Janice (Jay) Lang’s first novel, HUSH, is being released on Feb. 1, 2020. Lang is an English student at UFV. The book follows the story of a young woman, Jade, who’s cast out of her wealthy family because of her sexuality and then ends up on Galiano Island working at a fish hatchery. There she meets and falls in love with a woman who comes from a very different background than her own. Eventually, a murder takes place on the island that is connected to Jade. She then gets involved with the police investigation, trying to find evidence that will solve the case so that her life can go back to normal with her girlfriend.
“I think it [the book] focuses on mental health … and what can happen when people defame you, or depersonalize you, or degrade you for your choices,” said Lang. The story shows Jade dealing with these issues through the police investigation. It shows the effects of trauma and how that can carry on throughout one’s life.
“There’s not enough literature of people who identify as LGBTQ+… and not a lot of it is believable either.”
Lang said it can be difficult getting fiction published in Canada because every publishing house wants non-fiction now. But after contacting countless publishers, Books We Love from Calgary accepted Lang’s manuscript and worked with her in the editing and production process.
“From start to finish, it takes me eight weeks to complete a novel.” Lang is able to produce such a large body of work in this short time frame because of her dedication to each project. She’s written seven novels in total, with another being published through Books We Love this July called SHATTER.
Included in this eight-week time frame, Lang takes two to plot the entire story out, from the main storyline even to the smaller secondary plotlines. HUSH is a suspense/thriller story; therefore, Lang felt it was very important to make sure everything ties together, from a subtle hint in one area, to a minor character in another part.
Before enrolling in the Bachelor of Arts (BA) program, Lang spent three months in the upgrading and university preparation (UUP) program at UFV. While enrolled in an English course, Lang learned about plotting out long works of fiction, the importance of it, and how to do it.
Once enrolled into the BA program, Jocelyn Coates, a previous professor at UFV, provided Lang with the encouragement she needed to take her storytelling skills to the next level. From there, Lang spent time with Michelle Superle, another English professor at the university, working on more fiction. Eventually, Lang did an English directed study with John Carroll where she worked on manuscript-length fiction. After all of her one-on-one work with various professors at UFV, Lang’s passion for novels came alive and to date she has written over seven novels in her own time.
You can find HUSH at The Bookman in Chilliwack, at Coles in Abbotsford’s Seven Oaks Mall, Amazon, Ingram, and Barnes & Noble on Feb. 1.
Image: AAA Photography
Photo: Jay Lang
