Paul Di Filippo: The Complete Interview (Part 2)

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Paul Di Filippo is a famous American science fiction writer. He was a two-time finalist for the Nebula Award and a finalist for the Philip K. Dick. Paul is the author of Wikiworld (you can read it in english, italian and portuguese).

Rhys is a welsh author. His fiction is both intellectual and hilarious with plenty of jokes, puns and satirical side-swipes to keep the reader constantly amused. You can read The Astral Disruptor in english and in italian.

Recap: Paul Di Filippo: The Complete Interview (Part 1)

Rhys: The editor Mike Ashley, one of the best anthology editors in the business in my view, once described you as "one of those annoyingly talented writers who seems to be able to write effortlessly and at will".
Does this accurately describe your writing process? Do the words and concepts flow smoothly out of you onto the page or is it a struggle?

Paul: Let me first stipulate, to the dismay of all novice writers, and possibly with your own concurrence, that it only gets harder as your "career" progresses. Once, I used to effortlessly accumulate at least 1000 words per day for long stretches of time.

The fastest I ever wrote was my Creature From The Black Lagoon book, a fair piece of work, I think: eighty thousand words in seventy days. Of course, that's not a patch on the old pulpsters, who used to think nothing of turning out 10,000 words before breakfast, and millions per year. Nowadays, I'm happy with 500-750 words for a day's work. It's all down to greater scrutiny of one;s own prose, higher ambitions, and basic senility.

That said, I must admit that I am the kind of writer which Theodore Sturgeon reportedly was (not to inflate my rankings by comparison to Sturgeon). I tinker very little with sentences and paragraphs. As they flow onto to page, so they are ultimately printed. The story accretes in an orderly fashion, no writing the ending first, etc. Surprise of language and plot await, but no major dead ends. Clean copy in first draft.

Walt Kelly, the famed artist behind Pogo, was known for his quick art. He once said something like, "I'm happy with 80% of my vision quickly. I don't like to fuss for ages to get 100%." That's pretty much my philosophy too.

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