P.S. We Canucks are not attorneys, but counsel. As for being fat, this all Canadian boy plays hockey at least twice a week and is 160 dripping wet, if I'm lucky.
Well, you're clearly a
storyteller. Did those years of editing and publishing ultimately help your
writing? And how does this (successful) novel differ from that first,
unpublished one?
Ernest Hemingway once said he learned to write while working here as a young reporter for the Toronto Star. Reading the ticker-tape forced him to think in terms of the smallest number of words to tell a story. For me, working on magazines that never had enough money meant constantly having to cut, cut, cut. And deadlines. And story telling. And did I mention - cut, cut cut.
I didn't write at all for myself at that time. Perhaps a lost decade, but I don't think so. It really helped me to develop a very critical eye. And I came to learn there were two types of writers. Those who talked about it a lot, and usually didn't deliver. And those who did the work and kept their mouths shut. When I started writing my first novel, let's call it Book X, I told no one. That book took me ten years to write, and I still remember the moment I finished it. One of the highlights in my life, even though no one will ever see it.
Book X was much more of a standard thriller. It had lots of action, lots of characters. About a year ago, I yanked it out and took a peek. All the 'first novelists' mistakes' jumped out at me - too much background, excessive description, ouch, ouch, ouch - but I did find myself reading it. I sent it to my agent, who said, "Yes you made all the first novelists' mistakes, but hey, did I stop reading? No. And I didn't know you could do action that well."
Action, I've learned is in short supply in a mystery, where people spend a lot of time eating, talking and, in my books, having sex. People did like the book, but thank goodness, not enough to buy it. I got one excellent comment. The editor said, that I had a lot of great characters, and a good story, but there was nothing in it that broke new ground.
That really inspired me. When I started Old City Hall, the day I was told Book X would not be sold, I didn't know much about mystery novels. So I didn't feel bound by any of the conventions. And have since then I've learned I broke a few rules that must never be broken.
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