Esther Friesner treats us to an amusing and insightful discussion on her relationship with Asimov’s, writer’s block, the role of humor in SF, and more! Don’t miss her latest story, “We Shall Be Monsters” in our Sept/Oct issue, on sale now!
Strange to admit, but while “We Shall Be Monsters” is based on Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley’s Frankenstein, the story did not come to me after a re-reading of her novel. News reports of true monsters’ work were the painful spark leading me to reconsider Elizabeth’s role and make her more than merely a monster’s victim.
Finding the title was easy: It comes from the Creature’s own lips when he speaks of the mate he desires and demands.
Thinking of Asimov’s for this story was easy as well. It’s the magazine to which I made my first professional SFnal sale, “Write When You Get Work,” in September 1982. Asimov’s also published my first Nebula Award-winning short story, “Death and the Librarian,” in 1995.
I am not a warrior in the physically fit, trained, bullets-and-blades-bearing sense, but the themes that seem to draw me back are things that will always anger me to the heart. I can’t let them pass unchallenged, even if my only way to fight is writing about injustice, victimization, exploiting the helpless. Maybe someone with more power than I will read my words and realize that here’s something they can combat. Maybe they will do so. Maybe they will gather others to help. Maybe this can become the small start of a great change.
All I can do is keep on writing.
(Funny thing: Most of my reputation as an author comes from writing SFnal humor. But do you know what? Humor is a great way to get readers thinking about serious matters.)
Ah, writer’s block! Don’t hate me for not having it. I can, do, and enjoy working on more than one project at a time, so when one won’t cooperate, I turn to another.
My parents inspired me to start writing by always reading to me and also by telling me stories. Soon I was drawing pictures, making up my own stories about them, and getting Mom to write down what I dictated. Writing started out as play for me. Not a bad way to begin!
If I could choose one SFnal universe to live in, it would be Terry Pratchett’s Discworld. It’s got everything and then some, plus a lot of fascinating people to share it with. (Or hide from, depending on circumstances.)
I write more than one thing at a time and the same goes for what I’m reading right now. This includes:
The graphic novel version of Proust’s In Search of Lost Time
Will in the World, a Shakespeare biography
Lots of manga, like The Apothecary Diaries, Breakfast with My Two-Tailed Cat, A Bride’s Story, Akane Banashi, Blue Period and more.
A volume on eugenics from 1900 that turned up among books belonging to my husband’s grandparents! (“Does no one in your family ever get rid of any books, Esther?” Wellll . . .) I’m regarding it as an opportunity to time-travel safely and with snacks.
I recently finished a re-read of Hemingway’s A Moveable Feast. More marvelous time-travel to 1920s Paris in the company of iconic writers and artists as the human beings they were.
Now as for a few bits of my advice to you up-and-coming writers, no matter how cheesy it sounds, I encourage you not to give up. Never, no matter the rejections or the less-than-supportive people you may know, or just plain being physically tired. Remember why you began to write and what motivated you to want to see your work set before an audience. (The two are not the same.)
There is a catch: Not giving up on your writing should include continuing to learn how to improve it. If a piece of your work receives criticism from any source, consider what you’re being told. Don’t accept or ignore it wholesale. There might be something there for you to use productively.
Remember courtesy. Always be polite to editors. If you could see their full work-load, your jaw would drop through the floor. Writers who receive a rejection and then take it upon themselves to contact the editor to argue about it do not do themselves any favors.
And respect the Submission Guidelines.
Thank you.
From Earth to the Stars 