Introduce yourself; who are you and what types of books do you write?
I’m Liz Johnston, a writer and editor based in Toronto. I write literary fiction and have published essays and short stories in Poets & Writers, The Fiddlehead, Grain, The Antigonish Review, and The Humber Literary Review, among other publications. The Fall-Down Effect, out April 21 with Book*hug Press, is my first novel.
What are your books about?
The Fall-Down Effect spans just over three decades and explores climate change, family, and activism through the lives of siblings River, Fern, and Sylvia, who grow up surrounded by forests and who each try to protect those forests in their own way.
What was the inspiration behind writing your first book?
The Fall-Down Effect was at least in part inspired by the place I grew up, Revelstoke, B.C., a small town in the mountains, surrounded by forests and dependent, to a certain extent, upon the logging industry (the railway, and also tourism, particularly with the development of the ski hill since I left, are also big industries). I was thinking a lot about climate change and activism when I started writing, and I began to think about my hometown too, even though—or perhaps because—it had been about eight years since I’d visited.
What is the most rewarding part of being an author?
It’s been an incredible joy to see a few early reviews on Instagram from readers I don’t know who’ve connected with the novel and its characters. I also got the chance to talk about the novel with someone who’s doing a feature about it; that was such a gratifying experience, and one I hadn’t really anticipated. The interviewer had come with such thoughtful, interesting questions about the book, and it seemed like the characters were real for her like they are for me. I think on some level, that’s always my goal, for my characters to live inside readers’ minds.
What elements do you think make for a good story?
Following on the answer above, I’m always looking for compelling characters, both as a reader and as a writer. That doesn’t mean they need to be likeable, though my favourite characters have a lot of goodness in them, even if they’re flawed and make mistakes. But even characters who hurt others or act selfishly can captivate my interest, so long as the narrative gives some understandable, if not totally relatable, reason for why they do the things they do. And I suppose I generally want to see characters change or learn something over the course of a story—though their failure to do so can also be what makes a story interesting.
What is the hardest part of being an author for you?
Time, for me, is the hardest part of being an author—or maybe just being a human. I never have as much time to write as I want, and it’s hard not to prioritize paying editorial work over my own creative projects, or even just to carve out space alongside those editing jobs to think about, draft, and edit my own stories.
What is your current writing project?
I’m working on a new novel about a woman and her university-age daughter, both buckling under work, relationship, and financial stress in the lead up to the ten-year anniversary of the husband/father’s death in a workplace accident.
What is the best writing advice you’ve ever received?
Some of my early stories avoided conflict, in a way; they’d pull back. I’m grateful for the friends and mentors (shout out especially to Khalida Hassan and Alissa York) who pushed me to turn towards the difficult instead, to embrace tension, to raise stakes. I still enjoy a so-called quiet novel, but I know my own novels and short stories have benefitted from that reminder in the back of my head to dial up the tension.
Where can readers discover more about you and your books?
I’m on various social media platforms—on Instagram, Facebook, and Bluesky—and I have a Substack newsletter I send out from time to time. You can also check out my website, liz-johnston.ca. And you can learn more about The Fall-Down Effect at Bookhugpress.ca.