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Ask N. K. Jemisin Anything – The Interview
This is the first in our Ask an Author Anything interview series and we’re very excited to be kicking things off with N. K. Jemisin, which we are now publishing fresh off of yesterday’s Locus nomination. The way it works, as you may recall from our first post, is that we get questions from our members and visitors who then vote on their own questions. We take the most popular questions asked and send them off to the author. Our goal is to have around a dozen questions but in this case Ms. Jemisin is neck-deep in Deadline Hell working on her next novel so we cut it back to just 6 to ensure we don’t interrupt her work too much.
We arranged this interview through her publicist at Orbit who very graciously has sent along some books for us to give away. Check out the details at the end of the interview for your chance to win. Now for the interview!
WWEnd: First, congratulations on your recent Nebula Award nomination for The Killing Moon. You’ve been getting a lot of those. What is it like for the bulk of your accolades to come from fellow writers? Is it different than, say, the Hugo nomination you received, which was from fans?
NKJ: I don’t really think about it that way. Thus far I’ve had three Hugo nominations and four Nebula nominations, but I had to go look at my own bibliography to remember which was which. The bragging rights — if you want to call them that — don’t come from the number of nominations. They come from the fact of being nominated at all. That first nomination was the point at which my agent/publisher started putting “Hugo nominee” or “Nebula nominee” in my marketing materials (and when I won the Locus and the RT, this became “Award-winning author”), and that’s when I started seeing more sales to libraries and organizations that look for fiction of a certain quality and popular appeal. I don’t think they care how many nominations I’ve gotten, either! Just that nominations exist.
I do have to admit that the Nebula noms give me a little more of a shiny feeling, even though the Hugo award is better-known. I think every professional likes having the respect of her peers; I feel the same way about the World Fantasy nomination. But the Hugo noms mean I’ve achieved a certain level of name recognition with fans, and for someone who’s as early in her career as I am, it’s awesome for that to happen even once, let alone twice.
WWEnd: We had several questions regarding the unique cultural qualities of your work; specifically how it differs from the pigeonhole into which most post-Tolkien 20th century fantasy seems to have been stuck. Do you find the Western mythological canon (and the heavy emphasis that other fantasy authors have placed on it) to be a hindrance or a source of inspiration? Did you intentionally set out to break with these norms, or was it just a result of your organic process?
NKJ: Well, there’s obviously some inspiration for me in Greco-Roman mythology, which formed one of the pillars of the Inheritance Trilogy. Also pre-Columbian American and western African mythologies, which are also “Western”, although I think a lot of people either neglectfully or intentionally leave those out. But I think what you’re actually referring to is British Isles mythological canon, which exists as a subset of Western, and which I do think is heavily overplayed in post-Tolkien fantasy. That’s just not something I’ve ever had much interest in writing, at least so far, probably because lots of other people have written whatever I might like to read in that sphere. I write what I want to read but can’t find elsewhere. That’s not always rooted in any mythological canon, note; I like to make stuff up.
WWEnd: On a related note, are there elements of traditional 20th century fantasy or any other genre that have influenced you? If so, what are some of your favorite works of art, literary or otherwise? What do you read or watch at home or in the theatre?
That would take a very long time to answer. 🙂 But for the most part, I don’t watch TV, and rarely go to the movies. I play video games, but very slowly. I have a full time day job and a full time writing career; to make room for that, what gives is entertainment. I’ve even had to cut down on my reading, sadly.
WWEnd: You are a popular pick for our Women of Genre Fiction Reading Challenge and it seems as if women authors are hot right now. Do you think this is indicative of real progress in gender diversity or is it perhaps a temporary marketing fix? What more can be done at the publishing, editing, marketing and writing levels to ensure reading opportunities are given to the best writers of both genders?
NKJ: Well, most recent surveys show that women get novels published at almost the same rate as men, though this varies by genre. So what’s happening is that readers are finally discovering what women authors have been saying all along — that there’s sexism at pretty much every level of the chain after the point of publication (and there’s some before publication, in certain genres), from the marketing dollars spent to which books get reviews. That the public is finally acknowledging the discrimination that’s been there all along is not progress; it’s sad and infuriating. I mean, it’s 2013. This should have been addressed ages ago. But better late than never, I guess.
I think people should just keep talking about this, and getting angry about it. These conversations actually help.
NKJ: A lot of writers write entire books about this, you know. 😉 All I can say briefly is that there is no one true way to become a writer, or to manage a career once you’ve started publishing. (I’m still figuring out the latter as I go along.) The way I did it won’t necessarily work for other people; the way others are doing it wouldn’t work for me. Just keep writing, keep improving, pick a publication model that works for your goals, and try to stay away from scammers. That’s about the best advice I can offer.
WWEnd: What was your inspiration for the world you created for The Killing Moon? Is the dream stealing at all a commentary on modern life? It strikes me as particularly relevant to this world, especially now that I’m grading a lot of term papers until 2AM.
NKJ: The inspiration was “…Ninja … priests! That’s awesome! Ancient Egypt! That’s awesome too! LET’S PUT THEM TOGETHER!” And if I recall, I thought of this at around 2 am on the day it happened. 🙂
Everything I write is a commentary on modern life, because I’m a modern woman living in the modern world. But as for what that commentary might be saying, I’ll leave the analysis to the English professors and students!
Our thanks to N. K. Jemisin for taking time out of her busy schedule to answer our questions. I hope you all enjoyed the interview. We’ll be doing another one in a couple weeks so keep an eye out for the open question post.
The contest!
We’re going to make this really simple. All you have to do is re-tweet our tweet announcing this interview to get your name into the hat. We’ll let it run until Saturday when we’ll draw 2 names from the list of re-tweeters. The first person drawn will have their choice of 2 prizes: Jemisin’s Dreamblood series (The Killing Moon and The Shadowed Sun) in trade paperback or her 3 volume Inheritance Trilogy (The Hundred Thousand Kingdoms, The Broken Kingdoms and The Kingdom of Gods) in mass market paperback format. The second drawing will be for the other set. Pretty sweet, huh? Oh, the contest is world-wide too so tweet away!
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