The Accidental Novelist

I never intended to write a novel. But I did. And HarperCollins published it. Titled The Gorgeous Girls, it was based on a number of pieces I'd written for Toronto's NOW magazine. They appeared in NOW's feature, Naked City, which was all about love and sex.

I wrote The Gorgeous Girls for money. I was tired of being poor, and I wanted things for my kids: lessons, trips, memberships, musical instruments, sports equipment, etc. They say sex sells, so I worked hard to stitch my Naked City articles together, thus creating my novel:

The interwoven stories of three women on the prowl - "a smart, playful and delicious sexual extravaganza that delivers non-stop thrills and a great deal of fun."

HarperCollins promoted my book as "the thinking woman’s erotica”, which I quite liked. I mean, if it had to be categorized, then at least "thinking" gave it some cred beyond just steamy scenes.

I had a great agent shopping it around and then swinging the HC deal for me, an affable guy who knew everyone in the biz, having once been VP for publishing giant McClelland & Stewart.

A publisher with his own HC imprint was interested, saying that half his staff had read my manuscript and were very enthusiastic about it. So, we took a meeting - my agent, the publisher and me - and that turned into a contract, a handsome advance, a few rewrites, some fruitful exchanges with the editor and finally publication.

Do you recognize that little black and white portrait on each of The Gorgeous Girls covers? She's in the locket or she's in the O and she's in the book - you'll have to read it to see just how she shows up.

Thank you, HarperCollins! I was and always will be grateful for all you did to bring my novel to the marketplace.

But what I really like to write are screenplays.

And I've written some good ones, if I do say so myself. In film festivals, my feature film scripts have been awarded Best Screenplay or Runner Up or Official Selection, and there have been a few almost-options. But none of my scripts have been produced so far, with the exception of a few shorts I wrote.

So, because I love motion pictures but haven't been able to see any of my cinematic visions on the screen, I created what I think of as a halfway house for screenplays: it's an Illustrated Novella, cousin to the Graphic Novel and a third-niece-once-removed to motion pictures.

Introducing: Walter Kist and the Seven Whorls or simply Kist. It's out with an indie publisher now. No mainstream press wants to print colour photos that seek to spin a strange tale of love, photography and a spiritual quest.

The photos were taken with my Diana, a 1950s film camera with a plastic lens that gives dreamy, retro results in the developed photos.

My friends and family members play the characters in the shots. Thank you to all my models.

You can buy The Gorgeous Girls here for just a few bucks.

Thanks for reading!