Over 50 people crowded into the Community Centre Wednesday night to meet Leacock Prize winning author Terry Fallis.
What fun, to learn of his adventures, crossing items off his life list (go skydiving, sail a tall ship, write a book... two out of three's not bad!), self-publishing, and happenstance. He described how he approaches writing -- very disciplined, very mapped out in advance; where he 'found' some of his characters; how he fits writing into his schedule;how winning the Stephen Leacock Medal for Humour changed his life.
Like many first time novelists, he found himself unable to secure an agent for his novel, The Best Laid Plans, Terry set about self-publishing the book. A perk of that on-line excercise, he was provided with ten copies of the novel for himself, in addition to the ones he was trying to market. The Leacock Award requires the submission of exactly ten copies of the book being considered. Had they needed eleven, Terry would not have entered in 2008... but there were those ten copies, just crying out for readers.
Thrilled just to make the short-list that year, he was delightfully astounded to discover his wife kicking him under the table to alert him to the fact that he had, in fact, won.
He was charming, approachable, entertaining, and it was a joy to spend an evening in his company. Also a joy to spend time in the company of his characters, brought to life as he read from the book. People such as Muriel Parkinson, and Angus McLintock, who step to life off Terry's pages.
A political novel with a twist, this book, and its sequel The High Road, are well worth the read. There's everything in there, from lessons in building a hovercraft to how to run a political campaign...
You can access podcasts of his work on-line, if you'd like to listen to Terry read the books. Part of the publishing adventure for Terry was to put up weekly chapters of his work on-line, and receive feedback from across the globe. He got emails back encouraging him, asking for more chapters, even correcting his pronunciation.
Having heard where he finds inspiration for his books, we'd not be too surprised to learn that down the road there's a mention in one of his novels of a photo -- The Friends presented him with a Jerry Schmanda photo of the northern end of two southbound moose in Algonquin. Rather an poignant political statement, all in itself...
Asked about getting more men into Book Clubs, he could only comment that his own book club is pretty evenly divided that way, but encouraged folks to join all book clubs. It's a wonderful way to find yourself reading books that, left to yourself, you'd probably never pick up, but that you'll find more than worth the read.
Thanks to the Friends of the Dwight Library, Peggy, Cathy, and everyone who helped provide coffee and desserts, decorate the room, and make this event possible. And a huge Thank You to Terry, for making the trek to Dwight to spend time with us. We look forward to welcoming him back in the future.
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