Canadian author and actor Melia McClure joins us for this Power Q & A to talk about her exceptional new novel, All the World’s a Wonder (Radiant Press, 2023), and her masterful use of voice to create unforgettable, vibrant characters. You’re not going to want to miss this!
Melia McClure, author of the absorbing novel, All the World’s a Wonder, published by Radiant Press, 2023.
Q: Your book positively sings with the chorus of your characters—each so distinct and beautifully authentic. Would you say that being an actor has helped develop your ear for voice?
A: My experiences as an actor are integral to my process as a writer. I approach writing as a performer, attempting to be a conduit of the voices of my characters. I need to be able to both hear the voices and perform them; if I can see my characters on stage or in a film, then the narrative is abuzz with energy and unfolding in interesting and surprising ways. Self-possessed character voices always supersede any preconceived ideas I might have about where a story is going. I attempted to dramatize this creative process in my novel All the World’s a Wonder, in which the Playwright is forced—sometimes in a violent fashion—to allow her characters to direct her work. I once had an acting coach who said, “Get out of your own way,” and I apply that advice to the craft of writing; in other words, I step aside and let the characters talk in whatever way they want to talk.
The same acting coach also said, “Judgment doesn’t allow you to play anything.” That wisdom speaks to the compassion required of an actor, and of a writer as well. To play a character or write a character, it is imperative that the artist allow the voice they are channeling to exist in all its flawed glory. Some of my characters tend to traverse dark, traumatizing territory, falling down moral tunnels that push the possibilities of redemption.
My love of capturing authentic, uncensored voices has led to mixing screenplay and playscript with prose to not only elevate the novel to a voice-driven live performance, but also to highlight the dramatic, role-playing aspects of our everyday existence. Still, even without those stylistic experiments, it is the characters speaking to me from beyond the curtain that direct the day. Sometimes what they say is witty, sometimes crude, other times funny, occasionally poetic or devastating. If I were on stage playing this character, I ask myself, what would I say? What would I do? How would I feel? The characters have the answers. As a writer, it is my privilege to get out of the way and let them be.
All the World’s a Wonder is available wherever books are sold. Also, at Radiant Press!
More about All The World’s a Wonder:
A playwright possessed by her muses, an actress desperate to succeed, and a doctor haunted by a lost love. Three people cross time and space to meet through the playwright’s bizarre creative process: to create, the playwright must become her characters; to tell her tragic story, the actress must speak from the grave; to heal his harrowing past, the doctor must surrender to his patient – the playwright.
More about Melia McClure:
Melia McClure is the author of the novel The Delphi Room and continues to delve into the eccentric as a writer, editor, and actor. As an actor, she has traversed a range of realms, from a turn as Juliet in an abridged collage of Shakespeare’s classic to the sci-fi universe of Stargate Atlantis. Melia studied writing at The Writer’s Studio at Simon Fraser University, and her fiction was shortlisted for a CBC Literary Award. Born in Vancouver, she has since traveled the world in search of the ever-shapeshifting muse. www.meliamcclure.com.
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