MOOSE JAW — Aspiring writers received an honest glimpse into the craft of storytelling and the realities of publishing Friday as two Canadian authors at the Saskatchewan Festival of Words reflected on the setbacks, persistence and unexpected opportunities that brought their novels to print.
Speaking during one of several 50-minute author readings at the Moose Jaw Public Library on July 17, Tonia Laird and Sue Hincenbergs shared the personal journeys behind their debut novels, encouraging writers to persevere through rejection, self-doubt and years of uncertainty.
For Laird, author of Seventhblade, the road to publication began with a desire to tell the kinds of stories she wished had existed when she was growing up. She told the audience that a novel’s opening chapter carries enormous responsibility because it shapes a reader’s expectations from the very first page.
“The first chapter of a novel needs to basically establish the main conflict for the reader in order for them to know their surroundings and to build expectations for the rest of your novel,” Laird said.
Using Seventhblade’s opening chapter as an example, Laird demonstrated how conflict can draw readers into an unfamiliar world without revealing too much of the story. As protagonist Terry Lee races toward her village after smelling “the scent of sage and hair and cedar and cloth and barley and flesh,” unanswered questions gradually build suspense while revealing the world through her perspective.
Where Laird focused on the craft of storytelling, Hincenbergs reflected on the long road to publication.
After nearly 30 years as a television producer, including 15 with Canada AM, she said writing a novel remained a lifelong dream that repeatedly took a backseat to career and family.
“I had this vision of myself as always writing in my retirement, and there I was, 60, and I hadn’t written a thing,” she said. “So … I just knuckled down that summer. I had six weeks off in between contracts … and I thought, ‘If not now, when?’”
The decision also fulfilled a promise she felt she had carried for decades after attending a Bruce Springsteen concert as a young woman.
“Every time I saw him, it was like a needle in my side … saying, ‘You owe him a promise,’” Hincenbergs recalled.
Writing the novel proved easier than publishing it.
Her first manuscript was rejected 98 times before she finally set it aside. A second novel received roughly 50 more rejections before she turned to an entirely different idea.
Rather than writing another family-centred story, Hincenbergs decided to write "the book I want to read," drawing inspiration from the Coen Brothers and Quentin Tarantino to create a darkly comic crime novel about four longtime friends whose retirement dreams unravel after disastrous investments leave them financially trapped.
That novel became The Retirement Plan.
After more than 150 unsuccessful submissions across her first two manuscripts, an agent requested additional pages just 20 minutes after receiving her query.
“It felt like hitting a gold mine,” Hincenbergs recalled.
Looking back, she said the breakthrough wasn't the result of luck, but years spent becoming a stronger writer through podcasts, online courses and extensive reading. She said working with professional editors after The Retirement Plan was acquired further strengthened her craft.
“I appreciated that because I really didn’t know what I was doing,” she said. “All I wanted to do was write the book and get it to the spot where somebody professional could give their advice and their input.”
After writing three novels, enduring more than 150 rejections and spending years refining her craft, Hincenbergs said the biggest difference between the writer she was and the writer who finally found success was simple.
“I got better,” she said.
