John Richard Trtek returns to Asimov’s with the novella “The Lady in Camo.” Learn more about John in this latest Q&A, where we discuss the spontaneous origin of “The Lady in Camo,” the fictional worlds he invented as a child, and a few of the ordinary foods he’s never tried
Asimov’s Editor: How did this story germinate? Was there a spark of inspiration, or did it come to you slowly?
John Richard Trtek: Most of my stories begin with either a character name, a title, or a short scene. In this case, it started with the protagonist’s name. I was with my wife in our car when, spontaneously, the name Jack Twice popped into my head. In the weeks that followed, I slowly began to search for a story to attach to that name, and eventually I drifted into a noir mood. Before long, I had the beginning scene, and after that everything grew by accretion, as it usually does for me, until I thought I had a coherent whole.
AE: Is this story part of a larger universe, or is it stand-alone?
JRT: While the story can stand by itself, I do intend to pursue the main character and their milieu in future tales.
AE: How did the title for this piece come to you?
JRT: I blatantly borrowed from Raymond Chandler’s “The Lady in the Lake.”
AE: What is your process?
JRT: While I wish I could easily conceive stories as a neat whole before beginning to put words up on the monitor, I find I usually have only one piece of the elephant to start with: a name, a title, a phrase, or perhaps a set of disjointed scenes or background elements. I then struggle to shape, twist, fold and paste together compatible pieces before rinsing and repeating indefinitely until I have what seems like a complete tale. It’s a combination of improvisation and inspiration that I don’t find easy, but it seems to be the way I have to work.
AE: How do you deal with writers’ block?
JRT: In my answer to the previous question, I laid out my overall strategy in writing stories, which on reflection may not seem like much of a strategy at all. On a tactical level, I always act out my stories, especially those parts involving character motivations and interactions. In effect, I do a one-person performance for myself, becoming the characters and speaking their words and thinking their thoughts out loud. If I get stuck, I still stay with that approach. I may wind up repeating myself N times, but eventually, at N+1, a character I’m playing will spontaneously say or do something new, and the dam breaks. And so, I suppose my solution for writers’ block is to prime my subconscious and hope for the best.
While I wish I could easily conceive stories as a neat whole before beginning to put words up on the monitor, I find I usually have only one piece of the elephant to start with: a name, a title, a phrase, or perhaps a set of disjointed scenes or background elements.
AE: What inspired you to start writing?
JRT: Perhaps it was the fact that I was an only child. I invented stories for my own amusement from an early age, often drawing on my surroundings. For example, my family’s house had been built in the middle of a walnut orchard, with an empty pasture next door, and so I created a fictional world out of that where walnut leaves inhabited their trees as forts amid an indigenous population of tall grass, and in that world the two groups cooperated, disagreed and sometimes fought each other. In addition, comic books were extremely important to me through grade school. I became entranced by Silver Age superheroes, wrote and drew my own stories, and at the time aspired to become a professional writer and artist in that field. As I grew up, I traded in those career plans for others, but the desire to write remained.
AE: What other projects are you currently working on?
JRT: I’ve almost completed an alternate history novelette and am half finished with a comic Christmas play that a local theater group might perform next year.
AE: What are you reading right now?
JRT: I’ve just completed Rudyard Kipling’s Kim and am moving on to The Jungle Books. On the non-fiction front, I’m about to start Edwin Frank’s Stranger Than Fiction, a history of the 20th Century novel.
AE: Do you have any advice for up-and-coming writers?
JRT: Be patient. I’m a 1987 graduate of Clarion West, and my first fiction sale didn’t happen until 32 years later. You never know when things will finally click.
AE: What is something we should know about you that we haven’t thought to ask?
JRT: I really don’t think there’s much else of interest lurking in my resume, other than the trivial; e.g., I have never eaten tuna, nor have I ever drunk coffee. Not the tiniest chunk, not the smallest drop.
AE: How can our readers follow you and your writing? (i.e., Social media handles, website URL, etc.)
JRT: Well, at this point, my published output includes only about a dozen poems and five pieces of short fiction, and I’m not sure that’s enough to justify a website. Meanwhile, while some might strongly object to what I’m about to say, I must confess I detest social media because of the severe damage it’s done to our nation’s political culture, and so I do not participate in it. Those few who might be interested in checking in on my professional progress now and then should just consult my modest entry in the Internet Speculative Fiction Database (https://www.isfdb.org/cgi-bin/ea.cgi?240823).
From Earth to the Stars 