Q&A With John Richard Trtek

John Richard Trtek returns to the pages of Asimov’s with another story featuring his protagonist M. Picot. In this enlightening interview, learn more about what inspired Trtek’s new story, “The Sixteenth Circumstance” in our [July/August issue, on sale now!], and find out how the author uses an improvisational writing process to his advantage.

Asimov’s Editor: What is the story behind this piece?
John Richard Trtek: “La Terrienne” was the first story to feature M. Picot, and the intention was always to continue his story arc, with the character evolving as time went on. “The Sixteenth Circumtance” is the second installment in this saga.

AE: How did this story germinate? Was there a spark of inspiration, or did it come to you slowly?
JRT: As suggested by the previous answer, the story itself was always going to be written at some point. Its actual creation was by accretion of various elements, some of them not initially related. In the previous Picot story, for example, I had made mention of the Phastines and the Phastine Emptiness without explaining either, other than suggesting that the former was a quasi-religious group and the latter an intragalactic void of some sort. Meanwhile, I already had in hand the notion of beings who were trying to give every piece of matter life by eating them, and when I began this story I attached the Phastine name to them, realizing that the Emptiness fit right in with that move. In similar fashion, I appropriated other ideas, names and plot elements I had sitting around in order to flesh out the setting and plot as I wrote the tale.

AE: Is this story part of a larger universe, or is it stand-alone?
JRT: Well, it’s meant to be both. My hope is that there is sufficient background, character development and plot to allow the story to stand by itself, while leaving room open for further exploration of both Picot and the Farther Reach.

AE: How did the title for this piece come to you?
JRT: The title popped into my head as my wife and I were driving home from having lunch out. Initially, it featured a different ordinal number; I don’t remember which one. Eventually, I settled on “sixteenth” because it sounded the best. It was only later that it was attached to the story—another example of composing by accretion.

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I make it up, revise it, and then make up more as I go along, having a rough idea of where I’m going but not necessarily sure of what path I will be taking.

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AE: How much or little do current events impact your writing?
JRT: Specific current events themselves play virtually no role in my writing, though occasionally the human emotions and reactions that arise as a result of them may influence the directions I take in certain pieces. I am one of those who believes fiction in whatever form—novels, short stories, plays, film and television—is a very poor vehicle for the promotion of specific public policies or personal philosophies. Particular human traits may be illuminated quite well by political events, and that itself may inspire a story, but the politics and fiction in general just don’t mix well, in my view.

AE: What is your process?
JRT: I don’t have a fixed process as such, but, looking back, I realize that most of the fiction I write springs from one particular element—a title, a scene, a character—and my subsequent efforts to create an entire story around that element is largely improvisational. I make it up, revise it, and then make up more as I go along, having a rough idea of where I’m going but not necessarily sure of what path I will be taking.

AE: What inspired you to start writing?
JRT: I don’t know; I suppose the desire may be intrinsic to my character. I am one of those who made up entire countries, continents and histories as a child. Early on in grade school, I wrote and illustrated a short story about a character visiting the Moon and, growing up during the Silver Age of super-heroes, I thought for a time of becoming a comic book writer and artist, though later, as an adult, I never seriously considered writing as a career. I did dabble now and then, but it was only after retiring from teaching that I had enough time to make a stab at serious composition.

AE: What other projects are you currently working on?
JRT: I’m writing a holiday play to offer to a local theater group, plus an alternate history novella set in the 19^th century, as well as a third M. Picot tale and a short story about that hoariest of cliches: alien invasion.

AE: If you could choose one SFnal universe to live in, what universe would it be, and why?
JRT: Perhaps any non-dystopian future in which interstellar travel is a working option. When one begins to think on a truly long-term scale, matters seem a bit hopeless what with the Sun eventually expanding into red giant phase and taking the terrestrial planets with it. Humanity’s going to be in need of a ride, and it would be nice knowing that it’s on its way.

AE:What are you reading right now?
JRT: I am doing my usual mix of non-fiction, short fiction and a novel. In that order, my current reading list is Bernal Diaz’s The Conquest of Mexico, The Collected Stories of Stefan Zweig, and The Getaway by Jim Thompson.

AE: Do you have any advice for up-and-coming writers?
JRT: Be patient, but don’t use patience as an excuse for nonaction.

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John Richard Trtek is an Oregon native and grew up as an only child on land that had originally been his grandparents’ farm, and so he had wide spaces that could be filled with imagination. Originally intending to become an astrophysicist, Trtek decided in graduate school that he had neither the talent nor the temperament for it, and so he became a high school physics teacher instead. Upon retirement, Trtek volunteered for ten years at a classical radio station. He’s had an interest in writing since grade school, though as an adult Trtek never intended to make his living from it. However, with a little more free time available than before, Trtek is able to make a modest try at it. Trtek and his wife live in the Ladd’s Addition neighborhood of Portland.