“Self-doubt is often not an assessment of reality but of confidence”
When I first met Chris Moore, MFA’22, in the King’s MFA program, he was then Dean in the Faculty of Science at Dalhousie. I didn’t yet know he would become a good writing friend. I certainly didn’t know that a drunk driving accident in his youth changed the trajectory of his life or that he too loved a single great sentence. I was self-protective, aware of his career as a psychologist, and how my experience of psychiatric institutionalization within my family clouded my judgement.
I was soon impressed, not only by the quality of Moore’s writing, the brilliant tragic hopefulness, but also the quality of his character. Chris Moore is someone who will look you in the eyes and genuinely ask, “How are you?” and really want to know. Entering the MFA to study amongst a community of writers, Moore says he felt exhilarated, “And, to be honest, a bit intimidated. There were so many talented writers in the program. I felt a bit like an outsider, but was also very eager to soak everything in.”
Chris Moore, MFA’22
I was lucky to be in conversation with Moore for the Toronto launch of his book, The Power of Guilt: Why We Feel it and its Surprising Ability to Heal.
Snow came down thick and fluffy, the night before our conversation and Moore’s flight was delayed a day. He arrived for the launch, shoes thick with slush. “You need someone to shovel this walk for you.” He bellowed over the wind. “Don’t get me started with that.” I replied, then gave him a squeeze and took the snack platters from his wife Kristen who was trying to balance on the ice. “Thank you, but you don’t need to do that,” Moore said, referring to helping with the platter. I joked I would feel guilty if I didn’t.
The room filled with old friends and new as Queen Books’ windows fogged from the warmth, and I asked the first question. “When did you know you wanted to become a writer?”
“In one sense I have never thought of myself as a ‘writer’ in the sense that writing is my purpose or my vocation. I am a scientist and an ideas person: someone who likes to understand the world, including the psychological world. A part of the process of understanding the world is engaging and debating with other like-minded people. For this you must be able to communicate clearly through writing. So, I knew I would have to become a ‘writer’ when I made the decision to devote myself to communicating scientific ideas to a nonspecialist audience and that moment came as I approached retirement from my academic position.”
We discussed how his writing practice with this book differed from his academic writing and Moore responded in his English accent worn over his years living in Halifax. “My writing practice is not routine. I tend to write when I have time and feel the urge. I am not one of those writers who has a writing schedule, say six to nine every morning, although I understand the importance of a routine. Fortunately for me, I tend to get ideas popping up in odd moments and places, then I feel the need to get the idea down even if it is just a note on my phone.”
When he transitioned to writing for a general audience, he realized creative nonfiction required a heightened sensitivity to the reader, based on how they would engage with the text, and that’s where he spent most of his time learning. “The Kings MFA was enormously helpful in retraining me in that way.”
The MFA education on the business side of publishing was especially valuable in helping Moore look for an agent and secure HarperCollins as his publisher. “I think the key benefit was the training in ‘pitching.’ It took me a while to find an agent—there was a full year after the program where I pitched and got nowhere—but in the end the query letter I developed in the MFA program did the job.” Moore emphasized the value of becoming “agented.” “Once that relationship was in place, the refinement of my proposal was completed very quickly, and we had the deal with Collins within two months. The important point is that it may not matter how good a writer you are or how good your manuscript is, if you cannot navigate the structures that gatekeep entry into the traditional publishing world, then it is very difficult to make progress toward publication.”
Moore doesn’t hold back in his book, and that’s where the medicine is. The chapter where he exposes his anger in an Intensive Short-Term Dynamic Psychotherapy (ISTDP) session with his psychotherapist Dr. F is unflinchingly vulnerable. The power of the writing lies in witnessing how a trusted relationship with a therapist, and befriending guilt, has the power to heal.
As a scientific writer and researcher, Moore knows being willing to be challenged or proved wrong is essential. “The notion of ‘settled science’ is anathema to the actual scientific process. When you understand that, it generates a deep humility about what you are doing. You take your place in the long chain of scientific discovery. Science communication has a role in helping to transmit the current state of understanding more broadly, but it should never be taken to be telling people the final facts of the matter!”
I pressed Moore for writerly advice. “I haven’t got anything genuinely novel that probably lots of smart people have not said before. But the things I learned and carry with me now are:
- Don’t let self-doubt win. It’s natural to doubt yourself before a project comes fully together, but that self-doubt is often not an assessment of reality but of confidence.
- Sometimes you need to step away, go for a walk, and let ideas percolate.
- Progress is often not measured by the number of words on the page. Sometimes coming up with a single sentence can be the key to unlock a lot of future progress. So, be satisfied with those single great sentences!”
I joined Moore, his wife Kristen and their friends for dinner at Gio’s after the event. We ordered negronis and ate too much pasta. “Thank you for doing this.” Moore said, clinking my glass. He didn’t know that doing this was part of my own healing, that being a person with a history of mental illness interviewing an expert psychologist put us on level ground. I smiled, and said “Of course.”
Alongside participating in Book Clubs for Inmates, a registered charity that fosters empathy, connection, and supports rehabilitation among incarcerated individuals using the power of literature, Moore is already conceptualizing his next writing project, which I am sure will have some medicine and many single great sentences within.
This story was published in the latest edition of the MFA Scribbler, edited by Adelle Purdham, MFA’22.
The MFA Scribbler shares news about, from and for students, staff, alumni and friends of the University of King’s College Writing & Publishing Program. Read the Spring 2026 Newsletter.
