Writer’s Block: Janice MacDonald

All Lit Up: What books have you read lately that you can’t stop thinking about?

Janice MacDonald: The Marriage Portrait by Maggie O’Farrell and James by Percival Everett both tackle older works of literature (“My Last Duchess” and Huckleberry Finn) and enhance our understanding of the world and the literature they deal with. I think that way, too… literature and poetry have schooled me in the way I look at the world, and how I behave, both idealistically and day-to-day. I mean, I have never slid a note under a door since reading Tess of the D’Urbervilles, to be pedestrian about it.

All Lit Up: If you had to describe your writing style in just a few words, what would they be?

Janice MacDonald: Light-hearted sensibility but surprisingly deep concepts. I would love an epitaph to be: Funny and Loving and Wise. It will likely read: She had great hair.

All Lit Up: What do you hope readers take away from your book?

Janice MacDonald: I would like them to have been entertained by the mystery/story aspect of the work, but enriched with the other elements … Imogene’s thought process, the locales, the situations being wrestled with. I land closer to the social consciousness end of the spectrum of detective fiction than the farceur end (if you were to think of Simon Brett at one end and Sara Paretsky at the other).

All Lit Up: How do you celebrate when you finish writing a book?

Janice MacDonald: I buy a sweater or some earrings. Something tangible that I can look at and touch, for all those times I’m in the middle of a manuscript that is fighting back and I think I should have taken a different path. Honestly, I also buy them when a book is accepted, or when I get a great review, or when I finally figure out whodunnit. I probably have too many earrings.  Having someone extraordinarily handsome take me out for dinner is also a very nice way to mark the occasion.

All Lit Up: What does a typical writing day look like for you?

Janice MacDonald: It has changed recently, since I gave up my day job to write fulltime (doesn’t that sound brave and foolhardy? Actually, I retired.) I used to write on weekend mornings. Now, I write every weekday morning and sometimes on weekend mornings (but-I-don’t-have-to). I set myself a page goal which is usually three to five pages a day, but can be up to ten if I’m getting close to a deadline, and once I’m done that I can mosey off to do other things, unless I’ve got research to do, which can stretch things further. I get up from time to time, motivated more by the level in my tea mug than the buzzing on my watch monitor, but by the time I’m done I’m a bit creaky and really need to move around a bit. So, I’ll have a walk or do a chore, and then see if there’s someone to play with. And then tomorrow, rinse, repeat.

All Lit Up: Do you have any rituals that you abide by when you’re writing?

Janice MacDonald: I never tell people about the plot while I’m writing it. My sense is that the first time you tell a story is always the most magical, so that is the version I try to get down on the page, rather than into someone’s ear who quite possibly is just nodding politely at me anyhow. I occasionally try to get appropriate music to play, but that can be tricky because it has to be either instrumental or in a language I don’t understand because I can’t do words when I am trying to form my own. I set out some photos from the area, portraits of writers from that country or city to watch over the process. Otherwise, I am pretty normal, as in I bathe, I change my socks.

All Lit Up: What was the most surprising thing you discovered about your story and/or characters while writing your latest book?

Janice MacDonald: Catherine of Medici keeps popping up in my research and travels. I am not sure what the heck is going to happen but it’s building. She is everywhere. She created the Luxembourg Gardens in Paris. She was instrumental in the movement of the Huguenots who popped into Ireland before heading for North America. She was part of the family who lived in the Pitti Palace in Florence. While I was in Italy, I bought perfume created for her… the oldest continuously produced scent in the world. Can you believe it? I suspect Imogene is going to have to deal with her sooner or later.

All Lit Up: If you could spend a day with one of your characters, who would it be and why?

Janice MacDonald: Marcel, for sure. But only one day. I don’t think I could handle that amount of suavity and charm on an ongoing basis. Like Beatrice says to the Prince in Much Ado About Nothing, I’d take him only if I could have another fellow for every day.

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Janice MacDonald is a Canadian author of mystery novels, textbooks, non-fiction titles, and stories for both children and adults. She is best known for writing seven novels featuring amateur sleuth Miranda “Randy” Craig. The Randy Craig Mysteries were the first detective series to be set in Edmonton, Alberta, where Janice lives and works. The last installment, The Eye of the Beholder, was published in October 2018. A lifelong fan and reviewer of mystery fiction, Janice wrote her MA thesis on the genre, long before popular culture studies were popular.

Janice has launched a new series of mysteries following the adventures of retired academic Imogene Durant. The first installment, Victor & Me in Paris, was published in November 2024 by Turnstone Press.

In recent years Janice has also concentrated on literary short fiction, essays, and creative non-fiction. Confederation Drive, a passion project about her trip across Canada on the 50th anniversary of Expo ’67 in Montreal, was released by Edmonton-based Monto Books in 2017. She is also delighted to have won the Exporting Alberta Award and the Canadian’s Children’s Book Centres seal of approval for The Ghouls’ Night Out, her Hallowe’en chapter book for eager readers.