A COMMUNITY OF WRITERS
Two authors say living in Ottawa helped them get their first books published
It’s the untended dream of many a creative spirit: To find fame, fortune or even just respect and fulfilment by putting pen to paper, fingers to keyboard.
But only a tiny percentage of those whose wandering thoughts turn to writing the Great Canadian, Great American or perhaps the Great Barrhaven novel will ever see their dreams realized and have their work published.
The creative struggle is very familiar to two Ottawa fiction writers accomplishing what few manage: Kate Heartfield and Matt Moore are both launching their first full-length books, with publisher ChiZine Publications. Colleagues in arms, the pair of self-avowed “raging introverts” both had established day jobs when they started to fulfil their literary aspirations. And both give credit to Ottawa, their adopted hometown, for helping them make it.
“I think Ottawa is a very inspiring place, in perhaps a lot of unexpected ways,” Heartfield says. By way of example, she and Moore point to their writing group, East Block Irregulars, the Chiaroscuro Reading Series Moore chairs, and events such as CAN-CON and the Ottawa Writers’ festival, in addition to their local literary counterparts, who they say both critique and inspire them.
Moore, a public servant himself, looks to the writers, the filmmaking and even the ComicContype fandom that’s thriving here.
“It’s almost like we go, we do our jobs and we come home and we’re looking for these outlets,” he says of Ottawans. “I think that’s why we have discovered this undercurrent here in this city of these really, really passionate, really talented people.”
Heartfield, who spent 11 years as a journalist at the Citizen, wields an axiom that “Horror writers are some of the most well-adjusted people that I know.” Put another way, she says: “Often what seems like a very staid, stately, quiet community can be a real hotbed of imagination.”
But how does one follow this dream when so many never find the time or commitment to do so?
Moore says it can be about where you spend your energy.
“I go to work, I work very, very hard. I contribute, I do the absolute best I can. But I’ve come to realize, do I want to stay late, do I want to be volunteering to go on travel? Do I want to do all of that extra stuff to advance, or can I use that energy for my writing ?”
Both authors have found success after the age of 40, and both say their lived experiences have made them better, more thoughtful writers. Moore, who grew up in small-town Connecticut, says the death of his mother eight years ago, was one event that has led him to become the kind of writer he simply could not have been in his 20s. Writing has helped him process grief, he says.
For Heartfield, the birth of her now eight-year-old son gave new substance and urgency to her writing. While the birth went well, she suffered a postpartum hemorrhage.
“It was a really difficult experience to recover from physically,” she says. “I think that the brush with mortality and recognizing how brief life is, for one thing, I think it made me focus more on my fiction because that’s what I always wanted to do with my life.”
As the two launch their books into the world, the Citizen prevailed upon them, on behalf of the many who have not found the courage to walk the same path, to offer advice to aspiring writers.
Here is advice from the two authors to those aspiring to following their own creative muse, with the caveat that not all advice works for all people, and to ignore it if it doesn’t work for you: 1. Your team is out there.
There is a community of supportive, creative people out there. Writers are often shy people and sometimes real introverts. But there’s value in having people in your corner. “You can meet critique partners, and people who will just be with you and cheer you on, online or in person and write with you in cafés or whatever you need to get going,” Heartfield says. 2. Write what you know — and much more.
It’s more than just the cliché “write what you know,” both Heartfield and Moore say. “The advice ‘write what you know’ can be incredibly damaging, especially for people who want to write speculative fiction. Just throw it out if it doesn’t work for you,” Heartfield says. Adds Moore: “Write what you believe. … You can draw on your own personal truth and your own personal experience and write something make-believe around it.” 3. What you write won’t be perfect.
People can spend an eternity writing, without finishing a single book. Trying to achieve the perfect, flawless version of your work could prevent you from ever producing anything. Better to put something out there than not. 4. Don’t write your ‘masterpiece’ first.
Your writing gets better over time. If you put all your hope into your very first attempt, you’re quite likely to be disappointed. Work up to writing your dream project by doing other pieces first. 5. Find your “armour.”
For the shy people out there, becoming a writer can necessitate going out to meet people, making contacts and talking about yourself. Moore says his “armour” consists of a pair of jeans, a geeky T-shirt and a shortsleeved collared shirt. “When I am putting it on, I am becoming a ‘writer’ now, I am becoming a ‘people person’ now.”