1.
Where do you get your ideas?
2. Are any of your stories true?
3. Where do you live?
4. What do you do when you're not writing?
5. Do you have any hobbies?
6. What was your favourite book when you were a kid?
7. Do you have any pets?
8. Do you have a big family?
9. Which of your own books is your favourite?
10. What kind of space do you work in?
11. What did you want to be when you grew up?
12. What is the most interesting job you've ever had?
13. How old are you?
14. How do you actually write your books?
15. Do you have any advice for aspiring writers or artists?
16. What do you like best about being an author?
1. Where do you get your ideas?
Anywhere and everywhere. Like family stories, history and personal
experiences. Sometimes two unrelated events click together in my head
and I go, "Aha!" It's very exciting when that happens.
Take family stories. The lives of both my grandfathers were threatened
by disasters that happened before my parents were born. My Swedish
grandfather, a Roadmaster for the Canadian Pacific Railway, narrowly
escaped the 1910 avalanche at the summit
of B.C.'s Rogers Pass — an avalanche that buried 58 of his 62-man
crew, including his younger brother. My Nova Scotia grandfather, an
18-year-old sailor at the time, was in Halifax in 1917 when a munitions
ship exploded, resulting in the worst disaster in Canadian history.
Those true stories gave rise to Goldstone,
Turns on a Dime,
The Ghost of Avalanche
Mountain and No
Safe Harbour. Also Ghosts
of the Titanic — because of something I discovered while
doing the research for No
Safe Harbour.
2.
Are any of your stories true?
Yes and no. Yes, because when a book is based on a historical
event, the facts have to be true. And no, because my characters
are drawn from my imagination. They were not real people (although
I like to think they might have been).
Stories based on my own experiences are a blend of fact and fiction.
Take my picture book, A
Morning to Polish and Keep. Sheena Lott's paintings show the
real setting, the area around Sooke, BC, where my family's summer
cottage was situated. In this illustration, the people on the boat
are me, my brother, Mum and Dad (but I changed the names). The island
is a real place (but I changed its name too). The story itself is
a blend of things that happened on various fishing outings. All true,
but they didn't all happen to me. The "fish story" in the story, for
instance, happened to my dad and brother. Another truth in the story?
Fishing can be boring!
3. Where do you live?
I used to live in the country but now I live in the city —
in the heart of Victoria. It's a perfect location. Two blocks to the
south is the waterfront, where I walk each morning to wake up the
brain cells. Two blocks to the north is the downtown world of bookstores,
bakeries, people-watching and retail therapy. East is Beacon Hill
Park and West is more waterfront. In summer I sometimes take a notebook
and pen to the beach, find an inviting piece of driftwood to lean
up against, and "log on."
4.
What do you do when you're not writing?
Travel! A couple of times a year, for one to three months, by plane,
train, or container ship. And where I get to where I'm going, I travel
by foot. Favourite travel adventures? Too numerous to mention. Like
trekking in Nepal, snorkelling in the Galapagos Islands, watching
a camel race in Oman. Oh, and going through the Suez Canal by container
ship! And camping in the grasslands of Mongolia. And travelling across
Australia by train.
5. Do you have any hobbies?
Reading! Fiction (especially historical fiction), mysteries, books
about travel, thrillers — not the gory horror kind, but the suspenseful,
heart-stopping kind. I also like reading cookbooks and books that
make me laugh out loud. I play the piano in a jazz ensemble and the
flute in a concert band, work out at the gym, do jigsaw puzzles, play
on-line Super Scrabble, and go on long walks and hikes. One of my
favourite things to do is spend time with my family and friends.
6. What was your favourite book when you were a kid?
Anne of Green Gables and other books by L.M. Montgomery,
horse books by Marguerite Henry, and the Nancy Drew series. I liked
reading the Classics Illustrated comic books that my brother
collected.
7. Do you have any pets?
Do
stuffed animals count?
8. Do you have a big family?
Would you believe, two sets of twin girls in their teens and five
boys under 10? Didn't think so. I actually have one husband, one brother,
one niece and her husband, and a great-niece who's almost a year old.
I've got lots of cousins and second-cousins on Vancouver Island.
9. Which of your own books is your
favourite?
The book that's about to go to the printers. The hard work is done,
it's too late to make changes, and soon the new book will be out in
the world for readers to enjoy. (I hope.)
10. What kind of space do you work
in?
I write in a room at home (my "office"). It's on the 11th floor of
an apartment building with a view over downtown Victoria, the Inner
Harbour and Parliament Buildings. My desk is at a wall-to-wall window.
It's a great spot for procrastinating and daydreaming, especially
when eagles and great blue herons fly past at eye level. From my window
I can see the sunrise, the colours of a sunset and the complete arc
of a rainbow (but not the pot of gold).
When
I'm totally into a project and a deadline is looming, my desk is a
mess of papers, rough drafts, research notes, reference books, unopened
mail, loose coins, iPod, camera, data sticks, pedometer, To-Do lists,
phones, pens, crossword puzzles, water glass, coffee mug, chocolates
(to reward myself at the end of the day) and my computer. The tops
of my file drawers are equally cluttered. It's terrible! But when
the book is done and the clutter is cleared, the room is so neat I
can't find anything.
11. What did you want to be when you grew up?
At various times I wanted to be a trapeze artist, a spy, a bareback
rider, a teacher, a writer, a geologist, an actress, a concert pianist
and an archaeologist.
12. What is the most interesting
job you've ever had?
My most interesting "job," if you can call it that, was living and
writing in Dawson City, Yukon at the Berton House Writer's Retreat.
I loved the experience of a real winter. One week the temperature
was -48 degree Celsius! And the Northern Lights were spectacular.
13. How old are you?
Older by the minute.
14. How do you actually write your
books?
One word at a time.
Well yeah, but …
Okay.
Once I've got the idea, I scribble notes about the setting, characters
and situations. I play around with dialogue and imagine how my characters
would react in a certain situation. I do this in a notebook at first,
then I go to the computer. I get more ideas, make changes, delete
parts that don't work, add new ideas, do some research for background
and details, make more changes. This is a long, long, long, long process.
I see different scenes as if I'm watching a movie, picturing the way
the characters move, speak and interact with each other. I talk out
their dialogue and act out their movements and gestures. Then I try
to write the scene the exact same way it's playing in my head.
15. Do you have any advice for
aspiring writers or artists?
Read, read, read, read, read, read, read. Write. Collect ideas. Read.
16. What do you like best about
being an author?
Working on my own, in my own way and in my own time. If I get up
at 5:00 a.m. and write till noon, I can take the rest of the day off.
Or I can work for 12 hours a day for 7 days straight. Or go for two
months without writing a word. Or take my work with me when I travel.
My other favourite part is meeting young readers in schools, libraries
or wherever — sometimes in unexpected places — and hearing
that they have read some of my books. Even better is when they tell
me they loved a particular title! Then I know that all the hard work
was worth it.
