No place he’d rather be than here
Author Landen Wakil talks about the story behind his story
The fiction writer in him has scripted the scene of his first book deal. Set in the 1940s, a young, aspiring author tosses his manuscript on the desk of the seasoned publisher. A cigar bobs precariously between his clenched molars as he scans the typed prose.
He shifts his gaze to the promising young wordsmith in front of him. “I like you kid,” he declares. “You’ve got talent.”
And with that, the kid’s writing career begins.
Reality was a bit different.
First off, the young aspiring author never actually managed to be in the same room with a publisher when, a few years ago, he hit Sunset Boulevard, Los Angeles, sharply attired in a blue, two-button suit by Zara, striped tie and polished shoes.
He carried a bright orange envelope which contained the manuscript for his first novel. Bright orange, because in his estimation, “You gotta stand out.”
He set out to make cold-call visits to a list of literary agents. Shoulders pressed back, chin held high, he approached reception and politely, confidently introduced himself. “I’m Landen Wakil.” He explained that he was an author. And his book, “Some Place Other Than Here”, deserved attention. “Can you make sure this lands on his desk?”
No one told him they liked him. Or that he had talent.
But he pressed on.
A few weeks later, he was on Fifth Avenue in New York with more orange envelopes. This time he wore a black suit.
In all, he handed out more than 20 copies of his manuscript. One agent reported reading it and passed it along to another agent. “I never heard back,” says Wakil. No one else responded.
On a recent weekday morning, the now 24-year-old sits in a back corner of a busy coffee shop in St. Catharines, taking sips from his black coffee as he recounts his journey to become a published author. It’s the stuff of a good urban adventure story, with international trips, parties and roadblocks.
He did not give up.
Ever.
On the table in front of him is a hard cover copy of his 400-pluspage novel, “Some Place Other Than Here” (FriesenPress, $48.78 hardcover). It’s a coming-of-age story about two teenagers, Mary and Danny. A narrative that, in his words, is unapologetically honest about family, friendship and sexual awakening.
“I wanted to write the last gowest-young-man story you’ll read,” he says.
Wakil — his family distinguished in the city for many construction projects such as Crown Tower apartments and for founding White Oaks resort — was a 17-year-old senior at Sir Winston Churchill Secondary School when he scribbled his first thoughts for what was then a screen play called Thunder Road.
In 2014, the aspiring filmmaker set about casting the role of Mary for the movie. He had produced a trailer, but the project stalled when he couldn’t find sufficient funds. Self-doubt crept into his ambitions. “You see all your peers from high school graduating university,” he says. “They’re having babies, buying houses. And I’m still holding onto this thing that I thought up when I was 15 years old.”
Meanwhile, inspired by the popularity of books turned into movies, he started to write the novel and discovered that his true passion was for prose. “I loved the storytelling more than the lenses,” he says.
“It’s OK to enter the creative industry and to learn that something else may be your forte.”
He posted early drafts on Wattpad, a website that engages a community of readers to interact and share their opinions with writers. And then he started knocking on doors.
Shortly after his L.A. and New York ventures, he attended a party in Toronto where he was introduced to a literary agent. One of the editors read Landen’s manuscript, liked it and suggested they could work together. “I was ecstatic,” he says. “I thought, ‘I’m going to put everything into this’.”
He isolated himself from friends. And turned a room in his house into his writing sanctuary. Every morning he forced himself awake at 5 a.m., poured himself a coffee and secluded himself for the day.
He played instrumental music. Smoked a pipe to channel the spirit of authors the likes of Twain and Hemingway.
“The characters took on a life of their own,” he says.
He read other young adult novels, sometimes multiple times, highlighting literary techniques. He studied Elements of Style, the classic manual of English form and technique.
Eventually, finally the manuscript was done. He sent it to the editor one final time.
Then, as is custom in the book publishing world, a different editor read it. Another set of eyes. She hated it. Her words stung: “You can tell Mary was written by a male.” Meanwhile, a close female friend had read it and praised how accurately he portrayed a teenage girl.
None-the-less, the book deal was history.
Once again, he picked up his ego and told himself: “I’m only going to listen to myself from now on.
“I’m the only person who will be responsible for my success.”
He connected with Canadian self-publishing company, FriesenPress, and once again submerged himself in the sanctum of his writing room. He read the classics — “The Grapes of Wrath”, “East of Eden” and
“1984” — with his Shiba Inu dog by his side. He sipped whisky to relax the edges of writer’s block.
He read his manuscript on the screen of his laptop. Printed it off in different fonts. And listened to it through a test-to-speech program. “And then I said, ‘That’s it’.”
Impatient and giddy with optimism, he pressed the publisher to print and ship his books in time for the first signing he had scheduled at Indigo in Toronto at the end of October 2017. He sold 30 books that night, and since then, some 300 copies.
“It was something I believed in,” he says.
One day, he suggests, he might write a book about his journey to write a book.