THUNDER BAY – Local author Doug Diaczuk is celebrating the publication of his second novel, Just Like a Real Person, with a virtual book launch Wednesday night.
The book marked the second time he took home top honours at the International 3-Day Novel Contest, which challenges writers to pull together a manuscript in just 72 hours.
The wins earned Diaczuk, who is also a TBNewswatch reporter, not just recognition but a publication deal with Vancouver-based Anvil Press.
If the idea of writing a novel in three days sounds intimidating, or even implausible, Diaczuk can relate.
“When I first heard about the 3-Day Novel contest I always thought that it was impossible to write a book in such a short period of time,” he said.
What he found is that the strict time limit and looming deadline are powerful writing tools.
“One of my favourite things about the contest is how it forces you to write,” he said. “The time is limited, so you basically just have to keep going. If you stop to revise or change something, you’re finished. It’s all about moving forward and in that way, the story just sort of comes to life as you tell it.”
He headed into the contest with a concept, but without clear plans or outlines, letting the story take shape as he wrote, he said.
Of course, writing to deadline isn’t exactly new for the author given his work as a reporter.
That makes for a lot of time spent with words, he admits, but luckily, his creative writing differs wildly from his day job.
Diaczuk likes to experiment with different writing styles, he said, writing in the second person in Chalk, for example. That continues with his newest book.
“In Just Like a Real Person, I tried utilizing a stream-of-consciousness style for much of the book, which includes single sentences that can go on for pages at a time,” he explained. “It can be disorientating at times, which is intentional, because I want the reader to feel that sense of frenetic energy experienced by the narrator.”
Just Like a Real Person, which its publisher calls “disorienting as an acid trip,” begins with a crash, and includes many more, both literal and metaphorical.
It’s a story of a nameless addict reckoning with his own choices and the possibility of recovery.
“I think it's a story about trying to run away from who you really are but always ending up travelling down the same roads,” Diaczuk said. “It’s also about the characters reflecting on the past and truth, which isn’t as clear as we would like it to be because there’s always this ambiguity… the reader will have to decide what to believe as truth.”
Readers can tune in to the virtual book launch at 8 p.m. on Wednesday. A Zoom link will be available online.
