START A NOVEL

In January/February and April/May 2013, I hope to be teaching my course, START A NOVEL at St. Pius X High School. Whether or not the course runs depends on enrollment.  The information is below:

Start a Novel

Begin a book length work of fiction. Ruth Latta, local author of seven novels, will provide information and exercises to help you "grow a novel". Learn about "The Hero's Journey", Point of View, the novelist's promises to the reader, and more.

Winter 2013
4 weeks, 10 a.m. to 12 noon  $58 plus HST
St. Pius. Saturdays  Starting January 26 (18005)

Spring 2013
4 weeks, 10 a.m. to 12 noon, $58 plus HST
St. Pius, Saturdays, Starting April 20 (28005)

To register, contact Kristie Vanbergen, General Interest Clerk, Continuing and Communithy Education Department, Ottawa Catholic School Board
Tel. 613-224-4455 ext. 2337
www.fallconnections.com
www.ocsb.ca

Kristie.Vanbergen@ocsb.ca

Three jarring moments

Since I'm not a sci-fi/fantasy fan, I don't read the novels of U.S. author, Holly Lisle, but I like her blog, admire her courses and her advice to writers, and enjoy the writing tips that she sends me (and hundreds of other people who have signed up for them). Sometimes Lisle shares questions or comments that she has received if they illustrate a shared concern among writers. Occasionally she shares rude feedback if it pertains to the craft of writing. Usually the comments from such critics say more about them than about Lisle's work or ideas.

Lisle's encounters with difficult people and false ideas about writing  and make me feel in good company, as I muse about three jarring writing-related experiences of the past couple of weeks.

At a lecture by a Ph.D. candidate in English Literature, I was shocked when she repeatedly referred to two well-known memoirs as "novels." The two books were The Autobiography of Alice B. Toklas, by Gertrude Stein, and A Moveable Feast by Ernest Hemingway.  Yes, both Stein and Hemingway wrote novels, and yes, a lot of genre-blurring is going on these days, but in these two particular books, the authors are writing about real people by their real names, sharing their memories of the past, and presenting their material as being true and factual.  The books are supposed to be non-fiction, not fiction. A specialist in English literature should be more careful when referring to genres.

Jarring Incident Number Two is really two incidents: two emails from strangers fishing for information about my business arrangements with my publisher. I like to be approachable and helpful to aspiring writers, but even in this reveal-all age, where the concept of privacy is no longer understood, there are some things that are my business and my business only.  As well, I don't have the time to counsel people for free, either on the phone or by email, about the pros and cons of one publishing arrangement versus another. Be a grown-up. Do your own research and come to your own decisions.

The third jarring incident came out of my conversation with an aspiring writer of mature years who wrote as part of his career for many years and would like to try his hand at fiction. He has read widely in his favourite genre and has signed up for a local writing course.

"I've only attended two classes but already I've learned several things I'm doing wrong," he told me.

Hm.  I know the course instructor, and his remark doesn't surprise me.  How about all the things he is doing right?   Too much criticism at an early stage is destructive. A negative, adversarial approach is pedagogically unsound. Anyone who cares about writing enough to enrol in a course must have some talents and assets to bring to the craft, and it's the teacher's job to find them.

Well, enough thinking about the wonderful world of writing. It's time for me to do some.

In Places Between

Yesterday in the mail I received a copy of In Places Between, 2012, a Calgary publication containing the winners/runners-up, etc. of the Robyn Harrington Memorial Short Story contest. run by the Imaginative Fiction Writers' Association.  I was excited to see my story, "Creature Comfort", in the collection, and to receive thel cheque enclosed. In Places Between is published by IPB Short Story Contest, P.O. Box 31014, Bridgeland P.O., Calgary, AB T2E 0C0

The winners of the Ottawa Book Awards were announced October 24. Like many other Ottawa book authors, I entered but didn't win.  The short list this year was made up, for the most part, of established writers publishing with established traditional publishers. Is it worth entering next year? I'm mulling over that question.

My reviews in Canadian Materials

My review of Norah McClintock's Sea of Sorrows (a novel for those in their early teens) is in the current issue of Canadian Materials,  a weekly online magazine from the University of Manitoba, edited by Education professor Dave Jenkinson, at www.umanitoba.ca/cm/

 I have been reviewing books for Canadian Materials for several years now and  have reviewed quite a few novels for young people that an adult would find worth reading. Perhaps my favourite was the award-winning novel, The Landing, by John Ibbitson,set in Depression-era Muskoka.  For fun, my book club decided to add this novel to our list last year, and everybody liked The Landing. We liked the grandmother-figure, a woman "of a certain age", who wasn't your stereotypical cookie-baking, knitting Grandma and who turned out, in the end, not to be a fairy godmother.

Google Canadian Materials to find out about worthwhile books for young people on your holiday gift list.

Another review in "Compulsive Reader"

To read my review of Barbara Forte Abate's novel, Asleep without Dreaming, please visit
http://www.compulsivereader.com/html/modules.php?name=News&file=article&sid=3183

My review in Compulsive Reader

My review of Face of the Enemy, by Dobson and Myers, is now posted on the Compulsive Reader website.

http://www.compulsivereader.com.html/modules.php?name=News&file=article&sid=3170

Please and thank you: Lynne Truss's Talk to the Hand

Yesterday while browsing in a used book store, my husband came home with Lynne Truss's Talk to the Hand, her book about increasing rudeness in society. Its publication date is 2005, but it isn't out of date. Indeed, the problem she addresses has intensified since she wrote it.

When did society stop valuing basic courtesy and respect? Talk to the Hand (NY, Penguin, 2005)is not a guide to manners; rather, it is an attempt to define and analyse six areas in which we seem to be getting "more unpleasant and inhuman" in our dealings with each other. One of Truss's culprits is modern communications technology. "These systems force us to navigate ourselves into channels that are plainly for someone else's convenience, not ours...In our encounters with businesses and shops we now half expect to be treated not as customers, but as systems trainees who haven't quite got the hang of it yet." 

She also blames parents who are so determined to build their children's self-esteem  that they protect them from blame or accountability of any sort. In two hilarious paragraphs she depicts such parents setting their kids loose in a relative's home.

"Say Hi to Bob, kids. Yes, darling, this is the man we call Fatty Bob. How clever you are to remember. Now, why don't  you all run off and see how many things beginning with the letter H you can collect for mommy? All right, Freddie, you can use a screwdriver. Take your sticky drinks with you." Later, when the homeowner gets cross, the parent comforts the child, saying: "Fatty Bob is...materialistic, which means he prefers things to people. We prefer people to things, don't we? Fatty Bob shouldn't leave such irreplaceable heirlooms just lying about, should he? Silly Fatty Bob."

Despite the many instances of deteriorating behaviour that Truss describes, she hopes that if enough people demonstrate kindness and good manners they may change society.  I hope so too, but I'm not holding my breath in anticipation.