Thursdays of SWORD & SORCERESS 28 – the Lorie Calkins interview

As I have done for several years in the past, I will be running interviews with my fellow contributors to Sword & Sorceress 28.

It’s fun to do, and a good chance for the writers to talk about themselves and their work. This week’s interview is with Lorie Calkins.

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Tell us about yourself.

I’m a super-shy writer, mother of four great kids, and grandma of six. I also have a wonderful husband, no cats at all, and far too many hobbies. My first submitted story was to a Wyoming fiction contest in 1982. Amazingly, shockingly, astoundingly, it didn’t win. But somehow, I didn’t stop writing.

Tell us about your S&S 28 story.

I set out to write something funny and short that didn’t fit the mold, wasn’t cute or sweet or endearing. I don’t know how well I succeeded in that, but I like Ru, and I think she’s going to find trouble to get into everywhere she goes. She’s also going to make friends, and she’ll hate that.

Can you share an excerpt from your story?

Ru clawed at the cliff edge with her hands, scrabbled at the crumbling dirt below it with her toes, and came to a halt. A slow slide, really. She glared at the sprays of colored flowers sticking through her fingers, as if they were the enemy, and not the only thing keeping her from certain death. A toe’s niche in soft dirt, and the stubborn roots of two handfuls of wildflowers and sea grass were all that held her.

Above, on solid ground, the dragon peered down at her. She couldn’t let go of the weeds to pull her sword, and she didn’t have the leverage to fight from here anyway. The thing was going to toast her and eat her, if she didn’t fall the rest of the way and drown or splatter. Well, things were looking up. This was not so boring.

Would you say fantasy needs to reflect real life, or offer an escape from it?

I think fiction – any fiction – is a vacation. There are working vacations, family visit vacations, exotic show-off vacations, adventure vacations to test your courage or strength or stamina, or just pump up your adrenaline. And there are decadent vacations that let you bask in the sun and “consume vast quantities.” We use fiction the same way, to test our wits or bravery, get a thrill, show off our good taste or intellect, and just take a break from our daily lives. A good story has to reflect real personalities, situations, and needs that hint at the reader’s own, at the same time cloaking those elements in a scenario that draws readers out of their world and into the ether of the imaginary. So I would have to say that for this reader, fantasy should be both an escape and a reflection of real life. If it isn’t, I might as well stay home.

What are your preferred tools and environment for writing? (Typewriter, computer, pen, coffee shop, and so on.)

I typically write the first draft with cheap ballpoint pen in a spiral notebook or legal pad, then clean it up and fill it out as I type it into the computer. And I often have trouble figuring out what that squiggle was supposed to be, or what I meant when I scrawled that note to, “Put a fish here, Lor.” A fish?

How many drafts of a story or novel do you typically write?

Two.

Have you tried any self-publishing projects yourself?

Nope. Chicken. And a terrible salesperson.

If offering advice to a new writer, would you suggest they pursue traditional publication or self-publication?

I would tell them, “Bah. Go to school. Learn something useful.” Or I would say, “Run away. The writing world is infested with crooks, poseurs and well-meaning people who can’t follow through.” Or maybe, “Here’s a hammer. Hit yourself with it repeatedly, and it will feel the same as the road to getting published.” If they are determined to self-immolate, I would tell them to try the traditional route first, because it’s a good way to find out if the work is really ready for publication. {I fear this sounds just a tad cynical, and will insult the many wonderful people in the writing world who have helped me, and others, for no good reason but to be nice. Good people are out there, but one can’t get far without losing a couple of shirts and getting covered in slime.}

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Thanks, Michael, for the interview.

Check out our interviews with past S&S contributors – , , , Sword & Sorceress 25, Sword & Sorceress 26, andSword & Sorceress 27.

And the novel featuring my Sword & Sorceress character, spy and assassin Caina Amalas, is now available for free in all ebook formats: Child of the Ghosts.