Reading by Canadian writer Tim Wynne-Jones

-- Margaret A. Pribel

“All I’m trying to do is write a story,” author Tim Wynne-Jones explained to a group of students and faculty. On Oct. 6, Metropolitan State University hosted a reading by the writer. Wynne-Jones has numerous awards to attest to his skill as a writer and in particular, a children’s/teen/young-adult writer. But don’t let the age designation keep you away. He writes intense stories with challenging subjects that adults can sink their teeth into.

He read from his latest work that is loosely based on his childhood, called “Family Matters: Deep Dark Secrets and Festering Lies.” The passage captured the insanity of a large family and their secret jokes that indicate a group that enjoys each other.

Wynne-Jones has renamed his family in a riotous ways. His character is Rex Zero because their last name is Norton-Norton and another child upon introduction states, “You’re Rex Norton minus Norton so that makes you Rex Zero.” One sister is named Annie Oakley and the baby is called “The Sausage.”

When discussing writing for children, Wynne-Jones pointed out that remembering being a child keeps you honest in writing. He told of asking another writer how she wrote so well in the child’s voice and she said something like: “I’ve always been 12 and trusted this child inside.” He reminded us that we too have that child we know inside of us.

Wynne-Jones indicated how complex life is. Almost in the same breath he said, “I don’t like being pigeon-holed,” then he said, “Now I don’t want to write adult fiction at all.” Like the rest of us, he’s immensely human, contradictory and complex.

He started off writing adult novels, but the frequency with which he referred to his first novel for teens, “The Maestro,” throughout the discussion, indicates the importance of the switch to writing for a younger audience.

“The Maestro” is a story of an abused teenager, but doesn’t dwell in self-pity. The book is filled with depth and symbolism. It’s a story that will stick to your brain for a good chunk of time. “I know this is against what you’re taught, but I never think about theme while I’m writing,” Wynne-Jones explained. He doesn’t know how a story will end. “When I had started ‘Maestro’ I knew it would end in fire. It had to, but that’s all I had.”

He also doesn’t know why the theme of fire appears in two of his other novels, “Boy in a Burning House,” and “Stephen Fair.” “No one’s past is really free of intrigues,” he explained, “Life is messy.” Wynne-Jones is not interested in prepackaged morals for young people. In his books, people tell lies, he said, “I do not condone the lies, but I cannot condemn the liars. It’s the story that changes us, not events,” he notes.

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