Where to set my fifth novel · Posted Mar 31, 08:59 AM by Todd Babiak
I spent much of March travelling and rewriting a novel (not blogging or Twittering, as it turns out). One of my destinations was Montreal and another was Vancouver. When I think about where I might like to live someday, when my thoughts turn naughtily from this place, it’s usually a battle between Montreal and Vancouver. Aside from being large cities near a body of water, they don’t have much in common.
Montreal is freezing while Vancouver is merely cold. Montreal is une ville française while Vancouver is une ville internationale. Montreal is dirty while Vancouver is clean. Montreal is chaotic while Vancouver is orderly. Montreal is cheap while Vancouver is expensive. Vancouver is surrounded by splendid mountains while Montreal has a large hill that locals refer to as a mountain.
I understand both cities well enough. While I have not officially lived in Vancouver, I’ve spent plenty of time there. For a good chunk of the nineties, I lived in Montreal. Architecturally, they’re very different. Yet, architecturally, they’re the only two interesting cities in Canada.
Montreal is exasperating! The police can’t strike, officially, so at the moment they’re wearing camouflage pants in protest. They look like angry, fit hobos. Every inch of the city is tagged. Young men on the Plateau, my old neighbourhood, spit and litter with impunity. People drive like maniacs. They jaywalk.
Vancouver is exasperating! Like most western metropoli, areas of interest are many kilometers apart. Yet for Canada’s most outward-looking city, the public transportation system remains embarrassing. People in Seattle, a couple of hours south, think of themselves as living in a rough climate. But by Canadian standards, Vancouver is paradise. This creates a sense of well-being and, of course, entitlement. It’s a rich, rich, rich city, loudly so. No one jaywalks.
Both cities are marvelous.
I may be biased, because the novel I’m working on takes place in and around Montreal, but Vancouver doesn’t interest me as a literary location. It doesn’t feel like there’s a conflicted soul about the place — only a deliciously attractive lifestyle. This is an entirely unfair comparison, because I have spent so much more time in Montreal. A good friend writes radiant short stories, set in Vancouver.
The answer, like the answer to so many questions, is probably France.
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Guess it depends on the novel…if it’s urban your choices are scarce. I dunno…would setting an urban novel in Saskatoon be foolhardy or a good challenge? A place with little to no mythology … blank slate … maybe?
— Mike Gravel Mar 31, 12:16 PM #
Good point.
That’s what I was thinking with the Garneau Block, as Edmonton is a relatively unwritten city.
— Todd Mar 31, 01:43 PM #
Or, like many questions about Canada: Toronto.
— Ming Apr 4, 09:12 PM #
Winnipeg is also pretty interesting from an architectural point of view, kinda like downtown Montreal fifty years ago.
How about setting a story there as the city is so similar to Edmonton ?
— Subhadeep Apr 11, 02:16 PM #