Plotting by Ron Crouch

Generally, when I start writing a story, it’s already inside my head. Not in its entirety, but I have a pretty good idea of the main theme. Because of that I don’t (as yet) suffer from writer's’ block. I am not daunted by a blank page. Because computers are such fickle things (my wife tells me it’s not the computer) I’ve taken to writing out my chapters by hand before heading to a word document.

I have to remind myself who the characters are and write down their names and how they are interconnected to the other characters. I make note of such details as their eye colour, whether or not they are left or right handed. How they take their coffee and so forth. As the story progresses this becomes more and more important. Readers will spot a discrepancy as though the details were written in red ink. Sometimes I’ll keep an exercise book for each novel, or lately, I re-use the plain side of a previously printed document. Each writer will obviously have their own methods, likely most would find my haphazard methods confusing.

I’m always thinking of new ways to do things, what worked for me on one novel, I’ll likely change on the next. When I go to bed I think about how the next chapter is going to come together, how all the characters within that chapter will relate to one another. How that chapter will lead into the next and onward towards the end of the story. When I’ve finished the story I go back and check the details against my original notes.

Writing a story is the easy part. For the Brides series I have a pile of researched material, some of which may never be used, however, the knowledge gained from the journey was worth the effort.  

Historical non-fiction writing by Ron Crouch

Embarking on this Brides of Canada historical novel with Kathy Fischer-Brown, has been a completely new adventure for me as a writer. All my previous novels, though based on some aspects of reality, have all been works of fiction. This project has required an enormous amount of time in research and countless hours of reading as well as time well spent in the library.


Probably, like most immigrants to Canada, I was very ignorant about the history of North America. Having been born and raised in England, the history lessons, as I recall began with the Stone Age, then the Saxons and the Celts, the Romans and of course the Battle of Hasting in 1066 when the Normans invaded from France under William the Conqueror … and as they say, the rest is history. I don’t have any clear recollection about North American history, I’m sure the subject was mentioned. I was brought up on Rule Britannia and Briton’s never, never, never shall be slaves. (Though the government at the time didn’t have a problem making citizens of other countries, slaves). No mention of what was done to the aboriginal peoples of not only North America, but to those around the world, even as far away as Australia.

Becoming involved in this project has been a complete eye opener for me. I had no idea how much influence the Hudson’s Bay Company had on the formation of Canada, having read one of Peter Newman’s books on the subject. Unbelievable that Canada was built on the fur trade, notably the humble beaver. What struck me the most was the resilience of the people, the hardships and suffering, the cruelty that they endured, both the people of the First Nations and the immigrants. The thought that people travelled thousands of miles across Canada in all weathers, enduring the brutality of long winters, the mosquitoes and blackflies in spring and summer and all manner of biting, stinging insects. As I researched North American history, it struck me how close Canada was to becoming part of the United States or the other way around.

I know firsthand how unforgiving the seas can be. To have boarded a sailing ship back in the late 1700’s, bound from England to North America, was to risk life before you even got there, assuming you got there. Imagine walking down the gangplank onto another continent back then. Unless you were one of the landed gentry, establishing a new life in North America would have been unbelievably challenging.

My grandfather told me an interesting story. I guess it would have occurred back in the late 1800’s or early 1900’s. His mother-in-law, a young woman at the time, decided to board a ship from England bound for the United States. Her husband had already set out to make a new life for them over there. They missed each other terribly. It was to be a surprise. When she finally landed in the U.S. she learned her husband had taken another ship back to England to surprise her. Apparently the two ships must have passed each other somewhere in mid Atlantic, these two lonely souls unaware their sweetheart was aboard the other ship.

You know, you don’t have to be that old to recall childhood events, that to the so-called millennials, you’d have to have been at least a hundred years old, if not older to remember such things. I’m in my sixties, but can still recall as a small boy in England, having our milk being delivered to the house in glass bottles by horse and cart. To me, it’s incredible how far technology has brought us in such a relatively short space of time and where it is all going to lead us.

Thanks to Brides of Canada, I’ve learned a tremendous amount about my new country.

If you are interested in learning more about the Canadian Fur Trade and the Hudson Bay Company, check out this website from Canada Geographic.