I Love Canadian Authors discussion

Sorry I'm late this morning everyone. As you may have read (I sent everyone a message announcing the great news) Shane’s “dystopian novel of hope” After the Flood won in the Futuristic/Fantasy category at The Word Guild Canadian Christian Writing Awards on June 16th 2010 in Mississauga, Ontario.

Shane has also volunteered to answer questions and comments this week, so ask away.

PS Congratulations again, Shane.

Thank you Renee,
As a famous TV personality said,"Hello____, I'm listening"
Looking forward to the dialogue.
Shane

You said it took seven years to find a publisher in another thread. Do you think it was due to the content or is that a 'normal' amount of time to expect when looking to publish.

Also, just curious as I'm writing an article this week on the subject of setting; How important do you feel setting is to a novel? I've heard many Canadian authors who say they don't set their stories in Canada because it's not as marketable as a book set in say New York, Paris, etc.

This'll be a strange one to start with, I know. As of recently, I live mostly in Cobourg. How do you survive as a writer in a town with a tiny literary community and only one or two literary events a month? (I lived in Toronto full-time for my first half-century.)

Congratulations Shane, on the award.
I'm curious, why you chose a post-apocalyptic setting for your novel? Did you feel it gave a certain freedom to discuss societal issues, or was there another inspiration?

Renee wrote: "You said it took seven years to find a publisher in another thread. Do you think it was due to the content or is that a 'normal' amount of time to expect when looking to publish.

Also, just curi..."

Renee - Seven years was not my decision - it took that amount of time to find a publisher for the subject matter - no one was interested back in 2003/04 when the world wanted more Iraq and Wall St. And as the years went by I had to modify the manuscript to reflect events taking place (e.g. like the financial collapse of 2008 etc.). Even my present publisher Hidden Brook Press argued whether it was this book or one of the 4 other manuscripts kicking around in my closet that needed publication next. "Normal" for me would be to see a book come out every 18 months - that would inspire me to keep writing.
As for setting - I think Canada is now becoming an acceptable setting as we get more known internationally. And Canada is more well known in Europe and Asia than in the USA. But at the time of writing I wanted to have a new canvas, so in my book Canada and the US have gone bankrupt as countries, most of the land is covered by water and new city-states emerge over what was formerly North America prior to 2012. This took care of publisher phobias about settings in the US vs. Canada

Stuart wrote: "This'll be a strange one to start with, I know. As of recently, I live mostly in Cobourg. How do you survive as a writer in a town with a tiny literary community and only one or two literary events..."

Good question Stuart - I ask myself that question too. I do have a consulting job as well and my clients are in Toronto, where I maintain a second home. As for making money at this business of writing, given that I try to write literary fiction, I have struck that objective off my list and write what I want. I have income from my consultig to feed me, the writing for me has a deeper spiritual purpose.

Interesting. I have a WIP that's an end of the world scenario, although it's set in Tanzania.

I'm in Tweed, so I'll have to address the issue that Stuart brought up eventually. (hopefully) But I like your answer. Although it would be nice to make money, I like that you write what you want first. To me, that's important. I think the reader 'feels' when the work doesn't come from somewhere 'inspired'. Just a personal opinion.

A. F. wrote: "Congratulations Shane, on the award.
I'm curious, why you chose a post-apocalyptic setting for your novel? Did you feel it gave a certain freedom to discuss societal issues, or was there another ..."

Thanks! A post-apocalyptic setting gave me a blank sheet to re-write man's foibles upon. I armed the post-flood generation with all the mistakes (and lessons learned) humanity had made since the time of Abraham, and then followed the thread to see if they would repeat the same errors again. I was surprised by what I discovered. Transformation of ingrown genetic traits are not instant but iterative - so you can guess what messes the post flood generation, hell bent on creating a new utopia, get themselves into.

Hi Shane;

Congratulations (again) on the prize. I'm particularly happy that someone other than the incumbent Toronto futuristic author got the award and there is room/hope for us wishing to ‘get up there.’

Being a small-town (Grimsby, Ontario) resident myself, I should state that there are definite advantages in living in one. The best one being becoming known and people stop you in the street and ask, “So, when is your next book coming out?”

You mentioned that you also have a day-job, so what sort of writing schedule do you follow, and what are you currently working on?

Best,
Wally

Shane wrote: "Good question Stuart - I ask myself that question too. I do have a consulting job as well and my clients are in Toronto, where I maintain a second home. As for making money at this business of writing, given that I try to write literary fiction, I have struck that objective off my list and write what I want. I have income from my consultig to feed me, the writing for me has a deeper spiritual purpose. "

Sorry I wasn't clear. I had actually meant how do you survive spiritually, socially, humanly, etc.

Waheed wrote: "Hi Shane;

Congratulations (again) on the prize. I'm particularly happy that someone other than the incumbent Toronto futuristic author got the award and there is room/hope for us wishing to ‘get..."

Hi Wally - thanks for your good wishes and support. I was at a lobster dinner in Cobourg last night and many townfolk were stopping by to shake my hand - word gets around fast in a small town, you are right. Yes, that is nice indeed.
As for what I am working on now: I have four or five manuscripts in various levels of draft form; at least 2 are ready for a publisher's appraisal. I am at an impasse at the moment because I am trying to figure out how to publish my next novel. The self-publishing and trade-publishing models, both which I have experienced, are both equally unsatisfying. I am wondering whether the e-book (when it has reached certain critical mass), distributed direct from author website to reader would be the most satisfying model in the near future. We all promote ourselves in any which way we can, and yet the final act of commitment - the reader actually buying our book - remains out of our control, and also out of sight, in the traditional retail model. I am sure this is the subject of another thread. I am open to any and all comments and opinions here
As for what I'd like to work on: is a historical novel about my Dutch ancestors coming to Sri Lanka in the 1790s. They spent 200 years in the island before I was the first to leave and establish a family beachhead in Canada. And now I can count 18 family members here, 6 of the next generation. I am intrigued by what would have made my ancestors go in the reverse direction back then. I have to do a lot of research of course, but my early readings indicate lots of intrigue, skulduggery, espionage, secret liasons, illegitimate births - all the elements of a potboiler. I think it would probably fall in the same camp as your Captain Margaret's Sea Chest and its sequels to follow.
As for writing schedule - I try to do three pages a day, but in recent times I have found that to be an average output. I can go for days with nothing written, and then one day a few weeks ago, I got all fired up and spat out 35 pages in one sitting - I was pretty toasted at the end of that sprint.
Regards!
Shane

Stuart wrote: Sorry I wasn't clear. I had actually meant how do you survive spiritually, socially, humanly, etc

Shane replied: I think if I did not write I would not survive spiritualy, socially or humanly. I was once a successful corporate executive but I was also becoming a very boring person: let's see - I played golf, talked sports, read the latest business "how to" books, jetted off on airplanes regularly, devoured the news, especially the business section, made investments in the stock market (and ususally made the wrong bets) and always talked and acted politically correct - life was an emotional and spiritual straightjacket.
After I started writing, I discovered a new dimension in me, one that I had been keeping hidden for so long under this cloak of political correctness.
Having lived on both sides now, first as non-writer/corporate man, and then as writer/consultant, I have realized that I will always be a writer, and despite the heartaches and rejections of the publishing process that is par for this course, it is an integral part of who I am. And living according to who you are is a spiritual way of being, I think, even though it may not add a lot of coin to your pocketbook.

Renee wrote: "Interesting. I have a WIP that's an end of the world scenario, although it's set in Tanzania.

I'm in Tweed, so I'll have to address the issue that Stuart brought up eventually. (hopefully) But ..."

The only downside with writing about what you know and have exerienced is that at some point all the experiences get recorded and there is no more grist for the mill. What then? Time to move, leave home, go to another country, find new friends, a new job etc. and aborb a new grab bag of stimuli before you write the next "real" book? Hemingway moved several countries - Canada, USA, France, Spain, Cuba etc and wrote a book or two in each of these settings. So did Graham Greene. But my other favourite, John Steinbeck, chose to set all of his books in the Salinas area of California - and Steinbeck wrote a lot of books too.
I don't know what the answer is - but writing a "real" book, one that comes from within, takes a whole new level of committment, honesty and sacrifice than writing to a tried and true formula, however adept one is with the formula. These "real" books take chunks out of your life and emotions, especially when you have to relive the painful parts to put them down on paper. Just my opinion - I am sure the genre writers in this forum will have another opinion - but all opinions are welcome...

You make a good point Shane. I have written one manuscript that came from personal experience, although the story is fiction, the emotion came from a very real place, and I did have to dig really deep and it does take chunks from your life and your emotions. I later found it...healing, I suppose is the word. But had you asked me while writing it, I'd have said it was the worst idea I'd ever had. But I wouldn't have stopped writing it once I started.