This is the first time I’ve written a blog entry on a FERRY! I’m currently on the Gulf of St. Lawrence, heading back from Entry Island to Cap-aux-Meules in the Magdalen Islands. I was on Entry to give an all-day writing workshop, sponsored by the Quebec Writers’ Federation. My workshop “Finding the Story You Need to Tell” is part of QWF’s StoryScaping program. Candace Aitkens, program manager for the Council for Anglophone Magdalen Islanders (CAMI) helped make today’s event happen.
Candace and I were up early – in time to catch the 7:30 ferry to Entry. My workshop took place at CAMI headquarters, in what was once the Entry Island School. And guess what? Years ago, I visited that school, did a writing workshop for the students, and even reported on the school for The Montreal Gazette!
One thing I can tell you is that MAGDALEN ISLANDERS SURE HAVE A LOT OF STORIES!! And everyone seems to know everybody else! A few times during my workshop, I had to tell myself to relax and just sit back and enjoy all the stories!
Let me tell you one of my favourites – this was told by an Entry Islander named Darlene. She recalled a fire at her school when she was about four or five years old. “I was crying. I had a new pair of shoes. I knew my mother would be mad if I didn’t have my shoes,” Darlene told us. She was about to run back into the building to get her shoes when she was scooped up by an older boy named Don. And you’ll never guess the ending to this story!!
… building suspense!
Darlene and Don ended up getting married!
Don’t you just love that story?
Because I had all day with my workshop participants there was time for many writing tips and many many writing exercises. So many exercises, in fact, that one participant, Nicole, made a funny face when I mentioned the fifth writing exercise! But the really funny thing is that Nicole was one of my prize pupils!
In one exercise, I asked the participants to imagine being at a bookstore and coming across the book they most wanted to read. Then I asked them to write the blurb they “saw” on the back of the book. I told the participants I’d be happy with two or three sentences, but Nicole wrote nearly two full pages!! She has what I like to call “fluidity” – it’s something I don’t often see in adults – the ability to just write and write! Nicole basically came up with a plot for a novel – it involves a mysterious kidnapping and a child’s return to her real family. I found that Nicole has two major strengths as a writer – she’s good at plotting, and she has a nice sense of character. In Nicole’s story, which is told from the point of view of the young kidnapping victim, Nicole writes, “I was very nervous to finally find my parents.” Nicole, I hope you will continue working on this story. And when you do, I really hope you’ll explore this nervousness. I know I want to learn more about that little girl and how she handles her complex situation.
All of the participants today had a great sense of humour, and there was a lot of laughter around our table. Diane wrote about a girl whose mother died while she was giving birth to her. (I know that doesn’t sound at all funny.) But when I asked Diane whether her protagonist (the girl, now older) was going to be feisty or fearful, Diane answered, “You’ll have to wait to read my book!” That made me laugh – but it also made me feel hopeful that Diane was going to keep writing after our workshop. Diane, if you’re reading this, I ralso eally really like your story of the girl who went to babysit her sister’s kids in PEI, and who wasn’t used to living in English! Write that one too!
We were mostly women over the age of fifty gathered today, but we had a lovely young woman with us too – Stacey (she’s Candace’s daughter; and Stacey’s grandma, Candace’s mom Judy, was with us too – I may never have taught three generations of writers before!!). Stacey works on the Magdalens as CAMI’s early childhood youth coordinator. She told us that because it’s Suicide Prevention Week, she wanted to write a story about a young person contemplating suicide. I noted that Stacey has a poetic style; she described her character as having to choose between “going down or going up.”
Another workshop participant named Donna told us how she relied a lot on journal-writing during challenging times. Donna is a great fan of Quebec author Louise Penny, and for her book-she-most-wanted-to-read, Donna came up with a fun addition to Penny’s detective Gamache series. When Donna shared this with us, Judy made a comment that really made my day. She said, “We should do that for Entry Island!” That is come up with a detective series or a series of thrillers set on Entry Island. And who better to write it than the people who were in my workshop today?
I head back to Montreal tomorrow, but I still have tomorrow morning to continue exploring the Magdalens and to hear more stories! This is definitely a place where I could see myself coming back and listening to the waves, the stories, and of course, do some writing.
Thanks to the QWF for making this visit possible, in particular to Felix, who handled the logistics; thanks also to my friends at CAMI, especially Candace, and to the other workshop participants Stacey, Diane, Judy, Darlene, Nicole and Donna. Hope we find ourselves seated around a table together again in the future – telling stories, laughing, and learning a little about the writing process!