The Making of Water Lane: In Search of Form and Meaning

HOW does an idea become a novel? What are the minute-by-minute decisions and discoveries that lead to the realization of an artistic vision? In this companion book to the novel Water Lane: The Pilgrimage of Christopher Marlowe, the reader of the novel is invited to look over the shoulder of the writer at the process whereby a cluster of related images evolves into a realized work of art, and at the on-going exploration of the techniques that will allow us to process the bombardment of images that is life as we experience it in the 21st Century.

John Passfield was born in St. Thomas, Ontario, Canada, and continues to reside in Southern Ontario, at Cayuga, with his family. He has taught and studied literature, creative writing and drama, and is interested in the development of the novel as an art form. The Making of Water Lane is a companion book to the novel Water Lane, the story of the life and death of Christopher Marlowe. This journal is an attempt to record the process whereby a novel evolves from the original idea, through the planning, writing and polishing stages. It captures the drama of the gradually-shifting balance between what the artist knew and what the artist did not know at every moment in the writing process. www.johnpassfield.ca