Author Anthony Bidulka
Anthony Bidulka’s books have been shortlisted for Crime Writers of Canada Awards of Excellence, Saskatchewan Book Awards, a ReLit award, and Lambda Literary Awards. Flight of Aquavit was awarded the Lambda Literary Award for Best Men’s Mystery, making Anthony the first Canadian to win in that category.
His latest novel, Home Fires Burn, is released at the end of May. Home Fires Burn is the much-anticipated follow-up to From Sweetgrass Bridge, and the final book in the Merry Bell trilogy.
Can you answer this fundamental question? Why do you write?
On Creative Writing: What advice/guidance would you give to writers?
Anthony Bidulka: The two top pieces of advice I like to give writers are this:
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Answer this question: Why Do I Write? I suggest all writers ask themselves this question not only at the beginning of their writing journey but several times throughout. It may seem like a simple question, but it can be formidable to answer. What makes it even more difficult is that the answer can change over time as we grow, develop and mature as people and writers. But when you find your WHY, and really stand by it, so many of the hurdles we face in a challenging industry (and believe me there will be hurdles and challenges), are much easier to face and deal with.
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Be open to the possibility that the type of writer you were meant to be is not the type of writer you expected to be. When I started out, I expected I would be the author of serious, pseudo-literary suspense novels. That’s not how it turned out. My first novel was a serious, pseudo-literary suspense novel. While I awaited the many publishing offers that were sure to come my way, I wrote a humorous, little mystery novel called Amuse Bouche. I had so much fun writing it but never expected it would amount to much. So much so that when I eventually submitted it (because those big publishing offers still hadn’t arrived) I did so under a pseudonym; a ridiculous one: Rayce Tallent. Well, wouldn’t you know it, the offers that came in were not for the serious, pseudo-literary suspense novel, but instead were addressed to one Mr. Rayce Tallent.
Underrepresented people and underrepresented places main themes
On Creative Writing: Can you trace any common themes across your writing?
Anthony Bidulka: In the previous question I talk about a piece of advice I give to writers being to ask themselves: Why Do I Write? Let it not be said I do not follow my own advice. In my case, it took decades for me to come up with a concise answer to this question. Today I am very confident in my WHY. My WHY is this: I write to tell stories about underrepresented people and underrepresented places in a way that is both accessible and, hopefully, entertaining. From this answer springs the answer to this question.
When I look at my body of work, now fifteen books, the vast majority of those books meet the criteria of my WHY very closely. They encompass the common themes of representing people and places currently (in my opinion) underrepresented in Canadian genre fiction, be it a Saskatchewan setting or the lives of main characters who are, for
example, LGBTQ+, over 50, or Ukrainian. Ancillary are the themes of family and legacy, justice and investigation, community and change, resilience and hope.
For writers, social media is a must
On Creative Writing: Do you use social media to engage readers, writers, or publishers and, if so, which platforms?
Anthony Bidulka: My first book was published over twenty years ago in 2003. At the time, social media in its current form had yet to emerge. Engaging readers was much more about getting on a plane and touring throughout Canada and the U.S., attending in-person bookstore events, author festivals, sending out newsletters and perhaps blogging. Today social media is a must. As a writer I try to think about who my readers are, what social media platforms they enjoy and are most accessible to them and flexible in terms of providing content and contact readers want.
For me, I have found it is better to focus on a couple of platforms rather than spread myself too thin over every platform available. For now, I tend to be most present on Facebook and Instagram, and to a lesser extent on X and YouTube. I also maintain an mailout list of readers called ‘The Beautiful Bunch’ which began with the publishing of my novel, Going to Beautiful. I know email inboxes can get inundated with too much of this kind of stuff, so I’ve made the promise to The Beautiful Bunch that emails will be infrequent and only when I have something new or interesting to share. I think I’ve stuck fairly close to that promise. If anyone is interested in joining The Beautiful Bunch, just send me an email with your name and location and I’d be thrilled to have you in the bunch!
On Creative Writing: Are you a plotter or a pantser?
Anthony Bidulka: I am immeasurably impressed with the many writers I have met over the years who are pantsers and somehow come up with a well plotted, complete novel. That is not me. I am a plotter. Perhaps this stems from my past as an accountant. I like planning documents and spreadsheets.
With each novel, be it a standalone or part of a series, I prepare two main planning documents. The first document encompasses the whodunit, howdunit and
howdoesmyherosolveit. I like to know the beginning, middle and end of my story, with a few key milestones along the way. That being said, I am keenly aware that some of the best bits of a book come when you take unplanned detours, so I allow myself to do this with the comfort of knowing that if I feel I’m getting lost I know where to find the road to the next milestone.
The second document is all about the main characters and the arc of their experience from the beginning to the end of the book. Even though I write mysteries, I feel my books are very much character studies. If I find a main character has no discernible arc over the course of a novel, is the same at the end as they were at the beginning, then I need to work harder on that character. When these two planning documents are done, I combine them, creating a chapter outline which eventually becomes the book.
Writers—you never know where opportunity will arise!
On Creative Writing: If you’ve been published, how did you find your first publisher?
Anthony Bidulka: How did you get published? is perhaps the most common question asked by beginning writers. At times, I sense, there can be a hope by the questioner that my answer will include a step-by-step process which, if they follow, step by step, will result in their own work being published. I know this because I too searched for this step-by-step process in my early days as a writer.
What I have found is that if you ask twenty published writers how they became published, you will get twenty different answers. So, it’s a kind of bad news, good news thing. The bad news is that there is no single step-by-step process which will assuredly lead to a publishing contract. The good news is that there is no single step-by-step process which will assuredly lead to a publishing contract. Which means there are a great many different ways to get published, you simply have to find one that works for you.
To more directly answer the question, my first publishing contract was the result of one of about a kabillion submission letters I sent out one day, I think it was in response to a two-line ad in a writer’s guild newsletter that said something like “…publisher seeking new Canadian voices…”. It was a one-in-a-kabillion shot. But it was the shot that paid off. Turned out, I was the new Canadian voice they were looking for.
I remained with that publisher for ten books. I like to tell this story because I think it demonstrates one thing: you never know where opportunity will arise. You just need to have hope, keep the faith, work hard, and try, try, try again, then you too may find that one-in-a-kabillion shot.
Thanks to River Street Writing for co-ordinating this interview with Anthony!
You can see more as well as LISTEN to this interview at On Creative Writing