Check This Out: Maud—A Novel Inspired by the Life of L.M. Montgomery

With me on the blog today is the awesome Melanie Fishbane! She’s here to talk about her novel, Maud: A Novel Inspired by the Life of L. M. Montgomery. Yes, that Lucy Maud Montgomery of Anne of Green Gables and Emily of New Moon fame. Maud was published by Penguin Random House on April 25, 2017.

    

If you follow my blog, you know the drill. I’ll discuss a giveaway at the end of the interview. If you’re new to the blog, well, the same information is appropriate. Now, let’s talk to Melanie!

El Space: What made you decide to write a novel based on the life of Lucy Maud Montgomery?
Melanie: I’ve been reading L. M. Montgomery for most of my life. I first read her when I was about 11 and was enamored by the woman behind the books. I’ve also always wanted to write historical fiction for kids and teens. It was one of the reasons I did my first M. A. and studied biographies for children—in that case it was Joan of Arc—so when this opportunity presented itself, I couldn’t say, “No.” It was the perfect symmetry of everything I loved coming together. Maud’s teen years are also something rarely explored, so it felt like I would be telling a new story. This story has never been told, and it felt important to show a side of Montgomery that many people had not seen. Essentially, the portrait of an artist as a young woman.

L. M. Montgomery

El Space: What was your process for researching this project?
Melanie: It was important to me that I visit where the novel took place, so I spent about a week in Prince Albert, Saskatchewan and returned often to Prince Edward Island to do research. In fact, I travelled to all the places Maud lived, including Leaskdale, Norval and Toronto, Ontario.

I also interviewed as many people as I could. In Cavendish and Park Corner, PEI, I interviewed Maud’s relatives and in Prince Albert, I spoke to the archivist at the Prince Albert Historical Society, as well as a local volunteer who drove me around and showed me where things once were.

There were also many hours in the various archives that included Montgomery’s journals, book collection, and other artefacts, such the L. M. Montgomery Institute, and L. M. Montgomery Collection Archives and Special Collection at the University of Guelph. Then I went to the secondary sources and her times, including the history of PEI, a local history of Prince Albert, and Saskatchewan, as well as a book on indigenous peoples in Saskatchewan. I also used websites with old newspapers, such as Island newspapers and Peel’s Prairie Provinces.

Prince Edward Island

I included a selected list of these books and the websites at the back of Maud and in my References and Resources section on my website.

El Space: I love Anne of Green Gables, Anne of Avonlea, and other books. Anne was irrepressible. Was L. M. Montgomery anything like Anne or like Emily Starr, or another of her heroines? Why or why not?
Melanie: Montgomery encouraged a connection between herself and her characters and the world she built. In her autobiography, The Alpine Path, she shows particular places in Cavendish, such as the Haunted Woods and Lover’s Lane, that appear in the Anne series. Avonlea is inspired by the village that Maud grew up in. Anne’s situation, being an orphan and her imagination, is reflective of Maud’s experience. Maud felt like she was. Her mother died when she was 21 months old and she used her writing as a way to channel these feelings. Montgomery, however, said that it was Emily Starr, the character in the Emily series, she was probably most like, and that the series would be the most autobiographical, because it was the story of a young writer.

     

El Space: What did you learn about yourself as a writer as you worked on this novel?
Melanie: I have so much to learn. 🙂 Seriously, I discovered a lot about how much I enjoyed the revision process. While some writers might like the first draft, I found that it was getting into the weeds of the revision process where I could really find my story—Maud’s story. I also see how close I can become to things, and the importance of the editor in the process. My editor was amazing in pushing me to the next level, and gave me room to make mistakes. And there were many. . . .

El Space: What writing advice do you have for authors who want to write novels based on real people?
Melanie: Depending upon who you might be writing about, people have particular ideas about who that person is. Having some compassion too—that is important, but it is also important to allow your character to emerge. Be true to the story you need to tell, that your character is inspiring you to. I would also say that it should be realistic.

One of the things that I had to realize is that the real Montgomery was quietly subversive, mostly in her writing. She never stood up and marched or was an activist in our contemporary understanding of what that might mean. She was a product of her times and Victorian codes of behavior, and that meant that she wouldn’t necessarily be overtly “feminist.” She didn’t even call herself a suffragette. But her books are feminist. At this point she would have to learn how to navigate these constricting spaces and that meant being true to this. As much as modern Mel would have liked Maud to stand up for certain injustices she saw or fight for things in the way we would like to today, it wouldn’t have been true to her character. So, I stayed true to that. I got out of my own way. Be true to the character, his/hers/their times and story.

El Space: What will you work on next?
Melanie: Currently, I have two essays due at the end of the month. So I’ll be working on that. 🙂 In terms of fiction, there are two novels that are whispering to me. We’ll see which one will win this summer.

Thanks, Melanie, for being my guest!

Looking for Melanie? Check out her website, Twitter, and Facebook.

You can find Maud: A Novel Inspired by the Life of L.M. Montgomery at Amazon, Barnes and Noble, and Indiebound. But stop the presses! One of you will get a copy sent to your address! Comment below to be entered in the drawing. Winner to be announced on May 29.

The girls wonder when Melanie will write a series about them, since they’re irrepressible too.

Author photo by Ayelet Tsabari. L. M. Montgomery photo from freeclassicebooks.com. Book covers from Goodreads. Map of Canada from commercialpropertycashflow.com. Prince Edward Island map from commons.wikimedia.org. Writer thinking image from clker.com. Stick figures from clipartpanda.com. Rosie Bloom, Kirstea, and Lippy Lulu by Moose Toys. Photo by L. Marie.

Cover Reveal: Torn

It is my pleasure to participate in the cover reveal for Torn, book 2 of the Bound trilogy by the delightful Kate Sparkes. You know her, you love her from her blog, Disregard the Prologue, and from Bound, book 1 of her trilogy. Now, gaze in wonder, people:

Gorgeous isn’t he? Er . . . the cover, I mean. Yeah. It was designed by the amazing Ravven.

Here’s a synopsis of Torn:

Aren Tiernal knows that safety is an illusion, that his cruel and powerful brother will never forgive his betrayal. Still, returning to Tyrea to challenge Severn for the throne would be suicide. It’s not until Severn himself comes to collect what’s owed to him that Aren decides to risk everything in an attempt to bring down the most powerful Sorcerer Tyrea has ever known. The mission seems doomed to fail, but it’s Aren’s only chance to save himself, his country, and the woman who thawed his heart.

Rowan Greenwood has troubles of her own. Though she should be a great Sorceress, years of being closed off from her magic have left her unable to control her incredible power. When a pair of ominous letters arrive from her home country, Rowan has to choose between her new life and a chance at saving her family—and just maybe changing an entire country’s beliefs about the evils of magic.

Torn apart by separate quests, Rowan and Aren will have to discover untapped strengths and confront their darkest fears in order to overthrow a ruler determined to destroy them both.

AVAILABLE FOR PRE-ORDER ON AMAZON.COM.

Release date: March 31, 2015. Limited time launch price: $2.99.

I’ll be giving away a copy of Torn to one commenter. The winner will be announced later this week. When you comment, tell what you would do if you suddenly learned that you had magical powers. Oh and be sure to tell Kate happy birthday.

Kate Sparkes was born in Hamilton, ON. She abandoned the mainland to live in Newfoundland, where she spends way too much time looking for merfolk among the ocean waves. She lives with her wonderful husband, two children, and far too many pets.

Happy birthday, Kate!

Birthday cake from glutenfreeluv.com.

Check This Out: Bound

Thanks for dropping by. Today on the blog is the awesome and effervescent Kate Sparkes, blogger extraordinaire, dragon enthusiast, and the author of Bound, which was featured here as a cover reveal. Bound, the first book of a trilogy, was released on June 26. Huzzah! (Click on the cover reveal link if you’d like to read a synopsis of Bound.) To celebrate the release, I’m hosting a giveaway of this very book, which I’ll discuss after I finish talking to Kate. So grab a beverage of choice and make yourself comfortable.

      

El Space: Four quick facts about yourself?
Kate: (1) I won a writing award in kindergarten for the story, “Ons eponatim ser wsa hws wsa trebesidit.” (That was the whole story. It was accompanied by a lovely painting.) (2) I firmly believe that one can never own too many beautiful socks. My wish list is massive. (3) When I was a kid, I wanted to be a pony when I grew up (it didn’t work out). (4) I’m fine with spiders, but terrified of house/basement centipedes.

El Space: Congrats on that kindergarten award! 😀 So, which of the characters in Bound would you say is most like you? Different from you? Why?
Kate: That depends a lot on what kind of day I’m having. Most of the time, Rowan is probably the most similar. We both have a curious streak that runs deep enough to cause trouble, though she takes more risks than I do when she’s looking for adventure. She’s compassionate, but a wee bit selfish. I have a lot of those moments. Least like me would be Severn, I hope. I don’t think I’d ever hurt people to further my own cause or ambitions. Also, I’m really bad with fire.
El Space: If I could interview Rowan, what do you think she would say about you as her author?
Kate: She’d probably say nicer things about me than Aren would. I doubt either of them would be pleased with everything I’ve put them through, but I think Rowan’s life is better for it. And hey, she’s the one who wanted an adventure. It’s not my fault if things haven’t worked out the way she expected.
El Space: How did you come up with the idea for this series? How long was the writing process for Bound?
Kate: The idea developed over the course of a few years, mostly while I was in bed with migraines and unable to find any other way to entertain myself. I started to wonder what would happen if someone had headaches that were caused by something other than changes in the weather—something like magic, maybe. The next question was, why it would be harmful? . . . No spoilers, but that question led to the creation of Rowan and her people. As for the plot, I wondered what would happen if a nice, normal girl accidentally saved a bad guy’s life and somehow found herself stuck with him. It took a long time for me to figure out the story, but it’s been fun. As for how long it’s taken, I started the first draft in November of 2010, so more than three years. I haven’t always been able to devote much time to writing, but I hope that will change now.
El Space: If you lived in the world you created, to which people group would you belong? I ask this, because I’d totally be one of the merfolk.
Kate: I wish I could say the merfolk! They’re so lovely and mysterious, and I do enjoy the water. Maybe a cave fairy? Kind of chubby, sleeps a lot. I’m far less fuzzy than they are, though. No, I think I’d be a human. I hope I’d be a sorceress, but only if I get to choose where I live. I don’t suppose I’d last long in Rowan’s country or Aren’s family.

A cave fairy of a sort from the Fairy Cave in Bau, Sarawak

El Space: What attracted you to fantasy? What gets you pump up about this genre?
Kate: I’ve been addicted to fairy tales for longer than I can remember. I once cried when I thought I was getting too old for them. My mom had to sit me down and explain that as I got older I could read more books, but that didn’t mean leaving behind the stories I loved. I still love them, and the sense of wonder and possibility that they always leave me with. I get the same experience with fantasy books. Anything is possible, and as readers or writers we get to explore human experiences in extraordinary worlds. Actually, I find many “real world” books rather dull in comparison. I like to read about places and characters that stretch my imagination beyond what’s possible here.

El Space: What books or authors inspire you?
Kate: C. S. Lewis. Stephen King. L. M. Montgomery. Jacqueline Carey. J. K. Rowling. Sarah J. Maas. John Steinbeck. Tiffany Reisz. Robertson Davies. Tina Fey. Actually, anyone who has ever written a book that made me think, “I want to do that. I want to make people feel like this.” That list is too long to type out here.

    

El Space: What aspects of writing did you find most challenging?
Kate: My greatest challenge in writing is usually getting the first draft out. Revisions are hard, but at least I can see the whole picture and know what needs to be done. First drafts feel like slow going, and I need momentum to motivate me. Letting people see the work and learning to take criticism was (and is) also hard, but so worth it.
El Space: What advice do you have for authors who want to write fantasy books?
Kate: Know your magic system before you write. Know the rules, have firm limitations, and make sure you stay within the boundaries you set. If you leave things too loose or have limitations but don’t explain them well enough, your editor will slap your hands for it. *Ahem*
El Space: Hee hee! What writing project are you working on now?
Kate: Right now my focus is on revising the sequel to Bound, which I hope to have out next winter. I’m quite excited about where the story is going. The trick right now is to make sure that I’m doing the story justice by telling it in the best way possible.

Glad you came on the blog today, Kate! And keep a weather eye out for dragons!

If you’re looking for Kate, look no further than her blog, Twitter, Goodreads, and Facebook.

Bound is available here:

Amazon.com
Amazon.ca
Kobo
Barnes & Noble 

But two of you will win a copy of this book! Comment below to be included in the drawing. Winners will be announced on Wednesday, July 9.

Cover design by Ravven (www.ravven.com). Author photo by A. J. Sparkes. Book covers other than Boundfrom Goodreads. Merman image from scenicreflections.com. Dragon from en.gtwallpaper.com. Sock from straw.com. Cave fairy statue from bestkuchinghotels.com.

A Fight to the Finish

I’ve written posts before about my middle grade years and how rarely anyone at my old school avoided a fight. But participating in a fight and writing about one are two very different things. So, as I approached the end of my young adult fantasy novel, I faced the challenge of writing a fight scene. But how to make it meaningful and avoid clichés—ah, that was the difficulty.

I turned to other authors for inspiration. Let me tell you what I found. In an online seminar on writing action scenes, author James Alan Gardner comments

Roger Zelazny once recommended that fight scenes should have at least two sentences of filler for every sentence of genuine action. . . . . This doesn’t mean useless filler—it means various kinds of reaction shots and other material that contribute to mood or characterization.

Okay. Now I still needed to see how it was done. So I headed to a book written by Markus Zusak, an award-winning author of young adult fiction. Zusak uses filler to showcase character and mood in Fighting Ruben Wolfe, a contemporary realistic novel (in the anthology Under Dogs) about two brothers—Ruben and Cameron Wolfe—caught up in the world of underground boxing. If you don’t like spoilers, you should stop reading now. I can’t avoid them in this post.

                    

In the following excerpt, Cameron’s viewpoint is the camera that moves us through the opening minutes of the brothers’ last and most spectacular bout—with each other.

In the suffocating seconds between now and the fight, I wait. No practice punches, I’ll need them all. It’s fear and truth and future, all devouring me. It hunts through my blood and I’m a Wolfe. Cameron Wolfe.

I hear the bell.

With it, the crowd comes storming into my ears.

I walk forward and throw the first punch. I miss. Then Rube swings and gets me on the shoulder. There’s no slow beginning, no warm-up period or watching time. I move in hard and get underneath. I hit him. Hard to the chin. It hurts him. I see it. I see it because I want it more and he is there to be hurt. He’s there to be beaten and I’m the only one in the ring to do it. (Zusak 296–97)

Perhaps you’re getting a Fight Club vibe right about now. This is not your typical fight between a hero and a villain. This is a fight between people we care about, and there can be only one winner. Here the filler and action work in tandem like the fists of a fighter to underscore the mood: tense. Zusak’s style is lean like a prize fighter at the top of his game. “The suffocating seconds” in the first line helps us experience the tension Cameron, the younger of the two, feels pre-fight, while “I’m a Wolfe” provides a moment of sharp realization that fits Cameron’s emotional arc. He has always been a reluctant fighter—unlike the more predatory, “wolf-like” Ruben. Now the fight—the need to win this bout—is in his blood, and thus in ours as we move through the fight with him. The short, punch-like sentences, action verbs, and figurative language throughout (“It hunts through my blood”; “fear and truth and future, all devouring me”; “storming into my ears”) keep the tension high and never allows our attention to flag.

            

With every jab, Zusak reminds us that while the battle will undoubtedly continue, it is worth fighting and reading about.

So, what did I learn? The right filler can give a fight scene emotional punch. That’s what I wanted for my scene. The key is to carefully consider the details that add emotional weight or develop character in a way that fits the mood.

Facing a fight scene or at least a scene with conflict of a different sort? Get ready to rumble, but don’t forget: character counts.

Gardner, James Alan. A Seminar on Writing Prose. 2001. Web. 28 March 2011. <http://www.thinkage.ca/~jim/prose/action.htm>
Zusak, Markus. Fighting Ruben Wolfe in the novel anthology Under Dogs. New York: Arthur A. Levine Books/Scholastic Press, 2000, 2010. Print.

Book covers from Goodreads. Boxing gloves from macho.com. Fight Club photo from movieroar.com.

Check This Out: My Book of Life by Angel (Part 2)

Welcome to the second part of the interview with the always fabulous Martine Leavitt. The first part is here if you missed it. I’m chatting with Martine about her awesome novel in verse, My Book of Life by Angel (Groundwood Books and FSG/Macmillan). I’ll discuss the giveaway for that at the end of today’s interview. So, let’s get biz-ay!

El Space: Martine, let’s get back to how you began writing My Book of Life by Angel. What happened after you told your daughter that you didn’t think you could write the book?
Martine: A very short time later, I got a phone call from Vermont College of Fine Arts inviting me to apply to be on the faculty. They would pay me about a third of what I was currently making as a copyeditor. I said I would just love that.

El Space: Wow!
Martine: I was hired a couple weeks before the January 2008 residency. I hastily prepared a lecture, and then suffered over what I would read. I remembered as a student that I preferred hearing the raw, rough unpublished work faculty were working on over work that had been professionally edited. So I summoned my courage and read the only thing I had: some of that fifty pages of Angel.

I would like to stop here and say that my colleagues at VCFA are the most gifted and generous souls I have ever met.

El Space: I agree!
Martine: They teach me as well as their students. They are not only good writers, they are the best kind of people. They and the students were enormously encouraging, and told me that I should write this book.

I believe it was at that residency that Julie Larios introduced me to the whole debate about the novel in verse, of which I had known nothing. She said in a lecture, in essence, that she had doubts and deep reservations about the novel in verse, that it would be difficult if not impossible to write something that could be both poetry and novel.

I thought, Oh, so that’s why I’m having so much trouble!

Over the course of a couple of years I worked away at Angel. It was a dark place to live. I looked at my pile of papers sidelong and with dread. I wrestled with my angel, and more than once my hip was put out of joint.

El Space: Ah, like Jacob wrestling with the angel in the book of Genesis.
Martine: Nevertheless, this character had seized me by the left and right ventricles. I knew her. She was mine. I loved her like my child. I was committed to telling her story.

Finally I sent it to my agent, Brenda Bowen, who had been an editor for twenty years. She had suggestions for revision. I rewrote and sent it back to her. She had more suggestions. I rewrote and sent it back to her.

She felt it was ready for the unveiling. Margaret Ferguson at FSG bought it. Shelley Tanaka [photo at right] at Groundwood Books bought the Canadian rights. I had two of the most brilliant editors on the planet, and they were working together. Little did they know that it would take both their good brains to tackle this project.

Margaret sent me the first editorial letter. It was four pages long. Single spaced. The first sentence said, “Thank you for letting me publish your book.” That was it for praise. The rest was all about what needed still to be done.

I worked hard, harder than I ever had. The poetry pulled me out of the story. The story sucked the poetry out of the pages. Every page had to have a beginning, middle, and end. Every page had to have a payoff. And yet it had to work as a whole. It was grueling and humbling, but finally, after several months, I sent it back to Margaret one hundred poems shorter than the original.

She sent me a three-page letter. The first sentence said, “You have done a good job of cutting this down.” The rest was all about what needed still to be done. She said the originally proposed publication date of spring 2012 would have to be pushed back to fall 2012.

El Space: Arrgh!
Martine: I worked hard. Some days I despaired. When I saw her at the residency, Shelley Tanaka touched my hand and said, “Poor Martine.”

She never said, “Poor Martine, never mind about all that work.” She never said that last part. She felt sorry for me, but not that sorry. Finally after some time, I sent back a revised manuscript.

I worked, I cut, I thought until my brain bled, and then, one day I realized that . . . I liked it. I liked my book. I sat up straight. I said, “I’m happy. This book makes me happy. And strong.” I might have heard angels singing. I sent it to Margaret and Shelley. Finally, finally, I got the long-hoped-for email saying, “Yes. We’re done here.” It was published six years after Keturah and Lord Death.

El Space: What do you hope readers will take away after reading Angel’s story?
Martine: That every little girl deserves an angel.

El Space: So true! Your characters have some difficult challenges to work through in your books. I’m curious about how you choose the stories you will tell. Do you have a recurring theme or themes you can trace through your books? If so, what? Why is this important to you?
Martine: I think a recurring question I ask in my books is this: Can language create reality? Isn’t story in charge of the world? If we write better stories, truer stories, could it be that we could change the world? I never get tired of asking that question, and the answer I come up with every time is yes. I just keep having to make sure the answer is yes.

El Space: It would be great if authors had big goals like changing the world as you say here. What advice do you have for aspiring authors?
Martine: Why do you want to be a writer? Surely by now you know that few of us make much money, to speak of. You will never be mobbed in the grocery store by fans clambering for your autograph. Is it because you must? Is it because you will die if you don’t? If the answer to those questions is yes, you don’t need any advice from me, but I will give you some anyway. Love the world, love the word, love your characters, love your readers, love the work. If you are not very good at loving any one of these things, you must change.

           

El Space: Such great, thought-provoking questions and advice! So, what are you working on now?
Martine: After Angel, I wanted to work on something innocent and fun, so I wrote a middle-grade animal story. It is called Blue Mountain and it comes out this fall. Finally I wrote a book my grandchildren can read! I love it very much. I hope it changes the world.

I hope so too! Thank you, Martine, for being my guest!

If you’re a blog visitor and want to find out more about Martine, check out a fan-made page on Facebook and her publishers’ pages here and here.

My Book of Life by Angel is available here:

Amazon
Barnes and Noble
Indiebound
Powell’s Books

I was going to give away one copy of My Book of Life by Angel to a commenter. But you know what? I’m going to give TWO copies of this book away. Yeah! That’s right! And guess what else? A third commenter will win a copy of the book that was life changing for me: Keturah and Lord Death. So go for it! Winners will be announced on Valentine’s Day! When you comment, please mention something you’d like to do to change the world.

Thanks for stopping by the blog!

Book covers from Goodreads. Poetry image from annawrites.com. No money sign from crazzzytravel.com. Hearts image from hdwallpapers.in. World image from strictlycoffee.co.za.

Check This Out: My Book of Life by Angel (Part 1)

Hola! Welcome (or bienvenidos if you prefer) to part 1 of an interview with the marvelous Martine Leavitt. Martine, an award-winning author of nine novels, is a member of the faculty of Vermont College of Fine Arts in the Writing for Children and Young Adults MFA program. Her young adult novel, Keturah and Lord Death, made me want to enroll in the school and meet the author who wrote it. So I did!

                 

Martine, who is represented by Brenda Bowen, is here to discuss her novel in verse, My Book of Life by Angel (published by Groundwood Books/House of Anansi Press and by Farrar, Straus and Giroux/Macmillan). I’ll have a giveaway for that, but not until part 2 of the interview concludes. So, grab a seat, say hi to Martine, and let’s get started.

First, here’s a synopsis: When sixteen-year-old Angel meets Call at the mall, he buys her meals and says he loves her, and he gives her some candy that makes her feel like she can fly. Pretty soon she’s addicted to his candy, and she moves in with him. As a favor, he asks her to hook up with a couple of friends of his, and then a couple more. Now Angel is stuck working the streets at Hastings and Main, a notorious spot in Vancouver, Canada, where the girls turn tricks until they disappear without a trace, and the authorities don’t care. But after her friend Serena disappears, and when Call brings home a girl who is even younger and more vulnerable than her to learn the trade, Angel knows that she and the new girl have got to find a way out.

El Space: Four quick facts about yourself, Martine?
Martine: (1) I once had a goldfish that lived for 9½ years. I gave it to one of my children for his ninth birthday. He took care of it for a few years, but then he became a teenager and felt himself too busy. It became my job. Year after year I washed that aquarium out and fed the fish, and year after year it kept living. Its scales turned grey. It went blind. It sat on the bottom instead of swimming around. Twice the cat swiped it out of the tank. It just kept living. I confess that, a time or two, I wished it would go to the Golden Aquarium in the sky, but when it finally did die, I was sad. My youngest child asked if we could get another goldfish. I said no.

(2) I have seven children and fifteen grandchildren.

(3) I live in a town called High River, Alberta, which was, last summer, at the epicenter of the largest natural disaster in Alberta’s history, and the costliest in Canadian history. The flood destroyed many homes and businesses in our community, and many of my friends suffered emotionally from the effects. My particular brand of neurosis became an evolutionary advantage for me, however. In the past, whenever I was stressed or upset, I would clean out closets, even though they were always clean, and throw things away, even when it was difficult to find things to throw away. It made me feel better. It has been a source of distress to my husband at times.

After the downstairs had been gutted following the flood, I went downstairs and looked around at the bare basement walls and I felt . . . happy. Clean! Unburdened! I was somewhat alarmed by this reaction—everyone else in town was in mourning. I went upstairs and googled, “What is the opposite of hoarding?” As it happens, there is a name for it: obsessive-compulsive spartanism. I do worry and fret and feel sad for my friends who are dealing with PTSD and depression, however.

(4) I’m afraid I can only summon three facts—I am actually a rather factless kind of person. On paper I sound boring, but in reality I find life to be breathtakingly exciting.

El Space: I think you’re awesome! But how awful about that flood. I remember hearing about it. Life takes some sad turns sometimes. . . . So what inspired you to write My Book of Life by Angel?
Martine: I had written two books about homeless boys: Tom Finder and Heck Superhero. I knew, as I was researching for these books, that I must one day write a book about a homeless girl. I also knew that I couldn’t really write the book honestly unless I dealt with the subject of prostitution.

                     

Of the 450,000 young people who run away every year, about a third of them are lured into prostitution within about 48 hours. When you’re vulnerable and hungry and cold and lonely and scared, and the only thing you have to barter for survival is your body, it can happen rather quickly. As I did my research on prostitution, I alternated between rage and heartbreak. That this form of abuse and slavery should be tolerated in our society is unthinkable. I wanted to change the world, but all I wrote was a book. I wanted my book to change the world, but now I sit here and realize that the book has been out for a year and it didn’t change the world and maybe not even the life of a single girl, and I see that slowly it will disappear from the shelves and all the blood I sweat and the tears I cried to write that book might be for nothing. I am getting old now so I can say things like this.

El Space: You can still change the world with this book, Martine. Angel’s life is pretty harrowing, but you’ve provided an honest depiction of a horrible existence. What was the most challenging aspect of writing this book? How long did it take you to write it?
Martine: Years. I wrote some of the poems as far back as 2003. I had thought that the poems must have been simply a pre-writing strategy, an entrance into the story. Often my stories begin with words on little pieces of scrap paper that, if moved around, could sound like poetry. But as I began to write Angel’s story, the pages refused to stop being poetry or at least something like unto it. So I honored that artistic impulse and I wrote poems. I wrote and wrote until I broke my heart and I stopped. I had fifty pages. Fifty poems.

That was it. I stopped. I didn’t want to write this book. I didn’t want to live there. Not strong enough. Not happy enough. I had no control over these poems. They weren’t becoming a story. I was attentive to the language; I played with form. But I couldn’t make a story at the same time.

I have an adult daughter who loves to rifle through my private things. She likes to read my journals and my computer files and my emails. We have an unspoken agreement: I won’t be offended if she won’t confront me with anything she shouldn’t know. One day she came upstairs crying. She said, “I just finished reading your Angel story, and Mom, you have to write that book.” I said, “We have an agreement.” I said, “I don’t know how to write that book.”

We’re going to have to break here. I know. Awwwwww. Be sure to come back tomorrow to hear more about Angel’s story and to visit with Martine Leavitt. If you can’t wait to hear more about Angel’s story, My Book of Life by Angel is available here:

Amazon
Barnes and Noble
Indiebound
Powell’s Books

Book covers from Goodreads. Goldfish photo and High River logo from Wikipedia. Statistics photo from catholicsun.org.

Check This Out: All Night

Welcome to the blog. Today, it is my privilege to talk with the awesome Alan Cumyn, one of the faculty members at Vermont College of Fine Arts, and an award-winning novelist. Alan has written eleven novels for a variety of ages. He’s won awards like the Ottawa Book Award and Mr. Christie’s Book Award for children’s literature, and has been short listed for awards like the Giller Prize, the Trillium Award, and many others. Cool, huh?

He’s here to talk about his latest novel, All Night. I’ll be giving away three copies of it. But before I get to that, let’s talk to Alan, shall we?

El Space: Four quick facts about yourself?
Alan: (1) I have studied and practiced tai chi, a slow-motion Chinese martial art and moving meditation, for nearly 30 years. It starts my day, helps me keep my focus when a lot is going on. (2) I live four blocks from my old high school in Ottawa, Canada, but have also lived in many other places, including China and Indonesia. (3) When I was 24, I did a Master of Creative Writing under Alistair MacLeod, who would go on to win one of the world’s richest literary prizes for his novel No Great Mischief. (4) I am surrounded by writers, actors, and artists. My wife, Suzanne Evans, is a nonfiction writer particularly interested in women and war. My older brother, Richard, writes mainly short stories; my younger brother Steve is a professional actor, as is my daughter, Gwen; and both my mother, Suzanne, and my other daughter, Anna, are talented painters.

El Space: Your latest book, All Night, was written as a literacy project. How did that come about?
Alan: My eldest daughter, Gwen Cumyn, graduated from theater school a few years ago into an uncertain life as an actor. Her partner, Colin Munch, is an improv comedian. As a graduation gift I decided to write a one-act play about a similar couple struggling through a difficult night after a dear friend has suddenly died. The play is a romantic comedy showing the couple coming to grips with economic realities, the limitations of dreams, and the power of their own love. I got to spend a week in Toronto workshopping the play with Gwen and Colin in the lead roles, directed by Kat Sandler, a talented young director. We are still figuring out the best way to present this material to audiences. In the meantime, I was contacted by Laurel Boone, who edited my first novel in 1993, Waiting for Li Ming, which I wrote after spending a year teaching in China. Laurel was editing a series of novellas called Good Reads in which prominent authors were asked to write short, plain-language novels for adults who are learning to read. I decided to adapt the play, and that’s how the book was born.

El Space: You’ve written books for children, teens, and adults. What are the challenges in toggling between the age levels?
Alan: I started my career as very much an adult writer, and only turned to writing for younger audiences after having my own kids and being reintroduced to the wonders of children’s literature. Some of my novels for adults are dark and intense, and I literally needed a break—I needed to work on something light and funny. That’s how The Secret Life of Owen Skye came about—as a series of stories written for my own daughters as Christmas or birthday presents, and later adapted into linked stories for publication. I’m interested in a lot of different issues and material—there’s so much in life to write about! So I try not to repeat myself in books, and I really like the feeling of switching gears, of moving from one type of book to something quite different. So in choosing which project to work on next, I think of my own energy level and the next sort of challenge I want to take on.

El Space: I read this article on Guy Gavriel Kay, who talked about the theme of exile in his books. What theme, if any, can you see running through your novels?
Alan: In many ways my novels are all over the map. I have some about human rights (Man of Bone and Burridge Unbound), about war (The Sojourn, The Famished Lover), one on madness (Losing It), some coming-of-age novels (Tilt, Between Families and the Sky). But I am most interested in how people form bonds, in what love does to us and how we find it and try to keep it. So my Owen Skye trilogy (including also After Sylvia and Dear Sylvia) traces an epic love story between Owen and Sylvia Tull, the little girl who sits across the classroom from him. She is so beautiful he can hardly look at her, but she breaks his heart when she moves away. Often, when I read an Owen story in a classroom, I talk about how we all have to deal with love in our lives, no matter what age and stage. As Paul Simon sings [in “Oh, Marion“], “The only time that love is an easy game is when two other people are playing it.”

El Space: In two lectures at VCFA, you quoted some advice from one of your writing professors about remembering the “cheese sandwich” in regard to story—how a reader might walk away from a story if she’s not captivated. In both lectures you talked about connection. How can a writer aid a reader’s connection to his/her story?
Alan: My writing professor, Alistair MacLeod, an irrepressible storyteller, often used to round out his advice to writers by saying, “If you don’t do it right, if you don’t nail the reader to the page, then she will put down your book, wander into the kitchen and make herself a cheese sandwich . . . and never come back!” The idea is that readers are so easily distracted that even processed cheese food will be too much competition for writing that doesn’t quite work. I like fiction that works in all the major ways—that is about interesting people who find themselves in odd and trying situations, and are honestly seeking a way through. We do need to connect to those characters, to care about them, and readers do need to feel like they really are in partnership with the author—it is “their” book, too. And that often means not explaining everything, leaving lots of room for the reader’s imagination.

El Space: You’re off to be a writer-in-residence at Mount Royal University in Calgary and elsewhere. For me, writer-in-residence always conjures up the image of a writer sitting in an office with a window and everyone staring at him or her and murmuring, “He’s/She’s writing” in an awed voice. But what are the responsibilities of being a writer-in-residence?
Alan: The responsibilities of a writer-in-residence can vary greatly depending on the setup. At Mount Royal University in Calgary I will be spending a fair amount of time in classrooms speaking with creative writing students and in office time meeting students and other writers from the university one-on-one. I will only be there for a week, and I’m not expecting to get much of my own writing done! But I will be at Berton House in Dawson City, Yukon, for three months—from April through June 2014. As writer-in-residence my only official duties will be to give a public reading in Dawson, and another in Whitehorse. I expect I will have lots of other public interactions, both official and unofficial, but mainly the idea is that I have time, money, and a space to do my own writing away from my regular life. How heavenly!

El Space: What are you working on now?
Alan: I am working on a new young adult novel that I don’t talk about publicly yet, but hopefully soon.

Thanks, Alan! I can truly say you’re a gentleman and a scholar. 😀

Thanks to all who stopped by. You can find All Night at the following places:

Amazon
Barnes and Noble

Looking for Alan? You can find him at his website, Facebook, and Twitter. But three of you will win a Kindle version of All Night. Just comment below! Winners to be announced on Friday, February 7.

Cheese sandwich image from simplerecipes.net. Book covers from Alan’s website and Goodreads. Photo of Alan is from his website.