Laughter erupts from the audience as writers Patrick DeWitt and Lisa Moore read excerpts from their latest books, French Exit and Something for Everyone, respectively. They were part of a sold-out event held as part of the Ottawa International Writers Festival on Oct. 26.
French Exit by DeWitt is described as a “a riotous send-up of high society, as well as a moving mother/son caper.”
French Exit follows Frances Price, a possessive mother who faces scandal and bankruptcy. Her son Malcolm is no help, and she believes her aging cat is haunted by the spirit of her late husband, whose death made Frances and Malcolm social outcasts.
Something for Everyone is a collection of short stories by Moore and is described as “a soaring chorus of voices, dreams, loves, and lives,” some of which include a missing rock god that jumped a cruise ship in the Arctic and a grieving young woman that lives next to a serial rapist.
One of the short stories, “Skywalk,” was based on a true event that happened in St. John’s. A serial rapist stalked the town, Moore recalls, and women were told by police not to go out.
“It turned out that one of these horrific and incredibly violent assaults happened in a parking lot across the street from my house,” Moore said. “I realized that I was very close to that situation, probably just missed it by hours maybe, and I guess I just realized my own anger as I was writing in that moment.”
For DeWitt, one moment that stands out in his novel French Exit comes at a séance scene when the main character tries to contact her dead husband whose spirit is believed to be living in a cat.
“I was aware that it was coming for a long while, but I don’t really plot books out or make any plans, but that was a scene that I recognized.”
DeWitt hadn’t planned out the scene before writing it. He added that the scene was originally a funny scene but turned out to symbolize something bigger.
“The whole idea of a lawyer living in a cat for me was just meant to be silly, but then oftentimes—sometimes, I should say—these jokes turn out to be a little bit more meaningful,” said DeWitt.
The writers also spoke about the writing process and both writers agreed on the importance of letting the characters be alive to the reader.
“I do believe that the characters have to move, and they have to breathe and be real and be three-dimensional without the puppeteer being visible. You know, they cannot appear to be jerked by strings,” Moore said.
She also spoke about moments of tension in a story and she said that these moments are what keeps readers reading. “An area of tension that really interests me is when characters cannot control their own lives for some reason and when they can act and change their lives.”
DeWitt also spoke about his struggles as a younger writer and about the importance of having something to say as a writer.
“I didn’t go to school for it,” he said, “so I was very much alone and just made so many mistakes. I didn’t know there were mistakes for years because there wasn’t anybody there to tell me there were mistakes, and when you’re younger, you think everything you do is just wonderful.”
DeWitt started writing novels at 17, but it took him until he was 30 to finish one.
“There’s a saying that ‘less is more’ and I think that is almost always true. And I fought against this—I thought maybe more would be more,” DeWitt said on the mistakes he made as a young writer. “I was at least doing an impersonation of what I thought a genius looked like especially when I was a younger person—I didn’t really have a point a view; I didn’t really have anything to get off my chest; I just loved language but I didn’t have a story.”
The Ottawa International Writers Festival ended on Oct. 30 and the spring edition picks up in May.
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