Photo Credit: Angela Gordon
Interview by Marion Lougheed
Michelle Sinclair is a former human rights policy analyst who loves animals and all things nature. Her first novel, Almost Visible (Baraka Books, 2022), won The Miramichi Reader Award for Best Fiction. In the novel, Tess befriends an elderly man in Montreal. The more she learns about him, the more she wants to understand him. This book questions how much we can really know about another person.
After borrowing Almost Visible from my library, I wanted to know more about Michelle and her writing. This interview took place by email.
Marion Lougheed: What was the initial spark for your book Almost Visible? How did that idea change along the way?
Michelle Sinclair: The idea came after my first social work internship in a psychiatric ward. I’d seen too many old movies that characterized mental health challenges in disturbing ways and worried whether I could advocate for people in line with my values. I wanted to look beyond my initial perceptions to see the whole person.
I decided to write about a well-intentioned but searching young person who has trouble with boundaries, avoids her problems, and becomes obsessed with a client.
Her client’s past is complicated, ethically dubious, and delicate. He was a tender young man in love during a period of social unrest. The protagonist reads his journal, an intimate-yet one-way connection. It’s not ethical, as she took his journal without his knowledge. Will understanding his past help him? Or is barging into his life irresponsible, unhelpful, and self-serving?
Originally, I wanted to write a plot-based thriller. Eventually, I became interested in surrealist novels. I introduced dream-like elements to balance reality and imagination. I wanted to explore themes of grief, regret, memory, truth, time, the written word, political polarization, power, propaganda, mental health, empathy, and friendship.
ML: This is your first published novel. What was the hardest or most surprising thing about the publishing process?
MS: I didn’t know what to expect from a smaller independent publisher versus one of the major ones, nor did I know anything about advances, or royalties, or contracts. I was lucky! My publisher, Baraka Books, was wonderful. They were supportive and respected my vision. There were a couple of surprises, including just how much is expected of an author for promotion and marketing.
Like many writers, I dread promotional events. I work in a bookstore, but I’ve never once recommended Almost Visible to a customer! I also have trouble with social media.
Part of me hopes my book will make the rounds on its own. It’ll call out to someone from the shadows of a dusty used bookstore. That perfect reader will pick it up, blow off the dust, and read a line that speaks to their soul.
Or not. But this vision keeps me from feeling guilty that I haven’t come up with anything witty on Twitter!
ML: The book takes readers through two very different characters‘ lives. Andrés is a young man living through political upheaval in an unnamed Latin American country, while Tess is trying to reinvent herself in Montreal. What do these threads have to do with each other?
MS: Tess is trying to reinvent herself in part by losing herself. She wants to help others and is arguably an empathetic person. She finds herself in a position of relative power yet she is acutely aware of her shortcomings. Can she help someone who doesn’t want or even need her help? Once she knows of Mr. Hewitt’s past, how can she not care about it?
The other thread—Mr. Hewitt’s past—arose from my experiences in Central and South America. I worked with organizations dedicated to securing human rights and met many people living in exile because of political violence. I heard stories about people involved in the violence, people ignorant of what was happening, people deliberately looking the other way, and people fighting for their beliefs and communities.
These were not my story to tell, just as Mr. Hewitt’s story was not Tess’s story. But she wanted to understand where he was coming from.
I was concerned about writing this book because I didn’t want to use other people’s pain for my own purposes. I wanted to understand this period of time and hoped to honour the people who lived through it. I also wanted to think about our perceptions, and whether our deep curiosity is sufficient to help us understand another person.
Finally, I was also thinking about politics and propaganda. As I was writing, the Capitol was stormed in D.C. and the convoy was protesting in Ottawa. I couldn’t help but notice how divided our democratic societies have become, and how important debates are simplified and siloed through social media echo chambers. I wasn’t comparing but rather considering our current context and Latin American dictatorships in the 1970s, how political opinions are developed, shared, entrenched. I was thinking that no matter what kind of government is in power, kindness and understanding are key.
ML: Tell me about your journey as a writer both before and since this book came out.
MS: I thought I wasn’t a “real writer” before my book was published. I was wrong. I was writing all the time, yet I thought I needed external validation. Now I know that validation is slippery… just when you think you’ve caught it, it flies out of your hands. Would I be satisfied once published in a journal? When I’ve completed a novel? When the novel is shortlisted for an award? There are so many possible measures by which we could rate our progress or success, but I’ve had to wrangle my ego a little and remember that the true joy comes from the act of writing.
One: It is lovely to have readers. I think many of us write because we long for connection. Publication leads to readers and community and I’m so grateful for that. It is a gift to write to work things out within ourselves (my novel is a case in point) while retaining hope that just maybe these words will touch someone else. I’ve loved meeting people at book clubs and hearing their thoughts about the novel.
Two: The confidence to try again. Before I was published, I was unsure whether anyone would ever read anything I’d written… I mean, why would they? While I still have those doubts, I think I can complete a project that might interest a few people. I have to keep in mind the joy of writing and I need to balance writing and other realities of life (financial, time, etc.). I also know the importance of completing a project. It’s so easy to keep starting new ones, but finishing feels really good too!
Three: Seeking out help and support, because writing can feel lonely. I’ve joined some great online communities. Many groups can also answer practical questions. It is wonderful to see, and so heartwarming!
Four: The journey has hopefully inspired some others as well (my kids, at least). They’ve watched me try, fail, try again, and fail again. They know how nervous I get before [public] speaking events. They’ve seen me follow this imperfect path as my imperfect self and hopefully, they think it looks fun, nonetheless. They’re very creative and I want them to always make time for curiosity, wonder, mystery, and art.
ML: People obviously get different things from reading the same book. If you could choose one major takeaway for your readers, what would it be?
MS: If I have to choose one takeaway, it would come back to my initial intention—the importance of humility in what we think we know about others, in the way we involve ourselves, or explore other people’s inner worlds and lives.
ML: What are you working on next?
MS: Another novel! It’ll be less introspective and more provocative. The premise is based on where we could go with Artificial Intelligence if we don’t regulate it. But the story will be character driven with themes of friendship, idealism, romance, and mortality. I’ve learned a lot since Almost Visible, and this one will be both more joyful and more daring. I’m excited!
Michelle Sinclair worked as a policy analyst on human rights issues for many years. She studied international development and social work at McGill University and creative writing at Chatham University in Pittsburgh. Her work has appeared in The Antigonish Review and is forthcoming in The Literary Review of Canada. Her first novel, Almost Visible, was published in 2022 and won The Miramichi Reader Award for Best Fiction. She lives in Ottawa with her spouse, three children and three pets.
Marion Lougheed grew up in four countries on three continents and remains hard to pin down. She is not running from the cops. Her poem “Pavane for a Dead Letter” was featured in the League of Canadian Poets’ 2021 Poem In Your Pocket Day series and her fiction has appeared in This Will Only Take A Minute: 100 Canadian Flashes (Guernica Editions, 2022), Reflex Press and The Arcanist, among others. In addition to writing and editing, she is working on a PhD in anthropology at York University. Find her at www.marionlougheed.com