Thriller Author Spills Secrets at Bookapalooza

If you know me, you know I am obsessed with books. If I’m stressed or nervous (work stress, hospital surgery, a dentist visit, etc.), I pull out a novel and start reading. It takes my mind off all my problems, even if only for a few minutes, and I wouldn’t have it any other way. Kudos to the authors that can keep me focused on reading their stories. If given the chance to meet one of these fantastic authors who can entertain me for hours, I don’t hesitate to take it. 

Last weekend, I drove three and a half hours across tourist country on a Friday night to a friend’s cottage near Minden. I volunteered to work at Saturday’s Bookapalooza, a fundraising event for the Arts Council in Haliburton Highlands. The money raised helps provide various resources, special events, and much-needed support to local artists of many disciplines. This Art Council is the same community that selected me from a large pool of artist applicants to attend the Halls Island Artist Retreat last year. To read about my trip to the island, go HERE.

On Saturday at the Minden Community Centre, writers and readers joined together to celebrate the joy of reading by buying and selling books or simply trading novels between authors. They were also able to sip tasty mocktails at the bar where I was volunteering. It turns out that the bar was the perfect place to meet other people who are passionate about reading and writing. 

One of my new favourite people, Neetha Barclay, dropped by the bar for two mocktails (one was for her husband, Linwood while he signed books) to discuss the writer’s life with me. I found it fascinating to hear some of the stories of a successful author touring Europe and the struggles they have with traveling from event to event, flying from city to city when events are booked so tightly together on any given day. I asked some questions about the toys in their basement (especially the model trains), their kids and new grandchild, where they live in Toronto, and the traffic problem in that city. Neetha is a wonderful person, and I can understand why Linwood dedicates every novel to her. If only she lived closer to me, we could become weekly coffee or wine buddies.

As the afternoon progressed, some of us paid extra to be entertained by author Ruth E. Walker interviewing Linwood Barclay, a thriller author who agreed to spill some of his secrets to a packed house in the afternoon. Ruth had Linwood talking about the days he grew up close to Minden, just a few miles south of Bobcaygeon, where Linwood’s family owned ‘Green Acres’, a cottage rental and trailer park on the west side of Pigeon Lake. He has many ties to the area and loves the chance to visit the area when they can.

Linwood discussed the pros and cons of writing his Promise Falls trilogy, which was loosely based on Fenelon Falls, a town just south of Coboconk, not too far from Minden. He joked about NEVER writing another trilogy as long as he lived. He shared his reasons. I laughed quite a bit during this part of the conversation, and I decided that I would never do a trilogy, either.

The audience was allowed to participate in the conversation by asking a few questions. My favourite question came from someone in the audience who asked about the main character, Richard, in his newest release, I WILL RUIN YOU. (It’s a Great book. I loved it.) They wanted to know if Linwood resonated with the character and how much of himself went into creating this particular character. 

Linwood admitted that he adds some of himself to every character he writes. Overall, he loves to write about the average everyday people you would meet on the street. He writes about ordinary people who work at the grocery store, teachers, car salesmen, and reporters. He doesn’t write about Navy Seals, the Secret Service, or spies because he knows very little about those people. He likes to figure out what would happen when ordinary people come up against some pretty bad people and how they would deal with it. 

One of the memorable things Linwood mentioned was dropping things into a novel that he wants the world to know about and to talk about. Things that he could rant for hours about, like book banning, which is a minor sub-plot in I WILL RUIN YOU. Linwood says that if a writer has an axe to grind, you can add the topic into a book, especially a thriller. In the first line of his newest release, Linwood mentions the name of a book that a teacher is discussing with his class, right before he sees something life altering outside his classroom window. The novel is a banned book in real life, so now, I have the urge to track down a copy of Cormac McCarthy’s novel THE ROAD to know what the morality issue was that caused a debate about the apocalyptic conditions depicted in the book. I’m one of those people who NEEDS to read banned books. Plus, I’m wondering if it is a great marketing strategy for a writer to have a subject matter that people consider taboo. If my novel is banned, maybe more people would want to read it. Or is that just me?

Luckily, my name was selected for the privilege to sit at the head table with Linwood and Neetha Barclay for the reception and dinner at the Dominion Hotel and Pub on the Saturday evening. Okey-doodle, that was amazing. Food was fantastic and the conversation was unforgettable. I had a chance to talk to Linwood about something that has been on my mind for years. In the craft of writing, I was taught to avoid adding pop-culture references to your novels because it immediately dates your book and makes them old within minutes after being published. 

In Linwood’s recent release, there was a line that made me howl out loud, because I thought it was hilarious. I knew when I read the sentence about “Wally and Beaver” that many people wouldn’t get the joke, but people of a certain age would understand it immediately. In the novel, Linwood never elaborated or tried to explain what he meant by the comment. He said to me, “If you know, you know.” So, we continued to discuss this topic, and he encouraged me to write what I know and to not worry about whether people would get it or not. “Never explain. Never talk down to your audience. There is no need. Besides, there is this thing called Google, and readers can type the whole sentence into the search bar and find out what it means if they don’t know. Also, it provides a great conversation between readers for years to come.” I love that.

Overall, the inspirational conversation between authors Ruth E. Walker and Linwood Barclay at Bookapalooza turned into an engaging afternoon full of spilled secrets, with the audience in stitches most of the time. It was well worth the price of admission for this writer. If you are ever in the Minden-Haliburton area during Bookapalooza, I suggest you plan your trip around this event. Last year, Lawrence Hill was the guest speaker, and I loved every minute of his interview, as well. No matter the genre, there is always something to be learned during a conversation with a writer… especially writerly secrets that you would never know about otherwise.