When writing comes easy

Avis Boone, the inspiration for Abigail

I remember writing those first Abigail stories.

I don't remember researching for them (much) but I do remember writing them. I sat at the big white iMac computer in our home office and the words just poured out of my fingers. Once I got the basic concept and characters down, there was no stopping me.

I've only had that experience one other time in my life -- the experience of writing as typing, or typing as writing, where the story, the setting, the characters are so fully developed in my mind that I didn't even really have to think but simply to write.

It's a joyful, blissful experience for a writer. You feel free and powerful and filled with talent.

I actually wrote twelve stories in a very short space of time, perhaps two months, even though Lynn and I had only planned on a single volume with four stories. 

The first story in Volume 1, "Passing the Test", was based on comments made by Avis Boone, the real-life inspiration for Abigail, in a documentary made by the local Rogers Cable station (find it here). Avis talked about how she and her cousin had applied for jobs at the McAdam Station and, bam, there was the story idea.

Several of the characters also leapt fully formed from that interview: Abigail (Avis), Martha (Avis' cousin), Miss Pierce (Miss Quinn, the stern hotel manager about whom Avis told several interesting tales).

Easy peasy.

The second story, "In Trouble", was also inspired by one of the tales Avis tells in the Rogers "Backtracks" program. Talk about a great resource for material -- I have had the honour of meeting several of Avis' family members and I have thanked them over and over again for her contributions to the Abigail stories.

Once I had those two stories done (and that took maybe two days at most), it was smooth flowing from there. Abigail and Martha were clear in my mind; Miss Pierce was also coming together nicely. And I felt I had a pretty good handle on the times (the stories are set in the early 1940s).

"Behind Bars" was a simple little story that was intended to highlight the fact that the McAdam Railway Station had its own jail cell. And to show the Martha was indeed a mischievous little person who would cause no end of trouble for her more straight-laced cousin.

And then there was "Canada's Sweetheart", a story which has gone on to become far and away the favourite story for most people who love Abigail. The good folks at the Station have even created a skit based on the story that they perform at many of their special events.

Canadian skating legend Barbara Ann Scott visit to the McAdam Station in the late 1940s was mentioned on several of the tours of the Station I had attended and I realised early that there was a story there.

 Then, on a visit to Ottawa the summer before sitting down to write Abigail, I had a chance to visit a museum display on Ms. Scott's amazing international skating career. As I toured the display, I realised that Ms. Scott was just hitting her stride at the time of the Abigail stories, not yet Canadian or Olympic champion but just about to burst onto the international scene.

So I decided to change the dates of her visit to McAdam and have her interact directly with my characters in what I think turned out to be a very sweet story.

And so "Canada's Sweetheart" was born.

The story holds an especial place in my heart as the author because it marks the first time I incorporated a real person into the world of Abigail. Barbara Ann Scott appears as herself and my characters interact with her directly.

This is an approach I used over and over again throughout the Abigail stories. I had Prime Ministers and Premiers drop in. After finding the McAdam Telephone Book from 1939 in the New Brunswick Provincial Archives, I was able to incorporate the actual townspeople of the time (like Mr. Cook, the greengrocer, and Dr. MacLean) into the stories.

And, in later stories, I did much more. But that I will have to save for a later post.

The challenge of the voices

The recording of a podcast in a dramatic reading style is a fairly challenging task.

Not only do you have to read the story in a clear, articulate voice; you also have to create consistent voices appropriate for the recurring characters in the story (or stories).

Abigail author Mark Walma is currently in the process of creating recordings of the first four stories in the Abigail Massey collections, the stories contained in Volume 1. He has built his own personal recording studio in his home, using two computers, the Apple "Garageband" program and a special, professional quality USB microphone he received as a gift last Christmas.

But building the studio was nothing compared to the challenge of coming up with distinct voices for the many characters in the stories.

"Yes, it's been tough," he laughs. "I'm a writer, not an actor or a voice-over specialist. I'm no Mel Blanc so I have been finding it a bit of a struggle."

He says the fact that the stories contain more female characters than male makes the challenge even more difficult. "Every story features Abigail, Martha and Miss Pierce. Plus you've got Jenny and Alice to account for. That's a lot of women's voices to create and keep consistent."

Mark reports that, despite these challenges, he has finalised the pod casts for the first three stories and, after doing a little polishing, is pretty happy with them.

"I got 'Passing the Test' done first and then played it for my partner to get her take on it," he says. "She really liked it, at least most of it. She didn't like the voice I had created for Miss Pierce, though. 'It's too nasal sounding,' she said. So I had to go back and re-record all of Miss Pierce's dialogue and then stitch it into the main recording. That was a fun experience!"

He plans to record the fourth story, "Canada's Sweetheart", in the next week or so and hopes to have a CD of the recordings for the entire fourth volume finished and ready for sharing before his appearance at the McAdam Railway Station on Canada Day, July 1.

"It would be great to have it ready for Canada Day," he said, "just to have something new to offer people in the long break between last Christmas' release of Volume 3 and the launch of A McAdam Station Christmas, our new Abigail Massey novella, this November."

Mark will be on hand at the Station on July 1 to take part in the Canada Day festivities. Come out and say hello!