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Frances Peck

Frances Peck

Photo: Rebecca Blissett

Frances Peck wrote fiction and poetry until her early twenties, when the realities of adulthood and rent steered her toward a career as a ghostwriter, editor and instructor.

As a professional wordsmith, Frances worked with an array of clients and authors to make their material as polished and reader-friendly as possible. She also wrote about the finer points of language, authoring two editions of Peck">https://www.noslangues-ourlanguages.gc.ca/en/pecks-english-pointers/inde...’s English Pointers and co-authoring the popular HyperGrammar">https://arts.uottawa.ca/writingcentre/en/hypergrammar">HyperGrammar website. Along the way she wrote occasional essays and blog posts, and taught scores of workshops and courses for associations of editors, writers and translators, as well as for the University of Ottawa, Douglas College, Simon Fraser University and UBC.

Frances returned to her first love, fiction, with her debut novel, The">https://bookshop.newestpress.com/products/the-broken-places?variant=4228... Broken Places (NeWest Press, April 2022). This “intense and absorbing drama” (Vancouver">https://vancouversun.com/entertainment/books/review-the-broken-places-su... Sun) explores how a major earthquake shakes up the lives and relationships of a group of interrelated characters.

Email:
hello@francespeck.com
City:
North Vancouver
Province:
BC
Genre:
Literary fiction
I write professionally in the following language(s):
English

Publications

The Broken Places. 2022, NeWest Press

Awards

none
Links:
Author website
https://francespeck.com/
,
Twitter
https://twitter.com/FrancesLPeck
,
Eligible for National Public Readings Program:
Yes

WITS

Are you available for public presentations and/or workshops:
Yes
Presentation Description

From Editor to Author: A Journey in Several Parts

Over the course of three decades, Frances Peck established herself as a successful behind-the-scenes wordsmith, working on other people's publications as an editor, ghostwriter and rewriter. Then she decided it was time to come out of hiding. In this presentation she discusses the long, laborious journey from hidden editor to published author (and reads from her fiction if desired).

Presentation Length:
1 hour
Genre:
Author talk and reading
Grades:
Adult readers or writers, especially of literary fiction
Audience Size:
Any size
Workshop Description:

Sentences with Style

What exactly happens when we rearrange a sentence and suddenly it’s sharper and stronger? The study of syntax (word order) may have gone the way of foolscap and fountain pens, but it has a lot to teach us about clarity, emphasis and rhythm. Join Frances Peck, author and former editor, as we dust off some intriguing syntax techniques and explore how they can punch up our writing.

Workshop Length:
1-2 hours (flexible)
Workshop Intended Audience:
Adult writers, beginning to intermediate
Workshop Audience Size:
Maximum 25 people
Are you available for school visits?:
No
Interested in participating in the Union’s Ontario Writers-in-the-Schools program:
No
Interested in participating in the Northern Ontario WITS program:
Yes