Reflection’s Edge: You write both science fiction and fantasy. Is there a difference in how you handle writing for each specific genre?
Elizabeth Moon: No, and yes. The daily work is much the same: sit down, open the file, and write, pausing to do any research that comes up. For both fantasy and science fiction, a writer must be able to create an invented world that is not the one we live in—whether it’s a society on another planet, a future that hasn’t happened yet, an alternate history, or a fantasy involving people and powers that do not exist except in fiction. However, ever story has its own particular setting and characters, and demands adjustments in the handling of language to make that particular story vivid. Every writer who works in both of these would probably explain it differently.
RE: How do you develop your stories—character first, plot first, etc.?
Moon: Stories come to me as a character with a problem. Until I have a character with a problem, I’m stuck, dead-still in the fictional ocean. I can’t write about a nifty idea until a character and a problem attach themselves to it. Luckily, my mind’s full of imaginary people, most of who have problems and want their story told. From the character and the problem, the rest of the story flows. Not always smoothly, but it flows.
RE: You tend to write in sets rather than as a stand-alone. is there a reason for this?
Moon: I like—and therefore tend to write—very, very long stories that won’t fit easily in one book. I think of the books as stand-alone, because the story arc runs through the whole thing. The rest of the world sees groups, because the story’s issued in separate volumes. Although I’ve written short fiction in all lengths from fifty words and up, I’m not primarily a short-fiction writer, and most of my stories try to grow longer.
RE: Your Nebula award-winning book The Speed of Dark takes an interesting look at at how we identify as individuals and how disabilities help develop that self-image. It’s different from your other work. What was your motivation for writing it?
Moon: We have an autistic son, now an adult. I did no want to write another “my child” story, but after twenty years of daily experience with autism, and familiarity with the social and political attitudes that surround disability issues in general, I felt moved to write about an adult person with a disability who could live almost normally in the community with some supports—supports which others would like to remove on the grounds of economics. The book deals with a number of issues related to identity, both self-identity and labels put on others by society, social justice, disability, includig the unlabeled disabilities that result in anti-social behavior by “normal” people, etc.
RE: Your last book, Victory War Conditions, of the Vattas War Series came out in 2008. Anything new in the pipeline?
Moon: Oath of Fealty, the start of a new group of books set in the same world as The Deed of Paksenarrion, released in March of 2010. The second volume is in revision, the third is progressing in first draft. For more information go to this website.
RE: Based on your experience, do you believe that speculative fiction, just like any other genre, can have a significant impact on people?
Moon: (blinks) Who could possibly think it wouldn’t? Of course it can. In some ways it’s ideally placed to have a significant impact, because it invites—even demands—the readers to be open to something unfamiliar. Of course we could get into that deep discussion of what makes a “significant” impact and whether making an impact, signifcant ornot, is the proper goal of fiction, and whether immediate or delayed impact is the more important . . . but lets not. I still have my words to do today.
RE: At what moment did you say to yourself, “I’m a successful writer?”
Moon: I’ll let you know when that happens (grins). Complacency is a big no-no for any writer who wants to keep growing and writing. Besides, “success” is another term with different meanings for different people.