Ask the Author: Virginia Arthur
Answered Questions (12)
Virginia Arthur
My Lord. Where have I been? Thank you so much. What book, I mean of those I have written, not like, what? I wrote a book? Thanks again.
Virginia Arthur
Once upon a time in America, Donald Trump was elected President.
Despite the disastrous consequences, nothing happened to stop him.
Despite the disastrous consequences, nothing happened to stop him.
Virginia Arthur
There are many but a few immediately come to mind:
All the King's Horses by Kurt Vonnegut. It takes place in Asia and he wrote it during the Cold War. The story is about a captured Colonel and his family and small number of his troops that are forced to act as human chess pieces in a sadistic game of chess between the Colonel and the communist leader that captured them. Any wrong move, literally, by the Colonel results in the execution of his family members, soldiers. I read this story as a young girl and was completely enraptured by the idea of humans acting as chess pieces=a human chess game. Would be a blast to participate in as long as it doesn't result in executions!
One of Carlos Castenada's nightly spirit walks through the desert would be cool, though maybe without getting nailed by a lot of cacti.
I would love a chance to look in as the dumpy, outcast soldier is accidentally kissed in the dark room in Chekhov's "The Kiss".
I would love to visit Aldous Huxley's fictional island, Pala, and teach a few classes for them using their system that teaches the children how to learn by viewing something as art, say a flower, then they view that same flower from the perspective of science. In fact, I teach a class based based entirely around this book and this approach. I'm just lacking the tropical setting! Anyone?
Many more!
All the King's Horses by Kurt Vonnegut. It takes place in Asia and he wrote it during the Cold War. The story is about a captured Colonel and his family and small number of his troops that are forced to act as human chess pieces in a sadistic game of chess between the Colonel and the communist leader that captured them. Any wrong move, literally, by the Colonel results in the execution of his family members, soldiers. I read this story as a young girl and was completely enraptured by the idea of humans acting as chess pieces=a human chess game. Would be a blast to participate in as long as it doesn't result in executions!
One of Carlos Castenada's nightly spirit walks through the desert would be cool, though maybe without getting nailed by a lot of cacti.
I would love a chance to look in as the dumpy, outcast soldier is accidentally kissed in the dark room in Chekhov's "The Kiss".
I would love to visit Aldous Huxley's fictional island, Pala, and teach a few classes for them using their system that teaches the children how to learn by viewing something as art, say a flower, then they view that same flower from the perspective of science. In fact, I teach a class based based entirely around this book and this approach. I'm just lacking the tropical setting! Anyone?
Many more!
Virginia Arthur
The third (and hopefully) final draft of my newest novel.
Virginia Arthur
I think it is pretty obvious we are exploiting the resources of earth to near depletion. I don't consider this "revering" anything. I consider this the sign of an organism that demands gratification before it dies at any cost to future generations and I argue if our life spans were 100-200+ years or more, things would be very different because we would be around to see the consequences of our greed and impetuosity. How many people do I know (with kids!) who have said to me, "by the the time climate change gets really bad, I'll be dead anyway." At least two dozen including research scientists! This is the primate in us and it is the primate in us that RUNS us.
Virginia Arthur
Per getting a rash of it about the cover of my book, much of it from people that know me, let's just get this out in the open, discuss it, and move on. Please. It's what's in between the covers that I...uh oh...of the BOOK, damn it!! Gawd!
Field biologists get hired to do "construction monitoring." This is a regulatory requirement of many public agencies. It requires the developer to hire biological monitors to make sure sensitive resources are protected during construction. If the monitor is not a pansy-ass and does his/her job, it does help reduce environmental impacts particularly to wetlands and riparian areas; but for endangered species, it can feel ludicrous. Your job is to avert your eyes as the habitat is destroyed yet try to "save" any individuals that show up.
How do construction workers feel about being "monitored", 99.9% of them men? I'll let you contemplate this.
Years ago, I was monitoring a construction site with three other monitors, one of which was a stunning, buxom, intelligent, and strong woman I will call "Vanessa." She was also a damn good field biologist. She got full compliance from the construction guys meaning they stayed out of every area she stipulated they stay out of (and no smart ass comments here. I'm talking no backhoes in the creek and stuff like this. Focus, please).
She did her job professionally, without flashing her 'buxoms' around, while at the same time she was very feminine meaning she didn't turn herself into a man, diminish her femininity, in order to do a man's job. She stayed true to herself and stood in her own power.
The first draft cover of my book was of a skinny, bespectacled nerdy girl with binoculars that very conveniently fit the absolutely inaccurate stereotype of the "girl" field scientist/naturalist (i.e. what I look like). It was very convenient when I settled on this version of Ellie except I didn't. Instead, I remembered Vanessa--her beauty, her power, and intelligence. I absolutely refused to make Ellie into the stereotype. Why can't a woman field scientist be beautiful, sexy, and strong because you know what? They can be and they are. Sorry.
So enough already about the cover. Just read the damn book.
Thank you.
Field biologists get hired to do "construction monitoring." This is a regulatory requirement of many public agencies. It requires the developer to hire biological monitors to make sure sensitive resources are protected during construction. If the monitor is not a pansy-ass and does his/her job, it does help reduce environmental impacts particularly to wetlands and riparian areas; but for endangered species, it can feel ludicrous. Your job is to avert your eyes as the habitat is destroyed yet try to "save" any individuals that show up.
How do construction workers feel about being "monitored", 99.9% of them men? I'll let you contemplate this.
Years ago, I was monitoring a construction site with three other monitors, one of which was a stunning, buxom, intelligent, and strong woman I will call "Vanessa." She was also a damn good field biologist. She got full compliance from the construction guys meaning they stayed out of every area she stipulated they stay out of (and no smart ass comments here. I'm talking no backhoes in the creek and stuff like this. Focus, please).
She did her job professionally, without flashing her 'buxoms' around, while at the same time she was very feminine meaning she didn't turn herself into a man, diminish her femininity, in order to do a man's job. She stayed true to herself and stood in her own power.
The first draft cover of my book was of a skinny, bespectacled nerdy girl with binoculars that very conveniently fit the absolutely inaccurate stereotype of the "girl" field scientist/naturalist (i.e. what I look like). It was very convenient when I settled on this version of Ellie except I didn't. Instead, I remembered Vanessa--her beauty, her power, and intelligence. I absolutely refused to make Ellie into the stereotype. Why can't a woman field scientist be beautiful, sexy, and strong because you know what? They can be and they are. Sorry.
So enough already about the cover. Just read the damn book.
Thank you.
Virginia Arthur
Birdbrain--I never set out to write it. It started out as a journal of my experiences as a field biologist then morphed into the novel. Ellie and Patty took me over, like all my characters do, and made me write it. They channeled me while I dictated furiously.
Because Birdbrain did not start out as a structured novel that you plan, I had to go back and convert it, if you will, from a journal into a novel and this took me, what, 14 years? Also, unlike the novel I am writing now, Birdbrain is an incredibly emotionally charged piece of work. It's my guts. My soul. I was also going through some monumental losses in my life one of which would emotionally knock you out of the ballpark but I had three in a row--bam, bam, bam--major losses so I know loss and I know grief. This is in the book too. I also reject the idea that grief is something you get "over." It's not a disease! This perspective minimizes the significance of loss. You don't get "over it" because it changes you, permanently, and you have to learn to be the new person that the loss has forced you to become. The idea that we can "go back" to who we were before the loss is illusion and folly. You can't. But you can explore how the losses have changed you and accept that you are a "new" person...different, and hopefully more wise and compassionate.
So this is, in the words of Spalding Gray, my "monster" and I am so glad I got my "monster" out of the way first. Many authors do it last.
I have learned so much and now I can channel all that I have learned about writing fiction into future novels, and I am still having a blast with it.
Because Birdbrain did not start out as a structured novel that you plan, I had to go back and convert it, if you will, from a journal into a novel and this took me, what, 14 years? Also, unlike the novel I am writing now, Birdbrain is an incredibly emotionally charged piece of work. It's my guts. My soul. I was also going through some monumental losses in my life one of which would emotionally knock you out of the ballpark but I had three in a row--bam, bam, bam--major losses so I know loss and I know grief. This is in the book too. I also reject the idea that grief is something you get "over." It's not a disease! This perspective minimizes the significance of loss. You don't get "over it" because it changes you, permanently, and you have to learn to be the new person that the loss has forced you to become. The idea that we can "go back" to who we were before the loss is illusion and folly. You can't. But you can explore how the losses have changed you and accept that you are a "new" person...different, and hopefully more wise and compassionate.
So this is, in the words of Spalding Gray, my "monster" and I am so glad I got my "monster" out of the way first. Many authors do it last.
I have learned so much and now I can channel all that I have learned about writing fiction into future novels, and I am still having a blast with it.
Virginia Arthur
I want to get inspired NOT to write. Lord. I have an overactive imagination at present. I have other things to do, like earn a living (the day job thing) so living in my little fantasy fiction world means dysfunction in the "real" one. I almost got into a car accident last week thinking about my characters and the plot, and worry that they seem almost real to me. I guess all fiction writers have to be nuts to some degree but when it threatens heath and safety...!! I do wish I could turn off my brain sometimes.
Virginia Arthur
Another wacky novel somewhat different from Birdbrain featuring two
misfit male characters. Unfortunately, I am at a point right now where I
have to poke at them with a stick when things are going pretty well with them at this point. They know its coming and just want to get it over with.
misfit male characters. Unfortunately, I am at a point right now where I
have to poke at them with a stick when things are going pretty well with them at this point. They know its coming and just want to get it over with.
Virginia Arthur
When your story, idea, passion takes you over, don't ignore it. Find some way to write then and there even if it's an inconvenient time. Remember, your story is unique to your brain. It's yours. What else in life is truly yours? Ride the idea and have fun with it. Laugh out loud. Squiggle down and mush around in it. It's your precious and unique act of creation. It is human creativity that distinguishes us as the human species. Many other species are also creative but nobody does human creativity like a human.
It is a sacred act, creating. Respect it. Do it. Wallow in the joy of it.
It is a sacred act, creating. Respect it. Do it. Wallow in the joy of it.
Virginia Arthur
It is tremendous fun.
Virginia Arthur
So far so good on this one though I have reached the point of insanity with editing which I cannot stop doing. I am an incessant and chronic editor, this then grades into a re-write, then I can't finish anything. For now, my imagination knows no bounds which means a simple edit turns into a total re-working of a sentence and the next thing I know, I am adding in a new character. (Sht! Who is this now? Where did SHE come from? Go AWAY!"). There is no block because right now at least, my books are writing me. I am not writing them.
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