Accessing Your Talents with Rowan McCandless
The award-winning author of Persephone’s Children shares how her creative process allows her to find beauty in overcoming creative and personal challenges.
Interview by Elle Addae
Photo of Rowan McCandless by Tessa Vallittu
Persephone’s Children (ECW, 2021)
Rowan McCandless is the Black and biracial author of Persephone’s Children: A Life in Fragments, which was a finalist for the Governor General’s Literary Award in nonfiction (2022), and co-winner of the Eileen McTavish Sykes Award for Best First Book (2022). Her award-winning writing has appeared in various anthologies, as well as print and online journals. McCandless has acted as a judge and jury member for a variety of contests and award panels. She is also the creative nonfiction editor of The Fiddlehead. Find her on Facebook (Rowan McCandless), Instagram (@rowanmccandlesswrites), BlueSky (@rowanmcc1.bsky.social), or her website rowanmccandlesswrites.com.
ADDAE: Do you remember your first writing-related memory?
McCANDLESS The first one would be junior high. They had a short story contest, so I wrote this little story, and it came in third place. I never thought I'd be a writer. I always thought I’d be a veterinarian when I grew up, but I became a teacher because my parents thought that would be the most reliable route to go, and I loved kids. So, I got my bachelor of arts and a bachelor of education so I could work in the public school system. I taught kindergarten to grade three.
ADDAE: Lovely ages. I also worked in childcare, so I love kids, respect kids, and know that they really put you to work. How did you transform your writing hobby into a professional career? What steps were essential?
McCANDLESS: First, it would be saying yes, and by that, I mean being open to opportunities that are out there. Where I am now as a writer happened because my eldest daughter had said that me, Lisa, and her sisters all have this creative talent, but we're not using it. I wanted to be a good role model, so I started writing again, and then all of a sudden, these things just started to happen. I was encouraged by my mentors here in Winnipeg to submit to certain contests, and I did. I won at one and came in second in another, and then it just sort of snowballed from there.
ADDAE: That’s awesome, so it was an easy transition that sort of happened upon you, but you had to work to get there.
McCANDLESS: Absolutely, you have to put in the work.
ADDAE: I've noticed that, and all the students have noticed that too. It doesn't come easy. Even if you have an innate creative gift, you always have to work. I don’t think there’s a creative endeavour where you can just be good at it instantly. As a non-fiction writer, how do you separate living and writing? When you're going through an interesting moment, are you thinking about how that could show up on the page, or do you journal right after, do you have a phenomenal memory?
McCANDLESS: I do not have a phenomenal memory. I don't keep a journal. It's funny, I'm saying I don't have a great memory, but I actually just let them sit in my head until I write down just a phrase or two to remember when I touch back to that particular project I might be working on. First an idea has to come, and then from there, I look at content as well as form. What structure do I want it to take?
ADDAE: That’s a perfect segway into a question I have about your preferred hermit-crab form. Can you describe, in your eyes, the magic of the hermit-crab essay? Why is it more effective than traditional writing for you, and how significant would you say it is for a writer to find the proper vehicle for their messaging?
McCANDLESS: The proper vehicle is important, and that, I find, comes with experience and practice. The thing about the hermit crab essay is that you want the form to be integral to the content and that it doesn’t seem gimmicky but works within the story being told. The other thing I would say with the hermit crab essay is that it allows you to go into those more delicate stories that carry some emotional weight. What I find for myself is that I get to spend time working on the content, which is a purely intellectual exercise, right? It provides the emotional distance needed in order to work on the essay properly.
ADDAE: Okay, so it is still therapeutic, but because you're working through it in such a craft-like manner, there's some distance. I don't really delve into creative nonfiction that much, but I can see how that could be really effective. I've been trying my hand at it, and I'm going to keep trying, noting that emotional distance definitely helps with the craft.
You're currently working on a speculative short story collection entitled The Mausoleum of Lost Souls, as well as an accompanying novella. How does it feel to write a long-form piece after the incredible success of Persephone's Children? Does it intimidate you or provide you with confidence?
McCANDLESS: It provides confidence. To me, writing in fiction is not something that feels forced. I trust myself as a storyteller, and then however I tell the stories, that's just the basis of craft. But I love speculative fiction, and I love literary fiction. I love all kinds of different genres, but what I recognized I had been thinking about was, what I read when I was a teenager and a young adult, and it was Stephen King, it was Anne Rice. I was into Ray Bradbury, and so I realized that I like reading those stories. So then, why aren't I writing some as well? I realized how much I enjoyed it. I started writing them down and just fell in love.
ADDAE: How far would you say you are in that process of writing?
McCANDLESS: I have two short stories and half of a novella to finish, and then I'll be done. So, I'm trying to have it structured so that I can finish for the winter solstice, so I can have that to myself. So, that's the timetable I'm working on.
ADDAE: I actually had one of my questions, any goals for the new year? So those stories would be your main one, and then going into 2025, do you have any other goals?
McCANDLESS: I also have a novel in progress that's completed and just starting to go through the review stage. Now we're looking at character and plot, so I expect to have that finished maybe six months out from December. We have to do the setting—to start filling in the bare spots.
ADDAE: Okay, do you do the layers of a story the same formulaic way each time, or does it differ based on the draft?
McCANDLESS: It differs based on the draft. For instance, I find that I'm very strong in writing dialogue. So, to make use of additions of setting and character dressing and action and that kind of thing, it's not my first focus. It's the aspect that I have to go back to and cinematically slow it down so I can go, okay, they're in this setting. What would you see in this setting, and what would it smell in this setting? And then, start to build in the details so that my characters aren't just floating in space. Let's say a short story is like 3500 words, it probably takes a couple of days to insert all the concrete sensory details because it's really going so intense into the process that it takes some time to do it.
ADDAE: The theme of this winter's issue is growth; as you so transparently state in a lot of your pieces, you've gone through a lot of growing pains. Can you speak to your persistence and how these trials formed you into the woman you're proud to be today?
McCANDLESS: I think what writing about my trials has done has offered me the opportunity to share trauma, but with the goal of making it beautiful, to show resilience. Because the resilience was there even when I was going through difficult times. And it's a way to share with other people, you know, this is what it's like to be in it and the outer edges of it.
ADDAE: So, you're helping yourself out and connecting with others. Yeah, it's a two-fold Band-Aid.
McCANDLESS: A two-fold. I just love it because I'll get messages from readers letting me know how much they enjoyed the book and how it touched them in ways and talking about the structure and stuff. It just makes my heart sing because I just love to know that it's connected with someone.
ADDAE: I love it when art can also heal. And as you being the creator of the art, you know you're doing that good work, making people feel whole. That's amazing. I wanted to ask you, as a former elementary school teacher, even though you're a teacher for life, can we know how your perspective on growth shifted as a leader of humans in the most awkward portion of growth in their lives?
McCANDLESS: In some ways, when it comes to writing and creativity, I don't really see much difference than my philosophy when it came to teaching children, as kids want to learn. Kids have that enthusiasm for learning, and it's only if people start to damper that down that things start to shift from them. Whether you stop asking questions or you start to police your voice. All these things can happen, starting when they're just littles. That carries over into adulthood for so many people, where they think, “I'm not really a writer.” Well, you are a writer, this is the act that you're doing, this is the creative outlet that you've chosen. So it's like a trust walk, knowing that I'll provide certain information and guidance and reviews and it's with the assumption that people want to dive into that craft. Looking at what it means for them, what it means to be a writer, what it means to have a writing process, and so offering gentle guidance, but it's all about uplifting people in their writing, just like it was uplifting the kids when I was teaching them.
ADDAE: As a self-described round peg that refuses to fit in a square hole who seeks power through self-expression and creativity, what would you say to readers of Arrival who are struggling to manifest that same degree of passion?
McCANDLESS: To take the time and to do it. I think that it's making that commitment to yourself and then the actual doing of it, but recognizing that the doing of it, from conceptualizing a story to the completion of the story, can be two different things in terms of timetables. And you have to give yourself grace when working on a piece—life is happening around you, and you have to just make accommodations for that. You have to keep the goal of being a writer a primary focus rather than letting it fall to the wayside.
ADDAE: Absolutely, and it’s important to know that inspiration and creation take many forms. So sometimes, when you are sitting on a couch with your eyes closed, that is writing because you're gaining the strength to do more writing.
What's a flaw of yours that you're hoping to change, and what's a flaw of yours that you're unwilling to change?
McCANDLESS: A flaw that I'm hoping to change, because I've been talking with my writer friends about this a lot lately, is to not overbook myself. I tend to have a type A personality, which is helpful in some ways because it makes you focused and motivated, but it also has the ability, at least in my circumstance, to take on more work than I probably need to do. I feel like I have to fill in the blank spots without realizing, well, no, those blank spots are necessary, just so you can decompress, have a life, and have everything not just be about the writing. Because that's important, to be well balanced between writing and your lifestyle.
ADDAE: My final question for you today goes perfectly with that. How do you relax?
McCANDLESS: I am a fan of manicures, and I have a skincare routine that I really enjoy. It just makes me feel relaxed and centred. I have a dog named Novi, an English bulldog, and playing with her and going for walks is very helpful. Reading other people's work, I find, is really relaxing because it takes me out of my head and lets me be present and immerse myself in another world, in another form of essay. Self-care is so important, especially for a writer, because we're often faced with the dreaded inner critic.
ADDAE: What does yours say to you?
McCANDLESS: Oh, I don't know what it wants to say. Probably, like, I'm not any good. And you were a one-shot wonder, blah, blah, blah. So, what I do with my inner critic is I tell it to go sit in the corner, and I say, “You go sit in the corner. I've got this writing to do right now, and then, if you have something to say to me, we can talk about it later. This is my time, not yours, and I’m not forgetting about you. So, don't feel like you have to be tapping on my shoulder, going, hey, what about me? What about me? What about me?” Yeah, that's what I do, and I find that just that mental exercise helps me to deal with that inner critic.
ADDAE: I bet a lot of student writers who are going to be reading this magazine are going to resonate with that point about inner critics, for sure, but hopefully, your advice will help them overcome even just a little bit and even just temporarily, just that relief. Thank you, Rowan, for talking to us today.
“You have to give yourself grace when working on a piece—life is happening around you, and you have to just make accommodations for that. You have to keep the goal of being a writer a primary focus rather than letting it fall to the wayside.”