Ask the Author: Charlie Jane Anders
Answered Questions (13)
Charlie Jane Anders
Have you read about Jose Sarria? The Empress Was a Man is a great book!
Charlie Jane Anders
I think Mexico can protect itself!
I got a lovely framed certificate which is still hanging in my apartment, stating that I was recognized for "extraordinary invention and creativity unhindered by the constraints of paltry reason." It's very cool looking. It was such cool surprise and I felt a great responsibility to be even more unreasonable afterward. <3
I got a lovely framed certificate which is still hanging in my apartment, stating that I was recognized for "extraordinary invention and creativity unhindered by the constraints of paltry reason." It's very cool looking. It was such cool surprise and I felt a great responsibility to be even more unreasonable afterward. <3
Charlie Jane Anders
I did not know about the Persian conference, or the musical. Thanks for letting me know! Good luck with your chapter!!!!
Charlie Jane Anders
Hi! Sorry this took me a minute. First of all, I'm so pleased you picked up on the Chaucer thing! You're literally the first person ever to ask me about it, and I couldn't be happier. There was a stage, early on in the writing of AtBitS, when I was determined to insert little Chaucer easter eggs into the whole book. I think one or two made it in there, like the name of the school that Laurence and Patricia attend, but in the end it was one thing too many to try and keep track of. I had elaborate plans for how Chaucer would keep coming back as a weird motif in the book, like someone would tell someone "White is dead," and this would be a clue to something. Anyway, yes, this was a huge factor. I love that Chaucer poem and generally am a huge Chaucer fan. I even bought a book of Chaucer criticism to help me weave in more references to the text, before I abandoned this plan. I hope my answer isn't too late for your purposes!
Charlie Jane Anders
Hi!!! Thanks so much for reading Dreams Bigger Than Heartbreak — I'm so glad you liked it! And YES, the series is a trilogy (at least for now), and there is a third book coming in April 2023. I have already handed in the third book, and I think it's the most fun and quirky of the three books. I'm so excited for you to read it! <3 As for whether the series continues past the third book, I think we're going to wait and see how well the third book ends up doing. I'm hoping once the trilogy is complete, a bunch of people will want to jump on board. Fingers crossed!!!
Charlie Jane Anders
Hey, thank you so much for reading CitMotN! I cannot tell you how happy it makes me to hear you liked it. The worldbuilding in that book was a huge challenge, I have to admit — it took me a couple of years just to figure out how that world works and what characters this story would be following. Currently I have no plans for a book sequel, because I have a lot of other books I'm really dying to write. Maybe eventually a sequel will happen though. In the meantime, there's a story you can read online for free called "If You Take My Meaning." (Just google those words and my name and it'll pop up.)
Charlie Jane Anders
It's a work of fiction! Of course such things could never happenin real life....
Charlie Jane Anders
I sort of pictured the passive aggressive lasagna being kind of TOO MUCH. Like, maybe a ton of garlic and also a lot of ricotta cheese and maybe actual butter. The kind of thing you enjoy but also feel overwhelmed by. I am not much of a cook these days though. And thank you!!! <3
Charlie Jane Anders
I started writing All the Birds in 2011, but even in 2016 when it was published I felt like it was pretty accurate to the tech nerds I knew. I apologize if I got the size of an impressive monitor wrong, that's my bad. I'm kind of spatially challenged. I still know nerds who are excited about Linux though, and the new TV show Upload has a whole open-source storyline. I don't think the Caddy could just be a phone app, and I get people all the time saying to me that they wish the Caddies existed in real life. Our phones mostly do the opposite of what the Caddy does: they make it harder for us to connect with each other in the flesh-and-blood world.
Charlie Jane Anders
Hi! I don't really think of CiMoN as YA, to be honest. Sophie has a lot in common with a YA heroine, but Mouth is a bit older, like early 20s. And if this book was YA, I think it would have started with Sophie getting arrested by the cops on page 2 --- which is something I actually tried to do in some of my drafts. I would LOVE to see this book taught in high school or college, I know that's happened a few times. But my next book, coming spring 2021, is straight-up YA and it's much faster paced and has a much stronger YA sensibility, and I think you'll see the difference if you check it out.
Charlie Jane Anders
Thank you so much for asking! And I'm so incredibly thrilled that you liked this book... the short story that ties in with City in the Middle of the Night came out right on time, and it's here:
https://www.tor.com/2020/02/11/if-you...
https://www.tor.com/2020/02/11/if-you...
Charlie Jane Anders
Oh yay thanks for reading TODOS OS PÁSSAROS NO CÉU! I am learning Portuguese right now so I am thinking of trying to read the Brazilian edition myself soon enough. I'm so glad you liked the book, and it made you reflect. That is amazing!
The idea for the book came to me when I was in the middle of trying to write another book, an urban fantasy. I had this idea for a book about a witch and a mad scientist.
At first I thought it would just be a zany comedy where they were enemies or rivals. It would be just lots of battles between magic and science. But then I started to think of it as more of a relationship story and I tried to develop the characters more and turn them into real people.
The characters weren't based on anyone in particular in real life, but I borrowed little things here and there from people I know. Patricia and Laurence both have a lot of me in them, and they also have little details that come from people I care about. But mostly I just worked super hard to try and get into their heads and understand what they were going through and what they were feeling throughout the book. Writing is a lot like acting sometimes, and you kind of have to get "in character" when you're writing someone's personal life. For Patricia, it was really important to capture her passion and her desire to become a witch, and for Laurence, I tried to capture all of his anxiety and curiosity and playfulness.
I hope this answers your question!
The idea for the book came to me when I was in the middle of trying to write another book, an urban fantasy. I had this idea for a book about a witch and a mad scientist.
At first I thought it would just be a zany comedy where they were enemies or rivals. It would be just lots of battles between magic and science. But then I started to think of it as more of a relationship story and I tried to develop the characters more and turn them into real people.
The characters weren't based on anyone in particular in real life, but I borrowed little things here and there from people I know. Patricia and Laurence both have a lot of me in them, and they also have little details that come from people I care about. But mostly I just worked super hard to try and get into their heads and understand what they were going through and what they were feeling throughout the book. Writing is a lot like acting sometimes, and you kind of have to get "in character" when you're writing someone's personal life. For Patricia, it was really important to capture her passion and her desire to become a witch, and for Laurence, I tried to capture all of his anxiety and curiosity and playfulness.
I hope this answers your question!
Charlie Jane Anders
There's a bunch of answers to this. I'll try and be brief....... :)
1) Over a long period of time I've gotten into the habit of writing and I have trained myself to just write no matter what, even if I'm feeling like hot garbage and the words are sucking.
2) Sometimes you have to "cheat on" your project and just work on something else.
3) Sometimes I just write a paragraph and it takes me like three hours and doesn't feel worth it, but it totally is because I'm still working the problem in my head.
4) On the same note, staring into space is writing. People-watching is writing. Listening to music and zoning out is writing. I count all of those things as part of my "writing time."
Hope this helps!
1) Over a long period of time I've gotten into the habit of writing and I have trained myself to just write no matter what, even if I'm feeling like hot garbage and the words are sucking.
2) Sometimes you have to "cheat on" your project and just work on something else.
3) Sometimes I just write a paragraph and it takes me like three hours and doesn't feel worth it, but it totally is because I'm still working the problem in my head.
4) On the same note, staring into space is writing. People-watching is writing. Listening to music and zoning out is writing. I count all of those things as part of my "writing time."
Hope this helps!
About Goodreads Q&A
Ask and answer questions about books!
You can pose questions to the Goodreads community with Reader Q&A, or ask your favorite author a question with Ask the Author.
See Featured Authors Answering Questions
Learn more