On Saturday night, I went to the ImagiNation festival with a friend of mine. Honestly, at first, I wasn’t in the mood for a long and boring conference. You know, the type of presentation where the speaker doesn’t even want to be there? 

My friend Maude was very hyped up for this event. She BEGGED me if I could go with her. Since I’m a good friend, I said yes, but I truly didn’t want to go. I’m not a big fan of literature and stuff…

Even though I wasn’t to keen on the idea, I accompanied Maude. My first thoughts were : What a great location! The Morrin Center is situated near everything. If you want to go grab a bite before a conference, there is a lot of options. Apart from the location, I thought that the building itself was very pretty, kind of old, but oh so charming!

When the conference started, the subject caught my attention. There were three authors presenting their SUSPENSE novels. I was particularly curious about the stories and the murders portrayed in the novels. 

I also found one of the author’s background very interesting. Trevor Ferguson was actually a literary fiction writer, but, to get the cash flowing, he decided to start writing crime fiction under the name of John Farrow. He also told the audience that his latest book was taking place on a university campus. I found that so #relatable that I wanted to read it!

And guess what? I actually WON the book Perish the day. I was the lucky winner. 

After all, my Saturday night was not so bad. I’m SO excited to start this book at the end of the semester!

If you want to read it too, I can lend it to you when I'm finished. Just DM me!

 

According to critics, the powerful and gripping novel plunges the reader into a dark post-apocalyptic atmosphere, enlightened only by the resilience and rebirth of a strong people. 

 
“Indigenous characters in MOTS, like Evan Whitesky and his family, are people who have already lived through their own apocalypses, through colonialism and displacement and the uprooting of their culture,” says Kevin Hardcastle from CBC. This sure makes a change from y usual post-apocalyptic story.

I still haven’t found time to read the book, but you will be sure to see me at the Morrin Centre in a few hours!

 

By the way, I’ve heard a “notewordy” performance will take place right after Rice’s conference. The OSQ and the @Quebec Writers’ Federation are joining forces to present a combination of stories and music. Should be interesting. The musicians are a quartet of trombones, for those of you interested in music!

 

EDIT : I just spoke to Rachelle on the phone and she has read and enjoyed MOTS (Moon of the Crusted Snow). It looks like this conference will be a success!

 

The @Morrin Centre was almost filled with literature lovers from all over Quebec City. Francophones and Anglophones alike participated with interesting questions for the author. Everything took place in a pleasant and relaxed atmosphere.

 

Rice even read us an excerpt of Moon of the Crusted Snow. A beautiful vocabulary and various layers of meaning contribute to give the book an magnificent depth. According to Solomon, the book is a gripping read from one cover to the next. From what I saw, I can easily believe her!

 

I greatly enjoyed my evening at the Morrin Centre and surely recommend each one of you try to pass by for one of the remaining activites of the Quebec Imagination Writers’ Festival.

You may bid me farewell for the next two days, since I’m about to disappear in Rice’s MOTS. Expect a review to be coming up shortly!

 

Until then, you may enjoy this slightly awkward picture my friend took of me at the Morrin Centre… I recommend you focus on the fashionable architecture surrounding me 😊

Rothman talked all about how important conflict is in a novel and how new writers trying to create a good story need to pay attention to the desires of each character. A fiction novel cannot exist without conflict, and she pointed out how this is sometimes put aside by new writers when they try too hard on perfecting their style. Just think about any event which you could turn into a story and you’ll see that there will always be conflict. How about a guy trying to go on a date but he needs his dad’s car, there’s conflict (thanks Rothman for the example), or what of a guy trying to put a ring in a volcano but an army tries to stop him (classic). Anyways, conflict is the essence of the fiction novel and is definitely something every author should put a lot of thought into when writing a book. That sums up the gist of what Rothman presented this Tuesday, as well as a writing activity to test out what she had just shown us. 

It was a lot of fun and a great experience, and I am definitely going back this week. Don’t miss out on any of the wonderful conferences given at the Morrin center this week, they’re all worth it! 

Imagination is more than just a book discussion, it’s all about bringing out the writer in all of us by giving useful tips and tricks that are real eye openers sometimes. A lot of inspiring authors are there to share their experience in writing and the rooms are filled with aspiring authors with a lot of creativity, so the results of the writing activities are always interesting! 

I hope to see you there.

The writing activity goes a little like this: 

Take a notepad and a pen and put aside 15 minutes of your time. Think up a setting and a character. Your character has to desire something which another character does not want to give, be it car keys, a kiss, respect, anything really, let your imagination roll. The story should be a discussion between both characters where your main character will try to get what he or she wants. This activity is all about noticing the importance of desire and conflict and making it the center of your story. It’s also important to respect the timer as then you will make sure to force yourself to write quickly what comes off the top of your head without overthinking it.

I encourage you to try it out before reading my reaction.

When I did this activity I found it HARD! I’m not very good at writing on a time limit so I got way too caught up in the description of the setting and barely got two lines of dialogue in, simple hellos. I’ll try and do it again before the end of Imagination because I like the idea of having a limited amount of time to make something, because it brings out ideas which can be reworked later to make something interesting. All and all a great writing activity, and I’m sure many more will be had this week at Imagination, so I hope to see you there!

19h:      It started in a usual way— I got lost going to the Morrin centre. It was like my third time going there but I still could not find the place. Me and my legendary bad sense of direction . Well, at least, Gabrielle and I just made a small detour and were able to arrive just in time. 

20h:      I do not know any of the authors that are going to present their works, but I am always quite curious in regard of discovering new writers. 

21h30:                I was not disappointed by the authors. Their stories were quite interesting but for now, I am too tired and I just want to go home. Tomorrow I will describe the authors, their works and the musicians.