Back in 2000, I put together the first part of a novel I wanted to write that would show what an “Acts 2″ group of Christians might look like. Long story, but the idea actually came from a request from Ralph Neighbour Jr. that I put together a treatment for a 13-week TV series. The TV show idea never got off the ground, but I decided that having done the work of creating characters and plotlines, I might as well write a book instead.
I ended up with about 35,000 words, and did a proposal of sorts which I showed to an editor who’d come up for God Uses Ink (now Write! Canada) conference in Guelph in 2002. He said the idea was good, but I needed to develop the characters more. I thought he was a bit crazy since my novels are known for their strong characters. Puzzled, and busy with The Word Guild, I put the manuscript in a drawer for later.
“Later” turned out to be this week – March of 2009. On Wednesday, I pulled out the files and sat looking at the book. What to do…
And then I realized what the book’s problem really is. No, it’s not the characters. It’s the setting.
You see, when I agreed to write the original scripts for a TV series, Ralph and I were thinking in terms of the US market, so my setting was somewhere in the mid-western US. I wasn’t sure if I’d even name a specific city, since we wanted it to be kind of universal American.
When I shifted gears from TV series to book, I simply continued as I’d begun, thinking I’d need to sell it to an American Christian publishing house (seven years ago, there weren’t any Christian royalty-paying publishing houses in Canada).
But as I studied my notes this week, all I could think was, “What sense does it really make for me – a Canadian – to write a book set in the US?”
Now I know this is a problem. Most Canadian authors who want to sell to the US market set their books in the US. What we’re told is that Americans aren’t interested in books set in other locations unless they’re exotic, and Canada isn’t exotic. Hmm. I guess someone should have told Louise Penny. Or not?
Anyway, in thinking it over, I realized that many of my favorite authors are known as much for their sense of place as they are for their character and plot. Agatha Christie’s books depict life in the England she knew. Peter Robinson knows a completely different England. Carolyn Hart and Margaret Maron know the southern US. The Mitford books are as much about a small town in North Carolina as they are about the people. When you think of Louis L’Amour, you think of his rich, but precise, settings. Sue Grafton is Santa Barbara, California. Sue Henry is Alaska. Tony Hillerman is the American southwest, and in particular the Navaho people. I could go on and on… Even Terry Pratchett, who obviously doesn’t live in Discworld, knows it backwards and forwards. It’s real in his mind, at least.And no one can contradict him.
What place do I know that well?
My Circle of Friends series works because it’s set in a small town much like the one I grew up in. In Time of Trouble and the Manziuk and Ryan mysteries work because they’re set in Greater Toronto where I’ve lived for 23 of the past 24 years.
While I’ve visited a number of places in the US, I’ve never lived there. Sure, I could get to know them better, but I don’t think I’d ever adequately have that sense of place you need to get the nuances “right.”
So I realized that what I needed to do is to set my novel where I live – in Canada. Seems like a no-brainer, but it’s far from that since this one thing will greatly decrease my chance of getting published. But at this point, I’m more concerned about writing the best book I can write than about finding a publisher. in addition, I think it’s past time we put together a collection of Christian writing with a Canadian perspective, so I’m fully prepared to make that decision.
After some consideration, I decided the most likely location for this particular book is Winnipeg. I was primarily raised in two small towns in Manitoba (Crystal City and Souris) and frequently visited Winnipeg during those years. Plus I lived in Winnipeg for two years while attending Winnipeg Bible College (now Providence College) and while taking my Certificate in Education from the University of Manitoba. And I’ve been back a number of times.
The other major decision I made this week was that my book should really be a four-book series. That will allow me to develop both the characters and the plot to the degree the concept warrants.
