Write Across Canada: Mapping the Country in 19 Chapters

Naomi Brun is a freelance writer and a book reviewer for The Hamilton
Spectator.

In 2004, the Ottawa International Writers Festival decided to ask
professional authors to embark on a collective story-writing enterprise.
Nineteen respected Canadian writers from across the country were asked
to contribute a maximum of 600 words to a developing story, all within
48 hours of receiving the work-in-progress.

The story follows Bruce and Olivia on a cross-country road trip. They
meet in St. John’s Harbour, Newfoundland, while scuba diving, and from
there decide to head west. They stop in every province, but they don’t
do the typical touristy things. There’s no guided tour of the Chateau
Frontenac or walk across the glass floor of the CN Tower. These writers
have set their own particular 600 words in communities that they know
very well, so Bruce and Olivia spend their time noticing the strange mix
of university students and ex-convicts in Kingston, shopping for
groceries in Saskatoon, and stopping for coffee just south of
Whitehorse. As a result, the reader gets to view these places as the
locals do, and learn more about Canada than the height of its tallest
buildings.

Write Across Canada was intended to be a creative-writing exercise, and
as such, it largely works. Each writer’s style, of course, shines
through in every separate 600-word segment, and that does give the story
a bit of a patchwork feel. Most of the authors, however, have striven to
write in a way that creates a cohesive story. There has been an attempt
to create an inward journey that parallels the physical journey, a sort
of struggle between love and hate that complicates an unplanned
pregnancy. These elements of the book add a great deal of melodrama,
perhaps too much, but from time to time, they do set off the outward
journey beautifully.

Write Across Canada is a literary experiment rather than a novel. It
may be too offbeat for the average reader, but for devoted fans of
contemporary Canadian literature and for creative-writing students,
it’s an absolute must-read.