About
MY WRITING JOURNEY
I’ve always enjoyed writing, from penning childhood fantasies, creating scripts as a young filmmaker, later producing promotions and press releases, graduating to documentary scripts and screenplays, and even writing academic papers, reports, program reviews, course outlines and lectures. Each offers its own unique creative challenges.
Writing requires a degree of self-imposed exile and contemplation. That’s especially true when tackling a first novel. I was fortunate that, as an only child, I quickly learned to amuse myself. Writing offered a creative outlet. All I needed was a scrap of paper and a pen to transport me to an imaginary world. Devouring the works of Hugh Lofting, Enid Blyton, Arthur Conan Doyle and Kenneth Grahame further fuelled my interest. Inspired by their fictional worlds, I wanted to create my own.
I drew comics too, went sketching, participated in archeological digs and learned to play (badly) the piano, the recorder and the viola. My musical tastes gravitated to classical, partially influenced by my mother’s formidable piano playing and love of opera! Later still, I began to appreciate jazz idioms too.
I’ve always enjoyed writing, from penning childhood fantasies, creating scripts as a young filmmaker, later producing promotions and press releases, graduating to documentary scripts and screenplays, and even writing academic papers, reports, program reviews, course outlines and lectures. Each offers its own unique creative challenges.
I credit my parents with encouraging many of my geeky interests, taking me to art galleries and museums and on trips. One highlight of those early years was crossing the North Atlantic on the Queen Mary at age six. It was exciting traveling on a piece of living history, a shrine to Art Deco design, at the dawn of the jet age. Visiting historic trust homes and Hadrian’s Wall, piqued other interests too, including learning about art history, architecture, antiques and applied design.
Writing requires a degree of self-imposed exile and contemplation. That’s especially true when tackling a first novel. I was fortunate that, as an only child, I quickly learned to amuse myself. Writing offered a creative outlet. All I needed was a scrap of paper and a pen to transport me to an imaginary world. Devouring the works of Hugh Lofting, Enid Blyton, Arthur Conan Doyle and Kenneth Grahame further fuelled my interest. Inspired by their fictional worlds, I wanted to create my own.
I drew comics too, went sketching, participated in archeological digs and learned to play (badly) the piano, the recorder and the viola. My musical tastes gravitated to classical, partially influenced by my mother’s formidable piano playing and love of opera! Later still, I began to appreciate jazz idioms too.
I credit my parents with encouraging many of my geeky interests, taking me to art galleries and museums and on trips. One highlight of those early years was crossing the North Atlantic on the Queen Mary at age six. It was exciting traveling on a piece of living history, a shrine to Art Deco design, at the dawn of the jet age. Visiting historic trust homes and Hadrian’s Wall, piqued other interests too, including learning about art history, architecture, antiques and applied design.
In high school I discovered film. You might call it an epiphany; the medium’s ability to merge all my creative interests into a single storytelling medium. I began writing and shooting short docs and fictional pieces, reluctant to stop even for dinner as I taught myself the basics of lighting, sound recording and editing. ‘Making movies’ brought me out of my shell. I became increasingly interested in getting out and exploring the world around me. I started following news reports about coups in the Congo, civil rights protests in the States, the war in Vietnam and my country’s one hundred years of Confederation. I was, and remain, proud to be Canadian.
An Honours BFA degree in film provided the bridge to a professional career. Most importantly, it exposed me to great films, art and literature and gave me a chance to interact with other, similarly minded, young creatives.
My first taste of professional screenwriting came when I landed an assistant editing job at CBC, syncing film rushes, often thousands of feet of footage a day, and filling in at French news during the summer. After this apprenticeship, I shifted to producing and directing short items for various departments, first Promotions, later Children’s, and eventually Arts and Science. It was an exciting period in my life, not only producing and directing, but learning how to simplify complex ideas to capture, entertain and inform viewers.
Gradually, I began writing and producing longer stories, including a television movie that required a full three-act structure complete with inciting incident, escalating conflict and a character facing down a daunting antagonist, all leading to a dramatic resolution. Sadly, an inadequate budget, casting compromises and my own inexperience as a fledgling director meant this ambitious period drama wasn’t the film I had hoped for. Thankfully, it did receive a few good reviews and the photography, period costumes, props, settings and art direction made many scenes look far more expensive than they actually were. Most importantly, I learned a lot about the essential ingredients of long-form storytelling.
Another early learning experience was a CBC-TV arts special on poet Dorothy Livesay, one of the most challenging projects of my career. Although I greatly admired her poetry, intellect and pioneering feminist spirit, Dorothy proved a difficult subject, at the time prone to depression and drink. A project that should have been a joy to work on, became a hard slog for both of us and even harder when it came to stitching together the poet’s wandering trains of thought in the editing room. I took it as a supreme compliment that The Globe and Mail criticized the film for not allowing Dorothy to just talk, given her on-camera segments were ‘so wonderful’ according to the reviewer!
Fortunately, my next project, the first Nature of Things documentary I made, proved the exact opposite experience. Telling the poignant story of a courageous young woman battling cystic fibrosis, the film won critical recognition and awards. Building on that early success, I became a long-term contributor to CBC’s Arts and Science Department, producing medical and environmentally-related stories.
After completing a graduate degree, I added another string to my bow, accepting a teaching position, first at Sheridan College and later at Ryerson University (now Toronto Metropolitan University), lecturing on media writing and aesthetics, as well as overseeing student documentary and dramatic productions. I served in various administrative capacities too, including as a Chair and an Associate Dean.
Spending much of my professional career documenting people facing life-altering situations taught me the building blocks of dramatic storytelling and, most importantly, insights into what it is to be human.
Teaching challenged me to examine the ethics of documenting actuality, then turning it into a narrative, using classical storytelling techniques. It became obvious to me that fiction and documentary are two sides of the same coin. This self-reflective process later encouraged me to return to fiction in search of new creative pathways.
Today, as a professor emeritus, I have the freedom to write what I choose, without the pressure of production deadlines, faculty meetings or raising capital for new projects. This new stage of life offers exciting possibilities for growth and reconnecting with the things that really matter. Wherever this pathway leads, I see it as a new adventure.
