Samantha GarnerTag

December Gratitude: Check Out 5 of Our Favourite Writer-in-Residence Posts from 2021

This month, as the year winds down, we'll be looking back and highlighting some of our favourite pieces from Open Book this year. Our writer-in-residence posts, our author interviews, our book excerpts, ...

How a Filipino Breakfast Changed My Writing

June is Filipino Heritage Month, and to close out the month and my time here as writer-in-residence, I wanted to talk about Filipino breakfast. Specifically, one that influenced both my novel and my life.The ...

What Makes a Good Writing Routine?

As I mentioned in a previous post, I'm fascinated by other people's writing routines. Not only am I just a somewhat nosy person (as many writers are, I imagine), but I don't have much in the way of a ...

5 Tips For a DIY Writing Retreat

Now that we're peeking around the corner at a post-pandemic world, I've been starting to crave a DIY writing retreat. I don't get to do them as often as I'd like, but there's something magical about blocking ...

On Writing Essentials

Much as I admire highly regimented and disciplined writers, that's simply not me. Believe me, I've tried! However, no matter how unstructured my writing day might be, there are five essentials that I ...

Character Development Tips from Dungeons & Dragons

Full disclosure: I don't play Dungeons & Dragons, much as I'd like to. However, I've read a few D&D-based novels and enjoy watching others play the game, so I was pleased to stumble upon a fun ...

It Takes As Long As It Takes

Like many writers, I'd been writing for many years before I decided to pursue it professionally. It might sound like a cliché, but I've been creating stories for as long as I can remember. So when I ...

When Research Influences Life

In my novel The Quiet is Loud, tarot cards form an integral part of the life of the novel's main character Freya Tanangco, a tarot reader. They serve as a career choice and legitimate outlet for her prophetic ...

Isolation Creation: How the Pandemic Improved My Writing

Do you remember the person you were before the pandemic? Do you remember making plans, getting excited?The end of 2019 seems like ten years ago, but a couple of things stand out: signing my book deal ...

June 2021 Writer-in-Residence & Star Debut Novelist Samantha Garner on Skydiving, Kirtles, & Her Spy Passport

In a world where the gift of prophecy can turn you into a second class citizen, Freya loses everything when she has a dream foretelling her mother's death. Not only does she lose her mother when the premonition ...