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Jonathan Fehr: Following his dream to Vancouver

Jonathan Fehr has loved to create stories for as long as he can remember, but the path to developing his passion for storytelling into a career hasn't always been so clear cut.

Jonathan Fehr has loved to create stories for as long as he can remember, but the path to developing his passion for storytelling into a career hasn't always been so clear cut.

When Fehr was eight, his family moved from Saskatoon and bought the Five Star Motel in Battleford. An only child, he didn't want for entertainment in his new surroundings and enjoyed meeting guests from around the world. When not hanging around the motel with his parents, Fehr and friends would often come up with stories together and then write them out. As a teenager, Fehr began his first official writing project, again, it was a joint effort.

“Some friends and I were sending emails back and forth, pretending we were secret agents on missions,” said Fehr.

“I decided to compile all the emails and actually write it all out in a novel. It wasn't very good, but I loved writing it, and from that moment on I was hooked by the process.”

Fehr found enjoyment in writing, regardless of the finished product. Being able to make stories was his passion and he found himself experimenting with other formats around this time, too.

“My dad had a video camera, which I loved to use. I'd often take it and make short films with my friends after school and on weekends.”

By the time he’d graduated from Heritage Christian School, he had a library of dozens of these short films, which influenced what he pictured for his future.

“This type of stuff led me to pursue a degree in communications at Trinity Western University,” but writing wasn’t completely off Fehr’s radar. At Trinity Western he also minored in English and in 2009, just after graduation, he set about writing his first real novel.

“I'd finished it within a few months, but I knew something wasn’t right with it. Over the next two years I did various drafts, but I was never really satisfied, and one day it just got shelved and I moved on.”

Coming from a tight-knit family, Fehr missed Battleford while away at school. Freshly out of school and back in North Battleford, life carried on, though the incomplete novel was never totally out of mind. After returning, Fehr found a job almost immediately with Catholic Family Services as a childcare aid and then went on to work at Eagles Nest Youth Ranch as a youth worker.

While it wasn’t what he had initially pictured when he’d decided to go to school for communications, Fehr saw the experience positively and one that offered many benefits.

“I loved this season of life,” said Fehr. “It provided me an opportunity to give back to the community I grew up in and also invest in the lives of youth who were desperate for someone to listen to them.”

Ultimately, it was these experiences that made Fehr realize he wanted to write books for kids and young adults.

This was also the period of Fehr’s life when he got his first byline, as a reporter and columnist with a local online newspaper.

“I learned a lot about writing in this time as well,” said Fehr. “All during this time, I was tinkering with my own writing.”

Then, in 2012, Fehr, after a recommendation from a friend, decided to get in touch with Chris Hansen, a story coach.

“[Hansen] was instrumental in helping me improve the novel and get motivated to finish,” said Fehr. “Learning from Chris was incredible. He knew so much about story [writing] and helped me understand things in a whole new way.”

This mentoring relationship turned out to be just the boost Fehr needed to get him thinking about writing more seriously and they even became friends.

For two years Hansen worked with Fehr to help him develop his projects. The two first worked over Skype and periodically met up in person about twice a year. As they became better acquainted with each other and their work, Hansen ran a story idea by Fehr and they became writing partners.

“He believed in me as a writer so much that he extended [an] invitation to write with him on this project,” Fehr said, describing the process of becoming writing partners with Hansen. “Initially, I didn't see how it would be possible. Writing together from a distance was not going to be easy.”

Fehr’s instinct was right, writing together from a distance wasn’t easy, and within a few months he found himself planning a move to Vancouver.

“I felt more and more compelled to join him and in July of 2015 I left my job and started to work with him on designing the story.”

Before leaving for Vancouver, Fehr was faced with doubts that cropped up during his first foray into writing.

“I think deep down I was afraid that if I ever ‘finished’ writing the novel, and then tried to publish it and failed, then my dreams would fall apart. I felt it was better to be ‘in the process of writing a novel’ rather than having written one that didn't do well,” said Fehr.

“It wasn't until I moved to Vancouver that my writing career became more serious. I needed to leave the safety of home in order to really see if I had what it took to be a writer.”

While Fehr needed the space to test himself professionally, leaving Battleford wasn’t a decision without its share of anxiety, either.

“[I] packed my car with whatever I could fit and drove west. It was scary and exciting all at the same time. It wasn't easy, and it took me a few months before I was able to find steady work.”

Now fully settled in Vancouver, Fehr has released three novels and found non-writing jobs in that time, including a part-time job assisting an individual with special needs.

The first of his novels, Skyblind, was a solo effort, while Fehr’s next two projects, The Magician's Workshop: Volume One and Volume Two, were the seeds of a story that Hansen first brought to Fehr to flesh out together.

Fehr noted that while, so far, his projects have been in the fantasy genre, he hasn’t sworn off other styles.

“Skyblind is a form of fantasy. The Magician's Workshop is definitely a high fantasy saga. But I wouldn't want to limit myself to that genre of writing alone,” said Fehr.

“I do enjoy world building and so whatever genre, I imagine the stories I write will have a lot of sci-fi/fantasy elements. It's just too much fun to create alternate universes.”

With the feeling of accomplishment that comes along with being a published author, Fehr also noted the precariousness of writing as a career and facing the self-doubt that seems to be inextricably bound with writing.

“There's the moments of ‘am I even a good writer? Will people even like this? Can I ever support a family while pursuing this dream?’

“Even now there's uncertainty,” said Fehr. “I’ve finished three novels and can't do anything more than wait to see if there's any fruit from the seeds I've planted. I make writing sound glamorous and romantic because I love it so much, but it's a lot of struggle.”

Fehr credits his writing partner with working through these fears by offering encouragement and support. And uncertainty or no, Fehr sees himself writing until he is no longer able.

“It's my goal to continue writing until I die, and I'm excited to see what the future holds. “