Obviously I’m terrible at this blogging thing, but maybe the looming release of my book in 6 months will light a tiny fire in me and I’ll get more consistent. We’ll see.
Anyway, welcome back to my rambling. I do have a point and I will get to it, but it might be a while. First off, a note: my day job as a big 5 editor affords me a great amount of privilege, and lends a bit of credibility when I reach out to authors whose work I love. But I have found that a great many friendly relationships with authors started out just by telling them I enjoy their writing.
Last week an author I think is fantastic was in Toronto to celebrate his new book. We met up before the event for an in-person conversation and over the course of a couple hours, we talked about a ton of things, especially writing. Conversation eventually came around to nonfiction, since he has written nonfiction and (hopefully you know this since you’re reading) so have I. And I said something during our conversation that now feels so patently wrongheaded: nonfiction is safer and more removed because there’s a barrier of “facts” separating the author from the reader.
On its face, this seems like a slightly plausible argument, right? We so often talk about the way fiction is a window into the author’s motivations. Sometimes we even ascribe characters’ feelings and actions to the folks who write them (a real problem in genres like romance and horror, but that’s maybe a separate story). But nonfiction is, ostensibly, just that: the truth, not a story made up by the author. Nonfiction writers are simply revealing or reviewing something that happened. So readers focus on the details and on the narrative, allowing the writer to kind of slink by undetected in the background, pulling back the curtain but still obscuring themselves behind it.
But the best nonfiction, or at least the nonfiction I gravitate to, of course reveals the writer. Thinking back on it, I’m sure my proclamation was a bit of wishful thinking on my part.
I just had a cover reveal for my book, Love Never Dies, which means it’s even more visibly out in the world than it was before. As such, I’ve had a lot of people reach out to say they’re excited about it, and are looking forward to reading it. For someone who doesn’t often love being perceived without a barrier of some sort (quirky outfits, curated social media, that sort of thing), it’s been a little intense. Telling myself that nonfiction isn’t as intimate or vulnerable as fiction is a bit of a self-defense mechanism.
The very first feedback I got on Love Never Dies from someone not paid to read it was that it feels like I was talking directly to them. I think that’s what I want! I wrote this as a love letter to genre, to explore the things I am drawn to in horror and romance, to let people into my head a little bit. And that’s kind of scary. Some people are going to disagree, not only with the movies I write about but with my opinions, or my writing ability. It’s inevitable and, as I tell the authors I work with, nothing to worry about (easier said than done I’m sure).
So yeah. Whether it’s fiction or nonfiction (or filmmaking, or painting, or any kind of art), the act of creation is necessarily a reflection on the creator. And that’s a good thing. I’ve got a few more months to wrap my head around the fact that the guardrails I thought were in place between what I write and the person reading them are less sturdy than I thought. But that’s the exciting part.
What I’m reading
I just finished two books by Daniel Kraus: The Sixth Nik, a sci-fi novel (out in June) and Partially Devoured: How Night of the Living Dead Saved My Life and Changed the World, a nonfiction exploration of Romero’s 1968 zombie masterpiece. Highly recommend both books, and Kraus is one of my favourite authors.
What I’m watching
I revisited a couple of great horror thrillers that I haven’t seen in years: The Devil’s Advocate and The Gift (directed by Sam Raimi, not to be confused with the 2015 film directed by Joel Edgerton). You can read about my thoughts on these in a upcoming piece.
What I’m Making
Now that the cover for Love Never Dies is out, I’m gearing up to make a dress inspired by the illustration. Stay tuned…