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A Letter From Timothy Findley, Part Two

© Paula E. Kirman

Last week, Timothy Findley discussed the groundwork for his novel Spadework, a novel of converging storylines about life, love, and sexual complications. He continued to answer my questions about the novel, specifically in terms of character development, as well as discuss the future of his writing career.

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Paula: How did you develop the characters? Do you base any of your characters on people you have known?

Timothy Findley: Except for characters bearing the names of real people (e.g. William Hutt, Martha Henry and the owners and some staff of local restaurants) all the characters are fictional. The character of Robert (Festival Artistic Director) is basically a portrait of the real Artistic Director, Richard Monette - but I felt I had known Richard well enough and long enough not to have the character say or do anything disturbing. And the prototype of Luke, the gardener, was another old friend, Matthew Mackie, to whom the book is dedicated - and who read the manuscript before it was published. As for the rest, like all fictional characters, most display some characteristics I have observed in people I have known - but with the single exceptions of Robert/Richard and Luke, no other character is a portrait of anyone connected with either the Festival or the town. For instance, the character of the visiting director, Jonathan Crawford, does bear some resemblance to a director in England for whom I once worked as an actor - and who did try to exert on me the same kind of sexual blackmail experienced by the character Griff - but, in my case, without success.

Paula: Spadework is your tenth novel. You are also a playwright, as well as an author of short stories and non-fiction -- do you have a preference for a particular genre, and if so, why?

Timothy Findley: I rejoice in writing both plays and prose fiction, and have no preference for either except in the following way: when I am writing a play, I often long for the privilege of writing a novel, in which I can spend more time inside characters' minds - and when I'm writing a novel, I often long for the enforced economy of writing nothing but dialogue.

Paula: You have enjoyed a very prolific and prominent writing career. What does the future hold for your writing?

Timothy Findley: My future as a writer will be the same as my past - as long as I am physically and mentally capable of working. I have one more novel under contract, and two more plays. I am currently working on one of the latter - a one-act play, Shadows, for the 2002 season of the Stratford Festival. I must admit, however, that since I am now in my seventies, I would like to be just a bit less productive. Bill Whitehead and I have two homes - the condo in Stratford and a small writing retreat in Provence - and we love each of them dearly. The trouble is, we don't get enough time simply to enjoy them to the full - and we rarely have time to take a holiday. This, I hope, will change.

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