Good Times in Saint John

The WFNB Fall Fair happened this past weekend at the Arts Centre in Saint John. What a wonderful time! The staff at the Arts Centre really need to be commended for making us feel most welcome and attending to our every need. They were lovely! All smiles and kindness. We couldn't have asked for a better venue.

The day began with Alistair MacLeod's talk. I have only ever seen him on television before. He is more humorous in person. He spoke of journalism's limitations for the writer--always having to tell the truth, restrictive word counts, being assigned a subject to write about and having to meet strict deadlines. None of this applies in fiction, he said. You can do anything you want. Coming from a journalistic background myself, I think I may have got more out of this simple concept than some of my peers. Perhaps without even realising it I have been limiting myself in my fiction writing, trying to tell the facts rather than finding the story's truth within my imagination. For me, this was a powerful and freeing realisation--that none of his fiction is autobiographical, yet his characters and stories are so true, so real, that many find it difficult to believe they are not based on his real life.

He spoke about geography and universal themes and Shakespeare and how our everyday lives are all very dull. All with the ease of years of practice leading classes and a humorous natural style that was very warm and welcoming. I could have listened to his stories all day and perhaps the next day and the day after that and never grown tired. But for this day our time was limited as there were other workshops to attend. I came away from Alistair's workshop with a very clear sense of what is wrong in some short stories I've been working on for awhile now and exactly what I need to do to help them reach their full potential. It's wonderful when that happens!

For about five years a particular story has been floating around my brain. I've tried to write it many times, as a short story, as a novel even, but it never seemed to gel. Finally, I decided it needed to be written as a play, and suddenly characters started to emerge onto the pages of my notebook. Since I know nothing about playwriting I decided to attend the afternoon workshop with Decima Mitchell and get an introduction to the form. Wow! What a powerhouse! We created characters and allowed them to interact in a few different exercises, ping-ponging back and forth in dialogue that created stimulus and response in a progression of linked chains. I went into this workshop basically knowing very little about how to get my idea onto the page in dramatic format and I left feeling confident that I know how to write a play. Could anyone ask anymore than that of a workshop? What an amazing day! Looking forward to seeing you all in April at the AGM weekend in Sackville.