Ask the Author: John Farrow
Answered Questions (3)
John Farrow
Thank you for the interesting question. Mysteries are common to any life, but the cutting edge to the query lies in what might make for a worthy plot. I’ve added the word “worthy” to the question as I would not want to shortchange an audience. With that high-bar in mind, and keeping away from any life-experiences that may have wriggled their way into a book or two already —against my inclination to never let it happen — I can think of two such mysteries.
The first would be the mystery of what happened on a day in 1962, when I was barely thirteen, and chose to leave my home and family to cross the border from Canada into the United States. In winter. Twenty-four hours later I accepted to be deported from the USA back to Canada. The events during those twenty-four hours leading to that outcome remain the most extraordinary of my life, both mysterious and poignant, and well-deserving of a novel. The day confirmed in my adolescent head that I would embark on a subsequent adventure. Which I did shortly thereafter, leading to several more mysterious and novelistic episodes that formed me.
One adventure in particular comes to mind. In the Canadian northwest, homeless and hungry and only sixteen, I landed in a small and impoverished farming town where one set of citizens was determined to see the last of me, while an opposing set embarked on a campaign of good will on my behalf. The town’s internecine battles came to the fore, as did family histories, and personal stories from World War Two and homesteading in Alberta and Indigenous strife. All manner of dispute flowed through my weeks there, and how it was all resolved, with me and without me, made for a grand mystery and would be a haunting tale. Some tales go untold, even by the writers who lived them.
The first would be the mystery of what happened on a day in 1962, when I was barely thirteen, and chose to leave my home and family to cross the border from Canada into the United States. In winter. Twenty-four hours later I accepted to be deported from the USA back to Canada. The events during those twenty-four hours leading to that outcome remain the most extraordinary of my life, both mysterious and poignant, and well-deserving of a novel. The day confirmed in my adolescent head that I would embark on a subsequent adventure. Which I did shortly thereafter, leading to several more mysterious and novelistic episodes that formed me.
One adventure in particular comes to mind. In the Canadian northwest, homeless and hungry and only sixteen, I landed in a small and impoverished farming town where one set of citizens was determined to see the last of me, while an opposing set embarked on a campaign of good will on my behalf. The town’s internecine battles came to the fore, as did family histories, and personal stories from World War Two and homesteading in Alberta and Indigenous strife. All manner of dispute flowed through my weeks there, and how it was all resolved, with me and without me, made for a grand mystery and would be a haunting tale. Some tales go untold, even by the writers who lived them.
John Farrow
I trained myself to write and to write constantly. While it was painful when I was younger, once you get your mind to understand what you want it to do, that discipline becomes its own guide, which is to say if I don't have a good writing day, I'm miserable. If I have a good day, I'm happy. So inspiration is not a factor, other than to say I enjoy the work immensely and that's inspiration enough. (Inspiration is overrated; perspiration, and enjoyment in the work, is the key.)
John Farrow
"Perish the Day" is the third novel in the trilogy, "The Storm Murders." So the power and chaos of storms is part of the genesis of each novel which are set in different locales. Having spent a relatively brief amount of time around universities, I was struck by how certain institutions chose to protect their reputations ahead of their students and staff. That notion got me going on this book.
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