Friday interview

From now on, I'll post interviews on Friday. My knitting columns have moved to Sundays. Today I interview J C Steel.

Questions for interview - J C Steel

What genre(s) do you write in and why? Do you write flash fiction, short stories, novellas and/or novels? Graphic novels, anime or comics? If you do multiple genres and/or lengths, which do you prefer? Have you ever written any poetry?

At some point I’ve experimented with most types of writing, including that old author favourite, lying on a patch of carpet somewhere and waiting for writing to happen.

My open relationships with poetry, short stories, and essay writing petered out in my mid-teens, probably to everyone’s relief, and gave way to full time science-fiction and urban fantasy novel-writing.

It’s a funny thing, but until this past week, ‘why science-fiction?’ wasn’t a question I’d ever asked myself. It may come of having been born wanting to explore on a planet that’s been pretty thoroughly explored, but by the time I got around to asking myself ‘why sci-fi?’ I’d already got four novels published.

What writers do you admire? What are you currently reading?

Writers I admire? There’s shelves of them. In fact, there are so many shelves of them than visitors to my home tend to back away from the evidence of my fetish slowly. If I had to name a few, I’d have to go with Robert Heinlein, for managing to weave the most thought-provoking, intelligent sci-fi stories out there, Dorothy Dunnett, for being able to create characters more real than most people I meet on the street, and J.R.R. Tolkien, the one pantser who rules them all.

Right now I’m reading a Canadian sci-fi and fantasy author, Tanya Huff. She’s got a military sci-fi series out that I love, with excellent characterisation, and a couple of urban fantasy series that are also very good. In fact, one of them was turned into a TV series a few years back, called ‘Blood Ties’.

What are you working on now?

Right now I’m working on the final print proofs for my very first urban fantasy, Death is for the Living. It’s currently out for advanced readers, and it’s a tale of vampire hunters working from a yacht in the Caribbean. I originally wrote it in my teens; I was in boarding school, and feeling homesick (for clarity, I was homesick for the Caribbean and the yacht, not the vampires...um). The tag-line I’m currently running with is ‘People think vampires are a curse of the Old World. But before modern borders divided the lands around it, the Caribbean Sea was better known as the Spanish Main...’ (Insert creepy crescendo here...)

Because I have commitment issues, I’m also in edits on the fifth in my Cortii Universe sci-fi series. It’s running under the working title of The Instructor, but that sounds vaguely BDSM and may change during edits - so much tends to.

If you had it to do over again, would you have started writing sooner?

That would actually have been difficult :) I started writing seriously when I was about fourteen, which coincided conveniently with leaving the yacht I’d grown up on and having computers available to actually write on. That said, they were over-worked and abused school computers, and a number of very fruitful edit rounds in those early days were triggered by corrupted floppy disks. My tendency to keep hardcopies and print proof copies very probably dates back to those days. I keep hoping that one day they’ll be memorabilia auctioning for millions, but then, what author doesn’t dream?

Which do you find hardest: coming up with a story idea, writing, revising, or marketing?

Marketing, hands-down. Story ideas happen to the extent where lobotomy is probably the only solution, and writing usually happens quite irresistibly and of its own accord (often at times when I’m actually supposed to be doing other things). While editing can and sometimes does feel like pounding sand, I do enjoy it most of the time. As I’m an unashamed pantser, editing is also when a lot of the ‘Ah! That’s why that happened!’ moments come in, as I tweak, and re-arrange, and add in the cameo scenes that explain why something happened the way it did.

Marketing, however...I have the greatest respect for those who can, but as I loathe receiving marketing, and there’s about two companies out there whose ads don’t go straight in my junk mail, I have trouble imagining what kind of ad copy wouldn’t be badly received. I also share with a lot of authors the problem that I’m perfectly happy in the 50,000 - 500,000 word range, but I can sit there petrified when faced with 50 words designed to entice punters.

Are you a plotter or a pantser or a hybrid of the two?

I’m a pantser all the way. My books start with a scene, or a bit of dialogue, playing in my head that refuses to go away; it shows up in the shower, when I’m supposed to be listening to VIPs in meetings, and at 0300. After a few weeks, by which point my attention span has degraded to that of a blue-arsed fly on crack, I cave and write it down, and once I’ve dropped my characters into the scene, the rest of the book is really just a case of me typing fast enough to keep up.

While I have nothing but respect for people who can plan down to the scene level and know exactly what will happen at every stage in their books, I couldn’t write 100,000 words while knowing exactly how it was going to go. I write to find out how the story ends, and if the story isn’t interesting enough to keep me typing, well, that’s a pretty good heads-up that it’s not going to keep a reader interested either. Happily, I’ve only had a couple of manuscripts that died that way.

What's your solution to writers' block?

What’s writer’s block? (Sorry.)

Seriously, as a pantser and a self-publisher with a full-time day job, if I get stuck on one thing I’m working on, I go and work on something else for a bit. I usually have at least two manuscripts vying for whatever free time I can throw at them (with a day job plus commute that eats 11 to 12 hours of my weekdays, there isn’t a lot), and if nothing there is calling my name, drawing summoning circles and offering sacrificial snippets, then I blog, or start one of the side stories that’s been bugging me. By the time those are partway done, one of the main manuscripts is fresh and waiting for me again.

How much time do you spend on research for your writing?

Eh, good question. I noticed that the editing end for Death is for the Living took a bit more time spent on the Internet checking details than my sci-fi novels usually require (as a not-random example, just exactly where other than Paramaribo can you moor a 65-foot yacht in Suriname?), but usually research is more general. I’ve researched blood spatter analysis, orbital mechanics, explosions in vacuum, and once, late at night, accidentally typed ‘coronal mass ejaculation’ into my browser instead of ‘coronal mass ejection’. (Don’t make that mistake - voice of experience.) Generally, research for my writing is a lot of fun, although given my browser history, I do fully expect to receive the ‘Men in Black’ experience at some point.

Website: jcsteelauthor.com

Twitter: https://twitter.com/steel_jo

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/authorjcsteel

Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/JCSteel

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/j_c_steel

Tuesday Book Review

More exciting than the first in the series. In her efforts to help, Ceony's only gets into more trouble. I'm happy to see she can often save herself, but not always. The title could refer to her friend, to the man they're after, or even (spoiler alert), Ceony herself. I'm ready for the next in the series.

Sunday Yarn

Instead of Friday, when I'll post interviews, I'll write about yarn and knitting on Sundays. This one again is taken from a Yarn Shop at Nob Hill newletter, more about the history of yarn in N. M.

How did New Mexico become a player in the wool industry?

by Karen Christensen

Prior to the Civil War, the small sheep farms in the East and Midwest provided most of the wool to users in the United States. Until the Civil War, cotton was king in the textile mills in the United States and the overseas. Due to the Northern Blockades during the Civil War, cotton prices became very high and cotton was too expensive to use. As a result, wool production grew dramatically for the rest of the 19th century and early 20th century. Mills all over the world and United States converted to wool and linen. Wool during that time became an important export commodity for the United States economy.

So how does New Mexico come into play - remember the Navajo Churro? Sheep are usually bred to be either mutton or wool, not both. The Navajo Churro breed was unique in that it produced both mutton and wool, so this breed became a very desirable commodity. The Navajo Churro fleece is light, low grease, can be cleaned and combed easily, and can be spun finer than wool. Navajo Churro wool was used for weaving blankets, carpets and sturdy but inexpensive clothing.

During the Civil War, the demand for wool was skyrocketing as it was needed to make uniforms and blankets for the troops, as well as other applications for inhabitants in the Northern states. This demand for wool continued into the early 20th century and wool products outproduced cotton products.

During this period, millions of pounds of wool, largely Navajo Churro, from New Mexico was being sent to the mills in the Northeast to produce goods and the sheep were being retained as wool producers and not meat producers.

During the 1880's there were over five million sheep/lambs in New Mexico, and by the early 20th century, the United States was the third largest producer of the wool in the World. By the 1890's, America's consumption of wool was the largest in the world.

Alas, all good things must come to an end and they did for wool in the early part of the 20th century. Demand for wool decreased and cheap imported wool from overseas flooded the United States market-- wool prices decreased, world wide production decreased, and the wool trade in New Mexico declined as well.

Sorry to end on such a sad note but the next article will discuss what currently is happening in the New Mexico Wool Community - and it is good news.

Sources Used:  New Mexico History website, Navajo Churro Sheep Association website, Santa Fe New Mexican article, Chimayo Weavers website, Wikipedia, American Sheep Industry website, The Sheep Industry of Territorial New Mexico - Wallace and the Slow Food website.  

Tuesday Book Review on Wednesday

Our Thanksgiving holiday travels ended late last night, but I do have a review for you:




I don't know why I avoided starting this series for so long. The first, about Ceony's early days as an apprentice to Paper Magician Emery Thane, was a delight. In a world where man-made materials can be magicked, she would rather be apprenticed to a metal magician, but comes to appreciate what paper can do.  As she fights to return Thane's heart to his chest, where she's replaced it with a short-lived paper heart, she loses hers to him. Looking forward to the rest of the series.

Tuesday Book Reviews

Mosaic by Chris Keaton and Rick Taubold 4 star review

A mosaic that had trapped all magically beings was broken apart thousands of years earlier. The remains are in the basement of a small museum in a small midwestern town. Twins Chloe and Zoe’s grandmother runs the museum with their help. When they discover missing pieces, and Chloe realizes she can put them in, their adventures begin. Filled with all sorts of magical creatures, including good and bad witches, this was a scary but fun read.

Eye of the World by Robert Jordan 5 star review

The first book in Robert Jordan’s series was just that, an eye into the world of the series, an introduction of many of the characters, and a great fantasy story. When the three young men, Rand, Perrin and Mat left their sleepy hamlet, they were only beginning to believe that all the tales they’d heard growing up were true. The world-building is first rate, and each character has their part to play.

I feel like I’m going on an adventure of my own as I continue to read the series. This is what epic fantasy should be.

I had trouble copying and pasting the cover images Tuesday night, but was able to this morning.

Tuesday Book Review

Bandwidth by Eliot Peper four-star review

This story of a lobbyist who is shown the harm he's doing, then realizes those who open his eyes are manipulating him too. But is there a way out of his life? He spends a lot of time pondering his life, how he got where he is and what his values are.

Interview with Christina Marie

Today, instead of a blog about knitting, I'm happy to post an interview I did with Christina (DZA) Marie

What genre(s) do you write in and why? Do you write flash fiction, short stories, novellas and/or novels? Graphic novels, anime or comics? If you do multiple genres and/or lengths, which do you prefer? Have you ever written any poetry?

While I have written the odd sci-fi and even (bad) horror story, my true heart lies with fantasy, specifically epic fantasy. I’ve participated in short story and flash fiction competitions, enough that I gathered the best and funniest works into a collection titled Gary Geckos Guide to Getting Your Humans to Get Together (and Other Short Stories).

I’ve also published a handful of novellas, which I prefer more than short stories simply because I like having room to maneuver. This year has been my first venture into graphic novel territory with the start of my new series Sovadron. It’s an epic fantasy (grimdark?) story with a world based on post-colonial America, and features demons, gods, werewolves, giants, goblins, and all that good stuff.

Sovadron Links: http://www.dzamarie.com/sovadron.html

What writers do you admire? What are you currently reading?

I admire many writers, from grimdark George R. R. Martin to hilarious YA surrogate-dad Rick Riordan to sarcastic steampunk scientist Robyn Bennis. My bookshelf is bursting. At the moment, I’m borrowing my roommate’s trilogy Daughter of Smoke and Bone by Laini Taylor. It’s basically grimdark fantasy for YA audiences. Good stuff!

Have you self-published anything? What was your experience like?

This year has been a whole exploration in self-publishing. In the summer I released my short story collection Gary the Gecko, and a month later I published my urban fantasy novella The Minnesotan Witch. On November 16^th, I’ll be self-publishing the first chapter of Sovadron.

I’ve found that the success of self-publishing depends a lot on your preparation and how much you’re willing (or able) to outsource. For Gary the Gecko, I was completely unprepared and sold only one copy (to my roommate). Minnesotan Witch went better, primarily because I gave myself time to promote ahead of the fact and recruited people to leave honest Amazon reviews and blog posts.

Sovadron is going to be difficult, mostly because it’s a much more involved project, being a series. It’s also a graphic novel, which is going to be more tedious to convert and upload onto Amazon Kindle. Not to mention I, as the publisher, have to pay for everything, including the illustrator—which is why I can only publish one chapter at a time rather than one book at a time.

However, self-publishing is also very freeing. When you’re doing traditional publishing (re: going to a publishing house), everyone gets their sticky fingers in your work: the editor, the publisher, the agent if you have one. But with self-publishing, it’s all your vision. You have complete creative freedom.

MN Witch link:

https://www.amazon.com/Minnesotan-Witch-Christina-DZA-Marie-ebook/dp/B07GNVH2NQ/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1540413256&sr=8-1&keywords=minnesotan+witch

What are the hardest kinds of scenes for you to write? Romantic? Sex? The death of a character? Fight scenes? Others?

The hardest scenes for me are the “filler scenes,” I guess you could call them. I bounce around a lot when I’m writing, always hitting the most important, most intense scenes first—which means all those “difficult” scenes you just listed as examples are technically the easiest for me to do because I love doing them.

The result is I get the intro of the book written, the ending, the climax, and several other big moments. But then I have to add the link-up scenes, the exposition, the less exciting but still very important moments that provide a break from the action or give us a clearer view of the character. Those are difficult because they’re not as fun to write.

How much time do you spend on research for your writing?

Probably more than I should, and I blame my inner history geek for that. Although, I never regret spending time to thoroughly research a culture or part of history for a story because the whole point of research is to learn things that you never knew before. And, too make things even more interesting for me, when I’m trying to decide what real country or person to base my fantasy culture or person on, I usually choose one that I don’t know about or have a gap in my learning specifically so I’m motivated to learn more about it.

For example, in Sovadron, the new country of Luria is based off of post-colonial America, which I already knew quite a bit about. But I didn’t know that much about 18^th/19^th century England and France—which is what Daerstyn, the country that used to rule the former Lurian colonies, is based off of. The dwarves are based on the Inuit and Alaskan natives, so I had to research their culture and the effect of colonialism (spoiler alert: it sucks). And on top of that, several major characters are in the LGBTQ+ community, which meant learning about history I already knew in a completely different light as I read about how those people had to navigate in that kind of world. It’s fascinating.

Your character decides to go a different way than you planned. What do you do?

Usually: I just go with it. Having a character do something unexpected is a very good thing, because it means I, as a writer, have done my job. Humans are unpredictable and difficult to manage, so when a character is the same, then that’s great!

However, if there is a specific way a story has to go, then I do either one of two things. I either change the character, or change the situation of the story. Sometimes changing the character is easy (re: if I need the character to not enter the dark cave until later, but they’re naturally adventurous and spontaneous, then I’ll probably give them a crushing fear of bats—which live in caves—that they have to overcome in the story, thus adding another layer to the narrative). But if it’s too difficult or I like the character as they are, then I change the situation, usually by throwing some more bad guys at them so they’re occupied/injured/can’t muck up my plot.

Bio:

Christina “DZA” Marie runs the feminist geek blog Dragons, Zombies & Aliens—as well as the YouTube channel of the same name—and is a sci-fi and fantasy author. She’s published several short stories and novellas and is one of the writers of the global illustrated novella series Earth’s Final Chapter by Endless Ink Publishing. Her hobbies include smashing the patriarchy, paying for horror movies and then being too scared to actually watch them, and defending her furniture from her roommate’s evil cat. 

Links:

Website: http://www.dzamarie.com

Blog: http://www.dzamarie.com/blog

YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCJ18zDlXsNk3Oe5H7WnFmtw?view_as=subscriber

Patreon: http://www.patreon.com/dzamarie

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/ChristinaDZAMarie

Twitter: https://twitter.com/CM_DZA

Pinterest: https://www.pinterest.com/cmarie_dza/

Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/17170168.Christina_D_Z_A_Marie