It is dark and rainy in Vancouver. Spring should be evident by now, even if we haven’t officially entered the equinox. The cherry blossoms should be out, but there is no sign of them at all. It is cold and miserable. I have taken a few weeks off work to make inroads into my novel …
I’ve taken some time off work to give some overdue focus to the novel. For the past week, I’ve been buried in writing, re-evaluating what I’ve done, doing new research and striking off in new and exciting directions. It’s been a productive five days, I would say, and I feel a renewed sense of passion …
What makes a good novel? Plot? Characters? Subject matter? An enduring theme? What are some of your favourite novels over the past few years? The Da Vinci Code? The Corrections? The Time Traveler’s Wife? Something dark, like The Road by Cormac McCarthy? Is your fancy “literary” novels or blockbusters, like works by Ken Follett or …
I had originally envisioned my novel taking place within the narrow confines of the monastery. The great advantage of staying inside is that life there is relatively simple. Yes, there are conflicts and sometimes even high drama, but compared to life outside the monastery, things inside are easy. Everything was going according to plan, but …
In the year that I’ve been struggling with my novel I’ve learned to recognize the time-wasters that capture my interest so readily. I can smell them coming down the hall. So when the idea for this blog “popped into my head,” I detected the subtle metallic odour of the time-waster almost immediately.
It’s true what I say about the monks. They do indeed speak to me in dreams. Their faces come out of the darkness, candle-light flashing on their cheeks, and they whisper in my ear. I smell their body stench and beery breath, and their words are only barely recognizable. They step back, wait for a …