have not consciously worked from any theoretical concerns. As far as I am aware, I am not trying to answer questions. If there are current questions, they have possibly been approached in dialogue between my characters.

7 – What do you see the current role of the writer being in larger culture? Does s/he even have one? What do you think the role of the writer should be?

Some writers serve as the conscience of their generation, others as entertainers, and there's everything in between. S/he should be provocative, not boring.

8 - Do you find the process of working with an outside editor difficult or essential (or both)?

Not difficult. Essential and rewarding.

9 - What is the best piece of advice you've heard (not necessarily given to you directly)?

For dialogue, just use "he said" and "she said". No "groaned", "ejaculated", "laughed", "responded", "cried","guffawed" etc etc (Elmore Leonard, I think).

For characters, be inclusive, understanding, sympathetic (Cheryl Ruddock).

10 - How easy has it been for you to move between genres (short stories to the novel)? What do you see as the appeal?

I haven't had much problem moving between genres, though that may just be inexperience. Short stories hit one precise target; novels blow holes out of the ground, and therein lies their different appeal.

11 - What kind of writing routine do you tend to keep, or do you even have one? How does a typical day (for you) begin?

When not working at the office (medical), I write in the mornings. Some late evenings, briefly, only 10:00-11:00. Some very early mornings, if there's a time crunch editing, 5:30-7:30 AM.

12 - When your writing gets stalled, where do you turn or return for (for lack of a better word) inspiration?

I pick up a different character or point of view. If that doesn't do it, I go and do something else.

13 - What fragrance reminds you of home?

No fragrance. Maybe wool in winter.

14 - David W. McFadden once said that books come from books, but are there any other forms that influence your work, whether nature, music, science or visual art?

I would have a hard time writing without weather, birds, clouds, rain. I have done my best to leave music out as a cultural reference, though I have failed once or twice in that regard. Science exists in my novel only as a backdrop or a curtain. Visual art is importamt, but has not played a role in anything I have written so far except in one short story which has been rejected coast-to-coast.

15 - What other writers or writings are important for your work, or simply your life outside of your work?

Canadian: Mordecai Richler, Barbara Gowdy, Guy Vanderhaege, David Adams Richard, Kenneth Harvey, Guy Beauchemin.

Non-Canadian: Nabokov, Celine, Sebald, Bolano, Vollman, David Mitchell, the Russians all, Mario Vargas Llosa; the list could go on and on as there are many.

16 - What would you like to do that you haven't yet done?

Not a lot. Simple personal things, that's all.

17 - If you could pick any other occupation to attempt, what would it be? Or, alternately, what do you think you would have ended up doing had you not been a writer?

I am a medical doctor and feel lucky to be so. Otherwise the usual Canadian list: hockey, Bingo caller, canoeist, tin-whistler, unsuccessful trapper.

18 - What made you write, as opposed to doing something else?

I was driven to it by other books, the fictional worlds they created. I wanted to be able to do the same thing.

19 - What was the last great book you read? What was the last great film?

The Savage Detectives. Cloud Atlas. Film: Mouchette. Cache (no soundtrack).

20 - What are you currently working on?

The next novel and, simultaneously, my short-story collection.

12 or 20 (second series) questions,

12 or 20 questions: with Nino Ricci

Nino Ricci’s first novel, Lives of the Saints, garnered international acclaim, appearing in fifteen countries and winning a host of awards, including, in Canada, the Governor General's Award for Fiction and the Books in Canada First Novel Award, and in England, the Betty Trask Award and the Winifred Holtby Prize. It formed the first volume of a trilogy that was completed by In A Glass House and Where She Has Gone, which was shortlisted for the Giller Prize for Fiction. The Lives of the Saints trilogy was adapted as a miniseries starring Sophia Loren, Sabrina Ferilli, and Kris Kristofferson.

Ricci is also the author of Testament, co-winner of the Trillium Award and shortlisted for the Commonwealth Prize for Canada and the Caribbean and the Rogers Writers’ Trust Fiction Prize. In 2006, Ricci was the winner of the inaugural Alistair MacLeod Award for Literary Achievement.

Born in Leamington, Ontario, to parents from the Molise region of Italy, Ricci completed studies at York University in Toronto, at Concordia University in Montreal, and at the University of Florence, and has taught both in Canada and abroad. He is currently the Killam Visiting Professor in Canadian Studies at Bridgewater State College in Massachusetts. He is also a past president of the Canadian Centre of International PEN.

Nino Ricci’s newest novel is the The Origin of Species. According to the Toronto Star, it is “Ricci’s masterstroke to date . . . . An ambitious, thrilling novel that resists encapsulation and takes not a single misstep.” The Origin of Species earned Ricci his second Governor General’s Award for Fiction. In spring 2009 Ricci also published a biography of Pierre Elliott Trudeau as part of Penguin’s Extraordinary Canadians series.

1 - How did your first book change your life? How does your most recent work compare to your previous? How does it feel different?

The success of my first book allowed me to continue writing on a more or less full-time basis afterwards, which has been an incredible luxury.

My most recent novel, The Origin of Species, shares some similarities of tone with Lives of the Saint and covers some of the same thematic material, but from a somewhat more nuanced point of view, I think. It also tackles different issues that are more relevant to me now, or that I have a better perspective on--the issue of parenthood, for instance.

2 - How did you come to fiction first, as opposed to, say, poetry or non-fiction?

As an undergraduate I studied mainly poetry rather than fiction, and for a time even wrote poetry. I have often felt, in fact, that most of whatever is good about my fiction I learned from poetry. But I always felt like an interloper in the land of poetry, whereas I had been drawn to writing fiction, and particularly long fiction, ever since the second grade. As for non-fiction: probably from the first time I read a biography, back in my teens, I had the sense that non-fiction was somehow less honest and less true than fiction, because it had access to so much less information than fiction did and had so many biases and agendas.

3 - How long does it take to start any particular writing project? Does your writing initially come quickly, or is it a slow process? Do first drafts appear looking close to their final shape, or does your work come out of copious notes?

Some projects go quickly and well, others not. With the years, each project seems to take longer, I'm not sure why. My resistance to beginning grows greater as well, perhaps out of fear of failing, or because my expectations are always getting higher. And my first drafts seem to get worse and worse. My first drafts seldom look anything like my final ones. They serve essentially as my notes, my outline, where I let every possible version of things have its say before I ferret out the one that will become the final work.

4 - Where does fiction usually begin for you? Are you an author of short pieces that end up combining into a larger project, or are you working on a "book" from the very beginning?

My books usually come to me as a whole, and usually years before I start writing them. I get ideas constantly, but only a few of those stay with me, and these I keep coming back to again and again, not so much to flesh out their details as to test their endurance.

5 - Are public readings part of or counter to your creative process? Are you the sort of writer who enjoys doing readings?

I generally enjoy readings because they are a way to get out of the house and to meet actual readers. If not for readings, the circle might not feel closed; it might feel--it in fact often does feel--as if one were sending one's words out into the void. So in that sense readings help my creative process, by helping to assure me that there will be an audience out there who will care in some measure about what I write.

6 - Do you have any theoretical concerns behind your writing? What kinds of questions are you trying to answer with your work? What do you even think the current questions are?

These sorts of questions are rather difficult to answer. Maybe "theoretical" is not the right word. The concerns are more practical. Why are we here? What does it mean? What is the right way to live? Concerns like that. In a nutshell: how do we make sense of everything? I think that is the main question for most novelists.

7 - What do you see the current role of the writer being in larger culture? Does s/he even have one? What do you think the role of the writer should be?

Again, a rather difficult question. There are many different types of writers, of course, and different types of writing. The job for the novelist, I think, is as above: to try to make sense of everything. Other fields of knowledge try to make sense of their own little wedge of the pie, but novels, like other narrative forms--the epic; the feature film--try to fit in everything.

8 - Do you find the process of working with an outside editor difficult or essential (or both)?

Both. I have been very fortunate, of course, in having had brilliant editors, from my advisor when I was a grad student in creative writing at Concordia University, Terence Byrnes, to Jan Geddes at Cormorant, Ellen Seligman at M&S, and Martha Kanya-Forstner at Doubleday. Most writers, I think, are very grateful for their editors, who save them from many public embarrassments. That has certainly been my own case.

9 - What is the best piece of advice you've heard (not necessarily given to you directly)?

For writers? Keep writing. Paul Quarrington's advice for writers also always struck me as particularly sound: if you want to make it as a writer, just make sure you write better than everyone else.

10 - How easy has it been for you to move between genres (fiction to non-fiction)? What do you see as the appeal?

To be frank, I found non-fiction easier than fiction--the story was there, after all, so I didn't have to deal with the paralyzing doubt about where I was going that dogs me when I write fiction. That said, I hold to my comment above, that it seems rather less likely one will arrive at the truth in non-fiction than in fiction.

11 - What kind of writing routine do you tend to keep, or do you even have one? How does a typical day (for you) begin?

I write when I can, which is usually between 9:30 and 3 or 4 or 5 most weekdays, depending on other professional and domestic obligations. I used to keep longer hours when I was childless, though I'm not sure I wrote any better. I certainly wasn't any happier.

12 - When your writing gets stalled, where do you turn or return for (for lack of a better word) inspiration?

When my writing gets stalled, I'll let you know.

13 - What was your most recent Hallowe'en costume?

I gave that up a while back, probably five or six years ago. I think my last incarnation was as Darth Vader.

14 - David W. McFadden once said that books come from books, but are there any other forms that influence your work, whether nature, music, science or visual art?

Of course there are other influences. Film has been a big one for me, particularly Fellini, but also all the late-night Jack Lemmon and Shirley Maclaine movies I watched as a kid. Increasingly, the internet is an influence. In short, everything is an influence.

15 - What other writers or writings are important for your work, or simply your life outside of your work?

Shakespeare, Dostoyevsky, Nabokov, Alice Munro, Virginia Woolf, Doris Lessing, Thomas Pynchon, Bernard Malamud, Jonathan Swift, Sophocles, and others.

16 - What would you like to do that you haven't yet done?

Oh, god. I don't think I can say this in print.

17 - If you could pick any other occupation to attempt, what would it be? Or, alternately, what do you think you would have ended up doing had you not been a writer?

Mostly, I'd like to direct. Seriously: if I'd had the qualities, I suppose I would have liked to have been an auteur filmmaker, though I likely would have ended up embittered and cynical (or even more embittered and cynical).

18 - What made you write, as opposed to doing something else?

Can one really answer a question like this? It was what I was good at, I suppose. It was what I liked doing. It was my only option. It was the only thing that would make me happy (relatively speaking, of course).

19 - What was the last great book you read? What was the last great film?

Last great book: The Golden Mean by Annabel Lyon

Last great film: Sorry, nothing comes to mind. Though Fantastic Mr Fox wasn't bad.

20 - What are you currently working on?

A novel.

12 or 20 questions (second series);