Charlie Jane Anders's Blog, page 28
March 12, 2021
The human supporting cast of Victories Greater than Death
First up: how I made the human supporting cast!
One thing I really struggled with when I started working on Victories was including other human teenagers.
Early on, I thought maybe Tina could have a bunch of relationships with teens on Earth, but then leave them all behind and go into space on her own.
But a bunch of folks (including my agent, Russ) convinced me that there needed to be other human teens in space with Tina. Right away, I knew one of them had to be Tina's best friend, Rachael (who had more of a spiky relationship with Tina in earlier drafts.)
I liked the idea that Tina has spent years protecting Rachael from bullies and creeps at school, and now she's trying to become the protector of the WHOLE GALAXY, and Rachael can remind Tina that you can't always protect people — it's better to help them protect themselves.
But like I said, the relationship between Tina and Rachael got closer and softened as I revised, and Rachael became more supportive of Tina's dreams of interstellar heroism. There's still that thread of Rachael reminding Tina that she doesn't have to be a superhero always.
So I had one human teenager going into space with Tina. The easy choice was to have other kids from Tina's high school go into space too. Maybe when Tina gets brought up to an alien starship, some other local kids could get pulled up with her by accident?
There are obvious advantages to this. Tina would have existing relationships with these kids. One of them could be a bully that she's been fighting, or a kid she had an unspoken crush on. There could be old dramas that somehow get brought up on the other side of the galaxy.
But the more I poked at it, the more I felt like this wouldn't be fun to write. These human kids would inevitably spend a lot of time complaining about getting dragged along on Tina's adventure. Tina's the one with the heroic destiny, an they're just along for the ride. Whining.
As a side note, in some drafts, Rachael really doesn't want to go on the space voyage with Tina.
When I realized that Rachael would be *psyched* to go into space, and that Tina was the one who might be scared something would happen to her, it got way more fun to write.
Anyway, kids from Tina's high school. I experimented with a thing where a bunch of local teens (not including Tina) notice alien stuff happening and start investigating. Cue Spielbergian scenes of teen alien-hunting club riding around on bikes (or cars), searching for clues.
That way, the other kids could have agency, and they might get pulled into space as a result of their investigation, rather than just being random bystanders. The only problem was this was time-consuming and unwieldy, and we were spending too much time on Earth.
And the thing of forcing Tina to be on a spaceship with the bully she used to fight, or the basketball player she had a crush on, or the drama kid who gets on her nerves, just wasn't as fun as I'd hoped, for various reasons.
I wanted the other kids who come into space to be on their own heroic quests, and to have their own reasons for going to space. I wanted them to be the heroes of their own stories, even if Tina is the book's protagonist.
So I finally hit on a thing where the alien starship is massively understaffed, because they have suffered so many casualties. They need to recruit new crewmembers, even ones who need training, and there's an existing program that can locate the smartest kids on Earth.
(This is a minor minor spoiler, sorry.)
Once I had that, I could make Rachael the one who suggests recruiting some human kids to join the crew, which gives Rachael more fun stuff to work with. (And Tina can be the one with misgivings about it.)
That sequence, where we debate recruiting more kids from Earth, and we figure out the best way to find them, was originally way longer and more complicated, but it got streamlined for pacing.
Anyway, it gave me a way to introduce kids who had their own reasons for leaving home.
Each of those kids has an individual reason for being like "screw it, I'm going to get on this space elevator that just showed up, and see where it takes me." (They get a warning that they may never see their loved ones again if they step on this thing.)
Another benefit of the "recruiting more kids from Earth" thing was, these kids could come from all over the world. I wasn't restricted to Tina's hometown anymore. So I got to have Elza from Brazil, Keziah from the UK, Yiwei from China and Damini from India.
It felt really proper to have humanity represented by kids from all over, rather than everybody being from the United States. And the smartest kids on Earth *ought* to come from everywhere on the globe.
Maybe next time I'll talk more about those kids and how I went about coming up with their backstories (and all the research I did!)
March 3, 2021
Consent in Victories Greater Than Death
In the book, nobody touches anybody else (except for fight scenes) without asking for permission. I wish this had been in the books I read as a teenager.
This goes together with all the other themes of the book, which keep coming back to respecting people's identities. Everyone in the book is searching for their identity and trying to become their best selves. But also, the translator makes sure you know everyone's pronoun.
Don't worry, the book is not a sermon! It's full of pew-pew-pew fight scenes and creatures and weird food and monsters.
But as I was writing it, I did think a lot about that idea of respecting other people's identities. Personal space and bodily autonomy are a huge part of that.
Respecting everyone else's identity, and personhood, means respecting their space and their boundaries. I found it really powerful to make sure people asked before touching, and it helped my characters get closer and form a chosen family.
There's a lot of darkness in this book, and we start getting hints that the "good guys" have a lot of issues. But I love the utopian strand in #StarTrek and other big space adventures, and respecting other people is central to that.
Consent in Victories Greater Than Death
People keep mentioning the way my YA novel VICTORIES GREATER THAN DEATH deals with consent, and I’m glad folks are noticing.
In the book, nobody touches anybody else (except for fight scenes) without asking for permission. I wish this had been in the books I read as a teenager.
This goes together with all the other themes of the book, which keep coming back to respecting people’s identities. Everyone in the book is searching for their identity and trying to become their best selves. But also, the translator makes sure you know everyone’s pronoun.
Don’t worry, the book is not a sermon! It’s full of pew-pew-pew fight scenes and creatures and weird food and monsters.
But as I was writing it, I did think a lot about that idea of respecting other people’s identities. Personal space and bodily autonomy are a huge part of that.
Respecting everyone else’s identity, and personhood, means respecting their space and their boundaries. I found it really powerful to make sure people asked before touching, and it helped my characters get closer and form a chosen family.
There’s a lot of darkness in this book, and we start getting hints that the “good guys” have a lot of issues. But I love the utopian strand in #StarTrek and other big space adventures, and respecting other people is central to that.
May 12, 2020
Brand New Writing Advice Column!
This time, I'm doing a series for Tor.com called "Never Say You Can't Survive: How To Get Through Hard Times By Making Up Stories." Here's the start.
https://www.tor.com/2020/05/12/never-...
I'm going to write roughly 25 essays (one per week) about writing ---- with a special focus on how inventing your own characters and worlds can help you survive scary times like the ones we're living through right now. You can use writing to help liberate yourself, and others!
In the end, these 25 essays will be published in book form. (!!!!) So I already have a pretty detailed outline to make sure I don't just ramble, the way I am wont to do. They'll cover nuts-and-bolts writing topics, but also talk about how to do this in a way that's healthy.
Like, next week's essay has a lot of stuff about imposter syndrome and insecurity and the ways that people will try to tell you that you're doing this wrong. And for those who liked my rant about anger last week, there's a whole essay about turning your anger into stories.
I've really really missed geeking out about writing with my science fiction and fantasy peeps, and I'm super excited to get back to it.
This project has been in the works for a couple years, but now turned out to be the perfect time to launch it. Let's build some worlds to disappear inside!
February 7, 2019
One reason I’m anxiously awaiting next week!
Almost three years ago I decided to leave my job at io9 and be a full-time novelist. One of the main reasons was that The City in the Middle of the Night was a massive challenge that needed my undivided attention. On Tuesday, I finally start finding out if this was a good choice.
When I left io9, The City in the Middle of the Night was kind of a sprawling mess, living in a ton of handwritten journals and a bunch of disconnected Word docs. The worldbuilding was huge but the characters and their journey weren’t coming together the way I wanted.
And even though I had written a few other novels while working at io9, including All the Birds in the Sky, I was finding this book too heavy a lift while also holding down a day job. After I quit io9 on May 1, I worked like a maniac and had a halfway decent draft by late July.
I feel sure this book never would have come together the way it did if I hadn’t taken that plunge. (Not to mention the YA trilogy I was able to pitch.) But this is one reason I’m nervous for next week: I’ll finally see if this book was worth giving up health insurance/salary for.
All of which is to say: please come to my book events if you can (https://www.tor.com/2018/12/10/charlie-jane-anders-city-in-the-middle-of-the-night-book-tour-dates/), and please preorder the book (https://us.macmillan.com/books/9780765379962) or pick it up next week, if you can afford to. It will mean more to me than I can possibly say!
February 3, 2019
Amazon Editor's Picks
So incredibly chuffed! @amazon named The City in the Middle of the Night not just one of the best science fiction books of February, but one of the 10 best books of any genre. This is amazing. Also, I’m super stoked for Yangsze Choo!
January 23, 2019
January 22, 2019
Why Science Fiction Authors Need to be Writing About Climate Change Right Now
Science fiction (and fantasy) authors have a unique opportunity to help us imagine a future of climate change, AND how we’ll cope with it. That also means we have a unique responsibility. My latest, at @tordotcom.
January 14, 2019
The City in the Middle of the Night
Hey so I just launched a brand new website: https://cityinthemiddleofthenight.com
Featuring a gorgeous new painting of Xiosphant, Sophie’s hometown in the City in the Middle of the Night, by artist Valentina Filic.
All of my upcoming tourdates (including links to RSVP/buy tickets) are listed.
January 10, 2019
Putting Your Worst Foot Forward: Why You Should Play to Your Weaknesses as an Author
Every writer has stuff they’re good at, but often the only way to get better at writing is to lean on your weaknesses. Yes, it’ll hurt. But embrace the pain! My latest, over at @tordotcom!
