Writer’s Resource

Sweetness in the Belly was recently short listed for the Scotiabank Giller Prize for fiction. This is one of Canada’s prestigious literary prizes and although Camilla did not take home the trophy (and the $40,000 in pocket change) her book has gained considerable and well deserved exposure.

Camilla has touched on a theme readily available in the literary scene but with a unique backdrop. Drawing from her own experiences from her fieldwork in Ethiopia for her Ph.D. in social anthropology she detailed a story about a young, white, Muslim woman named Lilly who falls in love with a man she works with. When their relationship is torn apart by the surrounding political and religious upheaval she searches for both understanding in the world and in herself.

Camilla was born in London, England but grew up in Toronto, Canada. She studied at Oxford University and will be a Writer in Residence at the University of Toronto in the New Year. She has two other novels published.

A few stolen moments with Camilla:

What made you decide to become a writer?

I wanted to be a writer as soon as I learned to read. I started my first novel when I was seven. It was called “Yes I Do Live on the Roof” and it was the story of a girl who lived on the roof of her parent’s house and communed with squirrels. Surprisingly, it remains unpublished to this day. At the end of high school I told my English teacher I wanted to be a writer and he advised me to go and see a bit of the world first. Study something, something that could teach me about the world, take me places. I became a social anthropologist, work I loved, but the limits of academic language felt stifling. And so I (re)turned to fiction in my late twenties.

On a typical writing day, how would you spend your time?

I listen to the same piece(s) of music every morning. Heavy, heartbreaking stuff – usually Arvo Part – music that strips me down, leaves me raw. It’s a rather wordless place but the emotions that inform my writing are there. And then I read whatever I have been writing over the previous few days, often reading it aloud, which gets me into the feel of a piece and allows me to continue on with it. If I’m working on a novel, it can take me hours to read through before I even write a sentence.

What is your favourite word?

Bubble.

• Sweetness in the Belly is available from Amazon.com.
• Sweetness in the Belly is available from Amazon.ca

Originally published 11/14/2005 at Literary Fiction, BellaOnline.

Visit Camilla Gibb’s official website.

The Canadian Learners Television recently aired an interesting program called Writer’s Confessions. Much to my surprise (and delight) I was able to see Elizabeth briefly talk about her writing life. One interesting comment which stayed with me wasn’t so much about her writing but perhaps a reason for writing. She panics when she’s still and too quiet. After years of being a gypsy, she is doing a great job of making her mark on the Canadian and International literary scene. Her first novel, Ten Good Seconds of Silence was a finalist for the Writer’s Trust of Canada Fiction Prize, the City of Toronto Book Award and the Amazon.ca First Novel Award. With two novels published and an anthology she compiled and edited, it’s obvious this author who says “I write to communicate with others.” is bound for something better than a life within her head. Elizabeth has a BA in English Literature and an MA in Counselling Psychology, both from the University of Toronto. She is a graduate of the Humber School for Writers, a highly recognized and successful jumping platform for writers in Canada wanting to break into the literary scene. Elizabeth Ruth is currently teaching a course at the University of Toronto.

Moe: Looking back was there something in particular that helped you to decide to become a writer? Did you choose it or did the profession choose you? When did you ‘know’ you were a writer?

Elizabeth Ruth: Did I choose this or did this choose me? Hard to answer. I’ve always written, however there came a time when I did make a conscious decision to rearrange my life around my writing rather than slip my writing in around the rest of my life. That moment took place at the Humber School for Writers in Toronto. I was still working full-time in another career back then, and desperately wanting more time to finish my first novel. My workshop instructor was the brilliant Canadian novelist Timothy Findley. One day, during the week-long workshop, Tiff took me outside (he was on a smoke break) and we talked about my writing aspirations. He insisted that I must finish my novel. Hearing those words from a writer I so profoundly respected made me know that if I didn’t make an honest go of it then, if I didn’t really give it my all I would always wonder about “what if” and I would have no one but myself to blame. That was the moment I consciously chose to become a writer. It is a terrible cliché, I know, but I quit my full-time job the following Monday, determined to piece work together in a way that left writing at the centre of my world.

Moe: Were you a good writer as a child? Teenager?

Elizabeth Ruth: I kept a diary as a child, and wrote poems and very short stories. I created a working library, numerical shelving system and all, with my books. I wrote my first poems when I was 6 or 7, and I still have them today. They show a natural understanding for the pace and rhythm of language, and great empathy for characters, and a certain whimsy – all qualities that appear in my fiction today. If those poems belonged to someone else I would judge them as promising. The writing I did as a teenager, on the other hand, is lacking. Those were self-absorbed, troubled years and my writing reflects a certain lack of focus and a need to over dramatize. I showed those poems and stories to a librarian once, to her horror, and she asked me if I was all right?

Moe: What inspires you?

Elizabeth Ruth: To understand a writer’s spark you usually need a bit of context: I moved every year of my childhood, often more than once. I changed schools frequently, attending many public schools and high schools. Change was built into my bones at an early age. Change and adaptation appear as themes in my work, as does The Outsider. By that I mean, Misfits, idiosyncratic characters, Outlaws and generally people who don’t fit in. I was always one of those people, joining a group that had a long history, coming in from the outside, not to mention my unconventional family life where visiting relatives in psychiatric facilities and hanging out with relatives between prison stints was the norm. You learn to pass for common and keep the other stuff to yourself. I still keep my personal life fairly quiet. But my writing is preoccupied with the lives of outsiders and outlaws and making those lives central rather than marginal. Both of my novels, in different ways, challenge basic preconceptions about normalcy.

Also, I was born in a border city. Windsor, Ontario, which sits across the river from Detroit, Michigan. I am interested in the ways that border and boundaries get drawn in all kinds of ways. Border cities are interesting places because they leave their citizens literally straddling an arbitrary line. The myth is always that the border divides cleanly, when in fact it’s porous and that’s what interested me in writing my newest novel, Smoke. The way that all kinds of borders, both literal and metaphoric can be crossed and need to be crossed.

Moe: Every writer has a method that works for them. Most of them vary like the wind while some seem to follow a pattern similar to other writers. On a typical writing day how do you spend your time?

Elizabeth Ruth: I treat my writing as a full-time job so I’m at my desk by 9 a.m. and I work until 5 p.m. most days, and if I’m in the middle of a novel or another writing project then I work on the week-ends. Can you tell I don’t have children? If the day comes when I have responsibilities other than to myself I will have to become a better time-manager and a faster writer, working the same 1000 words a day into fewer hours. To make money I teach evenings, leaving my days free. Writing is hard work and it should be supported by the culture as such, though it’s most often seen as a hobby, something a writer would do for fun, even if s/he weren’t going to be published or paid. That’s crap, really. I write to communicate with others. I want readers, so I need publication, and to survive for long stints writing a novel I need money. During my writing days I do not answer the e-mail, the phone or the door. I reason that if someone is calling me or writing me then they are alive and it can wait. I have two cats who keep me company. The first half of the day is usually when I get new writing done, and then in the after noon I edit and rework. I stop somewhere in the day for food, but there’s no schedule for meals.

Moe: How long does it take you to complete a book you would allow someone to read? Do you write through or revise as you go along?

Elizabeth Ruth: Both of my novels took four years to write. Sadly. I had hopes of speeding up but, you know, they require time if they’re going to be textured and rich and challenging. I hope the next one takes only two years, but I’m not banking on it. In terms of how I wrote them; each was an entirely different process. The first, Ten Good Seconds of Silence, was a novel that dealt with memory and time and so there were flashes forward and flashes backward. Therefore, I was able to write the scenes I wanted to and later, because it was a more circular storyline, piece together the order of telling. However, my recent novel, Smoke, follows the cycles on a tobacco farm and therefore certain things needed to happen at certain seasonal times. As a result, I wrote it more or less chronologically, in a linear fashion. Also with Smoke, I knew the ending before I began so I was writing to that. In both cases I revised as I wrote. It was a dynamic process.

Moe: When you have your idea and sit down to write is any thought given to the genre and type of readers you’ll have?

Elizabeth Ruth: No. I write literary fiction, so I’m not usually thinking genre in the conventional sense of detective fiction or mysteries, though it would be a great challenge and a lot of fun to try and write either of those. I have learned to not consider the audience, to write what I want to write and wait and see who those words reach. Reviewers I never would have predicted have embraced my work, and readers I never would have thought wanted to be challenged in the ways that I challenge my readers have welcomed my books. I know better now than to assume I can second-guess who will enjoy an Elizabeth Ruth novel. Besides, if I considered my readership, I wouldn’t be giving my full attention to the writing, which is what I should be doing.

Moe: When it comes to plotting, do you write freely or plan everything in advance?

Elizabeth Ruth: I do not write from an outline. I would be bored to death an unable to sustain the focus and interest required to produce a novel if I knew what was going to happen before it happens. I want to be surprised each morning when I sit down to write and I assume that if I am fresh and surprised by the plot then so too will readers be when they encounter it. I do, however, have a good sense of my protagonists and other supporting people, and I put them into a given situation and see how they will respond. To me all good writing is character-driven and if the characters are three-dimensional and fleshed-out then the plot will follow. If I worked from an outline my writing would come off as stilted and dry.

Moe: What kind of research do you do before and during a new book? Do you visit the places you write about?

Elizabeth Ruth: With Smoke, my second novel, I did a great deal of research. It is set in the 1950’s and the 1930’s during prohibition, so all of that predates me. (In fact, that novel sparked because of a footnote in a history text – a single line about someone with a guarded secret and hidden past). I set out to make sure I nailed the period, the 1950’s, all the details of a tobacco farm, and I researched the Purple Gang heavily, a real-life Detroit mob who inhabit my book. I read books and newspapers of the period, farmer’s magazines and I visited a Tobacco Museum to view old farm equipment. I conducted many interviews, visited tobacco farms during harvest, and learned all about the prohibition era. Also, there is a boxing scene in Smoke so I took a 12 week boxing class at Sully’s gym in Toronto – a professional fighter’s gym. Because one of my lead characters is badly burned I researched burns and treatment options, consulted with a doctor for accuracy. I did the research before and during the writing process.

Moe: How much of yourself and the people you know manifest into your characters? Where do your characters come from? Where do you draw the line?

Elizabeth Ruth: My characters come from my imagination. I haven’t yet based a character on anyone I know, though people like to assume they can see themselves somewhere in the books. I’ve had an unusually (unusual to most people, not to me) dramatic life, with many moves, living in different countries and cultures and being exposed to different languages, struggling financially, meeting all kinds of people, all from an early age. So, my mind is full of possibilities….

Moe: Writers often go on about writer’s block. Do you ever suffer from it and what measures do you take to get past it?

Elizabeth Ruth: Nope. So far no problem with writer’s block. To tell you the truth I don’t believe in writer’s block. My problem is harnessing the ideas I have and choosing which one to focus in on. I haven’t yet had a dry spell where nothing comes. If by writer’s block you mean writing poorly, where nothing of substance comes, well yes of course that happens all the time. That’s part of the process. You write everyday and some of it, much of it, is bound to be bad. I expect that.

Moe: When someone reads one of your books for the first time, what do you hope they gain, feel or experience?

Elizabeth Ruth: When someone reads one of my books for the first time, when they come to the end, I hope they feel they’ve been taken away to a vibrant, verdant, living place where anything is possible. I hope they have some of their basic preconceptions about normalcy, sanity and deviancy challenged, and I hope they’ve enjoyed the people they’ve been introduced to, many of whom are the sort most would deem odd, idiosyncratic or outsiders. I hope readers feel they’ve been told a rip-roaring good story in the process.

Moe: Can you share three things you’ve learned about the business of writing since your first publication?

Elizabeth Ruth: Sure.
1. There are industry trends – certain kinds of writing, certain styles and subject matter that come in and out of fashion. Just go ahead and write the thing you are passionate about. It’s the only way to meet with success.
2. Everyone in the industry makes more money than the writer.
3. Make sure to read and review any information that goes out with your name on it.

Moe: What’s your latest book about? Where did you get the idea and how did you let the idea evolve?

Elizabeth Ruth: Smoke is set in the 1950′s, in a tobacco growing community of the same name. It centres on a 15 year old boy named Buster McFiddie who is facially disfigured in a fluke accident, and on the friendship between he and the village doctor. Doc John tells Buster stories of his early life in Detroit, Michigan during prohibition. It’s been said that Smoke is a coming-of-age story for Buster and it is, but to my mind it’s also a coming of age story for all of us now, as we grapple with changing notions of sex and gender and what it means to be human. In this book, in particular, I’m exploring that gap between how we see ourselves and how others see us.

Smoke has this back-story that takes place in Detroit and centres on a real-life gang, The Purple Gang. This gang highlights the fact that behaviour that is deemed illegal and immoral or deviant at one point in history is often seen as perfectly normal and acceptable at another point. For example, alcohol consumption during prohibition and smoking today, which is understood very differently in the culture than it was a generation ago, and of course all kinds of areas of human sexuality have been and still are prohibited and regulated closely by societies. For me, an outlaw is merely an outsider born on the wrong side of history.

My mother and her family are from a village called Otterville near Tillsonburg – in the heart of tobacco country in Canada. As I read up on the area for my own interest I found that Tobacco growing pre-automation was fascinating and this led to more reading and research and eventually led me to write Smoke. Tobacco growing, priming, tying, curing is extremely difficult work and those growers who made a go of it were hardworking men and women of vision. They managed to turn one of the poorest parts of the country around to one of the wealthiest. They were risk-takers and I can’t help respecting that about them. Also, tobacco growing is an aspect of Ontario culture and indeed Canadian culture that as far as I know, has not been documented in our fiction.

Moe: What kind of books do you like to read?

Elizabeth Ruth: I like to read books that make me think about my own assumptions and understanding of the world while at the same time entertain me. I read a lot of fiction and a fair amount of non-fiction. I probably have one of the largest collections of Canadian literature going. Timothy Findley, Ann Marie MacDonald, the list is endless of great Canadian writers. But I’ve always been a big fan of John Irving’s work. I love the way he is able to take a seemingly implausible plot and make it read as perfectly natural. And Amy Tan, for her beautiful rendering of a time and place and for doing it in a way that most people can understand. Dorothy Allison is a risk-taker, and then there’s the Welsh writer, Sarah Waters… I don’t subscribe the erroneous belief that “there are no new stories only new ways to tell them.” I think there are many new stories waiting in the vast corners of a writer’s imagination and I am only interested in telling the stories that don’t get told. So, those are the stories I look to read as well.

Moe: When you’re not writing what do you do for fun?

Elizabeth Ruth: I like to watch movies in the theatre, and spend a lot of time with friends – dinner parties and that sort of thing. I travel whenever I can.

Moe: New writers are always trying to glean advice from those with more experience. What suggestions do you have for new writers?

Elizabeth Ruth: Here’s my best advice:
1. No one cares, or will care, about your writing as much as you do – not agents, not editors, not readers, so be prepared to defend and promote it.
2. Most writers, at least in Canada where I live, don’t make a living off their writing alone so find meaningful work that allows time for the writing.
3. Don’t spend your time and money reading “how to write” books or journaling. Use the time instead to write fiction.

Moe: If you weren’t a writer what would you be?

Elizabeth Ruth: That’s a hard question to answer. The rewards from starting with a blank page and then creating a whole other universe are immeasurable. The very best of me goes to my stories and novels and so I wouldn’t be myself without writing. But, if I had to choose an alternate career it would probably be something to do with animals, working with primates or as a marine biologist perhaps.

Moe: What is your favourite word?

Elizabeth Ruth: My favourite words is “no”. Say it and then you really find out how people feel!

• Purchase Smoke from Amazon.com.
• Purchase Smoke from Amazon.ca.

Originally published 11/5/2005 at Literary Fiction, BellaOnline.

Visit Elizabeth Ruth’s official website.

Marsha, Marsha, Marsha. No, not that Marsha. Marsha Mehran was born in Tehran (an Iran province), grew up in Argentina and currently divides her time between New York and Ireland with her husband Christopher (a.k.a. Annoying Irish Husband). After pursuing such gigs as a model, personal assistant and waitress she has settled into her role as author having written professionally for the last five years. Her first release, Pomegranate Soup, is an amusing tale about “three sisters, an old box of recipes and a new exotic café in a small Irish town”. I’m sure you’ll enjoy getting to know this new author.

Moe: Looking back was there something in particular that helped you to decide to become a writer? Did you choose it or did the profession choose you?

Marsha Mehran: I did have an epiphany of sorts, a definitive indication that I should be a writer. It happened one winter’s night in 2000, on the wobbly Millennium Bridge in Dublin, Ireland.

My husband, Christopher, and I had moved to Dublin in late 1999. I was working as a receptionist in an office that helped filmmakers with funding, and Christopher was running one of the busiest pubs in the city center. So I found myself alone and lonely during most nights after work, reading voraciously and wiling the hours away on the computer. One night I began to write a letter – a seemingly innocuous email to my younger brother, who was living in Australia at that time. Before I knew it, the email had grown into a short story, a complete history of our family, and then it turned into a novella.

I would rush home over the Millennium Bridge (one of the many bridges spanning the River Liffey) every night and sequester myself in our little bedroom to finish this story. I no longer felt lonely in the new city; I had a friend in the computer.

My realization, the moment I knew I was a writer, came to me one of these nights. The thought popped into my head as though it were a voice. I stopped dead in my tracks and stared out into the lights on the river, stunned by what I had heard. Then, I opened my mouth and said, “I’m going to be a writer!” Out loud! I hurried home and began to write in earnest. From that day on, I was determined to make writing my career.

So, in answering the second part of your question, I guess it was a little bit of both: writing chose me, and I decided to follow.

Moe: Were you a good writer as a child? Teenager? Etc.

Marsha Mehran: Looking back, I think I was a good writer as a child. I won an essay competition when I was seven, the grand prize being the opportunity to read the piece on the school PA system! Glamorous, indeed! I hated writing essays, though, mostly because I was inclined to slip into fiction whenever I tried… funny how it never occurred to me back then I should pursue it as a career.

Moe: What inspires you?

Marsha Mehran: Beauty, in all its shapes and forms. Looking back at my crazy life, and all the fabulously quirky individuals I have met so far.

Moe: Every writer has a method that works for them. Most of them vary like the wind while some seem to follow a pattern similar to other writers. On a typical writing day, how would you spend your time?

Marsha Mehran: Writing my first book, Pomegranate Soup, was a feverish, crazy affair. I wrote mainly at night, starting at five in the afternoon and finishing at seven in the morning, eating, eating, eating, all they way through. It was like a pregnancy of sorts, that luckily only lasted six weeks (first draft, that is). Any longer and you’d have to roll me out of the house!

But, in writing my second novel, I find myself craving daylight. I wake up and do all the breakfasty things, walk the dog, etc, then sit down with a coffee at around ten a.m. I stare into space, chew the ends of my hair, have a zillion bathroom breaks, then find my groove at around two… then I write. I am currently outlining the book, which is quite fun.

Moe: How long does it take for you to complete a book you would allow someone to read? Do you write right through or do you revise as you go along?

Marsha Mehran: With this second book, I am outlining extensively. It is longer, more suspenseful, and requires different consideration than it predecessor. After the first draft is finished, I will read it to my husband, Christopher. Then my agent gets a peek.

Moe: When you have your idea and sit down to write is any thought given to the genre and type of readers you’ll have?

Marsha Mehran: Not type of reader, but the Reader in general. My primary concern is how to keep the Reader interested in the story to the very end. Each sentence and image must move toward this goal. Seduction is necessary in a storyteller. I’m often reminded of Scheherazade, the Persian princess who saved her life by spinning the most seductive of tales…

Moe: What kind of research do you do before and during a new book? Do you visit the places you write about?

Marsha Mehran: I approach research on a need-to-know basis. I will return to the library and Internet as I write my outline and first draft, whenever I feel I need to enhance my imagination with factual information. With my first novel, Pomegranate Soup, I did a lot of research on the Islamic Revolution and Iran before and after the upheaval. Although I was born in Tehran right before the revolution, I was too young to experience much of the violence and confusion. For this I returned to books on that period, as well as the stories of my parents and extended family’s experiences.

Moe: How much of yourself and the people you know manifest into your characters? Where do your characters come from? Where do you draw the line?

Marsha Mehran: I am not conscious of drawing on real individuals for my characters—they just announce themselves as I work through the first draft. I don’t really draw the line between reality and imagination when I follow these characters on their merry way. One thing is important above all else: when it comes to writing through your characters you must love them all. Even the nasty ones. Especially the nasty ones.

Moe: Writers often go on about writer’s block. Do you ever suffer from it and what measures do you take to get past it?

Marsha Mehran: I have experienced writer’s block on several occasions. Mostly, it arose from instability in my outer life, or stress of some kind. I have learnt how to be at peace with these moments- how to sit in front of a computer for an entire day without writing a single word—knowing that it will eventually come. The worst thing for writing is to panic. Fear sets in motion too many thoughts.

Moe: When someone reads one of your books for the first time, what do you hope they gain, feel or experience?

Marsha Mehran: Joy. Hope. A connection to one or more characters/situations.

Moe: Can you share three things you’ve learned about the business of writing since your first publication?

Marsha Mehran: No one will be a bigger fan of your book than you. Don’t expect the publisher to do all your publicity work for you—you have to get out there and let the world know about your particular, and wonderful, story.

Get yourself a good agent. Someone who you can trust.

Publishing is not about hitting the NY Times bestseller list and making gazillions on your advances. It’s about the story. It’s about your connection to the Reader. Pursue that and you can never go wrong.

Moe: How do you handle fan mail? What kinds of things do fans write to you about?

Marsha Mehran: I try to answer all my fan mail personally. Not only has someone taken the time to read the book and appreciated it, even loved it, but they have also sat down to write to me. The least I could do is write them back.

Most fans write about how Pomegranate Soup filled them with happiness. That after having read the book they were left starving for the food described in it. One reader in particular stands out in my mind—she wrote to tell me that after reading the novel she was so inspired that she invited her sons, one whom she had not talked to for quite some time, over for dinner. She was hopeful that they could reconcile over a bowl of soup!

Moe: What’s your latest book about? Where did you get the idea and how did you let the idea evolve?

Marsha Mehran: I am currently working on my second novel. It is a story of Iranian mothers and their Iranian-American daughters. A very female-oriented book, filled with feminine power and magic. I am very excited about this story.

Moe: What kind of books do you like to read?

Marsha Mehran: I love the old Russian dudes (Dostoyevsky, Tolstoy, Pushkin) as well as Beckett and Genet for their madness. I ADORE Patrick Dennis’s novels, in all their campy, bewitching glory. I want to go for an unforgettable ride when I read. A world that I would not want to leave.

Moe: When you’re not writing what do you do for fun?

Marsha Mehran: Eat copious amounts of ice cream and watch romantic comedies.

Moe: New writers are always trying to glean advice from those with more experience. What suggestions do you have for new writers?

Marsha Mehran: Have patience with yourself. Listen to the rumblings in your belly. That is your voice. Follow it.

Moe: If you weren’t a writer what would you be?

Marsha Mehran: Working on films. Directing and producing.

Moe: What is your favourite word?

Marsha Mehran: Labyrinth

Purchase Pomegranate Soup from Amazon.com.
Purchase Pomegranate Soup from Amazon.ca.

Originally published 10/26/2005 at Literary Fiction, BellaOnline.

Visit Marsha Mehran’s official website.

Discouraged from following her artistic talent and desires at an early age, Carrie Kabak was educated as a teacher. It wasn’t until two years ago she gave in and followed the pull of writing and is now a full time author. With one book on the shelves and another on the way she’s finally living the life she knew she always wanted. Kabak, born and raised in the United Kingdom, currently lives in Kansa City, Missouri with her husband and their five sons.

Moe: Looking back was there something in particular that helped you to decide to become a writer? Did you choose it or did the profession choose you? When did you ‘know’ you were a writer? Were you a good writer as a child? Teenager? Etc.

Carrie Kabak: When I was nine, my cousin let me into a secret. Parents “hide dirty books and stuff” on top of their dressers. Taking what he said to heart, I promptly found a copy of Edna O’Brien’s The Country Girls on top of my father’s wardrobe. Stumbling through the difficult words and the naughty bits, I found the characters, mood and dialogue pulled me into a familiar world. Here were the mothers, fathers, shopkeepers, teachers and nuns I knew so well in the many places I lived and visited with my family in England, Wales and Ireland. “I might write books when I grow up,” I told my cousin.

At eighteen, it was time to line up for career advice at school. The Head Teacher studied our exam results. She pointed to each girl, teacher, bank, nurse, teacher, bank, nurse. I was labelled ‘teacher’ and encouraged to train for a real job when I objected, saying I’d like to be an artist even an author.

So I went to Cardiff University to train as a French, English and Art teacher. At college, an English professor pulled me to one side. Why was I teaching, he asked. Why wasn’t I writing? Because it’s not a proper job, I explained. Then make it one, he said.

I married, taught, designed, and raised four children instead.

But I kept notes, mingled characters in my head. Studied the craft, kept reading, wrote poetry, achieved grade A for my sons’ essay assignments (D for math).

I moved to the United States and began children’s book illustrating, always thinking, I’ll write a book next but it took another four years to finally take the plunge. I was sure words could be used like a paintbrush, but with writing, I could climb inside the picture too. And live in it.

Moe: What inspires you?

Carrie Kabak: Films. Old photos. Past experiences, people I used to know, and the new ones I meet.

Moe: Every writer has a method that works for them. Most of them vary like the wind while some seem to follow a pattern similar to other writers. On a typical writing day, how would you spend your time?

Carrie Kabak: I usually write 3-4 days a week, and start typing after 11am, and often keep going until 4am in the morning, or if I’m on a roll, I’ll work through the night, not wanting to lose the thoughts in my head. I change from my desktop computer to my laptop when my husband comes home, so I can follow him around. Otherwise, he feels neglected! He’s a fantastic cook so on my writing days, I don’t have to stop to prepare meals.

Moe: How long does it take for you to complete a book you would allow someone to read? Do you write right through or do you revise as you go along?

Carrie Kabak: Cover the Butter took about eight months and Tarts and Sinners six months (I’ve nearly finished!). I revise and edit as I go along, and I work with a critique partner, who writes non-fiction, and I have a reader, also a published author, who writes the same genre as me. They usually edit or read three chapters at a time.

Moe: When you have your idea and sit down to write is any thought given to the genre and type of readers you’ll have?

Carrie Kabak: I write for a mixed age group with mostly female readers in mind, but also aim for a style male readers might enjoy, too.

Moe: When it comes to plot, do you write freely or plan everything in advance?

Carrie Kabak: The first thing I do is jot down a cast list, as if about to write a play then I write freely and usually let the characters lead the way.

Moe: What kind of research do you do before and during a new book? Do you visit the places you write about?

Carrie Kabak: I tend to use places I’m already intimately familiar with, so I don’t need to visit. I also make use of my own interests, when I can. For example, I used to keep hens, so one of my characters in Tarts and Sinners is obsessed with chickens. I’m fond of vintage Vogue and Harper’s Bazaar magazines, so another character is obsessed with the fifties. But I still do lots of research, to make sure I get everything right. I use the library, the internet, and photos. I watch films, stage plays; even a drag show recently (for Tarts and Sinners) to get a sense of “atmosphere.”

Moe: How much of yourself and the people you know manifest into your characters? Where do your characters come from?

Carrie Kabak: My work is a fictitious blend of various elements from my own life and those of others. My characters are formed by mixing the personality traits of those I’ve met or been involved with, or just observed.

Moe: Writers often go on about writer’s block. Do you ever suffer from it and what measures do you take to get past it?

Carrie Kabak: Thank goodness, I don’t get writer’s block, but I do procrastinate. I find all sorts of essential jobs I must do around the house. I have to force myself to sit down sometimes–but once I start writing, I find it hard to stop!

Moe: When someone reads one of your books for the first time, what do you hope they gain, feel or experience?

Carrie Kabak: In Cover the Butter, I want emotions stirred. I want the reader to laugh, cry, feel anger, be sympathetic. I want the protagonist to become the reader’s friend. And I want to make sure my writing appeals to all five senses when I create settings. The reviews I’ve received for Cover the Butter tell me I achieved what I’ve hoped a reader would experience. I really appreciate it when someone takes the time to write one. Totally flattered.

Moe: Can you share three things you’ve learned about the business of writing since your first publication?

Carrie Kabak: “Writing a book is a horrible, exhausting struggle, like a long bout of some painful illness. One would never undertake such a thing if one were not driven on by some demon whom one can neither resist nor understand” ~George Orwell. Well ok, that’s perhaps going a bit too far, but boy, writing is extremely hard work!

You must be serious about a writing career, and think in the future. Publishers aren’t interested in one-book wonders. They like to invest time and energy in a person who will gather a following.

Not really about the business, but writing has made all life’s experiences: success, betrayal, obsession, loss and love have a real purpose. I can write from the heart.

Moe: How do you handle fan mail? What kinds of things do fans write to you about?

Carrie Kabak: I answer all fan mail. I’m asked about England, London, Ireland, Wales and France. I’m asked for recipes for some of the things mentioned in Cover the Butter (I’ve put a few on my website). I’m asked if Cover the Butter is a memoir (It isn’t!). I’m asked when it will be available in paperback (May 2006) if it’s available on CD (Books on Tape and Audible) and if I plan to write a sequel. Readers wonder what happens next; they want to experience more of Kate Cadogan in Provence. I’m asked about Narcissistic Personality Disorder. Some readers reckon the character Biddy suffers from this (although it’s her daughter who does all the suffering!) and I’m asked for advice, and they detail their predicament; but I’m afraid I can’t help, as I’m no expert. Oh, and I’ve had emails written in Welsh, and although I used to speak the language when very young, I have now forgotten how to (Shame on me). I’m also asked about my next book, and if I’ll be doing any official signings in readers’ hometowns.

Moe: What’s your latest book about?

Carrie Kabak: In Cover the Butter, Kate Cadogan passes out and dreams of a tunnel and a spiral stairway leading to a door marked nevermore. Nevermore will she sleep with Rodney, who has lately adopted bizarre sexual practices featuring epaulets and a sergeant major moustache. The frame story then gives way to the novel proper, a journey through ’60s, ’70s and ’80s England, detailing Kate’s coming of age and middle years. From early on, her Irish mother, difficult narcissistic Biddy, and her loving but wussy father Tom, disparage Kate’s goals in life and overzealously guard her virtue. Her friends Moira and Ingrid and her Welsh paternal grandparents are her only constants. Shoe-horned into an education major, she becomes a schoolteacher and is betrayed by her fiancee Jack. On the rebound, she marries prosperous Rodney but is marginalized by his eccentric family. Rodney devotes himself to hockeycricketsquashgolf and his Masonic Lodge. Kate devotes herself to son Charlie and cooking, her weight yo-yoing. Periodically, her parents lure her home, where she falls back into her childlike posture, alternately nurtured and slapped, her mother dishing out equal amounts of love and loathing.

Back to 1995. Kate wonders why she stood it for so long. She learned a lot about herself and others reflecting on her life. She finally breaks free from that claustrophobic tunnel, but in doing so, must experience torment and grief. She reluctantly cuts the security cord that binds her to her son, then retaliates with a determined strength, takes action, and pulls away the blindfolds, ropes and emotional clamps that have held her back for too long. When her mother opposes Kate’s move to France and sides with Rodney in the divorce, Kate divorces her parents as well.

Kate must turn the key that opens the door to freedom and lavender fields.

With, Tarts and Sinners (current project), the end of one year and the beginning of another in the lives of Annie Ruddock, age 58, a vicar’s wife in love with a cross-dressing bell ringer. Jane Frobisher, age 46, who’s obsessed with chickens (Her husband’s having an affair with a Camilla Parker-Bowles look-alike). And Fiona Wiggins, age 23, who’s obsessed with the Fabulous Fifties, and who regrets losing her virginity. It is mostly set in Tutton Longfield, England, is an interwoven tale told from three different points of view.

Moe: What kind of books do you like to read?

Carrie Kabak: Cookery books and fiction.

Authors I like: Kate Atkinson, Mary Wesley, Jodi Picoult, Elizabeth Berg, Alice McDermott, Anne Tyler, Bonnie Shimko, Edna O’Brien, Elizabeth McCracken, Frank McCourt, Trisha Ashley, Jeanne Ray, Joanna Trollope, Jonathan Franzen, Joyce Carol Oates, Lily Prior, Damian McNicholls, Maeve Binchy, Mary Gaitskill, Michael Cunningham, Patricia Scanlan, Rachel Cline, Katie Fforde, Allison Pearson, Sara Gruen, Maureen Ogle, Jill Morrow, Karen Abbott, Maggie Dana, Marina Richards, Kris Riggle, Danielle Schaaf, Becky Motew, Liz Stroud, Barbara Derbyshire, Elizabeth Graham, Jane Guill and many, many more.

Moe: When you’re not writing what do you do for fun?

Carrie Kabak: Spend as much time as I can with my family, and do, and go to, lots of dinner parties. I walk the dogs, watch films, paint canvas and walls, make curtains, cook French stuff and drink wine. Sometimes single malt.

Moe: New writers are always trying to glean advice from those with more experience. What suggestions do you have for new writers?

Carrie Kabak: Learn the craft. Study absolutely everything you can about writing before you start. Read articles and how-to books. Learn how to sharpen your prose, structure a story, develop a scene and write dialogue. Then put them all to one side and let the creative juices flow!

Moe: If you weren’t a writer what would you be?

Carrie Kabak: I’d own a restaurant, be an entomologist, or work in a zoo.

Moe: What is your favourite word?

Carrie Kabak: KENSPECKLE. Easily recognizable, conspicuous. Mostly used in Scotland and northern England.

• Purchase Cover the Butter from Amazon.com.
• Purchase Cover the Butter from Amazon.ca.

Originally published 10/14/2005 at Literary Fiction, BellaOnline.

Visit Carrie Kabak ’s official website.

When I was younger I hated school, having started late because of my birth date. Reading and comprehension were difficult. I always took longer to finish assigned reading than everyone else. At thirteen, I picked up Roger Zelazny’s The Chronicles of Amber and something clicked. Within a few months I had inhaled all 10 books. After that reading was easier, a more enjoyable escape. I travelled through book after book oblivious to what genre it belonged to. I was still a slow reader but at least now I loved it. My eclectic reading carried through to adulthood ranging from non-fiction, mystery, chick lit and yes literary fiction, especially Canadian.

With literary fiction the language is heavier, the imagery lush, the characters detailed and story line thought provoking. Literary fiction by design leaves a deeper impression. And yes, it can be fun. Many believe literary fiction is for ‘serious readers’ or scholars but any one who loves to read can benefit.

Is it Literary Fiction or Isn’t it?

So how do you tell if something is literary fiction? Some like to brag about it on the cover. ‘Muddy Waters: a novel‘, is a sure sign of literary fiction (but not always). Most of the classics are considered literary (anything before 1945). Jane Eyre anyone? If there’s a sticker on the cover for an award it is probably literary fiction. You can also go to any publisher’s website and visit their literary fiction area.

Since it’s inception in 1970 (Wikipedia) literary fiction has become another genre to further classify literature. The realm of literary fiction encompasses short stories, novellas, novelettes, novels and graphic novels. Sure you can have these in other genres but when you think of mysteries, horror or chick lit do you think of short stories? Probably not. Full length books probably come to mind unless you include Stephen King but he’s in a realm of his own.

To understand what literary fiction is, it’s probably easier to look at what it isn’t. Literary fiction is not about chick lit, mystery, science fiction or horror although they are marvellous literature in themselves and literary fiction can incorporate certain aspects of them. If it doesn’t fit into a genre of its own then you’ve probably found yourself some literary fiction.

So there you have it. “What is Literary Fiction”, clear as mud. When we are young we don’t get bogged down with what book fits in which genre. When it comes to reading what’s important is following your interests not someone’s genre designation. Read broad and enjoy it.

This piece was originally published 10/10/2005 at Literary Fiction, BellaOnline.

I talked to three writers about Chick Lit and its role in literature. To each of them I posed five questions.

What does Chick Lit mean to you?

Contemporary books primarily written by and about women that have a humorous or satiric tone.

Why do you like Chick Lit novels?

I by no means like all Chick Lit novels. I like the smart ones that challenge me to think and the funny ones that just have cracking-good stories.

Is Chick Lit real literature?

My Webster’s Tenth defines literature under definition 3 as “writings in prose or verse” (Chick Lit, almost always written in prose, although I don’t recall any Chick Lit novels written in verse, definitely qualifies there), but goes on to elucidate, “especially writings having excellence of form or expression and expressing ideas of permanent or universal interest” (I’d say that, just as with any genre, plus literary fiction, Chick Lit has some books that edify in this way and some that don’t).

Does all Chick Lit live by the same format?

Absolutely not. And since, by virtue of being published by Red Dress Ink, my books are labelled Chick Lit, I’ll hold myself up as an example of nonformat Chick Lit. Most of the naysayers say Chick Lit books feature likable ditzes in their twenties who resemble the girl next door and work in the corporate world yadda yadda. Well, my first novel, The Thin Pink Line, features an often dislikable but very smart sociopath who, believe you me, you would not want to live next door to. And my third novel, just out, A Little Change of Face, is about a 39-year-old librarian who deliberately makes herself look unattractive; and, yes, I did say a librarian – a librarian in a Chick Lit novel!

Is Chick Lit becoming a loose term to categorize all women’s literature?

By no means all women’s literature, but it’s fast become an umbrella term that has lost meaning. Thinking all Chick Lit is the same is as about as useful, critically speaking, as thinking Dashiell Hammett and Carolyn Hart and Walter Moseley and on and on are all the same because they all get shelved under Mysteries.

• Lauren Baratz-Logsted’s books are available from Amazon.com.
• Lauren Baratz-Logsted’s books are available from Amazon.ca.

Read what others have to say about chick lit:

• Shanna Swendson
• Dorothy Thompson

Originally published 9/26/2005 at Literary Fiction, BellaOnline.

Visit Lauren Baratz-Logsted’s official website.

I talked to three writers about Chick Lit and its role in literature. To each of them I posed five questions.

What does Chick Lit mean to you?

Although I’ve heard various definitions of the word from all kinds of members of the literary sector, to me Chick Lit is like vegetable soup. Throw in some meat (attitude), a few vegetables (sub-characters such as best friends, perhaps a hunk or two), soup broth (the never-ending journey of self-discovery), and herbs (a dash or two of humor and a sprinkling of romance) and what have you got? The perfect mixture for a damn good read.

Why do you like Chick Lit novels?

Chick Lit novels takes you on a fun ride. It’s quirky, full of sass and the perfect anecdote when life takes its tolls.

Is Chick Lit real literature?

Why wouldn’t it be? To me, literature is anything you read. Sure, there are varying forms of literature just as there are various forms of anything. What’s literature to one person may not be to another, but that’s not to say it’s not “worthy.” I don’t care for dark thrillers, but is that to say it’s not worthy? Surely not. Chick Lit is a whole different banana and that’s why some critics have a hard time trying to figure them out. They’ll give a Chick Lit book a bad review, saying it’s not real literature, but what they are really saying is that they haven’t read enough of it to know what’s going on. Sure, there will be bad Chick Lit books just as there will be good ones, but the same goes for any genre.

Does all Chick Lit live by the same format?

Basically, to me, they are all about self-discovery, but they do this in different formats such as hen lit, mystery lit, lad lit, mommy lit, etc., but they all have the basic theme having the main character discover something about herself while doing it in a fun way.

Is Chick Lit becoming a loose term to categorize all women’s literature?

I don’t think so. Women’s literature, to me, takes on a different format. I had a book I’d written that I really thought would fit into the hen lit genre, which is a sub-category of chick lit. The main character was sassy, independent, strived to make a name for herself in the world, but I had someone read some of it for me and she classified it as women’s fiction. The reason? Because it focused too much on romance. Go figure. It’s very confusing sometimes.

• Dorothy Thompson’s Romancing the Soul is available from Amazon.com.
• Dorothy Thompson’s Romancing the Soul is available from Amazon.ca.

Read what others have to say about chick lit:

• Shanna Swendson
• Lauren Baratz-Logsted

This piece was originally published 9/26/2005 at Literary Fiction, BellaOnline.

I talked to three writers about Chick Lit and its role in literature. To each of them I posed five questions.

What does Chick Lit mean to you?

I tend to think of chick lit as a look at the lives of modern women, told with a wry, sarcastic style. It’s honest (sometimes painfully so), but with just enough wish-fulfillment fantasy to make it a fun, escapist read. Most of us have struggled at some time or another with bad dates, difficult relationships, challenging jobs and the like, but by telling the story with a sense of humor and throwing in some of the good or glamorous stuff we don’t necessarily all experience – life in a major city, a job in a glamour industry, the right guy coming along, the perfect group of friends to drink cosmos with — chick lit helps us see the fun, joy and pain of everyday life in a way that’s fun to read.

Why do you like Chick Lit novels?

For so very many reasons! I’ve been gorging on Chick Lit ever since it hit the shelves. This was the kind of book I’d been looking for even before I knew what to call it. I’d been a romance reader, but Chick Lit felt more relevant to my life, a little more honest and with characters who felt real. I love the chance to live vicariously through the characters. I enjoy the hint of suspense — not suspense as in “will the murderer catch them?” but suspense as to how the book will turn out. Which guy will the heroine end up with? Or will she end up with any of them?

I think that was my main problem with romance. You know from the start that it’s going to be happily ever after with the guy who’s the obvious hero, but not knowing for sure keeps me turning the pages. I also like that Chick Lit often focuses more on the search for Mr. Right than on fighting with the Mr. Right who falls into the heroine’s lap.

Is Chick Lit real literature?

My dictionary (Random House — and since I write for Random House, I may as well go with it) defines literature as “writing regarded as having permanent worth through its intrinsic excellence.” I think something has to have been around a lot longer for us to know if it has permanent worth, so the jury’s still out about Chick Lit (along with all the supposedly literary works currently being published). The “real literature” label is something for posterity to decide.

I believe what Jane Austen was writing fits the mold of Chick Lit, yet it’s called literature now, so there is a strong possibility some (but certainly not all) of today’s Chick Lit novels may be considered literature by future generations. For example, Bridget Jones’s Diary has held up surprisingly well if you re-read it now, even though some of the pop culture references are a little dated. Bridget lives in a world where Princess Diana is still alive and the Spice Girls are still hot, but her story still resonates.

Does all Chick Lit live by the same format?

The joy of Chick Lit is that there is no format! It’s more of a tone or attitude that defines the genre. I certainly couldn’t apply any one format or story structure to every chick lit novel I’ve read. Yes, at the beginning there were a lot of “here are all my bad dates and this is what I wore” books, and there are some recurring themes, but anyone who says there’s an obvious formula or format to Chick Lit obviously hasn’t actually read more than one book or done more than look at the covers.

It’s much less formulaic than mystery (murder or crime early in book, sleuth looks for clues, stumbles on a few red herrings, then solves the case) or romance (hero and heroine meet, there’s conflict, they live happily ever after). I don’t think there are any such genre expectations in chick lit, just that it be about a “chick” who’s dealing with some kind of issue or conflict in her life. That issue could be job, relationship, family, finding herself, finding a home or any or all of the above. If there is a romance in a chick lit novel, it could start halfway through or even at the end, or it could end in the middle.

Is Chick Lit becoming a loose term to categorize all women’s literature?

I think it’s more of a marketing approach. The industry doesn’t necessarily call all women’s literature chick lit, but for a while they seemed to be packaging it all as Chick Lit, with the cute, colorful covers. I even noticed one book that looked very much like a typical chick lit book, but it had a review blurb on the cover saying, “A welcome antidote to Chick Lit.” Now, is that trying to have your cake and eat it too, or what? They were using the Chick Lit look to draw people in, then saying, “But it’s not chick lit!” I think that’s where some of the backlash came from — the more “literary” writers resented being packaged as Chick Lit, Chick Lit readers were disappointed to find that the books they bought weren’t really chick lit, and “literary” readers were ashamed to be seen buying or reading that “fluff.”

I think there’s room for everyone, and few people have such narrow reading tastes that they won’t try other things. Publishers just need to be honest about packaging their books. I actually find some of the sneering at chick lit amusing, and possibly even anti-female in a roundabout sort of way. Women are intelligent beings, intelligent enough to choose what we want to read, and intelligent enough that our brains aren’t going to rot and ooze out if we read a book with a cartoon on the cover. Sometimes we need to recharge our mental and emotional batteries so we’ll have the energy we need to take over the world.

• Shanna Swendson’s book Enchanted, Inc is available from Amazon.com.
• Shanna Swendson’s book Enchanted, Inc is available from Amazon.ca.

Read what others have to say about chick lit:

• Dorothy Thompson
• Lauren Baratz-Logsted

This piece was originally published 9/26/2005 at Literary Fiction, BellaOnline.

Visit Shanna Swendson’s official website.

When I bring up the topic of Chick Lit I’m often asked what Chick Lit is and am stunned by the question, wondering how they could not know. Chick Lit is after all one of the fasting growing genres and money makers.

What Chick Lit is may vary depending on the fondness of the person doing the describing but basically it’s a cutesy name for another division of women’s (chicks) literature with a little more flair. The books are fun accounts of witty, overworked and under loved women looking for better jobs and a better love life. A majority of them come from Britain. But this is just the surface story. Every Chick Lit story I’ve read also has a deeper motive driving the character, some secret from her past she still hasn’t overcome (of course there are some that do not).

While most seem to have the stereotyped friends the main character leans on for support, some of the stereotypes run true – there are a select few we tell our deepest wishes and diarist needs to. It doesn’t matter if it’s the gay guy or the beautiful model. They are there to represent the friends we love; slightly misaligned for a little comedic relief.

The onset of Chick Lit seemed to start with the hysteria surrounding Bridget Jone’s Diary. Every Chick Lit book since has been compared to it in some way, some how making it a benchmark. This limits the genre considerably and I think has been pivotal in the backlash descended upon the books and the authors who write them. There is so much more to Chick Lit than Bridget Jones. So much more than the cutesy covers. Like any genre you have to be selective in what you read because not all Chick Lit is considered equal. There’s good, there’s bad and yes there’s the ugly.

Recently, I talked to three writers about Chick Lit and its role in literature. To each of them I posed five questions. Specifically:

• What does Chick Lit mean to you?
• Why do you like Chick Lit novels?
• Is Chick Lit real literature?
• Does all Chick Lit live by the same format?
• Is Chick Lit becoming a loose term to categorize all women’s literature?

Here’s what they had to say:

• Shanna Swendson
• Dorothy Thompson
• Lauren Baratz-Logsted

This piece was originally published 9/26/2005 at Literary Fiction, BellaOnline.

I love bookmarks. Especially the ones made with the creative influence of other people. Bookmarks make great gifts and can be personalized for each person you make them for. Bookmarks can be made from ribbon, leather, paper, recycled products or a multitude of other things. In desperation I’ve even used a folded up square of toilet paper. Shhh, don’t tell any one.

These days bookmarks can have another use besides marking where you left off in your latest best seller. They can contain messages — some can advertise the book store you picked it up in, some can have an inspirational quote from an author and some just contain beautiful images.

Take a look at the various bookmarks you have lying around. Which are your favorites? Do your think your bookmarks reflect your personality? My favorite right now is one with an open mouthed cougar with the close second being a wolf surrounded by snow. Both were part of book gifts I have received.

Now here is your gift. Two lovely bookmarks to print, cut out, laminate and add to your collection. Happy reading!

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