nichepoetryandprose

I am so pleased to welcome a guest in this post.  Francis Guenette is a Canadian writer, the author of two books, ‘Disappearing in Plain Sight’ ( FriesenPress, 2013) and ‘The Light Never Lies’ (Huckleberry Haven Publishing, 2014).  When I read ‘Disappearing in Plain Sight’, I was drawn to the setting – Crater Lake, the cabins and the garden.  In this post, Frances writes about the setting, its origins and how the setting influences the story.  Welcome Frances! And thank you so much for your Crater Lake Series of books!

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To begin – a synopsis of The Light Never Lies:

As circumstances spiral out of control, Lisa-Marie is desperate to return to Crater Lake. The young girl’s resolve is strengthened when she learns that Justin Roberts is headed there for a summer job at the local sawmill. Her sudden appearance causes turmoil. The mere sight of Lisa-Marie upsets the relationship Liam Collins has with trauma counsellor, Izzy Montgomery. All he wants to do is love Izzy, putter in the garden and mind the chickens. Bethany struggles with her own issues as Beulah hits a brick wall in her efforts to keep the organic bakery and her own life running smoothly. A native elder and a young boy who possesses a rare gift show up seeking family. A mystery writer arrives to rent the guest cabin and a former client returns looking for Izzy’s help. Life is never dull for those who live on the secluded shores of Crater Lake. Set against the backdrop of Northern Vancouver Island, The Light Never Lies is a story of heartbreaking need and desperate measures. People grapple with the loss of cherished ideals to discover that love comes through the unique family ties they create as they go.

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My first order of business is to extend many thanks to Jane for inviting me over to her blog. Jane thought it would be interesting to hear how architectural and garden elements of the setting for Disappearing in Plain Sight and The Light Never Lies contributed to the story.

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Write what you know. It’s a common sense piece of advice. After all, fiction writers have enough work in the making-things-up department. When I first envisioned writing a novel, it was because a group of characters had made a sudden appearance in my imagination. I always knew they would live in a rural setting, on the shores of a lake, some in elaborate cabins with expansive gardens and some in more rustic dwellings. Fiction mirroring reality – where I live is somewhere in the grandiose middle.

I thought about my own home and a few cabins in the vicinity and from there I embellished, stretched and massaged the reality of these settings into a small community on the shores of a fictional place called Crater Lake.

I have lived on the shores of a lake, in a cabin, with a garden in the wilderness for over twenty years. I’ve walked the trails around this place so many times my feet have worn smooth my route. In many ways, it’s hard for me to separate my own environment from that of the books – except to stress that Crater Lake is fictional, Micah Camp is a product of my imagination, the characters likewise. The cabins and gardens described are all altered, sometimes to a grander scale, sometimes to include elements not present anywhere but in my imagination. I suspect many writers have gone through a similar process.

Living in a particular place shapes people. A rural, semi-isolated setting, homes that reflect local materials open to multiple views of lake, mountains and trees, gardens and small businesses carved out of wild landscapes – all of these factors make the characters in my books the people they are and dictate (to a degree) the situations they find themselves in.

I have a couple of anecdotes that illustrate well a juxtaposition of fiction and reality. A close friend who has never visited our lakeside home, read Disappearing in Plain Sight and she loved it. When her husband managed a quick visit last summer, he told me he would tell his wife that our cabin and the view were just like walking into the book. The view perhaps – the cabin not so close, but close enough to resonate.

I recently ran into a woman who borrowed one of my books from her daughter. She and her husband had bought some land out in the wild and were getting ready to build. She asked me it the architect Caleb used to design his cabin in Disappearing in Plain Sight was based on a real person. She shrugged and said, “Oh, I suppose that would be too much to ask, but I want a place like the one you described in that book.”

Here is a dichotomy, for sure. If you come and visit me, at first glance you will recognize, in broad brush strokes, the setting of Disappearing in Plain Sight and The Light Never Lies. But don’t go looking for more. You’ll only end up disappointed. It is in the fine details that fiction has taken off to soar away from the landing strip of reality.

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Francis Guenette has spent most of her life on the west coast of British Columbia. She lives with her husband and finds inspiration for writing in the beauty and drama of their lakeshore cabin and garden. She has a graduate degree in Counselling Psychology from the University of Victoria, British Columbia, Canada. She has worked as an educator, trauma counsellor and researcher. The Light Never Lies is her second novel. Francis blogs over at http://disappearinginplainsight.com  and maintains a Facebook author page. Please stop by and say hello.

http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00I8XKIDK