An update from Quebec

Sorry I didn't post anything last week, I really was going to, but then I was kinda busy with ACTUALLY WRITING MY QUERY LETTERS!! *ahem*. I need to control myself. But seriously! I finally stopped putting it off and just did it which was awesome. I'm waiting for a reply from the agents I sent it to, and am trying to find new ones all the time. Part of me says I should wait and see if any of these agents tell me how I can improve my letter so that I can send a better one to my next batch of agents, and another part of me says the odds of that happening are quite slim so I should just send out what I've got and hope for the best.

While I'm figuring all that out, I thought it might be fun to do a little list of things I like, and things I don't like here in Quebec.


Things I don't like:

1. Being introduced as English (See last post)

2. Humidity. I'm pretty sure this speaks for itself. It's funny how since I got back from Mexico nothing's really seemed hot or humid like it did before, but humidity still sucks. Especially when you're trying to sleep.

3. The fact that I can't stay here for long. This essentially means that as much as I want to make deep connections with friends here, and I want to love all the kids that come to camp, I know that it's going to end all too soon. I've already gone through this a few times, and it's not fun. Have you ever tried explaining to a four-year-old that "No, I probably won't be back next year" and "Well... maybe I'll see you again soon...." It makes you feel awful. I hate doing it. Friends are a little better, but it still sucks to know that the likelihood of seeing them again soon is slim.

4. No piano. No flute. No bassoon. I'm not really sure what I was thinking when I decided "Ummm... the bassoon really is kinda big, and I'd have to pay for extra baggage with it. I'll just leave it in Calgary!" Idiot. I miss playing the piano so much. I don't have any instruments here except my laptop, but c'mon, that's not an instrument that's just a piece of technology that can mimic what an instrument can do. It's just not the same.

5. No public transit. I didn't expect this to be on the list of things I'd miss before leaving Calgary, but I really do miss my alone time. It's not like I don't have any alone time any more, I just have to get it when I can. In Calgary my life was very pleasantly predictable and scheduled. I knew when I'd be alone, when I'd be with friends, when my work was (always the same time), and even where I had my 'wiggle room' spaces. That basically means I had a spot in the schedule for unexpected, or pre-planned unique events that would change from week to week. Here, I kinda just do spur of the moment stuff. "Well, I could  go do that, or maybe I could do that, or..." But this kind of freedom isn't liberating for me. It's immobilizing. Being able to do anything means I do nothing. Weird, I know, but that's kinda just how I work.


Five things I love about being in Quebec

1. I'm finally able to practice my French again. I really do love French as a language, and I love speaking it. It'd be great to be bilingual one day, but I don't imagine that'll happen anytime soon. It's kinda hard to be immersed in a language when you're working at a camp teaching English five days a week.

2. Getting Francophone children to say my name.
"Hi, what's you're name!?"
(child giggles) "insert child name here."
"Oh! Cool, my name's Seth!"
"Set?"

If I'm being nice, I'll say "Yeah, that's good!"
But some days I really just want a good laugh.

"No no, it's SeTH."
"Ooohh. SeTSH." (spit flying everywhere)
"Okay, put your tongue here" (I demonstrate)
(child giggles, then puts tongue where instructed)
"TTTHHH"
"PBTHSHTHPBT" (spit flying again)
"Good! Okay, now SeTTTHHH"
"Se- (a sound that is like a cross between sneezing and drowning... not sure how to represent that with letters.)"
"Perfect!"

Need I say more? This is basically one of the best ways to spend time talking to children I've found. Adults usually just laugh awkwardly and don't try to say it, or say it once, laugh, and then never say it again or stick to Set. They're no fun. :P

3. POUTINE. 'nuff said.

4. The kidlets. I've always loved working with kids, it's really fun, and sometimes rewarding. There have of course been a few kids I would have rather not had to deal with, but there are others who honestly just made me say "Can I adopt you, please? Like, right now?" And then they'd look at me, and say "QUOI??" (What) and then I pick them up and run around with them. It's kinda tiresome to be doing it so week after week, but it's still good. I'd much rather be doing this than mowing lawns or roofing.

5. Chillin' with my sister. I haven't been able to do anything with my older sister for a really long time, so having the summer to just do all kinds of stuff together (mostly watching Heroes and sitting around) is really great.


 So that's my life in Quebec! I hope all my friends and family across the country are doing well. Can't wait to get back to Calgary, but in the meantime, I'll enjoy my time here. It's hard work juggling camp, writing, and down time, but I'll manage. For now, I'll hopefully post again soon, but if I'm not posting, you can basically assume I'm busy doing some other writing duty. Maybe my next entry will be less about my experiences in Quebec and more about writing.... ya, that might be a good idea. :P

This is Seth, he's English!

Hello all! It's another wonderful day in Quebec. Day camp is going well, and I feel like me and my sister are starting to get in the groove of things. We know our rhythm, and it's working for us. Now it's just a matter of choosing what stuff we're going to teach and what activities to do with the kids each week! This post is part "here's how it's going here in Quebec" part "here's how it made me think about writing and stuff."

So here goes. Being relatively new to the area, I meet new people all the time. This doesn't bother me as a general rule, what bothers me is how it comes out most of the time. Usually when I'm introduced to new people here, it goes something like this.

"This is Seth, he's English!"

When this is translated into French, and then back to English, it comes out as

"This is Seth, he's mentally handicapped! So make sure to speak nice and loud, use small words, or refrain from conversing with him at all!"

I know it's not that bad, but it always bugs me when I'm introduced like that. People automatically assume that I can't carry a conversation or something because French isn't my first language. Granted, I'm not fantastic, but if given the chance I can usually hold my own. I know it's probably really obvious based on my accent alone, but saying it as a way of introducing me feels awkward.


Thinking about this lately made me think about how characters are introduced in novels. Usually you want to introduce a character doing something normal. Waking up, going through their work day, starting school, doing something that most people can relate to. Even if it's a book where the character is going to be doing a ton of stuff that you can't relate to (blowing up cars, flying spaceships etc.), it's important to establish a baseline where the reader can feel connected to the character.

In the series that I'm planning, one of the characters that plays a major role in a later book has a fairly significant handicap, and I try to keep it hidden for as long as possible, because in my thinking, the moment you slap a handicap on someone, you distance your reader from them. That guy's in a wheelchair? Oh, he's not like me. He's blind? Well, I don't have a clue what her life must be like.

He's English? Well, I guess he's not really just like any one of us.

Now, understand this. I'm not saying that anyone here has snubbed me, or made fun of me intentionally just because I'm not French. After people have been given some time to get to know me I'm usually fine except for a bit of a language barrier. The problem I run into is instead of the usual distance of "They're new, I don't know them." There's the additional hurdle of "They aren't like me, we can't understand each other." This makes it a lot harder to close the gap and go from acquaintance to friend. It takes that much effort on both ends to really form a connection.

I think the same can be said about characters in a novel. First impressions are super important. If you put up barriers between yourself and the protagonist right at the start saying "I'd never do that. What kind of person is this? I don't understand them!" It'll be a lot harder to care about them later.

Now, I could probably go on, but I'm beat from a long week, and even longer weekend (somehow), so I need SLEEP. Which unfortunately and inexplicably escaped me this afternoon when I tried to nap. Therefore, goodnight all, and have a great week!

Right now, I want to know, what do you think of first impressions? Have you ever had a first impression that turned out to be the exact opposite of what you thought? Post a comment about it!

But that's not really where the story starts...

So, I recently watched a movie that finally illustrated to me why piling on the back story is a bad idea. Now, I'm not naming any names, but this John Carter guy has a lot to learn when it comes to opening sequences.

So it all began with - but wait, first you have to know about this other thing where I did this... no, it's still not back far enough. Where it REALLY starts is -

And so on.

Eventually, I'm pretty sure it got to backstory within backstory within backstory within backstory. This guy's on mars, and then you go back to 18th century New York (Don't quote me on the date), which goes back to The wild west somewhere, which goes back to mars at an earlier time, which goes back to his old life with his wife.

I was starting to wonder if the story would ever start! Thankfully, it did get better, and the end result was a movie that I more or less enjoyed. Having said that, I personally think it could have done with a bit less backtracking.

When you get into writing in a serious way, and actually start doing real research in it all, one of the things any experienced writer or agent will say is don't use a lot of backstory at the beginning of your novel. Give your readers a chance to actually care about your characters before you tell us all about what happened before the story started. Because at the end of the day, backstory stops your story. Dead in its tracks. When used properly, it can be really effective in giving the reader a better understanding of your characters, and can even help clarify the plot, or motivations.

The problem I had with the first half-hour or so of this movie was that it didn't really start for me until they finally decided to stop jumping back in time. Once they did that, they kept moving forward at a proper pace, but before that happened I was just left continually wondering when it would go back to the start. This kept me from actually engaging in the movie. Once the narrative found a consistent pace, it was fine.

This has just solidified in my mind the importance of starting at the right place when telling a story. You need a place that catches your attention, and makes you want to read more. You need a place that you could call to some extent the beginning. I've heard it said like this. Your first chapter is a contract with the reader. The rest of the book is going to be like this. If you stuff that chapter with backstory, you're just misleading your reader into thinking that it's something it's not. You can't make the first three chapters of your book filled with car chases, beautiful women and war and then reveal that actually this is a story about what this guy's life is like in his retirement home he went to 50 years after all of that. I didn't buy this book to hear about Bingo and Pea Soup.

I guess what I'm saying with all of this is that like I've said before, consistency is key. You need consistency in tone, and pace. Backstory completely throws off the pace of the book/story, and if you start out with a lot of it, you run the risk of throwing off your readers and making them feel duped. Or worse, just plain bored.

Now I know what you want to ask me. Do I use backstory in my book? Yes. But, I don't use it often, and I definitely don't use it right away. That's one thing I've tried to implement from what I've read from the 'experts'. I think it can be great when used sparingly. Like cinnamon. Too much, and it just leaves a bad taste in your mouth.

When, if ever, has backstory put you off a book or movie?

PS. HAPPY CANADA DAY!!!!!