so, here they are:
1. What's the first thing (image/idea/concept/whatever) that came into your head when you first started writing your award-winning story?
I was supposed to write a story about a lesbian and her ex-girlfriend. I worked on it for several weeks, then I got stuck, because I am not a girl (although I'd make a great lesbian). Then, three weeks before the deadline, I decided to start fresh and write the story that had been brewing in my mind for over a decade. I wrote the first half over two weeks. I wrote the second half in the last two days.
2. What do you think would enhance a reader's experience or appreciation of your story (e.g., mind-altering substances; an enlightening, uplifting
religious experience; a gun pointed between the eyes)?
2. What do you think would enhance a reader's experience or appreciation of your story (e.g., mind-altering substances; an enlightening, uplifting
religious experience; a gun pointed between the eyes)?
Space and time: I wish I had more space, and I wish I had more time. My original draft exceeded the 7,000-word limit and I had to sacrifice the epilogue, which in its current state is quite abrupt. I also wished a had an extra week to fix the story in certain places, especially the math "lecture" and the interior monologue at the end. My original design was to have the ending be more poetic (like Atha -- loved this story, btw). But, alas, I'm not very poetic.
3. Of all the writers you've read, who would you most want to be compared to? at the moment, whose work do you think your own writing style best approximates?
Wow. This is the hard question because I'm being ask to compare myself with the greats. Well, I'm striving to write like Len Deighton, Alfred Bester, and Michael Crichton. Deighton is a writer's writer, the stuff of highbrow lit but with a genre foothold. Bester is electric, pre-dates cyberpunk. And Crichton, well, he's a millionaire and an sf writer who isn't typecast as one. I don't think my current style approaches any of these three at the moment. The best style in my opinion, would be the one that's entirely transparent.
4. Why, aside from having won an award or two more than i have, should i read your story?
The title alone should have piqued anyone's curiousity. Yes, it does promise something profound, but my lack of real mathematical insight forced me to use it as a McGuffin. The story isn't about angels or the battle between good and evil. It's about faith. Would God want his existence to be proven beyond logical doubt? Without going into my own personal beliefs, the story simply says, "No. You shouldn't even try to prove His existence. Just believe."
5. Requisite desert island question: if you were stuck on a desert island, which would you rather have: a) an unlimited supply of ink, paper, and really good pens, or b) your favorite book? If a) what would you do with the paper, ink and pens? If b) what book would that be?
I'd choose A. I'm going to paint a gigantic HELP sign.
*
obviously, Mike's way too smart for getting stuck on a desert island. sure you wouldn't want to build a boat with all that paper? wouldn't put it past you, the miracle you pulled with your story.
Thanks Mike!
keep your eyes peeled for further ridiculously-simple-expeditions-into-the-heads-of-writers.
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obviously, Mike's way too smart for getting stuck on a desert island. sure you wouldn't want to build a boat with all that paper? wouldn't put it past you, the miracle you pulled with your story.
Thanks Mike!
keep your eyes peeled for further ridiculously-simple-expeditions-into-the-heads-of-writers.
20 comments:
Excellent interview. Shades of Vandermeer, eh? ;-)
Seriously, can I ask a question for Mike? I was just wondering what were your reading (and writing) genre influences. You mentioned Bester and Crichton and though Bester is definitely SF, Crichton is not considered as such by genre purists.
Moreover, since the whole point of Fully-Booked's contest was to promote local speculative fiction, what do you think of Philippine speculative fiction? What is-- to you-- Philippine speculative fiction?
Well, VanderMeer, quite possibly, if it weren't for Evil Monkey... or maybe even because of Evil Monkey... is GOD.
we'll let Mike decide if he wants to answer your questions, but, hey, what are comments sections for, right?
just to clarify... you're asking Mike for genre-specific influences? that why you set aside Crichton? after all, even if you don't consider Crichton SF, he can be an influence for an SF writer.
Yep, though of course am referring to science fiction and fantasy. I know that a lot of SFF genre-readers like Crichton. However, there may be some (and I'm actually partial to them) who may not consider Crichton as a writer of science fiction. In the adverse, most of his readers in the mainstream wouldn't think of Crichton as an SF writer as they would be the first to say that "they don't read" SF.
Er, sorry if I'm being obtuse. Haven't eaten lunch yet. Will do that now.
er, ok, just to be absolutely clear, i'm assuming you're asking mike for SF/F writers who influenced him, and wish to stick to genre-purist accepted writers.
hmm... maybe i'm taking this blog moderator job too seriously. i should probably let you and mike sort this out. hehe.
True though am glad you're clarifying for me. Blogging and hunger really don't mix. *munch munch*
Seriously, I wanted to ask this question because more or less you, me, Dean and the same have more or less voiced our perspective on speculative fiction and Philippine speculative fiction. I'm just wondering where these writers are coming from. Moreso as I remember someone commenting that the story they submitted was their first work of speculative fiction, which is suprising for me to say the least.
obviously, lunch does wonders for the mind... hehe
Hehe sorry if I'm spamming your comment thread.
not at all. all this activity is making me want to apply for adsense though... heh.
Hey Banzai! Again I'm flattered at the interest people have taken in my story. Your interest gives me hope that it wasn't just a fluke. :)
Funny, but I pronounce sf as "sci-fi" not "es-ef" in the same way I say World War Two when I see "WW2." I'm a wide reader. I like both fiction and non-fiction, and am somewhat of a bibliomaniac. My book collection runs in the thousands. Really. Not that I've read them all, but I like to browse through references on history, languages, and how-to manuals.
I think Crichton is a sf writer who wisely avoided that label. And that's why he's a millionaire. I'm not exactly a fan, but my girlfriend says I should emulate him because he's accessible yet flexible. Unlike Grisham, King, or Rowling, Crichton can write about anything he wants without being pinned to a specific style. Jurrasic Park, Lost World, Sphere, Andromeda Strain, Timeline, Congo are pretty much in the SF category, except that you find them in the Bestseller shelves.
This brings me to Philippine SF. The same challenges that faces SF in the Philippines is also present in the US. When was the last time Oprah promoted a SF book? Has she ever? Whether we like it or not, SF is pretty much a fringe category. It's genre fiction, derided by the mainstream literati as "escapist." But there's hope. Look at the success LotR and the local "fantaseryes" have had. What made them successful? They were accessible to the masses. What made Harry Potter a bestseller? The books are easy to read.
So I think Philippine SF should do that. Build a market. Generate the demand. Make books cheap. Sure, it's going to be 90% crap, but that's just Sturgeon's law in action. Didn't Asimov start by writing for the pulps? And yet, he endures.
Does Philippine SF need to have a Filipino element? I think so, but only because I'm being practical. Let's face it, if you want to write in English, there has to be a filipino element somewhere in the tale: a character, phrase, or setting. Otherwise, it ceases to be Philippine SF ... it's should be called SF written by a Filipino. Which, btw, isn't a bad thing.
i personally don't ascribe to the idea of a "Philippine SF" category as you put it. SF is universal, as is all literature. the local is incidental to the writer.
again, i say, go where your imagination takes you.
for instance, by your definition of Philippine SF, what would you then call books such as VanderMeer's City of Saints and Madmen and Veniss Underground? surely you can't call them Ambergrisian or Venissian Fantasy anymore than you can define them as "American" by the same definition you pin on "Philippine SF."
i think that part of the problem is that we as a culture still insist on genre identities in the same way we're hung up on national identity.
works of imaginative literature create their own worlds. reflections of our world perhaps, but with their own distinct identities nonetheless. it shouldn't matter where a writer is from, after all, as long as that writer is able to produce good writing.
Hehe do you want me to moderate in the debate?
Seriously, hopefully Mike can still answer questions. :-)
Mike: Playing devil's advocate, based on what you said, what would you say then to non-Filipino writers who use Filipino elements in their stories? I know that Neil Stephenson used Manila as one of his settings in Cryptonomicon likewise Richard Calder, who even used Filipino mythology as one of his monsters.
On the other hand, it's refreshing to hear your opinion on the direction Philippine spec fic should take, i.e. using the mass appeal to lure the masa. Moreover, I see you've taken the Sturgeon Law into account with such an action. So you think the US-publishing style of marketing SFF is the best way, i.e. mass market, plus smaller presses or specialized books to handle the literary SFF?
skinny: I know we've this same argument before but retreading it again, how do we know that the work we're creating is able to mirror the Filipino element or "soul" properly? Obviously, we can't just say that the work is created by a Filipino, hence the Filipino element is present? What standards should be used if this is the direction Philippine spec fic should take?
Nakanaman. Philippine spec fic literary criticism!
that's just the thing: i don't believe literature or literary works are obligated to mirror any sort of soul other than the individual author's. ergo, i don't ascribe to any sort of "national" identity in literature.
i've always been an internationalist at best, an anarchist at worst.
Taking "internationalist" further, so would you say (and granted that this is simplifying too much) that there is no such thing as Phiippine speculative fiction or Philippine literature as the writer is supposed to be "one with the world"?
what it is is just a term for the local scene. it doesn't imply anything bigger than "Filipinos writing speculative fiction and getting published in the Philippines."
because speculative fiction is speculative fiction. i don't see why you have to restrict it with geopolitical definitions.
the "social relevance" of a speculative work has nothing to do with the words and names of places and people you use in the story. you could write a story about fission-reproduction practices among Noborks from the planet of Rahatoskinon and still be socially relevant.
spec fic has the unique quality among the forms of narrative in that it is able to be universally relevant by being universally foreign.
is Viriconium London? is it Manila? Rome? New York? no it isn't. it's none of these Cities. and yet, it is also all of them. though M. John Harrison may have been talking about the specific socio-political climate of England, he made it relevant to us as well.
and he didn't do it by adhering to a concept of "British SF"; he just wrote.
now if you were to create a specific movement (e.g. new wave, new weird, cyberpunk, space opera, etc.) within the art, then that would be REALLY something to talk about.
Hehe don't worry I see your point. However, I still like to see how this body reacts. *bzzt*
I'm not making any restrictions, much more geopolitical ones. However, one has to realize that globally, there are two main schools of SF: US and British. (Granted that other countries like Russia have their own SF but the biggest are still the abovementioned.) And though Moorcock wasn't writing about British SF, he did help in the creation of a different kind of SF (the New Weird). It also set up a different style of SF-- different from the usual sword-and-sorcery or space opera present then-- in that it had both genre and literary aspects.
And I think that's my main goal of my questions: trying to determine what kind of SF is being developed in this country not as a limitation but as an observation. If we know what we have (the general form, not an exact science which I think will destroy the SF structure), then we can compose standards of excellence.
And, as Mike said, Sturgeon's law will apply to those will create Philippine SF but at least we will know what is good SF and what is bad SF.
and my goal in subverting your goal (aside from the obvious fun of being contrary. hehe) is to say those standards of excellence are artificial, because having and "enforcing" them will always, in the end, be more "political" than anything else.
once you put the word "Philippine" in the title of a style or genre, you know what the powers-that-be are going to insist upon...
Not a problem. :-) You're my brother-in-contrarian-arms.
Was just thinking: granted your last statement, do you realize that once their generation passes, it will be up to us hold the torch aloft right? And that means we can do-- and publish at will. Bwahahahaha! *cue evil music*
But I should be sleeping. Will reply later this morning...
Super color scheme, I like it! Good job. Go on.
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To paraphrase someone's definition of SF, a story is Philippine SF if I say it is *WEG* Serously, let's not get bogged down by labels -- they're just a practical tool for classifying things. The best stories have universal themes.
ag: well, the idea isn't for writers to get bogged down by the labels. but if they are to be "practical" tools, they have to be defined properly.
sadly, while a lot of writers would rather not concern themselves with things like "genre", literature these days is a market, and such things have very real implications for the writer-reader relationship.
and anyway, even if it were all just academic, it's still an interesting exercise, learning about all the different perspectives on the matter.
oh yeah, thanks for the mini-advert on your site, ag.
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