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 novel, Dead And Living, was based on the true story of a man who did not know, for 25 years, whether he was a murderer, and finally went to court to find out. I covered his trial in Thunder Bay, Ontario as a newspaper reporter but wanted to write his story as fiction in order to examine what lay behind the facts: how a man could not know whether he had killed someone, and the differences between truth and justice. Shortlisted for an Arthur Ellis award, Dead And Living lit a passion for fiction in me that has never died.
Thirty years later my use of language and elements of story in my fifth novel, The Angels’ Share, just published, are more accomplished. A romantic thriller about the nuclear power of love in sex, in climate-conscious winemaking and in my character’s and her 94-year old grandmother’s heist of a greedy Russian oligarch’s $2 million bottle of cognac, The Angels’ Share takes itself less seriously while also exploring female sexuality, climate connections and morality in a chaotic world. I am as thrilled to see it published as I was with my first book.
2 - How did you come to fiction first, as opposed to, say, poetry or non-fiction?
I have always been drawn to the power of story, perhaps because growing up in Canada, the U.S., fascist Spain, Communist Czechoslovakia and the U.K. introduced me to the twists and turns of human behaviour at an early age. I was seven when, driving through the Pyrenees Mountains in the 1950s, my parents smelled smoke under our new German Mercedes Benz for example. Someone had tied a rag to our exhaust pipe with the intention of setting us on fire. Much later as a journalist I soon discovered that human lives are messy and non-fiction serves only facts. Poetry crystallizes a profound moment or idea or image and I wanted entry into the full, colourful, musical panorama of life. Fiction gives me that.
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?
All of the above. A spark of an idea takes time to evolve into a loose framework, which changes as I write. Some scenes fly out onto the page in nearly finished form, others take careful crafting. I take notes while researching my subjects and these immerse me in the feel of what I’m focussing on, then the words come through me onto the page.
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’m always working on a book. I also write the occasional short piece of non-fiction, and sometimes poetry pops out of me, demanding attention, but these are usually tied, in some way, to my main book project.
5 - Are public readings part of or counter to your creative process? Are you the sort of writer who enjoys doing readings?
Writing is a private process for me but once a book has a publisher I enjoy sharing it through readings and I’ve been lucky to do so in Canada, England, the U.S. and India. My newest book, The Angels’ Share, will launch in Crete, where it is set, with a reading at a winery. I’m definitely looking forward to that!
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?
A central theme in all of my books is the power of love, that deep-seated force of growth that lends strength to any human who experiences it, and how love plays out in a world wracked with greed and struggles for power. The current question has to be: will an evolution of human consciousness happen in time to prevent our extinction?
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?
A writer’s role varies with her/his/their prevailing culture. In Canada we can write relatively freely, and therefore have a responsibility to mirror how we see our world unfolding. We are also a small country, population-wise however, so it can be hard to find publishers who are not parochial or idealogically constrained.
8 - Do you find the process of working with an outside editor difficult or essential (or both)?
Guidance and criticism from an editor are essential to me. I soon learned that if I want my work to shine, I need to park my ego outside my study, preferably down the street. So I can receive, and then assess clearly, the editor’s comments.
9 - What is the best piece of advice you've heard (not necessarily given to you directly)?
“You have to kill your darlings,” said author Stephen King, though writers have been advising this for generations. We tend to fall in love with some pieces of our prose. Excising them if they don’t serve the story requires putting your reader ahead of your pride and this can be hard. A mentor of mine put it another way: “What use is a sweater with three arms? Cut out the third one and use it as a tea cozy.”
10 - How easy has it been for you to move between genres (novels to non-fiction history to plays and short stories)? What do you see as the appeal?
Writing plays has expanded my skills with dialogue and scene immediacy, and watching my work come to life for an audience was a career high point. Dealing with production conflicts was difficult however for a writer used to working alone. Several of my short stories have been published but I find this form confining. My non-fiction history book was fun to write, and an exercise in serving up research in story form, a skill essential also to novel writing.
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 like to move straight from waking to some form of meditation to breakfast at my desk, where I will stay deeply focussed for several hours on a writing day.
12 - When your writing gets stalled, where do you turn or return for (for lack of a better word) inspiration?
The still centre of myself is a place where possibilities beyond my consciousness exist. If I park my worries and ambitions there, at some point later solutions to my writing problems invariably present themselves.
13 - What fragrance reminds you of home?
The smell of the sea.
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?
Living nature in all its forms is a reflection of what goes on in human beings’ psyches. For this reason books, music, visual art as well as scientific and systems thinking influence my work.
15 - What other writers or writings are important for your work, or simply your life outside of your work?
I love beautifully written fiction that offers a fresh perspective on some aspect of life. Classical writers who helped shape my writing are Dostoyevsky, Tolstoy, Stendhal, Dickens, Shakespeare. Recent writers include Amor Towles, Richard Powers, Barbara Kingsolver, Margaret Laurence.
16 - What would you like to do that you haven't yet done?
I’d like to read from my new novel, The Angels’ Share, at the winery in Crete where the story took shape.
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?
If I could write songs and sing and dance while playing a guitar I’m pretty sure I wouldn’t be writing novels.
18 - What made you write, as opposed to doing something else?
I never considered any other form of expression. Nobody wants to hear/see my singing, dancing, guitar playing, and splashing paint is something I do just for fun.
19 - What was the last great book you read? What was the last great film?
I still think about Richard Powers’ novel Playground. Great films are hard to find these days, though I recently enjoyed Song Sung Blue.
20 - What are you currently working on?
After The Angels’ Share publicity work finishes I’ll return to work on One Night With A Violin (working title,) a historical romantic thriller set in Cold War Prague.
