Author Q&A with Aaron Cully Drake

Spring 2026 saw the release of When the World Was Twice as Big, and for our second "Author Q&A" of November we've asked Aaron Cully Drake about writing this novel that he describes as akin to snacking instead of eating a proper meal. Chow down on these responses to get to know Aaron Cully Drake better, and then explore some other Nightwood Author Q&As for some more great writing advice.

Did anything surprise you during the process of writing or publishing? 

The first draft comes fast if you don’t look back. The second draft comes slow if you don’t have the strength to slash throats. One good sentence will make you want to keep a chapter whose only place is to showcase the sentence.

What books did you turn to while writing?

I use books as if I were an LLM and they were the prompts for my story. If I want to write in short, simple sentences, I read Vonnegut. If I’m writing a chapter that needs to wander between stories, I read King. If I want to ache, I read Steinbeck. If I want to understand what my story is about, I read myths.

Is there a sense, memory or feeling that embodies your book?

The feeling of sitting on a porch, staring at the distant treeline, watching for what might step into the field. The feeling of waiting for your prodigal son. 

If your book were a meal, what would it be?

Popcorn. When it’s over, you want a glass of water.

What advice would you give to aspiring writers?

Abandon any pretense that you know what your story is about. You’re just a conduit for an inner primal part of you that only speaks in symbol and allegory. Don’t think you’re so wise that you know what all your metaphors mean.

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From Amazon Canada First Novel Award finalist and Leacock Medal for Humour nominee, an endearing story about a young man confronting a long-buried family secret, his tumultuous relationship with his father—and the girl who connects it all.

In between the pages of his grief, Bill placed a single flower plucked from a bouquet of all the things that were my fault. This one flower was special because written on its petals was this: I was the reason my mother was gone.

After young Freddy defends his childhood friend Saskia in a fist fight, he suddenly realizes that the story of his mother’s disappearance is a lie. Not only that, but Saskia is connected—the girl he loves was there the day his mother left, ten years earlier.

As Freddy tries to understand how he and Saskia are connected by an accident in their childhood, his relationship with his father, Bill, becomes increasingly fraught. Unable to accept the truth of his family’s most stubborn secrets, Freddy leaves home, determined to live a solitary life. He hides out in a remote bush camp, small town diners and a lowly East Vancouver apartment with a view of the mountains. But as the years go by, the unanswered questions about that accident weigh on Freddy and he realizes that peace will require reconnecting with the loved ones he’s tried to forget.

Through witty and heartfelt prose, Drake returns to characters Freddy and Saskia from his novel Do You Think This Is Strange? and explores the trap of false narratives, the complexity of family secrets and the hope found in a world of honed truths.