Writing a novel is hard, but satisfying, work. If it’s a historical novel, double the amount of work, to get language and social background correct. The Book of Night Women, by Marlon James raises the standards for historical fiction. James begins by choosing a setting—the lead-up to a slave revolt in at the turn of…

On first reading, it seemed to me that this book was flawed, seeming to lack any action to drive the plot forward. However, I’ve previously caught myself in the error of dismissing a book because I wanted to read a different one, rather than evaluating what the author actually wrote. So I waited until the…

Anne Cameron died last week. Her publisher, Howard White of Harbour Publishing, said of her, “I don’t think anyone has captured the working-class, B.C. coastal … community as well as she has,” going on to describe her as “the William Faulkner of the B.C. coast.” While I’m a loyal member of RaWBC, it strikes me…

When I started writing I checked out all the available guidance for beginners, and found the conventional advice on plot structure—inciting incident, etc. While I could acknowledge the reasons why it became established and continues, it didn’t work for the kind of story I wanted to tell. I needed something that both developed the high-concept…