Thomas Leduc: For beginners writing's like exercise. It should hurt a bit and be difficult

Author Thomas Leduc

Thomas Leduc was Poet Laureate of Sudbury, Ontario, 2014-2016 and the President of the Sudbury Writers’ Guild, 2017-2021. In 2019, Tom published his first book, Slagflower Poems Unearthed From A Mining Town, with Latitude 46. His second book, Palpitations is coming out in the spring of 2025.

Author Thomas Leduc

Tom has published two community driven books with the Sudbury Writers’ Guild, one titled Painted Voices, and the other titled Sudbury Superstack A Changing Skyline. Most recently his poem, The Night We Burned The Dragons Head, was published in Prairie Fire’s, Burning Up/ Burning Down, April 2024 edition.

If you wish to know more about Tom, you can visit his webpage at https://tomleducpoetry.wixsite.com/hom.You can also find his books at All Lit Up or your favourite indie bookseller.

On Creative Writing: Has your writing evolved over the years? If so, how? Through writing experience? Reading a lot? Writing courses or communities? A combination, or something else?

Sharing writing and receiving feedback brings evolution as a writer

Thomas Leduc: I’d have to say my writing has evolved over the years through sharing with others. One of the biggest steps I took as a writer was that first step of sharing my work. Once I started to get feedback, I started to be a better writer. For me, it was as simple as sharing with a friend, a parent, a partner or a teacher. Learning that any criticism they give you is because they want you to succeed makes a big difference.

You don’t have to accept everything someone says about your work, but you should at least take what they say for a test run. Of course, I’ve read books and magazines on writing poetry and short stories, and this gave me a great foundation. I also joined a writer’s guild. Surrounding myself with like minded people at various stages of their writing journey helped me with my own writing journey and instantly elevated everything I was writing.

On Creative Writing: Are you a plotter or a pantser? (For writers or short stories and novels).

Flying by the seat of your pants!

Thomas Leduc: I want to be more of a plotter, but the excitement of a story or poem sets me off by the seat of my pants. For poems and short stories, I find this isn’t too much of an issue. I can have the draft of a poem or a short story worked out in my head before I even sit down to write and if there is an unexpected surprise it can be worked into draft without too much trouble. Recently I have started working with a novel coach and I am quickly discovering that what I thought was my first draft isn’t even close to my first draft. Novels take a lot of planning but that’s ok because I’m really looking forward to the challenge.

On Creative Writing: If you’ve been published, how did you find your first publisher?

Right place at the right time for publisher

Thomas Leduc: I was lucky when it came to finding a publisher. I live in the medium sized city of Greater Sudbury and at the time when I was looking for a publisher, we had a small writing community with no small publisher. When Latitude 46 opened their doors, I happened to be in the right place at the right time. Since my first publication Slagflower Poems Unearthed From a Mining Town was published, our writing community and Latitude 46 has grown quite a bit and I am happy to report we are still working  together on my new collection of poems Palpitations that comes out in May 2025. I live by the rule of, if it ain’t broke don’t fix it, so I hope to keep publishing with them as long as they’ll have me. 

On Creative Writing: What advice/guidance would you give to writers?

Thomas Leduc: The best advice I can give is share your work. Don’t be afraid to put yourself out there. Listen to criticisms, especially if the same criticism comes from multiple sources. Next, don’t be afraid to write what you’re afraid to write about.

Writing, especially for beginners, can be like exercise. It should hurt a little and be difficult to do. If what you’re writing is difficult, it probably means you need to go there. Write through it. The writing doesn’t need to be good because that can come later when you share your work, listen to the critiques, and then edit.

On Creative Writing: Do you edit as you write, or write and edit later?

Thomas Leduc: I always write first and edit later. Spill what need to say out on the page then tweak it later. If I start editing as I write I will never get to the end.  I will end up going down a research rabbit hole and lose the momentum I had when I started. Momentum, passion and drive are hard to come by at times. Research and editing are always there waiting for when you have no inspiration.

Thank you to River Street Writing for co-ordinating this interview with Tom.