More Question Answers

I think I just had sinus issues yesterday; I feel much better today. Though I can't believe it's already Wednesday! This week is flying by.

Here's the next two questions:

kriz1818 asked: I enjoyed The Cloud Roads, but it left me wondering: Do you have a deep background explanation for why any planet (apparently magical or not) would have so many different intelligent species on it?

I have some ideas, but I really like to keep my world-building open-ended. I did a panel once with Warren Spector, about world-building in novels and game environments, and he talked about building your world one section at a time, leaving space for new ideas and discoveries, letting it grow organically as you go along, like you're exploring it rather than building it. So the world feels as complex as a real world, for both the reader/player and the writer.

That's a technique I've always used, because even as a kid reading old library books, I really didn't like stories that set boundaries for their worlds. When the story tells me there's nothing beyond this valley, or that there's no other intelligent species in the galaxy, it really feels like the horizon that started out limitless is now closed in and claustrophobic.

I know a lot of people really like to do more scientific world-building where you have everything worked out in a lot of detail before you start writing, and that's what really sparks their creativity. But for me, I like to feel like I'm working in a tiny part of a huge canvas. Basically, when/if I get to the point where it's important to the story to explain why there are so many different species, then I'll find that explanation.

I hope that makes some sort of sense and answers your question. Usually when I talk about this it's in person and I can gesture a lot and that seems to help. :)


thanate asked: You've mentioned co-writing with someone else a couple times-- can you share anything about the logistics of that, or how it differs from your normal writing process?

I was co-writing with Aaron de Orive, and we wrote a middle grade fantasy novel. He came up with the characters and plot and a general idea of the world, and wrote the first chapter. Then I took it and went over it, made changes, and wrote the second chapter. He took that, went over it and made changes, and wrote the next chapter. As the book went on, I think the only thing that changed is that our sections of of writing the new parts got shorter and shorter, so we were exchanging them much more frequently. At one point, after some feedback, we went back and made some serious adjustments to the world-building.

(Email make co-writing much easier now. We live in different cities, so back in the 80s we would have had to mail each other sections and it would have taken forever.) The book has been making the publishing rounds but nobody has bought it yet. But it was the first attempt at a middle-grade book for both of us, so I think when we try it again, we'll have a much better handle on it.