You gained an MSc in computer science before you switched to creative writing, in which you have a PhD. You say you were “mentally re-engineered” into creative writing. Can you tell us what you mean?
I’ve read some fun bios, the favourite being Chris Kluwe’s who says he grew up in a colony of wild chinchillas and basically barked and howled until he was 14. He’s played football, once wrestled a bear for a pot of gold, and lies occasionally. And why the heck are these bio thingies in third person? Sheesh, so cool, I thought when I read it. ‘Mentally re-engineered’? That’s me trying to be cool.
You are a prolific author, having published numerous critically acclaimed short stories, but Claiming T-Mo is your first full-length novel - what different challenges did that present and what strategies did you use?
I’m mostly a short story writer, never turning a story into a novel because the story became too long, or had too many characters or the theme was not fully developed in the shorter form, or that I wanted to continue working on the story as a larger piece.
A short story is, for me, complete in itself—it doesn’t beg to be longer. Sometimes speculative fiction writers don’t understand this. I am in love with the short form for its precision, its integrity, its intensity, its fine craft when done well. It is fun and immediate.
All these things about the short story present as challenges when I write a novel. So, my strategy is to embed and layer the novel with special vignettes, interconnected. As one writer Felicity Castagna once said, the short story is the backbone of everything I write, regardless of genre. I build my novel story by story, where the writing is singing in a discipline already familiar, while chiming the chorus of a novel. Perhaps this explains the sharpness and intensity of Claiming T-Mo.
You have contributed a chapter to a multi-authored book: Creative Writing with Critical Theory: Inhabitation, Gylphi (2018). Are there any conflicts between writing about a subject like critical theory and the writing process itself?
I’m very diverse, writing across forms and genres: short stories, prose poetry, scholarly articles, creative non-fiction, literary fiction, speculative fiction... I enjoy creative writing, period—and it crosses boundaries of form and genre. During my PhD in creative writing, I taught myself to marry or divorce the scholar from the artist.
Can you tell us more about that book of essays and your contribution to it?
Inhabitation explores how writers forge connections between critical theory and their practice while considering creative contexts. My chapter is titled Betwixt: Cross-cultural and cross-genre inhabitation in creative writing:
‘What colour are my characters? What languages do they speak? I am legion, the self and ‘other’. This is a story about inhabitation, a multiple embodiment. I write as a scholar who is also an artist, who was once a scientist; a short story writer who is also a novelist… My multiplicities surface in positionings of discontinuity, being between worlds. These diversities render themselves in my cross-genre writing, in self-reflective, fictional or diagnostic negotiations that engage with difference in the otherworldly or the everyday. As a writer who exists in zones of difference within and between cultures… my writing crosses borders to new worlds in a postmodernist realism of no ‘clean’ divide. I am many.’What is it about short stories that particularly lends itself to SF&F as a genre?
In my book Writing Speculative Fiction, I reference theorist Paul March-Russell and talk about the relationship between the short story and postmodernism. The postmodern is… undecidable: the short story leaves meaning to be uncovered. The postmodern is… decentred: the short story’s undecidability dissolves centralisation. The postmodern is… simulation: the short story’s decentralisation allows distinction from reality and enables artistic representations of reality.
Do you see how qualities of the short story work splendidly in speculative fiction?
You have also had a non-fiction book, Writing Speculative Fiction: Creative and Critical Approaches, published by MacMillan in May. Having read the blurb, this sounds fascinating: “Through analysis of writers such as Stephen King, J.R.R. Tolkien and J. K. Rowling, this book scrutinises the characteristics of speculative fiction, considers the potential of writing cross genre and covers the challenges of targeting young adults.” Can you tell us more about the book and what led you to write it?
Writing Speculative Fiction is a child of my PhD thesis, de-scholarised, and turned into a fun book that is also a valuable guide in the realms of theory and practice. It offers a framework on which the main components of speculative fiction rest, including the conventions of storytelling. It pays attention to literary theorist Roland Barthes’ pleasure of the text. Most of all, it draws on works by established and emerging writers and offers signposts for recognising and implementing the ‘speculative’ in fiction.
The blurb also mentions that you interrogate the sub-genres of speculative fiction. Sometimes it seems as if the genre is constantly generating new sub-genres, for example steampunk, dieselpunk, arcanepunk and sparkpunk, to name but a few. What are your thoughts on this?
Fads come and go. Genre and sub-genre boundaries stay thin. In his interview with Writer’s Digest, Orson Scott Card warned against following transient ‘literary trends’ that come and go. Once the trend is over, so are the stories and book you wrote to satisfy them, says Card. I agree. As Card suggests, the best way to invent your best stories is to write about what you believe in, what you’re passionate about.
What about the interaction between genre and literary fiction? Some authors, for example notoriously Ian McEwan, have denied that they were writing Science Fiction when it seemed that they were writing precisely that. What do you think of this, and does it even have any relevance?
I question why Ian McEwan would refuse to acknowledge bending genre. I am a proponent of cross genre writing. Crossing genre is experimenting. Beautiful works come from integrating traditional genre and literary fiction. Literary award winners from speculative fiction are birthed from successful blends that move publishers, readers and judges who are prepared to be astonished. A good writer will stay curious, exploratory, immersed in a creative space that is ever redefining itself. A good reader will find affection in deviants.
What are you working on now?
I have a novella currently under consideration, and three short form collections, two of which are contracted. With two books out this 2019, I underestimated the exertion!
Claiming T-Mo will be published by Meerkat Press in August. Can you tell us more about it?
I wrote Claiming T-Mo as part of my creative PhD. I was fascinated with the model of stories-within-a-story for a writer of short fiction to craft a novel. I was also mesmerised with crossing genre and integrating the literary into my speculative fiction. Claiming T-Mo is a story about engaging with difference (the original title was Outbreeds, a breed of others), where—despite its name—the women are the true heart of the story.
What new departures can your readers look forward to, and where would you place the book within the genre?
I wrote this book as a curious, exploratory writer immersed in a dynamic creative space. I beg my readers to find affection in this deviant that has no singular tick to the questions: Is it science fiction? Or fantasy? Or horror?
There is a recurrent joke that writers of dystopian fiction have been put out of business by the dystopian present. Is all speculative fiction necessarily pessimistic?
Claiming T-Mo is not dystopian—which by its very nature attends to themes of societal dysfunction, leading to oppression or abject poverty, for instance, perhaps as an outcome of post-apocalyptic events. I can see why readers might construe dystopian fiction as pessimistic. But not all speculative fiction is dystopian.
To what extent have e-books revolutionised the situation for writers and writing generally?
E-books certainly make writers and their writing more accessible. Sadly, it also opens doors to poor quality work that may be fan-based and cheaply proliferates the market. Readers must apply filters through reviews, recommendations, the calibre of a publication, and much more, to gauge the superiority of a work. But sometimes you never know until you chance an unknown writer and discover they are a gem.
What are you reading at the moment and what do you read to relax?
I’m about to embark on Michael Ondaatje’s Anil’s Ghost, oh such fun. I’ve just finished a collection of short stories by Australian John Kinsella, who is a stimulating writer! He reminds me of the beauty of the short form. I truly love speculative anthologies and novellas—like Jennifer Giesbrecht’s The Monster of Elendhaven.
About Eugen Bacon:
Eugen M. Bacon, MA, MSc, PhD, studied at Maritime Campus, less than two minutes' walk from The Royal Observatory of the Greenwich Meridian. A Computer graduate mentally re-engineered into creative writing, Eugen has published over 100 short stories and articles and multiple anthologies. Shortlisted Bridport Prize 2018. Honorable Mention L. Ron Hubbard Writers of the Future Contest 2017. Her articles were nominated for the 2017 Aurealis Convenors Award for Excellence. Out soon: Creative non-fiction book with Macmillan International (2019). Literary speculative novel with Meerkat Press (2019). Chapter, multi-authored book: Creative Writing with Critical Theory: Inhabitation, Gylphi (2018). Eugen's work is published in literary and speculative journals, magazines & anthologies worldwide. She is also a professional editor, check out Writerly - editing services.
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