Chapter Member
Spotlight Profile August 1999 
Chapter Member Spotlight Profile August 1999 Lynn Turner,
Steering Committee member
Lynn Turner has been a member of the chapter's steering committee since January of 1999. She's a Nova Scotian who loves the sea. (In the full size version of the photo above, one can see Lynn is in the midst of a rocky coast with an expanse of sea behind her.) Lynn pursues an active writing career, mostly in TV scripts. Building on family legend and her interest in history, she has written an historical novel, which is now looking for a home. Soon out, is her e-book Mandy Hears You, a mystery with cross genre elements. Not one to blow her own horn, you may not be aware of Lynn's back room steering committee efforts. She's always willing to help out even if it means trying something new. An adventurous spirit, one gets the sense that Lynn will not be deterred from anything she sets her mind to.She couldn't decide on what to use as a theme for her profile, so here's one I've plucked right from her own mouth, as you'll later see.
There are morethings in heaven and earth, Horatio, Than are dreamt of in your philosophy.Hamlet, Shakespeare.
IC
Will Mandy Hears You, your forthcoming e-book from New ConceptsPublishing be your first published book?
Lynn
No. Ten years ago a friend (Cindy Moss) and I wrote a book publishedby Avalon. In my blithering optimism, I fully expected that to launch me.I've been writing and revising (and revising and revising) manuscripts ever sincebut the second print book contract keeps eluding me. Maybe today . . .
IC
What determined your choice of going e-book?
Lynn
I wrote an article for the Writers Federation newsletter called"E-books, What's the Story?" which opened my eyes to the potential for thatindustry. They’re so convenient. My son lugs ten or fifteen pounds ofbooks back and forth to class. If they were loaded on an e-reader, he couldcarry them in his pocket.I've been making my (meagre) living by writing for a number of years now, soI know that the quality of my work isn't in question. I suspect I'm havingtrouble finding a conventional publisher because some of my stories aren'teasily categorized. Mandy Hears You, for example, has romance andsuspense and mystery and the paranormal. Do you know of any editors at thebig publishers who are looking for that combination?
IC
You've both a Business Administration and a teaching degree. Did you ever teach?
Lynn
I taught business subjects at a community college for a couple of years. When they laid me off I decided to write a book. Luckily I had no idea how hard it would be or I may never have started.
IC
How did you get into screen writing. You've an impressive list of TV episodes and other commercial credits.
Lynn
I heard that a Halifax producer had a new preschooler's television series called Theodore Tugboat with a cast of animated remote-control tugboats. Sounded cute and I desperately wanted to earn a living with my writing (I still do!). So I worked up a few ideas and made an appointment to see him. I was terrified, but I tried to look professional. He told me about the show and I pitched my ideas. He offered me two scripts right on the spot which, I've since learned, was exceptional luck.
IC
You've written an historical novel, Three Cuts of Courage. Have you a side interest in history?
Lynn
The premise for Three Cuts of Courage came from my own family's oral history. One of my ancestors came over on a well known settler's ship in 1775. It seems that he had a friend trapped in prison just before the ship was to sail. 'Someone' broke him out, locked the jailer in the cell, and high-tailed it to the ship. The key they used is in our archives. I've held it in my own hand!I'm now working on two other manuscripts set in the New World in 1776. It's such a fertile time in Nova Scotian and New England history, just seething with intrigue and suspense. And I do love doing the research.
IC
Aside from family, what is the one thing about Nova Scotia that makes it uniquely your home?
Lynn
The ocean. Fourteen years ago we moved to the Annapolis Valley, which is a half-hour from the Bay of Fundy. I didn't miss the city or my friends nearly as much as I missed the ocean. The Bay of Fundy is cool (highest tides in the world), but it's not the ocean. I still have to drive over to the Atlantic every now and again to get a fix of briny air and a limitless horizon.Almost everything I've every written has a nautical edge to it. Stand me on the heaving deck of a boat with the icy ocean spray in my face and fish guts swirling around my feet and I'm happy.
IC
Have you or others in your family done commercial fishing?
Lynn
Nope.
IC
Is most of your current, income generating, work, then, in the arena ofTV scripts?
Lynn
Yes. When I make money, I do fairly well, then there are longstretches when I'm totally dependent on my loving husband.
IC
You mentioned a non-fiction article you wrote. Do you write muchnon-fiction?
Lynn
No, not a lot. Sometimes I do editing work on non-fiction books. Ido write the odd feature article but that's work and I don't have aregular magazine so my pieces are hard to sell.I find journalism and non-fiction hard work, but my journalist friend tellsme that she couldn't write fiction without slitting a vein or two. I alsohave a pal who writes short fiction and claims to be in awe of me because Ido long form. I, on the other hand, would much rather write 50,000 wordsthan 5,000 words. Each to their own, eh?
IC
You read historical books for research, what do your read forpleasure?
Lynn
Mostly mystery--historical and contemporary. I'm slowly working myway through all the books in By a Woman's Hand, a Guide to Mystery Fictionby Women (Jean Swanson, Dean James). I also read romance (i.e. Nora Roberts), romantic suspense, andsome literary stuff.
IC
Have you ever put a book down and not finished it, and if so, why?
Lynn
I need to feel sympathy for the characters. They have to beinteresting and the protagonists need to have moral fibre. I don't care ifthey're brave, or beautiful, or politically correct, but I must like them.If I don't, I search my shelf for something else.
IC
Is there one moment from your growing up years that stands out?
Lynn
You mean like the time when I was in grade six and my friend and I pretendedwe were spies and crept across the airfield on an armed forces base? Wetriggered an all-out alarm and were tracked by soldiers. I vividly rememberlaying on my belly in the mud with the whirling helicopter overhead and thereeds whipping back and forth all around. I didn't even feel that my skinwas torn from tearing through the brambles. Great stuff to draw upon whenI'm writing.
IC
Who has been the most influential person in your life?
Lynn
My father. Dad was a Gentleman. No matter what a person did for a living, hewanted to know about it in detail. He made people feel interesting.
IC
What has been the toughest aspect in writing your books (besides therevising)?
Lynn
Pacing. I think because I spend a lot of time on scripts, which aretotally structured and fast-paced, I worry that I'm rushing my characters.Then, when I slow down and do some digging, I worry that I'll bore myreaders. It's hard for me to be objective about that. By the way, I likerevising. (I'd better . . . I do so much of it.)
IC
You've mentioned using an aspect of the paranormal in your latest novel.Have you ever had a paranormal experience?
Lynn
Yes. They were personal, and notentirely pleasant, events. I figure we humans are aware of only a small part of what'sgoing on around us. How did Shakespeare put it . . . "There are morethings in heaven and earth, Horatio, Than are dreamt of in your philosophy."
IC
What's your favorite animal and why?
Lynn
Cats. I don't know why I like the arrogant little pricks.
IC
What would you like our readers to know about you?
Lynn
I wear a lot of hats (writer, teacher, editor, scriptwriter . . .) but allof them involve the business or craft of writing. I must write. I'mtrained in other skills, but whenever I get discouraged and consider goingback into the job market, I choke up inside. This is a hard business butit's all I want to do.
IC
A parting thought?
Lynn
Please, God, let tenacity pay off.
This interview was conducted during the month of July 1999 by Louise Guardino for the SinC-IC chapter.Lynn@sinc-ic.org spot@sinc-ic.org
Read an earlier Spotlight Profile
