Canadian Mystery Novels, eh?

 

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At last year's Ontario Library Association's online conference, I sat on a panel about novels set in Canada. The moderator divided the topic into three parts--Canadian characters, settings, and stories--and asked each panelist to discuss one of the sub-topics in relation to one of our novels. To my relief, I was assigned setting, which I considered the easiest of the three. The other two stumped me. When I create characters, I think of them as people, not Canadians, and my stories lean toward the psychological, rather than events particular to Canada.   

I chose Ten Days in Summer, the most Calgarian of my novels, to illustrate how I include specific setting details and how they shaped the story. The novel takes place over the ten days of Calgary's annual Stampede Festival, when the whole city goes wild-west. People wear cowboy hats and boots to go shopping. Beer tents and free pancake breakfasts pop up everywhere. I explained how I looked for opportunities to set scenes at Stampede happenings. Paula, my sleuth, first encounters two of the suspects while she's watching the parade that launches the festival. She later meets one of them in a sports pub featuring an inflatable football player wearing a bandana. Paula's Stampede clothing style is to wear a different coloured bandana each of the ten days. Does that make her uniquely Canadian?

No, but it does make her Calgarian. I realized the characters in my mystery series naturally reflect the people who live in Calgary. In Ten Days, there's a wannabe cowboy. I have several Calgary friends who own horses they board on acreages outside the city and ride on weekends. When I lived in Montreal, I didn't know anyone who did this. Many characters in the series, including Paula, have moved to Calgary from elsewhere. Through its history, Calgary has attracted newcomers during its periodic boom times. In contrast, other locales might be characterized by the absence of family and friends, who have left for greater opportunities. The type of people in any story tells us as much about the place as its landscape. 

I still don't see Paula and friends as particularly Canadian, although readers outside of Canada might notice behaviours I simply see as 'normal'. Maybe Canadian novel characters tend to be remarkably polite. 

Reflections on Canadian characters got me wondering about the third aspect discussed on the panel, uniquely Canadian stories. I find these most noticeable in historical mystery novels, especially ones that fictionalize a real murder from our country's past. In Ten Days in Summer, I had fun making up a crime related to a lessor known fact of Canadian history. King Edward VIII, who famously gave up the British throne to marry Wallis Simpson, was a wannabe cowboy. When he was Prince of Wales, he bought a ranch in southern Alberta, which he visited with his wife after his abdication. My research suggested the Duchess of Windsor was less than enthralled with life on the range. I wove that into an imagined crime that played a small, but pivotal, role in the Ten Days in Summer murder.  

  The Duchess and Duke of Windsor at the E.P. (Edward Prince) Ranch in 1941.  

 The Duke as urban cowboy. 

I have read Canadian mystery novels that deal with contemporary events and issues that are uniquely Canadian. Since the time of U.S. Prohibition in the 1920s, our long and friendly border with the United States has prompted cross-border crime that continues today. Disputes over pipelines and clean drinking water on indigenous reserves have resulted in fictional murders. 

People generally read mystery and thriller novels for entertainment, and in the process learn much about a country's people, place, and stories. When I travel, I like to read novels set in the location I'm visiting. But I also read to learn about myself and my own country.       

I became so intrigued with the subject of uniquely Canadian characters, places and stories that I pitched the idea for a Calgary Public Library program. They've now scheduled the topic for Wednesday, January 26, 7-8 pm, as part of the CPL's Books and Ideas series. I'll be interviewed by Margaret Hadley, a former instructor of Detective Fiction at the University of Calgary. I expect we'll have a lively conversation. You can register for the program here with a CPL card. Non-members are welcome and can email or call the library at 403-260-2600. 

Hope to see you there, eh? 

  

       

                   

Starting a First Draft -- It's Scary!

 

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One thing I discovered when I began writing novels thirty years ago -- I can't write from an outline. After a few failed attempts, I learned my natural process was to start with some basic ideas for people, locations and storylines, add an inciting event, and then develop the characters and plot in the course of writing. This makes starting each novel a leap in the dark. 

Last month I plunged into the fourth book of my Paula Savard mystery series. In addition to not outlining, I have a bad habit of doing something different with each book. The first one was an amateur sleuth mystery; book #2 was a classic whodunnit. Book #3 added multiple narrators and two timelines. All three introduced a dead body in Chapter One. Book # 4 doesn't. 

I didn't realize why this new story had to start this way until I was a couple of chapters along. At the end of book #3, Winter's Rage, Paula is so rattled by the story events that she vows to never get involved with another homicide case. Paula needs to be tricked into it for there to be a book # 4. From the start I could see a problem. How would I sustain reader interest without a corpse?

My initial plan was to repeat the style of Winter's Rage, with a narrator other than Paula relating a past storyline. This backstory would have a murder early on. I circled the idea (procrastinated) by writing this backstory as a short story, but it didn't work as fodder for my novel. I couldn't see its  relevance to the main plot I had in mind or that a past murder would make up for the main plot's meander out of the gate.

Well, I'd stalled long enough. Time for the leap into the novel. I wrote Chapter One, by hand sitting out on my patio enjoying Calgary's warm fall weather, and continued with Chapter Two. Then an idea hit. I'd insert two secondary viewpoint narrators, two detectives, who know something is going on that Paula doesn't. Through them, readers would see murder lurking and get into the suspense of Paula becoming involved despite herself.

I hoped.  

The approach worked for me and held my interest through the subsequent chapters. Now I'm 1/4 way through the manuscript and planning to add a fourth narrator, Isabelle, an erratic character established in previous books. One of my detective narrators is also a regular in the series. It helps that I already know these two characters well, but I feel a pressure about finally giving them voices and worry this will mess with how readers and I had pictured them before. Isabelle and both detectives will work at cross purposes with Paula to complicate the plot.   

The story feels like it's beginning to gel. I've outlined the next four chapters and expect they'll lead to a corpse around the novel's midpoint. I'm almost sure who the victim will be. The killer is probably one of three suspects and there might be a second murder later in the book.

This discovery stage used to be my favourite part of writing novels. With my first books, I let the stories go wherever they wanted and fixed them up later. This required a lot of fixing. But from experience, I've developed a sense of pacing. In this current novel first draft, I've rewritten and cut scenes that didn't work or slowed the story down before moving forward in the plot. This makes writing first drafts harder and they take longer. Now I find the next stage, revision, more enjoyable than the excitement of leaping to an unknown place. Maybe I'm just getting older. 

Over the years I've read writing advice books and heard many writers talk about their writing process. I'd estimate the split is about 50/50 between novelists who outline and us "pantsers," who fly by the seats of our pants. There's a third group, a minority sometimes called "quilters," who write scenes they later assemble in order. I don't understand them, as my process is linear. Although I find myself thinking of part-scenes for the chapters coming up, so perhaps I'm learning to quilt a little. 

I have to take a short break from the manuscript now. Drat! Now that I've got the beginning in place I'm less scared and I'm excited to see where the story and characters are going.                       

Do You Need a Sensitivity Reader?

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A friend who read a draft of my new novel, Winter's Rage, suggested I ask someone experienced in transgender issues to read the manuscript. It hadn't occurred to me that I needed this. While one of my characters in the novel has sex change surgery, I considered it a minor point in the story. But I knew instantly this was sound advice, given current awareness of LGBTQ+ concerns. 

My friend offered to look for a sensitivity reader if I couldn't find one on my own. As it happened, several years earlier another friend had told me his sister had recently transitioned. I contacted my friend and asked if he could put me in touch with her. He gladly gave me her email address, although he didn't think she read mystery novels or fiction in general. 

His sister replied right away. She thanked me for making this effort with my book because she was constantly annoyed by people's thoughtless and cruel remarks and misused pronouns. I gave her the choice of reading the full manuscript of Winter's Rage or the relevant sections. When she chose the latter, I emailed her five pages with all the pertinent scenes. She came back with comments I wouldn't have thought of myself. In addition to these being useful for the book, I found it interesting to hear her perspectives. 

On the positive side, she liked that I'd had my protagonist observe my trans person's physique as not typical for her gender. My reader finds her height can be a problem--she's 6'3" in high heels--but she knows other transgender women who have it worse, with barrel shaped chests and very masculine features. She found it realistic that my trans character would be depressed and alcohol dependent before discovering who she was. It also sadly rang true for her that my character would experience abuse on social media and from unsympathetic relatives.    

But she questioned my trans character's close friend saying that she'd miss her as a man. My sensitivity reader had heard that type of remark too often. 

"Tough shit," she told the obtuse friend. "This isn't about you." 

I'd also had my trans character say she'd miss her former self. My sensitivity reader said most trans people she knows can't wait to shed their old selves. "We love them for getting us this far, but their job is done, and we're excited to move forward." I had thought, in that situation, I'd feel nostalgia for a large part of my life I was leaving behind, but bowed to her experience and tweaked my trans character's sentiments. In addition, my reader thought I'd made the process of changing ID and other documents too simple. I added an explanation that didn't impact the plot.      

My sensitivity reader found no fault with my use of pronouns, but later, during the proof read of the manuscript, it struck me that I might have used 'he' incorrectly in one instance. I asked my proof reader for her opinion. She replied that, in her view, 'he' was correct in the context. It can be tricky to get it totally right. We also shouldn't assume all transgender people think alike any more than all women think alike. There might be some who disagree with my decision to leave 'he' in that sentence.  

By definition, we fiction writers create characters and situations that go beyond our personal experience. The more feedback we get from readers who fill the gaps in our knowledge, the more true- to-life our stories will be. When we don't belong to a misunderstood and oppressed group, we're often unaware of its particular issues. A first step in deciding whether or not to seek out a sensitivity reader is knowing when you need one. 

My COVID-19 Book Launch

 

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For my first three novels, I had book launch parties at my local independent bookstore. Close to 100 people packed Owl's Nest Bookstore's premises for each event. Shortly before the pandemic, Owl's Nest cut its store space in half and nowadays most people I know aren't keen on packing into rooms with strangers. Last month, Owl's Nest suggested I look for a larger venue. 

Pre-COVID book launch

Venues in Calgary weren't easy to find. The libraries weren't renting their larger spaces yet. Other venues were operating at reduced capacity. My first choice currently only allows a maximum 30 people and wasn't available on September 16th, my scheduled date. Eventually I found a church meeting hall large enough for people to spread out. I felt we could host a safe event that would be fun despite the requirements that we wear masks and not share food. 

Unfortunately, Calgary's COVID-19 cases and hospitalizations continued their rise into September. The Alberta government reinstated restrictions. These wouldn't prevent the launch from going ahead, but I feared the situation would keep too many people away. Owl's Nest and I decided to move the event online, to the disappointment of one friend who was really looking forward to getting out and experiencing an in-person author reading, a novelty for her. 

Right now, I'm busy getting ready for this fourth book launch, which will take place on Zoom. I plan to do three readings from my new novel, Winter's Rage, one for each point-of-view character. I'll also talk about writing this third book of my Paula Savard Mystery Series. In particular, I'll discuss:

• Why I scrapped my first draft half-way through and restarted from scratch
• How I found the book's title
• How COVID-19 affected the story     

 All off this will be backdropped by Powerpoint slides, including pictures of the street where my fictional murder took place. It was easy getting these pictures since the street is in my neighbourhood. 

"Wintergreen Close," my fictional crime site

It's also easy -- and free -- to attend the launch. All you need to do is go to the Owl's Nest Events Page  , scroll down to Susan Calder: Winter's Rage, and click the link to register. Owl's Nest will then email you a Zoom link to join the event on September 16 at 7:00 p.m. Mountain Time. One advantage of a virtual book launch is that people can attend from around the world, as long as they're awake at that hour.