Gail Anderson-Dargatz  

Resources for Writers

On Finding Your Big Idea

estachniak

I am a writer of fiction, but history is my passion and my material, a treasure trove of stories into which I dip and from which I construct my narratives.

I’ve published three novels. Necessary_Lies (Dundurn 2000) tells a story of a Polish immigrant to Canada who returns to the country of her birth to confront her past. Garden of Venus (Harper Collins 2005) is an 18th century tale of an extraordinary Greek woman who transformed herself from peasant to countess and who lived through the tumultuous events of Polish and European history. And my newest, The Winter Palace (Doubleday, January 2012) tells the story of Catherine the Great’s rise to power through the eyes of her Polish confidante and spy.

When I was writing the historical sections of my first novel, I felt a visceral, personal connection to the events I described. World War II may have ended before I was born, but the ruins were still around me, the half-burnt houses, the craters left by bombs, the warnings of unexploded mines. To find a similar connection with the 18th century was much harder. Sure, many of the palaces where my characters lived their lives still exist, albeit transformed by later generations. Museums are still filled with everyday objects they had or could have had in their possession. But this doesn’t quite translate to a personal connection.

With dashing Sophie Glavani who became Countess Potocka it was one short letter in the Krakow archives. Sophie wrote it in Berlin, in 1822, when she was dying of cancer. The words were simple—thanks extended to a dear friend—but what touched me were the shaky, almost illegible cigarettecase 2letters, the different shades of ink showing when she tired and could not press the quill hard enough. I saw her then, vivid and human, and the writing could begin.

The Winter Palace took me to St Petersburg where I followed in Catherine’s footsteps. I visited her palaces, her gardens. I stood by her gave, reflected on the many portraits and statues of the great Tsarina, looking in vain for an angle from which I could approach her. And then on my way back to Canada, my aunt told me that ever since the last partition of Poland, my ancestors had been subjects of the Russian tsars.

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“Look,” she said and showed me a silver cigarette case with my grandfather’s name beautifully engraved in Cyrillic alphabet. For—before Poland regained independence in 1918—my paternal grandfather had served in the Russian Imperial Army.

This is when I began hearing my narrator’s voice.

Eva Stachniak was born in Wroclaw, Poland. She moved to Canada in 1981 and has worked for Radio Canada International and Sheridan College, where she taught English and humanities. Her first short story, “Marble Heroes,” was published by The Antigonish Review in 1994, and her debut novel, Necessary Lies, won the Amazon.ca/Books in Canada First Novel Award in 2000. She is also the author of Garden of Venus, which has been translated into seven languages and The Winter Palace; a novel of Catherine the Great which will be published in January of 2012. Stachniak lives in Toronto, where she is at work on her second novel about Catherine the Great.

Resource Categories

Blogs on Craft

On the Building Blocks of Fiction

Tips on how to craft vivid scene that allows the reader to experience events right along with the characters.

On Finding Your Big Idea

Insights into the writing process and what a writer's day really looks like, as well as perspectives on research and writing from real life.

On Getting to Know Your Characters

Advice on the many ways you can make your characters come alive on the page for both you and your reader.

On Deciding on Point of View

What is the best perspective from which to tell your story? Writers discuss how they made choices on point of view and voice.

On Choosing Your Situation and Setting

Writers talk about how they use situation and setting to build story and convey emotion.

On Developing Conflict and Structure

From how to work in different genres to finding the real story, writers offer good advice on building conflict and structure.

On Revising

Tips on how to gain distance from your work and to how to re-imagine your next draft.

On Publishing

Writers offer practical advice on the business of writing and promotion, and on the importance of finding a writing community.

On Making a Living as a Writer

Writers offer words of wisdom on living on less.

On The Writer's Life

Writers talk about their life as a writer.

About Gail

Gail's novels have been national and international bestsellers and two have been short-listed for the Giller Prize, among other awards. She works with writers from around the world on her online teaching forums.