1) Can you tell us how you became a writer?I was an avid reader long before I considered becoming a writer. When I was young, I wanted to be an astronaut, so I was focused on the sciences and math until NASA started using shuttles. I wanted to go up in a rocket because they seemed more romantic than shuttles, and so I gave up on the idea of being an astronaut. I spent my grade ten year debating my future career — pastry chef, stewardess, biologist — before some of my English teachers encouraged me to explore writing.
2) What inspired you to write this particular book? Is there a story about the writing of this novel that begs to be told?
Monkey Beach was originally a short story. I brought it into a workshop, and they pointed out that it was a string of interesting anecdotes about drowning, but not an actual short story. It didn’t even have a main character at that point. My mother had told me stories about fishing accidents when I was a child, and I’d been trying to recapture that feeling of dread and wonder you get when you’re working on the ocean. I expanded the story until it became a novella, at which point my agent said it was going to be a novel. I didn’t believe her until I hit page 200 and there still wasn’t an end in sight.
3) What is that you’re exploring in this book?
The redemptive power of love. All the characters are dealing with love or the lack of it.
4) Who is your favourite character in this book, and why?
I have a soft spot for Uncle Mick. All the sections with him in it came easy because he’s such an energetic, nutty character.
5) Are there any tips you would give a book club to better navigate their discussion of your book?
At home, we get together after dinner and have coffee. One person starts telling stories, and then people chime in, add details, debate details, tell related stories and then wind back to the person who was telling the first story. Coffee went as long as the story needed to be told. I wanted Monkey Beach to have that kind of structure: so it’s more or less linear, with different characters chiming in.
6) Do you have a favourite story to tell about being interviewed about your book?
One interviewer kept calling me by my main character’s name, Lisa. She asked me how it felt when my brother was reported missing, and I burst out laughing. She looked shocked and I had to explain that I wasn’t Lisa, and my own brother wasn’t missing. In fact, he was waiting for me at a nearby café where we were going to get together and plan my website. She kept calling me Lisa right to the end, and then afterwards, gave me the business card of a grief councilor.
7) What question are you never asked in interviews but wish you were?
Did you have a favourite pet? Yes, my canary Elvis, who didn’t sing. When I let her out of her cage to fly around my apartment, she would land on my computer when she got tired and watch me write. She died the day Monkey Beach was finished, and I was elated and devastated at the same time. It was kind of embarrassing to miss something so small so much, but she was there through all the tough parts of the book, watching over me.
8) Has a review or profile ever changed your perspective on your work?
One reviewer detailed — page by page — how many times people in my book smoked, and then gave Monkey Beach a bad review because he thought my main character was an unhealthy influence on today’s native youth. Before that, I’d agonized over every review, good or bad. Now I can take them with a grain of salt and extract the things that are useful to me and ignore the things that aren’t.
9) Which authors have been most influential to your own writing?
I blame Stephen King for my love of horror, but it was probably Edgar Allen Poe who kicked that off. My grade four teacher had two passions: The Sound of Music and Poe. He’d dance through the class singing Edelweiss, and then we’d read “The Pit and the Pendulum” or “The Telltale Heart.” Poe was born on the same day as me, January 19, along with Dolly Parton. I’m sure that influences my writing in some way.
10) If you weren't writing, what would you want to be doing for a living? What are some of your other passions in life?
If I wasn’t writing, I’d probably own a stationary store. I love being around paper and pens and organizing gadgets. When I was living in Vancouver, a Staples store opened next door to my apartment building and I knew it was getting bad when the clerks started greeting me by name. I knew it was really bad when I started maxing out my credit cards.
11) If you could have written one book in history, what book would that be?
Pride and Prejudice. It’s my comfort book. Whenever things go bad, I turn to Austen. I had to stop reading her for a while when I was writing Monkey Beach because one of my characters was turning into Darcy.
From the Trade Paperback edition.