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Authors: Karen Joy Fowler
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paid to my positioning and though it never seemed like a problem to me, I was aware that it seemed like a problem to others.
It probably was a problem. It has been my great good fortune not to have to spend much time thinking about it.
The social world of science fiction has been extremely welcoming to me. I do truly want someday to repay that kindness by writing a book in the genre for those steadfast friends and readers. But guess what? Genre fiction is very hard to write well.
What do you like doing best, first draft or revisions?
I hate the first, fumbling, dispiriting draft. Team Revision all the way.
Tarantino, as in the name of the film director, originally meant citizen of Tarentum, the ancient Greek city in Southern Italy. Did you know that?
I know it now.
You teach in lots of writing workshops, and with some apparent success. Whatâs your emphasis there? What do writers leave with that they came without?
How would you measure success as a workshop teacher? I try first to do no harm. I make my best possible effort to see the story the writer is trying to tell and help them achieve that. I try very hard not to confuse their story with the story I would be telling, given that samematerial. Sometimes I fail at that, but not for lack of effort.
I believe that the learning in workshops happens to the critiquer not the critiqued. So I do demand that my students put careful attention into their responses as readers. As writers I caution them not to make changes based on the critiques they get unless they see clearly how that will improve the story they want to tell.
And I also provide such craft tips as have worked for me over the years. Itâs been a bit strange, or was at first, to look closely my own process, because most of it was happening unconsciously. In order to teach, Iâve had to observe myself at work. Itâs not always a pretty sight.
Who do you think would win in a fight, Dr. Johnson or Jane Austen? A footrace?
Austen would refuse to compete. Johnson would win, but he would look such a fool for having done so.
Ever do any hack work? What sort?
Nothing literary, but I once spent a summer sorting tomatoes for Hunt and Wesson. I was not good at this. The potential for advancement to catsup labels was always there and always out of reach. I turned out to be too picky about the tomatoes I wanted in my tomato sauce.
I was also pregnant at the time and suffering from morning sickness. I couldnât eat tomatoes for years.Even now, the smell of mountains of off-peak tomatoes streaming past on conveyor belts haunts my dreams.
Do you read on the Kindle?
I read on the iPad, but only when I travel. I persist in liking books on paper best. Iâve learned that the sense of how close to the end of a book I am, which no electronic version can recreate for me in quite that same physical way, is an important component of my reading experience.
Carter Scholz claims he had a role in the development of
The Jane Austen Book Club
. Is this true, or just another of his tall tales?
There would be no
Jane Austen Book Club
without Carter Scholz. Thatâs the plain and simple truth of the matter. I was at a bookstore with Carter when I misread the sign that gave me the title.
You spent your early youth in Indiana. Do you like James Whitcomb Riley?
I was kept away from the great Hoosier poet as a child. My parents surely had their reasons and I never developed a taste for him and his homespun dialect. The Hoosier poet my parents did approve of was Samuel Yellen, and they read to me often from his book
In the House and
Out
. Especially at bedtime. âItâs time to take your place in Cassiopeiaâs chairâ (or something very like that). This was a poem about the constellations, very beautiful and starry. Put me right to sleep.
What authors do you think have had the most influence on your work?
T.H. White, by a mile. Author of
The Once and Future King
. T.H. White is why I have never
It probably was a problem. It has been my great good fortune not to have to spend much time thinking about it.
The social world of science fiction has been extremely welcoming to me. I do truly want someday to repay that kindness by writing a book in the genre for those steadfast friends and readers. But guess what? Genre fiction is very hard to write well.
What do you like doing best, first draft or revisions?
I hate the first, fumbling, dispiriting draft. Team Revision all the way.
Tarantino, as in the name of the film director, originally meant citizen of Tarentum, the ancient Greek city in Southern Italy. Did you know that?
I know it now.
You teach in lots of writing workshops, and with some apparent success. Whatâs your emphasis there? What do writers leave with that they came without?
How would you measure success as a workshop teacher? I try first to do no harm. I make my best possible effort to see the story the writer is trying to tell and help them achieve that. I try very hard not to confuse their story with the story I would be telling, given that samematerial. Sometimes I fail at that, but not for lack of effort.
I believe that the learning in workshops happens to the critiquer not the critiqued. So I do demand that my students put careful attention into their responses as readers. As writers I caution them not to make changes based on the critiques they get unless they see clearly how that will improve the story they want to tell.
And I also provide such craft tips as have worked for me over the years. Itâs been a bit strange, or was at first, to look closely my own process, because most of it was happening unconsciously. In order to teach, Iâve had to observe myself at work. Itâs not always a pretty sight.
Who do you think would win in a fight, Dr. Johnson or Jane Austen? A footrace?
Austen would refuse to compete. Johnson would win, but he would look such a fool for having done so.
Ever do any hack work? What sort?
Nothing literary, but I once spent a summer sorting tomatoes for Hunt and Wesson. I was not good at this. The potential for advancement to catsup labels was always there and always out of reach. I turned out to be too picky about the tomatoes I wanted in my tomato sauce.
I was also pregnant at the time and suffering from morning sickness. I couldnât eat tomatoes for years.Even now, the smell of mountains of off-peak tomatoes streaming past on conveyor belts haunts my dreams.
Do you read on the Kindle?
I read on the iPad, but only when I travel. I persist in liking books on paper best. Iâve learned that the sense of how close to the end of a book I am, which no electronic version can recreate for me in quite that same physical way, is an important component of my reading experience.
Carter Scholz claims he had a role in the development of
The Jane Austen Book Club
. Is this true, or just another of his tall tales?
There would be no
Jane Austen Book Club
without Carter Scholz. Thatâs the plain and simple truth of the matter. I was at a bookstore with Carter when I misread the sign that gave me the title.
You spent your early youth in Indiana. Do you like James Whitcomb Riley?
I was kept away from the great Hoosier poet as a child. My parents surely had their reasons and I never developed a taste for him and his homespun dialect. The Hoosier poet my parents did approve of was Samuel Yellen, and they read to me often from his book
In the House and
Out
. Especially at bedtime. âItâs time to take your place in Cassiopeiaâs chairâ (or something very like that). This was a poem about the constellations, very beautiful and starry. Put me right to sleep.
What authors do you think have had the most influence on your work?
T.H. White, by a mile. Author of
The Once and Future King
. T.H. White is why I have never
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