NovelTag

Abdulrazak Gurnah and the Rupture of Beauty

As snow fell over Vancouver and Calgary, it was hard not to think about beauty. When we see something beautiful, why do we become still? Why do we feel so calmed? What exactly happens in that moment when ...

On Orpheus & Eurydice, or the Inevitability of Timing

I’ve become superstitious about my novel. I believe that if I look back at the previous pages, I will not be able to write – not even one word to move it forward. After I finish writing for the day, ...

On Giving Yourself Room to Change (Or, Eros the Bittersweet)

A few months ago, I talked to someone on the phone. I didn’t know this person well and though I’d seen them over Zoom somewhat regularly for our work together, I never really noticed them too much. ...

On Listening to Music and Writing a Novel

Do you listen to music as you write? I often do, particularly when writing a short story, but it has been several months since I typed the night away with a melody playing in the background. At this moment, ...

Book Therapy: Help! I’m Alive

“Usually the isolation is a result of some life trauma. Does your brother have trauma?”“Fuck, I don’t know. Who doesn’t have trauma?”—Gurjinder Basran, Help! I’m Alive Lately I can’t ...

Read an Excerpt from Richard Scarsbrook's The Troupers, the Story of a Strange & Fascinating Family

We're wrapping up our spotlight on excerpts this week with a glimpse into acclaimed author Richard Scarsbrook's new novel The Troupers, in which the Trouper quintuplets are raised by their overbearing ...

Sink into a Dark, Tense, & Brilliantly Crafted Family Mystery with an Excerpt from The Good Son by Carolyn Huizinga Mills

For three decades, Zoe has harboured a secret about her brother. By now, she's almost forgotten, assuming that life has moved on. But when the investigation into the death of her family's erstwhile neighbour, ...

Book Therapy: Satellite Love

“I think my favourite thing about humans was how they couldn’t fathom the thought of being alone.”—Genki Ferguson, Satellite Love My birthday is in April and I’ll admit I’ve never been very ...

Grinding Out a New Novel

Writing a novel is a grind. It’s an arduous, meticulous, and often repetitive process that can take years. There’s the actual typing of words onto the page, and then come the edits and rewrites, which ...

Poets Becoming Novelists: On Trusting Leaps and Fragments

I finished the first draft of my novel in mid-March – in the first week of isolation. I hadn’t grasped the gravity of the pandemic then, so I was grateful for the sudden reprieve from the real world. ...