this editing process was so challenging and difficult. The novel doesn’t belong to you anymore, and so, this thing that you created, well, I guess you have to let it change a bit or you’ll go insane. You have to make compromises and concessions. In truth, the book was a bit of a mess, and once I recognized that, and once I realized that Bethany Gibson, the fiction editor at Goose Lane, knew the story better than I did (and I realized this very early on in the process), I had to quickly get out of my own way and trust her. She pushed me in so many wonderful and challenging ways. I think I became a better person just by working with her! And, without a doubt, the book is its best version because of her. And then I worked with Martin James Ainsley, who is a copy editor at Goose Lane, and his work on the book, which was impressive, to say the least, polished everything and tightened every last nut and bolt, so to speak. The time and dedication, the vision of both Bethany and Martin, are things that move me to tears. I really can’t thank either of these people enough. And then the cover and the whole physical object of the book, is due to Julie Scriver, who is the creative director. I mean, to hold the completed thing in your hands, after all of this work and struggle, this book with a truly beautiful cover, well, it’s humbling. And it’s here because no one gave up. You stayed the course. And other people believed in you and your project and they stayed the course, too! Hell, they invested time and a considerable amount of money in you. Pretty powerful stuff!
Can you give a brief description of the novel?
What was the writing process like as a first- time novelist? In the spring of 2019, my wife and I were walking on the beach at Panmure Island and I remember telling her that I thought that maybe I had a novel in me. I didn’t know exactly what it was, but characters and situations were beginning to emerge out of the fog, so to speak. I’d written a few novellas and novels before, but they were mostly terrible. So, I was anxious and nervous for a while about repeating myself in this regard. I tried not to think about this side of things. It’s not as if the world was begging me to do this thing, undertake this project. But I kept going, despite myself. The whole act of trying to write a novel, or anything, is really an act of faith in yourself, which is a kind of simplification, but it’s mostly true. There’s no real utilitarian reason to be doing this thing, but then you tell yourself, “Yeah, but think of all the books that you’ve read that changed you.” And so, you keep going.
The story is about a middle-aged lobster fisherman named Herring who begins to understand that he’s about to hit rock bottom, that he’s burned his last bridge due to his behaviour and attitudes, and then on the third day of the season, he’s lost out in the Strait and presumed dead. Somehow or another he’s found and returns to the world to try and find a way to move forward as a human being. To do this, he has to enact a kind of reckoning. He has to find a way to come to terms with, not only the world as it is, which, I think, is such a difficult thing for most people to do, but who he really is. He kind of decides to grow up, as best he knows how. In the process of doing this, of growing up, and so that one doesn’t go mad, each of us has to make a series of concessions or compromises, and each time we do this, we take a step in the direction of wisdom. The novel, for me, and in its simplest form, is also a kind of crucifixion and resurrection story. This is an old story and not an easy one to shoulder. But the book is also about a bunch of other things: working-class life and friendship and forgiveness and addiction. (There are also jokes in the book!) I suppose, too, and without sounding precious, that it’s a love letter to the Island.
How long did it take to write?
When the pandemic hit and I was out of a job from April to August I would get up and write from early in the morning until just after noon, and in about sixty days I had the thing finished. I think I finished the first draft in early June and when it was done, I remember thinking, oh, this feels better than the previous attempts. I think that I achieved what I had set out to do. I then did a couple of sweeps through the novel with the intention of punching up and tweaking certain weaknesses. This took me until the winter of 2021 and I felt somewhat confident that the novel could be sent off to people for consideration.
What prompted you to write this novel?
A number of things, really. I’d had the basic story idea (that of a fellow who goes missing and then is found) since I was about sixteen or seventeen. I guess in this sense it’s a bit of a revenant story, although, at the time I didn’t consciously know this to be the case. I think that the original story was about a coal miner in Glace Bay who is trapped under the ground for quite some time, and when he returns to the community he’s changed in a number of ways. I thought this would be an interesting story but I never got around to writing it.
When was the novel published?
When the novel was accepted for publication with Goose Lane Editions, which was insane and miraculous, then it took another sixteen months, or so, to get the novel ready. Looking back,
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