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Tyee News
Education

What's John Vaillant's Storytelling Secret? Find Out Saturday

Award-winning author's Master Class helps you bring true tales to life. A few seats left.

Jeanette Ageson 22 Sep 2015TheTyee.ca

Jeanette Ageson is The Tyee's director of community development.
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'Don't discount any source,' advises author John Vaillant. 'Dreams and myths can offer -- and sometimes support -- factual information and scientific data.' Photo by John Sinal.

Human beings are funny creatures. On our planet's most pressing issues, piles of facts and rational arguments never get us off our asses the way a compelling story or image does.

John Vaillant seems to understand this particular quirk of humanity intuitively. His non-fiction books The Golden Spruce and The Tiger masterfully and patiently recount events that have come to symbolize wider social and environmental issues. Rather than offer an inventory of facts, Vaillant orients his subjects in time and space, weaving together the history, politics, science and social conditions that inform the plot.

I picked up Vaillant's Governor General award-winner The Golden Spruce expecting to read about the mysterious tale of a missing logger who chopped down a sacred tree, and what I got, in addition to that incredible story, was an encyclopedic education on the history of resource exploitation in my home province, and a compelling picture of how we got ourselves into the position we're in today.

Now, in a one-day Tyee Master Class, John Vaillant will share his process with a group of participants on Sept. 26. Register here.

We asked John about how he crafts his stories, and what to expect from Saturday's class.

The Tyee: In a complex story like The Golden Spruce, how do you juggle the need to tell a compelling story with the intent to educate people, say, about the state of B.C.'s forestry industry?

John Vaillant: My books reflect my own efforts to unpack and understand a given situation. Haida history, state of the forestry industry, Hadwin's psychology, etc. are all contributing factors to the events in that story.

What do you see is the main difference between journalism and creative non-fiction? What does creative non-fiction offer you as a writer that journalism does not?

I really have trouble with the notion of creative non-fiction because it sounds like you're making stuff up. Literary journalism describes better what I'm trying to do. Longform, in general gives you space for nuance, details, context and art that is rarely available in daily or weekly news coverage.

How do you craft a tight narrative that is satisfying for people to read, which is still historically accurate?

Keep it moving and employ exciting details. Don't inflate, elide or "improve" your facts or narrative.

Your stories contain an incredible amount of background information and context. What is your preferred research method?

My guiding approach is research exhaustively across every medium, and don't discount any source. Dreams and myths can offer -- and sometimes support -- factual information and scientific data.

What do you hope to share with people in your Tyee Master Class?

I'll introduce them to my practice, and we'll do an exercise that I've found helpful in energizing my own writing.

This class is selling fast -- don't miss your chance to spend a day with author John Vaillant on Sept. 26. Register now. [Tyee]

Read more: Education

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