Idyllic Avenue, the first novel from local author Chad Ganske, is the end result of a life spent in the pursuit of writing. But the strange thing is that the sci-fi book, which follows Stanford “Saturn” Samuels (a man with an eye mutation that makes him “imperfect”) and his life on the distant planet of Ultim, wasn’t originally a sci-fi book at all.
“Honestly, the original Idyllic Avenue wasn’t meant to be a science fiction novel,” admits Ganske. “It went through many, many, many rewrites, and eventually turned into science fiction as I embraced the changes over time.”
The road to Avenue was a short one, in some ways. Ganske decided to send the novel off to every publisher he could find that was accepting science fiction and, in what he describes as an incredible streak of luck, he had a publisher interested within two weeks. But, it took a long time to get to that point: Ganske says his first published novel has been a long time coming and it’s completely surreal to have it finally happen. Now 37, he first discovered his passion for writing at a young age and says the style in which he authored his book is a direct result of influence from the many great authors that he’s enjoyed over time.
“The first book that I read and loved was [Ernest Hemingway’s] The Sun Also Rises and I really liked the bare bones writing style and sophisticated dialogue,” says Ganske. “Reading my book you’ll notice that it’s very minimalist and that was a style I emulated from Hemingway. It’s kind of hard edge; you cut away all the fluff and just get down to it. Simple stories, complex ideas, and complex characters, that’s what always spoke to me.”
His one true passion, Ganske has loved writing for as long as he can remember, and it didn’t take him long to decide that this was the career he wanted to devote his life to.
“I’ve always written, but I didn’t start writing seriously until a little bit later, like after high school,” he says. “A lot of the stuff we read in school disgusted me. I just couldn’t stand English class and so I really discovered books and writing for pure pleasure in my early 20s.”
Ganske says most writers, himself included, do it because they feel compelled to.
“I certainly don’t do it for money, obviously; I do it because I’ve always done it,” he says. “My mother’s told me stories about how when I was young I would write these little tiny novelettes and I’d put price tags in the corners then go around trying to sell them to neighbours.”
Pursuing his dream proved incredibly important for Ganske and he refused to let anything stand in his way.
“I took a few classes right out of high school, mostly because I felt pressured to, but I find writing to be a very solitary thing. Classes are good for being part of a writing community, bouncing ideas off of one another and reading each other’s stuff, but it was never my thing as I’m introverted and quiet,” he says.
After working as a newspaper reporter for a short time in Alberta, he came back to Victoria and attended Camosun, albeit briefly.
“I attended Camosun for… saying ‘one semester’ would be stretching it,” he says. “I attended for a couple months and then I dropped out because ultimately I had one goal: I could focus entirely all of my brainpower on the writing and not on whatever silly paper was due in some class I didn’t care about. And that’s how I did it. Was it the right thing to do? I have no idea.”
Despite his uncertainty about his career path, Ganske has certainly kept busy. Though he’s focussing on Idyllic Avenue and its impending sequel at the moment, Ganske says he has written “zillions” of short stories and has begun several other novels, which he hopes to get back to soon.
As for what will happen in the sequel, Ganske says he doesn’t know how his story will end.
“It’s a weird experience, being a writer,” he says. “You sit down and you have a vague idea of what you want to write, but until you’re actually doing it, you’re never sure.”