Welcome to The Red Canoe

THIS POST IS A STICKY. PLEASE SCROLL DOWN FOR THE MOST UP TO DATE INFO

The Red Canoe is a work of literary fiction in progress by Leslie Johnson.

Leslie Johnson is the author of the blog The Long Downward Spiral. He is an emerging author with no printed publications under his belt.


Preview Synopsis:

Peter Myers is a pill popping pharmaceutical salesman living in Barberton, Ohio who divorces his wife after he catches her cheating on him while another man filmed the act. When Peter tries to intervene he is badly beaten by his wife’s new lover and his trusty camera man. Feeling weak and ashamed he sells all of his possessions and purchases a small cabin on Alaska’s central Pacific coast. Peter embarks on a journey of self discovery and empowerment aided by his new small town friends and the serene landscape of the Alaskan wilderness. Peter’s newfound strength is put to the test when Ivan, the local mentally deranged hermit, declares war against Peter after he accidently kills one of Ivan’s dogs. Peter must fight for what is his. He must fight as a man. He must fight to survive.


Blog Manifesto:

This blog will follow a young amateur writer (me) through his journey of writing and publishing his first novel. It will include daily writing progress, new chapters, and finally the trials and tribulations of trying to get a novel published.

I would like to invite anyone interested to follow me along the way.

-Leslie Johnson

Les@thelongdownwardspiral.com
http://www.thelongdownwardspiral.com/

P.S. This post will remain on the top of the page as a ‘sticky’. All current posts will appear below.

Inuit Throat Singing

I discovered this while researching the Alaskan portion of the story. Inuit throat singing or katajjaq is a traditional Inuit way of singing most commonly performed by women. Two women embrace each other and each woman sings a rhythmic chant. In most cases the frequencies of the two voices form other harmonic overtones. A form of this singing (not pictured below) actually calls for the woman to sing into each others mouths to form even more powerful overtones.

It is said that Inuit women would do this type of singing to pass the time while their husbands were out hunting. Traditionally this type of singing is a contest between the two women. They sing until the other one gets two tired or starts to laugh.

These women make incredible use of their voices while singing both while exhaling and inhaling!

Enjoy!

These two girls are some of the best I have found. Its worth watching the whole thing as they demonstrate different styles and tones. The second one they do is my favorite.

This one sounds like a rope being swung around in the wind!

Location location location

Now, even though I have had this idea for a long time I never really researched it well until recently. In fiction details can be everything, and it is hard to write an in depth fiction without the specifics. In order for me to do this I had to make choices, and research accordingly.

Peter’s home town is Barberton, Ohio. I chose this location for two reasons:

1: Its very far away from where I live. That may sound like a strange reason, but it’s the truth. When I first thought about Peter’s character I pictured him residing from the Eastern part of the country. In the first two versions of the story Peter resided from New York City. This posed a few problems of its own, mostly plot and character development problems.

I didn’t want Peter’s transformation to be about escaping the city life so much as I wanted it to be about Peter escaping Peter. NYC can be so overbearing that it in itself can become a main character and I wanted to avoid that.

2: I have had the privilege of visiting Barberton many times. This would allow me to get in very close detail about the town itself without it becoming too overwhelming. Plus, it can be a quirky little town which makes it fun to read about.

Alaska on the other hand is tough. I am STILL researching a lot about Alaska, which is fun because I am learning a lot. I cant afford to fly up there to check it out for myself so I am doing a lot of reading. I will keep you posted on this.

I am about halfway through my first chapter so I have a little ways to go before he gets to Alaska, but I don’t want to have to stop writing to do more research when I get there. Hopefully I can make a clean transition.

In the beginning....

The idea for this book has actually been bouncing around my head for quite some time and I have actually started writing it twice. Both times I got about a quarter of the way into the story and I either ran into plot problems, wished I would have started it differently, or both.

This time around I have spent at least a few months researching and outlining the story in my trusty Moleskine notebook. This has allowed me to make changes in plot or timeline without moving around pages upon pages of words or wasting days of work. It also allows me to get a bird’s eye view of the personal transformation that Peter goes through. It has also allowed me to have more control over how he develops, and I believe it will result in a much ‘tighter’ story.

In addition, writing the plot, dialog ideas, and my research into the notebook leaves something behind other than the book itself; the ‘heart’ behind the work. This is not an uncommon thing for me to do. Almost all of the paintings that I have sold come with the pallet that I used to paint the actual painting. I actually prefer the pallet over the painting.

It also serves as something that my kids (maybe some day?) might hold dear. I plan doing this for each book that right in the future.

I plan to start writing tonight. Wish me luck.