Vancouver's Chelene Knight talks about Safekeeping & other books to help guide writers along their way
Chelene Knight's latest book Safekeeping is all about author care. It's a guide for writers through all the nuts and bolts of getting your book out into the world.
The book combines writing prompts, tips, reflective exercises and mindset-building activities to equip authors with the tools for successful publishing, while maintaining a healthy outlook and helping them avoid imposter syndrome, burnout and the pitfalls of comparing themselves to others.
"When I think back to my very experience in the literary world being around writers I was bringing on my own idea of what it means to be a writer based on the things that I saw out in the world. And so I started to build this this really big, big idea in my mind of what it meant to be a working writer," Knight said on The Next Chapter.
"I think I started to get a bit of a more realistic idea here when I started to work with other writers. So the mentorship for me came at a really good time when I had the opportunity to work with so many wonderful and beautiful writers who had very different approaches and they had very different things to offer me and I really never took that for granted."
Knight is a Vancouver-based writer and poet who is the author of the Braided Skin and the memoir Dear Current Occupant, which won the 2018 Vancouver Book Award. Her 2022 novel Junie was on the longlist for Canada Reads 2024 and won the 2023 Vancouver Book Award.
Knight joined Antonio Michael Downing to speak about Safekeeping and to share some books that she's found helpful for her creative process.
In this book, Safekeeping, you've written about your own experience along with what you've learned from coaching other writers. So how did you go start going down this path?
I asked myself, "What would it look like for me to be in that position, to be in a role like that?"
I think pop culture does a really interesting, interesting job of painting this, dare I say, outdated image of what a writer is and should be.- Chelene Knight
I also think about the way I felt being mentored because when you come into this game and you don't know a lot about writing and also you come in with kind of these struggles with confidence and all of that.
I think pop culture does a really interesting job of painting this, dare I say, outdated image of what a writer is and should be. And so I found myself looking at writing like, OK, there's more to it than this.
What do you see as the roadblocks for a young writer trying to get their first book out there? What are the internal and external roadblocks that they face?
Let's start with the internal, because I think those are the most powerful and also the most difficult really to unpack. I think the internal starts with our definition of what it means to be a writer or a definition of success. No one really asks us, 'Ok, well, what does success look like for you with this specific book?' And So what we end up doing as writers is that we seek that definition outwardly.
In Safekeeping is you talk about imposter syndrome and burnout and how do you coach yourself through challenges like that?
I'm still coaching myself and it's funny. I think some people think that because I work with writers that I've got it all figured out. I promise you, I do not.
Anytime I come into a hurdle or I bump into something, I'm like right away, 'Oh, this is something I need to share with my writers. This is something I need to build a tool or a resource around.' Or even just have a conversation with somebody about it. Because I think as writers, we all kind of learn from story. We connect through story, so I just document every single blurp in the road and think, 'Ah, how can I use this with my writers? In some way?'
Now, we've asked you to recommend a couple other books that have shown you guidance in your life and work. What are the books you wanted to talk about?
Breathing the Page by Betsy Warland
Breathing The Page is a collections of essays about the tools, conventions and methods authors can use to craft compelling writing.
Betsy Warland is an author and editor who has written 14 books of poetry, nonfiction, and memoir. Her books include the nonfiction books Breathing the Page and Bloodroot, and the poetry collection Lost Lagoon/lost in thought.
"Breathing the Page it was one of my, I think, the very first craft books that I really read over and over. I probably read it six to eight times. But I feel like books like that — you just don't find them anymore.
"I think we we spend a lot of time thinking that we have to know everything about craft before we can call ourselves writers. And I don't believe that to be true at all. I think you just have to know what you want from it.
I think we we spend a lot of time thinking that we have to know everything about craft before we can call ourselves writers. And I don't believe that to be true at all.- Chelene Knight
"I learned, from this book, how to play with proximity, which essentially you think about, even if you're not a writer. Maybe you're someone who works in film, thinking about where you position the camera, when to zoom in, when to pull out.
I feel like that's a really specific skill that writers need to have along with pacing — like how to stay somewhere for a certain amount of time, how to know when to move.
"It's like driving a car. You can pull in any metaphor that you want here. I think this book really has all of those core components like, 'Here's how you pick up your hammer, here's what you do with the hammer.' But also, 'the hammer is more than the hammer,' kind of a thing.
The Conscious Creative by Kelly Small
The Conscious Creative is a guide to practical ethics and mindfulness for creative professionals.
Kelly Small is an author creative director, designer, educator and founder and CCO of the Intents & Purposes creative agency.
I loved this book, I think really, because it gave me almost an approachable way to think about being a creative in today's world.- Chelene Knight
"I loved this book, I think really, because it gave me almost an approachable way to think about being a creative in today's world. Not even just writers, just being a creative in today's world. And they give us these bite-sized practical pieces of advice.
Because here's one thing that I've noticed is that in this industry, we feel pressure to fix everything. Like we've got to do everything in a pristine way. We can't make a mistake and we can't sit inside of error.
"But this book really says, "Here's one small thing you can do." And then there's a new chapter, "Here's one small other thing you can do. "And I really like that. And I think that, again, it feels a bit mindful."
Chelene Knight's comments have been edited for length and clarity.
