Authorial name dropping

Words in the Wilderness

/ Melanie Marttila

July 23-29, 2010.

This conference was the darling of the Sudbury Hypergraphic Society.  While I did not attend all the events, the workshop with Marie Bilodeau and Jennifer Rouse Barbeau was great.  Hosted at Music and Film in Motion, the session was an intimate affair with wonderful insights into process and what it takes to get published.  Jennifer was about to have her first novel, Swampy Jo, published through Your Scrivener Press.

Marie in particular intrigued me with how she broke into publishing and how hard she had to work to get there.  Starting off with success in e-books, Marie’s first novel, Princess of Light, was so successful that the publisher decided to move it to their print line.  The only condition was that she had to have the remaining two novels in her trilogy written and ready for editing ASAP.

Princess was published February 29, 2009 and the second novel, Warrior of Darkness, was released in July of the same year.  Sorceress of Shadows came out in April of 2010, which will give you an idea of how quickly the work had to be done.  Marie front-loaded the work and still managed to write a phenomenally successful series.  One of her secrets: when necessary, she retreated to a local convent to focus on the task of writing.

I’ve since “friended” Marie on Facebook and follow her blog and adventures.  She’s published two more novels, Destiny’s Blood and Destiny’s Fall.  The latter is just out in March (see Amazon for details) from Dragon Moon Press.

Recently, she wrote that she had another date with “giant Jesus.”  This was a reference to another personal writing retreat she had planned at the convent.

When she got there though, she discovered the convent secularized, and dubbed it the no-longer-convent convent.

Have you discovered anyone through a conference or workshop who inspired you?

Brian Henry, “Writing and Revising” Workshop

/ Melanie Marttila

I first heard of Brian Henry a number of years ago.  I honestly can’t remember where, but I might have been the Sudbury Writers’ Guild.  At the time, I had to travel to North Bay to attend one of his workshops, and I attended two.

The first focused on the publishing industry, how it worked, from query, through slush pile, agents, Canadian vs. American pub houses, all the eventual way to publication.  There were a lot of eye-opening stats that day and it was my first introduction to the world of publishing.  At the time, I hadn’t even finished my first draft though, so I knew I wasn’t ready to start sending off letters yet.

The next workshop was on characterization.  Different topic, different insights.  That trip, I took my mom along for the ride.  She went shopping, and I went to the workshop.

Then finally, we got the Quick Brown Fox to come to Sudz 🙂

“Writing and Revising,” offered May 30, 2010 in Sudbury was the third Brian Henry workshop I attended.  It was very informative and well worth the nominal fee.

Brian talked about the difference between revision and editing, and the relative time and place for each given your writing process.  We shared our stories for a quick and dirty critique, and some of the participants were able to get one on one guidance after the workshop itself was formally over.

Brian has been a book editor, writer, and creative writing instructor for more than 25 years. He teaches creative writing at Ryerson University and George Brown College. He also leads weekly creative writing courses in Mississauga, Oakville and Burlington and conducts weekend workshops throughout Ontario. He has helped many of his students become published. 

Check out his Blog: Quick Brown Fox, for more information on his workshops, contests, calls for submissions, student writing, publishing and agent news.  QBF is one of the most popular blogs for writers in Canada.

Have you participated in a Brian Henry workshop or writing course?  Or maybe you have someone like Brian in your area of the world?

A visit from Valerie Senyk

/ Melanie Marttila

March 25, 2010.

Throughout the year, the Sudbury Writers’ Guild brings in guest speakers.  That year, there had been some interest from the membership in learning how to read one’s work more effectively.  One of our members, and past president, Janice Leuschen, had just started up her business and had delivered a session for the Guild already, but there were still rumblings and mumblings.

At the September meeting, where the year’s creative agenda was hashed out, I suggested Valerie Senyk as a possible speaker.  She is associate professor of theatre arts at the Georgian College University Partnership Centre as well as a poet, a playwright, a director, and a fantastic performer.

The members in attendance showed interest, so I got in touch with Valerie, who was also interested and coming to Sudbury to see her son in March.  We firmed things up and made the date.

I’d known Valerie since Spring Fever: the (W)rites of Spring in which our poetry was published.  Subsequent readings, events like the Northern Lights Festival Boreal, which featured not only our motley crew of spoken word performers, but her creative performance poetry collaborations LipSkinDance and Poemotion, and our association through Your Scrivener Press publisher Laurence Steven, often put us together.

At the time of our first association, Valerie was a professor in the Drama Department at Thornloe University, one of three federated universities within Laurentian University.  I’d seen her perform and attended several of her students’ productions at Thornloe.

Valerie did an evening workshop for the Guild and everyone in attendance read a work of short fiction or poetry and received excellent feedback and tips from Valerie.  Though I considered myself an experienced reader, she had some insightful advice for me as well.  It was a lovely evening, and it was great to see an old friend again.

It is always a pleasure to work with Valerie.

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Fusion: An Ekphrastic Experiment

/ Melanie Marttila

July 1, 2009.

In light of the Willisville Mountain Project and the Cross-Pollination Series, the Sudbury Writers’ Guild decided to try their collective hand at ekphrasis.  For the curious:  Ekphrasis is the graphic, often dramatic interpretation of a work of art, thank you Wikipedia.

I became interested in ekphrasis in graduate school during a course on the Rossetti’s.  Dante Gabriel Rossetti was founder and member of the Pre-Raphealite Brotherhood and their paintings frequently feature poetry either in the artwork itself or as part of the frame.  The verse typically described the subject of the painting. So when I had a chance to participate in something similar, I jumped at the chance.  While not true ekphrasis, the Fusion project was nonetheless interesting and fun to participate in.

Essentially, writers and artists pair up and create a composite work of writing and art.  The written work can be either prose or poetry, and the visual component, while usually painting or photography, could be anything.  In our group’s case, quiting, stained glass, and a place setting of tea and cookies on china were included in the mix.  Each interested writer from the Guild paired up with an area artist in January of 2009 with the goal of having a composite work assembled by July 1st.

My partner in crime was Robert Luopa, fine arts teacher at Espanola High School.  You might say that what we worked on was the reverse of ekphrasis.

Due to our limited ability to get together and work in a truly collaborative fashion, Robert felt that creating a painting based on one of my unpublished pieces of poetry might work out better.  I sent him a likely selection of suspects and he chose “Fire and Ice.”  From there, I described the original inspiration for the poem and Robert then when out and took some pictures.  He drew up some concept sketches and we further discussed the eventual form of the final painting.  In addition to presenting the poem with the painting, I used one of Robert’s photos and Gimp‘ed it into a background for the poem.

The Fusion Project was first displayed at Art Berries and Jazz in Espanola July 1, 2009 and then was displayed a second time at the Sudbury Theatre Centre for the month of August 2009.

Have you ever collaborated with another artist?  It doesn’t have to be ekphrastic in nature.  My poet-friend Kim Fahner had one of her poems set to music.  Some people have their stories turned into short films.  It’s good to get out of your own art-form sometimes.  I’ve found it offers respite and perspective.  What did you learn from your creative experiment?

Sue Harrison

/ Melanie Marttila

September 2008.

I don’t even remember specifically where I heard about the workshop.  It might have been through the Sudbury Writers’ Guild, or through the Sudbury Arts Council.  In any event, I learned of a relatively small event called the W.O.W. workshop.  I believe that it stood for writers on the water.  It took place in Bruce Mines, Ontario.  It was a one day workshop and the featured speaker was Sue Harrison.

The first part of the workshop focused on character development and was excellent.  Sue had several exercises worked out and all of the participants, regardless of their respective levels of professionalism, gained valuable insight into what makes a character come to life on the page.  Sue read not only from Mother Earth, Father Sky, but from a new novel that she was working on.

The next part of the workshop was presented by Sue’s husband and focused on the publishing business and the important lessons they learned from their experiences.

Sue’s story is a fascinating one.  She had been working on a novel based on the lives of the prehistoric Aleut tribes who populated the islands of the Alaska Panhandle.  When she had it to the point where she felt she was ready to shop around, Sue started looking for an agent.  She took the directory and started at “A,” sending out queries five at a time.  Eventually she found an agent: her name began with a “W,” Rhoda Weyr I believe (yup, just checked the acknowledgements).

Sue was told that what she was presenting as her novel was in fact three novels crammed together.  Sue was assigned the daunting task of dissecting her work and reconstructing it into three separate but coherent novels.

A confluence of events began to swirl around Sue’s work.  The first was the runaway success of Jean Auel‘s prehistoric novels which created a ready audience.  Another was a publishing industry in boom, able to invest in its authors.  The third was an agent willing to find and fight for the best possible deal for her author.  After finding several publishers interested in the novel that would become Mother Earth, Father Sky, Sue’s agent initiated an auction for the novel.  The result was a phenomenal advance and promotional budget.  Knowing that there were two other novels in the series made Sue’s first work an attractive commodity in the publishing world.

The road was not all paved with gold, however.  Agents and editors changed.  At one point, her work was “orphaned” by an editorial shift, jeopardizing publication.  Sue and her husband were forced to become experts in publishing and contract law to protect their interests.

I can’t begin to tell you how informative the workshop was or how much I gained from the experience.

Sue was fantastic.

Have you met an expert in your creative field whose story you admired and were inspired by?  Who was it, where did you meet, and what was the impact on your creative life?

Laurentian University Convocation 2007

/ Melanie Marttila

June 2, 2007.

A friend of mine and fellow writer, Kim Fahner, much involved with the Laurentian University Alumni Association was scheduled to give the Alumni welcome address at the June 2 ceremony.  She was unable to fulfill the commitment and suggested me as a replacement.

Though the occasion required me to read a bilingual speech, I believe that I did so competently, thanks to the gracious assistance of another friend, Sue Brunet 🙂

The true opportunity arising from this event was the chance to meet Robert J. Sawyer who was the key speaker and honourary doctorate recipient that day.

While I must admit I was incredibly shy and probably came off as a bit of a doofus, I was very pleased to meet Mr. Sawyer and his address regarding the future and his vision of it was excellent.

Nino Ricci

/ Melanie Marttila

October 21-22, 2006.

Through long-standing member Rosanna Batigelli, the Sudbury Writers’ Guild was able to arrange a workshop with Nino Ricci.

The first day of the workshop was devoted to the author sharing the insights into the writing life that he learned through his experiences.

One of the most helpful stories shared (for me) concerned Nino’s struggles through graduate school.  I was still grappling with a pretty powerful “guardian at the gate” of my own and his tale gave me hope and inspiration.  Not to be overly dramatic, but it spoke to my writer’s soul.

While working on his graduate degree at York University, Nino’s advisor was none other than W.O. Mitchell.  He’d given Nino some negative feedback, but Nino, though discouraged, determined to find his own way through the novel.

We all have our gatekeepers to circumvent, and if a Governor-General’s Award winner could be successful despite his, then it gave me hope that I might be able to as well.

On the second day, we workshopped our poetry, short stories, and novel excerpts.  I received some excellent feedback and to this day, I credit the workshop with inspiring my own rededication to the writing life.  You may remember last week, I mentioned that I’d been writing agnostic for years …

After this workshop, I dedicated myself to daily writing practice in a way I frankly never had before.  Despite work and other life challenges, I had my first draft finished just under two years later.  It may not seem like a monumental accomplishment, but it was the first full draft of a novel I’d ever written.  It taught me a lot, and I have Nino Ricci to thank for it, at least in part.

Rosemary Aubert

/ Melanie Marttila / 1 Comment

October 29-30, 2005.

I was just beginning to find my feet as a practicing author.  I’d been writing agnostic for years 🙂  You know how that goes, don’t you?  Your bum just won’t believe in the existence of the chair enough to stay in it?

A member of the Sudbury Writers’ Guild came through and brought Rosemary Aubert to Sudbury for a two-day workshop.

Rosemary had some very valuable insights not only about the writer’s craft, but also about the publishing industry.