Fly on the Wall: Where I'm at...

Sunday, March 18, 2007

Where I'm at...

Having signed the publishing contract with ECW Press back in January, I have a deadline of May 31 to submit my completed manuscript (and Jim's accompanying drawings). Right now we're aiming for 60 - 65 "flies" in total for the book and we've completed 53 so far.

Once the manuscript is submitted, the editing and rewriting begins. We have a very cool editor named Jen, who I'm looking forward to going through the editing process with.

I'm realizing that I've spent more time today setting up this blog than actually writing (a sure sign of procrastination) so I'd better get back to the flies.

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Introduction

What's the deal with the fly? Okay, my motivation in creating this blog was twofold: a) to share my experiences and the process of having my first book published ("Fly on the Wall") and b) to hopefully connect with others who share similar interests and like to exchange fun, witty retorts. Now obviously part b) is dependent upon people actually visiting my blog, which I realize, may take a while. So, until then, I'll be focusing mostly on "Fly on the Wall", which is scheduled to be published in the early summer of 2008 by ECW Press in Toronto.

What is this "Fly on the Wall"?

"Fly on the Wall" is a collection of short fiction written by me, Jason Brink, and illustrated by uber-artist extraordinaire, Jim Westergard (check out his link below). Dark and subversive with a wry humour that permeates both the stories and their accompanying illustrations, Fly on the Wall is a book for adults that explores a menagerie of voyeuristic scenarios from the perspective of the proverbial fly on the wall. Privy to the secrets, conversations and private moments that might otherwise remain unknown; the ubiquitous fly bears witness to these rare snapshots of human behaviour and indulgence. Included in the fly’s varied itinerary are jails, church confessionals, funeral parlors, bars, taxidermist workshops, mini vans, boxcars and barnyards, to name but a few. Occupying these locales are industrious criminals, disgruntled employees, compassionate caregivers, clever children, and a cast of others who walk amongst us. Spanning a moral landscape open to interpretation, each story pivots slightly away from the reader’s expectations.

Origins of the project...

Originally I had set out to write a dark children’s story called “The Flyswatter”, about an old man who chased an elusive fly around his house to the point of madness. As I started, though, the old adage, “Wouldn’t you like to be a fly on the wall for that conversation?” popped into my head, and I began to think of the fly as a much more ubiquitous presence, beyond the scope of the children’s story. As a screenwriter, I started thinking visually of various scenarios for which this adage might actually apply. Having serendipitously met Jim Westergard around the same time, and discovering his artwork -- which just happened to include some insect drawings and other odd subjects -- I knew immediately that Jim’s sense of humour and visual style would be a perfect match for the stories I was conjuring. So I wrote six or seven short short stories in which the fly appeared, undetected, as a passive observer to the action or conversations taking place in each scene. I gave them to Jim to see what he thought -- he liked them and created a drawing for each based on the opening line of the story, and from there we set out to create a book. My purpose in writing the book was to explore some of the secrets, behaviours and private moments that might otherwise go unseen and unreported, and to offer readers a glimpse into the sometimes dark, sometimes tender underbelly of human nature. I realized early on, with subject matter ranging from vengeful televangelists to heroin-addicted soccer moms and euthanasia that this was definitely not going to be a children’s book. This would be something rather unusual: an illustrated book of short fiction for adults. Early on in the process, Jim had been invited to speak about his art at the Red Deer College where he had taught art and printmaking for many years before retiring. He invited me to join him to read ten of the stories I had completed so far while he projected his accompanying drawings on a large screen. We came to refer to the stories and their accompanying drawings as “flies”. This public forum afforded us an opportunity to “test drive” the flies in front of a live audience, to gauge their reaction and see whether or not we were actually on to something or not. Fortunately, the audience responded favourably and we had the impetus we needed to carry on and complete the book.

Fly on the Wall

The Fly on the Wall