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 Lee Beavington published his first story at age thirteen. He is the author of “Evolution’s End”, featured in Writers of the Future XXII, and countless other stories, articles and poems. Although his education is in the biological sciences, he clings fiercely to his writing and creative passion. He works in the biology lab at Kwantlen Polytechnic University where—as an avid nature photographer—he has published an ecology textbook entitled Common Plants of Greater Vancouver. His fictional work often includes themes of nature, truth, mythology and the power of story.
Beavington was born in Ontario and grew up on the west coast of Canada. Extensive travel—Iceland, India and South Korea to name but a few—has shown significant influence in his writings. He previously served as vice president of an exotic animal shelter and his nature photography has been shown in the Surrey Art Gallery.
Beavington currently lives in Vancouver, British Columbia, with his wife Jenn.
Life Cycle
Lee from pre- to post-conception.
For other significant events in Lee's life, please see his timeline.
Path to Writing
Lee's journeys in the written world.
1 - DNA
Nothing is embedded more deeply in our bodies than DNA, a winding and convoluted double helix at the center of every cell, aching to be expressed one generation to the next. Writing undoubtedly lurks in my genes as tiny strands of DNA that have been passed on through the sperm and eggs of my ancestors. Thomas Cooper, my great-grandfather, was fluent in five languages, journalled diligently, and worked for the Montreal Gazette in the 1890s. My late Aunt Betty Lambert, English professor at Simon Fraser University and prolific playwright, wrote over seventy plays, some of which are still produced today. (My website in tribute to her is here.) As for my direct bloodline, my father worked as an editor and my mother a journalist—I’ve been pushing her to finish her own novel.
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2 - Reading 
Obvious, I suppose. Though I was introduced to the written word at an age earlier than most. While in the womb, my Dad read Watership Down to me. Later, it was Lord of the Rings. I remember in Kindergarten, too shy to fight for the best toys, I huddled in the small reading area, devouring every book with a voracious appetite for story and vocabulary. After I finished I read them all again. I’ve always been an avid reader, my only complaint being that, given a hundred lifetimes, there would still be far too much to read. |
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3 - Contest
 For a writer, competition and deadlines help you beat the blank page by terrifying you into writing something. In grade 8, the Earl Marriott Secondary Herald announced their annual writing contest. Being a student, I of course ignored such notices. But my mom read the announcement and wrote just above it: Lee see me re: this Love Mom. I owe her a debt of gratitude, as that contest gave me a deadline and a much needed push. So instead of rewriting the first thirty pages of the fantasy story I was working on, I started and actually finished a short story called “Avar’s Quest”. It placed first in the Surrey school district. |
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4 - Recognition 
Following my success the first year entering the contest, I proceeded to submit something every year until graduation. For five years I had a clear deadline to write something, and so I did (although I always got my story in the last possible day, agonizing over revisions until the final hour). Each year I received further recognition. Having my name in the headline of the local paper was a thrill, the realization that my writing was being read and recognized giving me the first inklings of what it felt like to be a writer. |
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5 - Rejection 
My degree in biology finished, I returned to writing after a long hiatus, over the following year completing my fantasy novel and thirty science fiction short stories. Having discovered my genre of choice, writers’ block became a foreign concept. I no longer needed the most brilliant idea in the world to get started; the ideas were simply there, and they worked. Then I started submitting to publishers, and the rejections soon piled up quicker than the stories. I decided to display them on my bedroom wall, just above the bed so I would see them every morning and night, determined that they wouldn’t come down until I got accepted. What followed was a very humbling process: a doubting of my ability, questioning the viability of such a career, and feeling like my years of work may never amount to anything. Perhaps this experience is one every writer must—or should—go through. After rejection number forty-one, I made my first professional sale.
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6 - Published 
Many dreams have floated through my head, and I’ve taken them all seriously. But none have I worked harder towards than having my words in print and on the bookstore shelf. With my novelette, “Evolution’s End”, I achieved that goal. The moment of tangible truth came on August 19, 2006, the day after the awards ceremony in San Diego. At Mysterious Galaxy Books I picked up a copy of Writers of the Future, volume XXII, and felt the power of the words within.
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7 - Travelling
Visiting places that are novel, places your eyes haven’t set upon before and your neurons have never processed, forces your mind to form new connections and pathways. The colour-soaked saris of Indian women wading into the ocean, the scent of elephant dung on the dust-filled Kenyan plains, the calluses forming while scaling hundreds of stone steps barefoot to a hilltop temple, the leaves of the Bodhi tree being picked from the ground as though they are gifts from Buddha himself. All of these experiences manifest themselves as creative inspiration. I started my first novel while in England, and the second while in India; neither is a coincidence. But one need not venture halfway across the world to germinate their seed of imagination: sometimes a walk down the road is enough. The journey begins this very moment. The path awaits you. |
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