Writing for the joy of it

Barbara here. I know, it’s been a while. More than a while. This fall and winter have been so full of distractions and world craziness that weeks go by without my even thinking about Type M. For this I apologize to both our loyal readers and my fellow bloggers for my neglect. What little focus I have is devoted to my WIP, which is limping along at a snail’s pace, and to all the day to day responsibilities like walking my dogs, keeping them and me fed and my house vaguely clean, etc., etc.

But I do love Type M and all the authors who contribute their thoughts, struggles, triumphs, and expertise every week. I was particularly struck this week by Shelley Burbank’s last post about her liberating change of focus from trying to write books that sell to writing to create the best story she wants to tell.

Most Canadian authors have been dealing with this dilemma for years. The Canadian book market is very small and overpowered by the much larger UK and US markets. Canadian publishers struggle to compete with the larger UK and US promotional budgets and Canadian authors are generally buried in the back of the store, whether online or physical. The "big five" publishers control the market and are interested in big sales figures. Essentially, you can write the kind of books that sell big, or you can write the stories you want to tell and get a "real" job, marry rich, or have a decent pension. Since 2000 I have been published by a successful Canadian publisher, which was created specifically to tell Canadian stories by Canadian writers. Like other authors, I was told early on by several agents that if I wanted to go bigger, I had to set my books in the United States because Americans weren't interested in Canadian settings. One of my writer friends was asked to move his medical thriller series from Montreal to Buffalo. He did, and had a successful run, but seriously? 

Obviously there are exceptions, Louise Penny being an obvious one, but I guess from the big publishers' perspective, not enough readers would pick up something about Canada.

I believe to make a book truly sparkle, a writer has to love the story they are trying to tell. It has to come from the heart, not the business brain. I made the choice early on to tell Canadian stories and to tell the kind of stories I was passionate about. My country, my people, our issues and our perspective. We are not the US or the UK, and the one time I did try to tell an American story, I found I couldn't get inside the characters' heads. And as a writer as well as a psychologist, I always start my stories inside my characters' heads.

Here I am, twenty-five years later, still writing about Ottawa in all its hidden layers, but glad I have a pension that lets me do what I love.

I read Canadian

A very special day is coming up on February 19, 2020: the very first I READ CANADIAN day celebrating Canadian authors and stories coast to coast. Why this blatantly nationalistic hype? As a true Canadian, I apologize in advance. Canada is a modest, relatively unassuming but awesome country full of diverse regions and cultures. Proudly, it has many voices, but with the exception of Quebec, its literature is mainly in English. It is stuck between two English-speaking cultural behemoths – the UK and the US – which have a far larger readership and much larger budgets to reach that readership. The population of the UK is 67 million, and the US 328 million. Canada's is 38 million, of which 20% are French-speaking.

Canadians have many influences. In many ways we float midway across the ocean between the two powerhouses. A bit British, a bit American, with lots of other colours thrown in. American culture swamps our TV, our airwaves, our movie theatres, and our bookstores. UK culture acts as a kind of counterweight to this, providing another voice that seems familiar, at times nostalgic, to our ears. In this clamouring of cultural offerings, Canadian offerings find it hard to be heard. I have been doing book signings across Canada for over twenty years, and I am often discouraged that readers who express an interest in crime fiction often can't name a single Canadian crime writer. This despite the fact there are about 300 active published authors who are members of Crime Writers of Canada.

In the music industry, there are Canadian content requirements for radio stations that have nurtured a world-class Canadian music industry. Some Canadian content regulations also exist for TV and film. But sadly there are none for books. No requirement for Canadian writers to be included in school curricula, no requirement or even incentive that they feature prominently in bookstore displays, alongside the "Scandinavian Noir" or "James Patterson" piles. The big publishers are international businesses, and they don't make their money on Canadian authors, but rather on international best-sellers  Independent Canadian publishers don't have the money to compete with them for space.

Hence this grassroots social media campaign by authors, publishers, and literary organizations aimed at raising awareness. Hey, Canadian stories exist, and they're actually pretty good! Although the focus is on children's books and the campaign is aimed at school and library participation, the idea is gaining traction within the broader community. So with any luck, on February 19, there will be events in schools and libraries across the country, and blitzes on social media as well as traditional media. All authors are encouraged to wave the flag. If Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram are suddenly awash in I READ CANADIAN slogans and stories, that's why. Please share them, and I hope they will inspire some of you to pick up a Canadian book from your library or bookstore.

As a lead-up to that big day, a more modest campaign will be held this upcoming weekend, February 7 - 9, to celebrate that subcategory of books called "High interest/ Low vocabulary". Although most of these books are aimed at struggling or emerging young readers including middle school and YA, some imprints are written for adults who for whatever reason are looking for a quick, easy read. Some are busy or have short attention spans, some just want a quick read for the airplane or the doctor's office, while others, such as ESL, LD, or the elderly, enjoy the simpler format. Orca Books is a leader in HiLo books for all ages, and my Cedric O'Toole series is from their adult Rapid Reads line. Their mission is to develop a love of reading that lasts a lifetime. So if you see a flurry of posts and conversations with #GetToKnowHiLo or @GetToKnowHiLo, please share and join the conversation. Spread the world.