From the June 14, 2019 issue of Pages of the Past

Some days I moan and groan and grumble about technology and how it’s invaded our lives. But yet, because of this new-fangled technology, and social media sites like Facebook, my world has expanded as an author and a reader. That’s how I met many of the authors that have been featured in Pages of the Past. After reading Seven Springs (which I loved and never would have heard about without Facebook), I wanted to spotlight the author. Joining us this week is Lindsay Shayne. Welcome, Lindsay!

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Hello Lindsay! You’ve mentioned that some of your family history plays a part in Seven Springs. Could you tell us more about that?

My family on my mother’s side were settlers from Ireland. They had a homestead just south of Edmonton, Alberta, Canada. Throughout my youth, I was told stories of our family history, and the struggles they went through clearing the land, planting crops and contending with the dustbowl impacts of the late 1920s. When we would venture out to their lands (over 100 sections that were eventually partitioned and sold) I was engrossed by the remnants of tattered old barns and toppled fence posts. I daydreamed about the lives they lead, the struggles and hardships they faced and what it must have taken for those families to survive. Summers in Alberta are beastly hot, and winters unceasingly cold; how people went from the wealth and comforts of the east to the survival and sacrifice of the west was fascinating to me. From those family tales, a kernel of inspiration was born. It took over 30 years to germinate, but the seed was always inside me.

Seven Springs is your first historical novel. Were there any surprises that you found in your journey of writing and publishing this wonderful tale?

The biggest surprise for me was simply how difficult it was. The writing itself came naturally, and the language was something that I was akin to, having read hundreds of books from that time period and knowing films and series’ like Anne of Green Gables and Little House on the Prairie by heart. At first, I tried writing on the computer, but it felt so anachronistic; I couldn’t transport myself back in time unless there was a pen in my hand. I wrote the entire first draft by hand in little moleskin notebooks and later transcribed it into digital format. I spent years researching and delving into the historical time period as much as I could. I was fortunate to have done a writing residency at The Banff Centre, which allowed me dedicated time to revise and edit. I published exclusively on Createspace and Kindle Direct Publishing, and although I tried to do most of the formatting myself, I had to contract out the final layout design because I am just not technical enough. I was also surprised that books don’t magically sell themselves. There is a huge amount of effort that goes into marketing and promotion, and that effort doesn’t always translate into sales.

You’ve portrayed the scenes so well in Seven Springs. As I read, I feel like I’m there in the room seeing the action play out. You must have done a lot of research to be able to be so detailed for this time period. Do you have any favorite methods you use in researching your books?

With my creative writing background, I have written a number of stage plays and scripts. I’ve also watched a great deal of theatre and films. When I’m writing, I tend to view the scenes cinematographically, as though there is a camera sweeping across the prairies, or peeking through the grease-splattered glass of the farmhouse window. I also think about the five senses. What do those biscuits smell like when they come out of the oven? How do the birds’ wings sound as they crackle through the reeds and brush surrounding the lake? What does the evening landscape look like bathed only in moonlight?

I also have a Masters in Archival Studies, and actually fell upon that discipline due to the amount of time I was spending in archives researching. I have a great affinity for the preservation of documentary heritage and can get lost for hours scouring through old images, journals, newspapers, and ledgers.

Tell us about one of your favorite characters in Seven Springs.

In all honesty, they are all my favorites. I used my family for broad inspiration, but there is really so much of myself in each of the characters. As I worked through character development, I found myself thinking about how they would react in certain situations, or how past events and traumas had shaped their collective reality; so much of my own experience was drawn into that. Abigail is the rock of the family, but also fragile in her naivety and optimism. Charles’ worst enemy is his pride and the depression that comes from it. Baxter is seeking companionship and treads close to impropriety out of sheer loneliness. I admire Emma’s innocence and unabashed enthusiasm, while Tobias represents how I thought my great-grandfather would have felt if he were a young man left with little, forced to make his way in such a harsh environment.

One thing I love is how in our Pages of the Past Facebook group you post the best pictures of vintage objects to accompany a short snippet from your book. How do you find all the wonderful images that you use?

I am fortunate to live in Edmonton, the capital city of Alberta. The city is steeped with history, as it was a major transit point for the fur traders of the Hudson’s Bay Company at Fort Edmonton. Portions of the original fort were moved upriver in the 1970s and it was preserved and restored into a living museum complete with costumed interpreters, historical buildings, live animals and historical artifacts. I visit several times per summer, not only to take photographs for marketing purposes, but also for research and inspiration. I look for the details that could be missed in reading reference materials. I inspect how houses were constructed, how great rooms were organized and decorated, how homes had separate living quarters for household staff, what the transportation methods were. The photographs are also essential when I’m researching because when I look at them I feel instantly transported back to 1895. I can set the scene in my mind and it helps me contextualize what could occur within that time and place. The museum also houses some of my great-grandfather’s threshing machinery, so it’s great to go back and reconnect with him in that way.

Have you discovered any challenges in writing historical fiction?

Research is the most difficult part, by far. It’s easy to come up with a story, to outline the plot and arc and do character sketches. It is much more challenging to understand societal norms, political climates of the time, fashion, and class structures. I spent countless months researching minutiae that most readers likely wouldn’t consider: How long does it take to travel 200 kilometers by horse? Were carriages pulled by teams of two or four horses? What was the weather like in central Alberta in spring 1895? What was a day’s wage for a laborer? How much did a hock of ham cost? When was the telegraph invented? When were the cables installed in Alberta? Even seemingly simple things like describing a carriage going down a street in Toronto in 1865 required immense research. I found archival maps and overlaid them with current infrastructure to see what roadways and landmarks were in existence then and what they were called. I researched industry at the time so I could describe the bustle of the main rail station, and what it would have smelled like in the midst of canning factories, horse manure, and burning coal. Yes, research is the biggest challenge – but also the most fun!

Do you have another historical fiction work in progress? Can you give us a little teaser about it and let us know when we can look for it?

I have the outline and character sketches completed for a novel about Frank’s Slide. The slide occurred in 1903 when more than two-thirds of Turtle Mountain in southern Alberta sheared off and crushed half the town below. I visited the slide in my youth and was impacted by the scene (the town site looks nearly identical, as the boulders are so massive they could not be moved) but it was during my research for Seven Springs that I stumbled across the incident again. I began thinking about the impact of the slide on the townsfolk and wondered how individuals would have been affected if part of their family had died, but others had survived. The story developed from there.

I have no timeline, but Seven Springs took seven years, so it might be a while!

Do you write in any genres other than historical fiction?

I write short fiction, poetry, screenplays, and stage plays for my creative work. I also occasionally write essays, feature articles and advertorials for online and print media. In my day job, I write internal operational policy, training programs and technical procedures for how to manage records and information in government.

Is there anything you’d like to share with us that I didn’t ask you about?

There’s a scene in one of my all-time favorite films, Little Women. Jo March is describing writing and emphatically says, “Never write what you know!” I’ve seen this film dozens of times, but this phrase always sticks with me because I view it so differently. While there may be elements of the subject matter that are unknown to you, I feel that if you write what you know, what you are passionate about and what you feel deep inside of you, your writing will be imbued with much more authenticity than simply picking a random topic.

You can find Seven Springs here:

Amazon.com: https://www.amazon.com/Seven-Springs-Lindsay-Shayne/dp/1981177043

Amazon.ca: https://www.amazon.ca/Seven-Springs-Lindsay-Shayne/dp/1981177043

Amazon.co.uk: https://www.amazon.co.uk/Seven-Springs-Lindsay-Shayne/dp/1981177043

You can find Lindsay here:

Website: http://songbirdpublishing.ca/

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/albertaauthor/?modal=admin_todo_tour

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/lindsayshayne78/

Lindsay Shayne is a writer from Edmonton, Alberta, Canada. Born in the River City, she has traveled and worked extensively throughout Alberta and formed a bond with its nature, history, hotels, and rails. Her family, the Toanes, were early settlers in central Alberta, and the inspiration for Seven Springs. She enjoys singing to songbirds, walking the trestles in Mill Creek ravine, and riding the steam engine at Fort Edmonton Park.

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