"Transferring Energy to the Page": A Conversation with Lawrence Hill

Hill engaged the students in a lively discussion covering such topics as contemporary issues of race and immigration, the creative process, publishing, and the merits of fiction and non-fiction writing.

Hill’s writing often deals with themes of racial identity, migration, displacement and multiculturalism. His award-winning novel The Book of Negroes (which students in the Writer’s Craft class had been studying) follows the life of Aminata Diallo, a West African woman who is kidnapped and sold into slavery and the age of 11 and later freed. His forthcoming novel engages with similar themes and probes the question of how states should respond to the issue of undocumented immigrants. Hill discussed these topics with the Writer’s Craft students, touching on the cultural and economic conditions that create xenophobia and how racial tensions manifest in Canada today.

The students also had many questions for Hill on the creative process, including what conditions are optimal for writing, how the editing process works, how to develop characters and setting in fictional works and how to consider your audience when creating a story. Hill emphasized that an aspiring writer needs to learn to “write in conditions of chaos” (quoting author Anthony Burgess) and suggested that overcoming writer's block is a question of "insisting on some kind of forward movement" and letting the story unfold as you write.

Many of the questions focused on the merits of fiction versus non-fiction as media to communicate political themes, as well as the advantages and disadvantages to the creative process of a strict adherence to historical verisimilitude. Hill offered that deviating from historical accuracy can offer a writer freedom explore her themes more deeply and suggested that speculative fiction can also be an effective approach, depending on the goals of the writer. “Writing is all about transferring energy to the page,” said Hill. “I love fiction the most of all the writing I do. In fiction, I have the freedom to invent and create. Invention of story is my greatest asset.”

Finally, Hill touched on various aspects of publishing and the business side of being a professional writer, discussing how advertising and marketing play a role in a career in writing and the advantages and disadvantages of new tools for online and self-publishing for writers at the beginning of their careers. He emphasized that focusing on writing well and developing your craft before worrying too much about publishing will serve young writers well. “Persistence, belief in yourself and tenacity are far more important than talent,” he said.