PHOTO/CATHERINE CAPEK
Aurora
By Amanda Persico
Imagine a world of peaceful harmony without wars or religious factions.
Aurora's Eden Remme Watt created such a place in her first published novel, Vision Speak.
The book takes readers to a futuristic world where Mrs. Remme Watt tries to answer life's heavy questions through romance, science fiction and new age philosophy.
Secretly trained in "vision speak", the main character's extrasensory potential is a threat to her society and she is stalked by opposing factions.
Although the story flows from one chapter to the next, the creative process proved a little more difficult for Mrs. Remme Watt.
"I'm not a writer by vocation. I have a full-time job and three sons," she said. "
It was a start and stop endeavour over many years."
Mrs. Remme Watt started jotting down ideas more than five years ago.
But it wasn't until her niece's death from cancer in 2004 that Mrs. Remme Watt started to question religion and life without it.
"When something like that happens, you question everything. Why her?" she said.
"You go through the formal teachings of religion and the questions become more and heavier."
As Mrs. Remme Watt questioned religious dogmas, she imagined a world without religion and created a society in which all religions and belief systems were housed under one organization.
"All the dogma drives me crazy," Mrs. Remme Watt said.
"My mother was feeding me new age tapes while I was dealing with this family tragedy. That's what was going on in my head when I began the book."
Two years ago, Mrs. Remme Watt's book was complete, but not ready to be published.
She spent the last couple of years trying to find a publisher, she attended writers' conferences and workshops and joined writers' organizations, including the Aurora Writers' Group.
"After the book was done, it was a feeling of, 'now what?'" she said. "The book is finished, so why aren't people lining up to buy it? I still had a lot to learn."
After about six months of receiving rejection letters, one publisher, Publish America, decided to take a chance on the new writer.
"The process stifles creativity and is painful, but you have to get out there. You have to get your book out there."
When Mrs. Remme Watt completed Vision Speak, the thought of losing words, let alone full chapters, in the editing process, made her cringe.
"I mentored under Wayson Choy at the Humber School of Creative Writing. He told us if the only tool you have in your toolbox is a hammer then every problem will look like a nail," she said. "Editing is about perfecting your craft and it can take as long or longer than the original draft."
While Vision Speak is Mrs. Remme Watt's first published novel, she's an experienced writer and has written for several business/computing magazines and completed another novel, Tristan's Legacy, in 2000.
"I have a lot more tools at my disposal now than when I started," Mrs. Remme Watt said, adding she has revisited Tristan's Legacy and started to edit it.
"It's finished, but it's still not ready for publication. There's more tweaking to do."
For Mrs. Remme Watt, the morning proves to be most conducive to writing.
"It's a great feeling to wake up at 5 or 6 a.m. when no one else is awake," she said.
"That's when the ideas go crazy."
Although Vision Speak has yet to be released, Mrs. Remme Watt is working on a sequel.
"I learned to carry a notebook with me at all times," she said. "Ideas become like daydreams. I'll be driving and things start clicking in my head."
A book launch will be next month.
For more information on Vision Speak, or to order a copy, visit www.vision-speak.com
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