Christy Climenhage is the author of The Midnight Project (Poplar Press (Wolsak & Wynn), 2025). A full member of SFWA and CSFFA, she holds a collection of graduate degrees (PhD and 2 Masters) in International Political Economy, European Administration and Social Sciences from a past life and alternate existence as a social scientist, academic and diplomat. When she’s not writing you can find her in a forest in Quebec walking her dogs.
1 - How did your first book change your life? How does your most recent work compare to your previous? How does it feel different?
The Midnight Project, which comes out in May 2025, is my first novel. I can’t really understate how life changing I feel this is. Its publication represents crossing the Rubicon and shifting from an unpublished writer trying to sell a book I wrote in the dark to an author with a publisher and an agent. This transition into the business of writing and publishing feels very transformative. Of course, nothing has practically changed for me at this moment, except I’m a person who writes and publishes things now.
2 - How did you come to fiction first, as opposed to, say, poetry or non-fiction?
I first came to fiction as a child when I started reading. I read early and often and devoured chapter books from a young age: Stuart Little and Charlotte’s Web were the earliest books I remember. Then, ravenously, I read just about anything. I would imagine characters and dialogue. I’ve always been a reader.
How did I come to writing fiction? I always wrote a bit, had a story going. I wrote poetry too but it didn’t grab me the same way. I went to university and then grad school, and I pivoted to academic writing and non-fiction. Non-fiction felt grown-up and serious. I dabbled in fiction when inspiration struck (which is to say, hardly at all) but didn’t try to publish, or indeed, finish anything.
The way I came to writing fiction, in the end, was by force of will—by a singular decision to undertake and finish projects and try to share them.
3 - How long does it take to start any particular writing project? Does your writing initially come quickly, or is it a slow process? Do first drafts appear looking close to their final shape, or does your work come out of copious notes?
The idea needs to germinate first. It usually begins with a phrase or a sentence. The phrase can come to me in front of my computer but more often when I’m walking the dogs or driving the car. But then it niggles until the story unfolds. I have ideas from years back just waiting for the spark to turn it into a project but this part of the process can’t be forced. Short stories are a much easier, much more linear process than novels. It’s so simple to write a short story, be dissatisfied and put it aside, then come back to it, than with a novel.
By the time I am committed to sitting down and writing a novel, the words of the first draft come fairly quickly, but the first draft is quite different from the finished work, which takes a few more re-writes to polish into shape. I try not to get bogged down with research while I’m writing a first draft. Though I do a lot of reverse outlining and research for draft 2.
4 - Where does a work of fiction usually begin for you? Are you an author of short pieces that end up combining into a larger project, or are you working on a "book" from the very beginning?
My projects are stories and I usually know when I start whether they are “little” stories or “big” stories, but I can always be surprised. In general, my novels are novels from page one, and I approach them in a fairly linear way, but I’m at the beginning of my career as a novelist so this may change.
5 - Are public readings part of or counter to your creative process? Are you the sort of writer who enjoys doing readings?
They aren’t currently part of my creative process because I haven’t done any. So I guess we’ll see.
6 - Do you have any theoretical concerns behind your writing? What kinds of questions are you trying to answer with your work? What do you even think the current questions are?
The same things that interest me about the world show up in my fiction. I’m fascinated by political movements, economic systems and how human relationships are the bedrock of society. Some themes, like the role of late-stage capitalism and science in shaping society are embedded in my novel The Midnight Project, as well as how people react to crisis, especially ecological crisis. Those themes as well as colonialism are figuring heavily in my current work in progress.
The current questions for me are: how do we live well (and ethically) in a world in decline? How can we connect better with each other? How can we resist the storm?
7 – What do you see the current role of the writer being in larger culture? Do they even have one? What do you think the role of the writer should be?
Writers have a central role in shaping culture but it isn’t usually intentional. The wondrous thing about writers is there are so many roles they can take on, and their works can play, out in the world. Writers can entertain, inform, provoke, bolster or assuage. They can educate; they can inspire. Different writers can take on different roles too. Not every work has to save the universe–sometimes it’s okay to just provide a little humour or comfort. Our culture can be profound and thoughtful while also being goofy or funny. Writers are critical to creating culture but I think this is an organic rather than architectural effort.
8 - Do you find the process of working with an outside editor difficult or essential (or both)?
Working with an editor has been both challenging and incredibly rewarding. That extra set of professional eyes on your work trying to bring out the best in it is such a privilege to have. But the self-reflection required when you have to look at parts of your work that may not be working for your reader takes a lot. You need to (a) re-write it according to the advice you’ve been given; (b) cut it out completely; or (c) defend it with your whole heart; it’s really difficult to work through what to do. You have to be fair and thoughtful and open but also know where you can’t compromise. It’s a conversation and you have to hold up your end.
9 - What is the best piece of advice you've heard (not necessarily given to you directly)?
Writing advice and publishing advice are two different things.
10 - What kind of writing routine do you tend to keep, or do you even have one? How does a typical day (for you) begin?
I have a lot of life that infringes on my writing so I either schedule time early in the morning or I write on the margins of other things. So a typically good writing day would start early with coffee and CBC News, then write for an hour, then do all the other things.
11 - When your writing gets stalled, where do you turn or return for (for lack of a better word) inspiration?
The best action to take when I’m stalled is to sit down and write anything. Bad prose can always be turned into better prose through re-writing but waiting for inspiration to strike can mean you lose weeks getting the story down.
When I get stalled, I also do a quick check on whether I am writing the thing in my head. When inspiration is flowing, my characters will lurk in the corners and random ideas and dialogue will come to me at all hours. If that dries up, I need to ask – am I writing the right thing? How can I get the words down?
Regarding inspiration, that can come from anywhere at anytime – during a walk in the woods, a random conversation, a private reflection on the world or society.
12 - What fragrance reminds you of home?
Sunscreen, pine needles and wet dog.
13 - David W. McFadden once said that books come from books, but are there any other forms that influence your work, whether nature, music, science or visual art?
Science and music. I always have a playlist for a work in progress. The natural world and advances in science tend to be an influence.
14 - What other writers or writings are important for your work, or simply your life outside of your work?
I take a lot of inspiration and enjoyment in the Canadian speculative fiction community. We have so many award-winning and best-selling science fiction and fantasy authors. And when I’ve met them in person they tend to be really nice!
I also have a kickass writing circle of amazing authors. We critique each other’s work, as well as support each other through the querying and submission processes. Their feral enthusiasm has really made the publishing journey fun. Being able to connect with other writers helps to lessen the feelings of writing into a void.
15 - What would you like to do that you haven't yet done?
I’d like to collaborate more with other writers. And write more books, of course. I have a lot more books in me to write.
16 - If you could pick any other occupation to attempt, what would it be? Or, alternately, what do you think you would have ended up doing had you not been a writer?
For me, being a novelist is the fantasy occupation. In my professional life I’ve been a student, an academic, a teacher and a diplomat. All these things have contributed to who I am and has percolated into the kind of writer I am today. But for me, the dream is to be a full-time author.
17 - What made you write, as opposed to doing something else?
The realization that only I could write the story in my head. And if I didn’t, it wouldn’t get written.
18 - What was the last great book you read? What was the last great film?
So hard to pick just one, and I don’t really have favourites…
Film: Mary Shelley. A really interesting biopic about the life of the author of Frankenstein.
Book: Countess by Suzan Palumbo. Anti-colonialist, sapphic space opera novella. I’m really looking forward to what she writes next in this universe.
19- What are you currently working on?
I’m working on two things – a novel set in the same time period and world as The Midnight Project. I’ll get back to it when my brain organizes and separates real-life and fictional dystopias.
And then I have a fun project about middle-aged feminist rage that makes me smile whenever I take it up.
No comments:
Post a Comment