Imagining Toronto | Intersections of Literature and Place in the Toronto Region

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Toronto: The Novel is an experiment in collaborative creative writing. Beginning with Toronto author Dionne Brand's observation that "the literature is still catching up with the city, with its new stories" as our starting point, we will produce a novel reflecting our own interests and experiences. The scope, format, and direction of the novel are entirely open-ended.

Initial Outline (19 September 2007)
Subject to Change

Characters

people of different ages
someone who did not originate in Toronto
different ethnicities
tourists (Americans)
authority eg police
vagrants
students
different economic/class backgrounds
sentient buildings?
First Nations people
Politicians
Hot dog vendors or shawarma vendors
different genders or non-gender or cross/multi-gender

Settings

CN Tower
Subway station/LRT/SRT/YRT (perhaps each chapter heading is of a subway – chapter ehading – characters meet on the subway – subway stalls, delays, meeting point – true to life)
Parks
Bar
Parkdale
Kensington Market
Malvern (and perhaps shopping centre)
Jane & Finch – streets
Queen Street -- West
Public bathrooms
Waterfront – docks, lakeshore
Nathan Phillips Square
ACC
Waterfront Trail
Yonge Dundas Square
5 black boxes downtown – bank towers
YMCA – Scarborough Town Centre
The PATH
The Beaches
Rush hour highways

Plot

street violence
argument
stereotypes
a character on their way somewhere, somehow end up in Malvern – confront stereotypes – realize that the rumours are not true
romance – beaches or CN Tower
perhaps tourist ends up in Malvern, goes to the mall and perhaps falls in love
complexity theory based on Babel – something happens to opne character and affects all the sub-characters in a different way – everone is connected to one event in some way or other
- one set of characters that is connected to every narrative – recurs (no matter who writes each section; e.g., the tourist(s) appear again and again – connected
not brooding or serious – comic and fun and zany
encountering old friends or acquaintances – catching up with stories

Themes/motifs

overturning or challenging stereotypes
amusing/witty tone – optimism, learning, openness, building
neighbourhood change – e.g., gentrification?
Subway stations as motifs – chapter headings, perhaps
Toronto as paradox – reopresenting anything and everything – every possible attraction but nobody knows about it andor it is not unified.

Temproality – tie period: past, present, future. Back in time? Flashbacks? How far?

City and suburbs – core / periphery. Is Malvern/Scarborough a suburb or part of the city?

One family? Perhaps – wife, children, etc. – perhaps the characters are related – as in Babel (film) where it turns out that everybody is related? Subtle.