1 - How did your first book change your life? How does your most recent work compare to your previous? How does it feel different?
I’ll
focus on the first book published. The Dragonfly Gambit was a fun book
to get started with. It eased me into publishing and working with an editor on
a long-form project. It then went on to win the Nebula for best novella, which
was wild. Our Infinite and Inevitable Ends will be my third book
published and it feels a lot less panicky, and a lot more deliberate. I’m
starting to get to a place where I’m gaining a grasp of how publishing works,
of which gears need turning and when. Maybe, I’m even beginning to enjoy the
process.
2 - How did you come to fiction first, as opposed to, say, poetry or
non-fiction?
I
grew up reading nearly exclusively fiction, and I am an awful poet. I think
there was always a gap in what I was reading where I wasn’t seeing myself in
these works, and while they were good works, I was still left wanting. I
came to writing the way many people do, through fanfiction, which in itself was
an exercise of creating stories that I wanted to see on screen, just with
existing IP. It took many years for me to have the guts to try something
original. You know the rest.
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?
I
tend to draft very quickly. Usually, I’ll plan for a week and then hammer out
the first draft in a month. If I stop, I lose momentum and then I lose
interest, and then the manuscript goes to the graveyard with the other projects
that died at 30k words. I try to draft lean. Most of my speculative manuscripts
are about 90k on first draft and then grow to maybe 110k or a little longer on
subsequent drafts. I rarely change plot points after the initial draft, but I
will dive deeper into characterization and environment in subsequent edits.
4 - Where does a work of prose 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?
I
think I know what the story is after I finish plotting. Some stories are short
stories, some are novellas, others are novels. I strongly prefer novels. I’m
not sure how people write short stories. I try, I really do, but they are so
difficult for me that I’d rather write a lot of long-form projects instead of a
few short stories. The pacing is completely different. The density of prose is
different. It’s a completely different medium to work with.
5 - Are public readings part of or counter to your creative process? Are you
the sort of writer who enjoys doing readings?
I
can do public readings, but I much prefer to just gab about the book
instead of reading from it. I do read my drafts out loud to myself as I edit,
but I’m not a super strong public reader. I can’t do voices or anything like
that. I am far too serious.
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?
Most
of my work centers themes of grief, and loss. Recent works have started to
speak far more to climate change and its consequences, which in a way, is also
about grief and loss.
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?
I
believe it’s whatever we decide it is. If we want to be entertainers, then we
are entertainers. If we want to be fortune tellers, then we can be the crystal
ball. There is no manual on how to be a writer. The only requirement is
that you write. While writing, in of itself, isn’t advocacy, it can inspire
advocacy and can still have strong messages to relay.
8 - Do you find the process of working with an outside editor difficult or
essential (or both)?
I
have been very fortunate to work with editors who shared my vision for the book
and who allowed me a lot of creative freedom to fine tune all of the elements.
So far, I’ve had nothing but great experiences working with editors and I hope
this trend continues!
9 - What is the best piece of advice you've heard (not necessarily given to you
directly)?
You
can’t edit a blank page. Honestly, probably the most useful thing when I hit
“writer’s block” (which I do not believe actually exists).
10 - How easy has it been for you to move between genres (short stories to the
novel)? What do you see as the appeal?
Ha!
I laugh and then I cry. Difficult. Very difficult. Although the difficult part
for me has always been writing short stories and not the novels. Short stories
have a great way of training word economy and tightening my prose. In a short
story, each and every word needs to justify its existence. In a novel, I can
relax a bit and meander, but in short stories, I simply can’t get away with
that kind of spending.
11 - 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
tend to aim for word counts instead of hours at the laptop. I’ll do 2-3k words
a day during drafting, depending on what I want the final wordcount to be and
the rest of my time I spend reading and gallivanting about.
12 - When your writing gets stalled, where do you turn or return for (for lack
of a better word) inspiration?
I
go for a run! Most plot holes usually get resolved by the end of a 20km run.
13 - What was your last Hallowe'en costume?
I
have never dressed up for Halloween! I have, however, once worked in a haunted
house as a creepy tree trunk.
14 - 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?
I
take a lot of inspiration from anime!
15 - What other writers or writings are important for your work, or simply your
life outside of your work?
Outside of writing, I tend to read a lot of academic papers. Usually, this is because I’m going down a rabbit hole of something that’s sort of important to my daily life, like iron supplementation. I am in a very privileged position where I have access to a lot of primary literature on pretty much any topic. So, I can do deep dives into many everyday topics.
Recently,
I’ve been nerding out on nutrition during endurance races, so that’s been fun!
16 - What would you like to do that you haven't yet done?
I want to follow the caribou migration across Canada.
But
in terms of writing, maybe do an epic fantasy based in Ukrainian folklore.
17 - 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?
I
used to be an academic, but due to the hiring freezes post COVID that didn’t
pan out, or maybe I just didn’t allow it to pan out, but here we are. I think
in a different world, I’m a professor, doing my research and teaching my
lectures, but that’s a very different world.
18 - What made you write, as opposed to doing something else?
I
think there’s a massive power to being able to create stories that you wanted
to read growing up. That’s it, really. My goal with writing is to fill that
niche. Selfish, I know.
19 - What was the last great book you read? What was the last great film?
Playground
by Richard Powers. In terms of film, I’d say Past Lives.
20 - What are you currently working on?
I have several books under contract, each at various stages of development. So, I’m doing a little of dev edits, and a little of line edits, and some pass pages, and some second pass pages. It’s a tasting menu of edits!
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