I have by my desk a series of books on the craft of novel writing by James N. Frey. They have served me well on this wonderful journey into the fiction writer's domain. Frey likens a writer's journey to that of a hero's in a novel or in mythology: a trek into the "mythological woods". In the mythological woods, the writer comes to grips with various 'monsters' in his imagination. Writing, that is, honest writing, is a trip through the mythological woods, overpowering the scary stuff which lurks behind the trees.
In the fascinating process of creating The King's Puzzle, I am digging deep to find what it is that I stand for as a writer and as a person. This essence or purpose for a writer, once understood and defined, cannot help but pervade the author's work. Writing is not for the squeamish--it is ultimately a soul-baring experience. Woe to the individual who believes serious writing is anything less.
Anyway, to The King's Puzzle. In this upcoming novel I will present a riveting story, at times venturing from a mystery into the "thriller" category. I am a conservative, and social conservative (I believe the two labels are inseparable) writer. In this novel, I will be presenting themes, premises, overarching ideas, subtext--whatever label may be applied to describe a novel's, and author's, essence--which will be against the grain of much of the current establishment of Canadian literature.
In some blog reading this morning, I came across a fellow named Conrad DiDiodato, who is a Canadian poet and teacher. Visit his blog at http://didiodatoc.blogspot.com/. A paragraph from Conrad's blog from about a year ago jumped out at me, as I contemplate the themes I will be presenting in The King's Puzzle, and how they will likely be contrary to those permeating much of the body of work which we classify as today's Canadian Literature. I have never applied for, or accepted, public funding for any of my books. I certainly do not intend to reverse that practice with The King's Puzzle. This entry from Conrad sums up my own thoughts on public funding for the arts in Canada:
"It's too easy to write in Canada: state intervention is usually anything but oppressive. Cultural productions in this country, in fact, are the result of a system of "literacy by bureaucracy" in which artistic output is tied directly to publicly funded Canada Council (and other various regional) grants & subsidies programs. A kind of 'royal privilege' granted to permissible writings. Envisaged as a strategic plan,with objectives and strategies aimed at blending as many "traditions, practices, and media" into one national body of work, it's no wonder so much of our national literature looks bland and uniform. Any kind of protest is bound to come (as it has lately with news of more Harper government arts cuts) when artist-recipients stop receiving their arts monies or not as much as they've been accustomed to. Nothing stirs more heated debate than any form of cuts to cultural spending. I don't ever recall a national debate on literary innovation nor any sort of impassioned oratory from poets & artists to equal the fervor of government funding."
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