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| Nancy Waldman |
Q: How long have you been writing, and
what kind of stories do you most like to write?
A: I've
written since the 70's (yes, that's the 1970's!), but seriously began
to tackle fiction in the late 90's. It's been a long apprenticeship. It
took me forever to begin to market what I wrote, so while I've been
writing a long time, I consider the last ten years to be the ones that
count the most. Incidentally, that's the time I've been living in Cape
Breton. Good writing must be in the air on this island.
I write mainstream and speculative
fiction. I'm most interested in human behaviour and relationships
including societal and cultural relationships. Sometimes the stories
that come to me are based in our everyday reality and sometimes they
aren't. If you write both, however, it soon becomes completely obvious
that writing speculative fiction, particularly science fiction, is much
more challenging than writing reality-based fiction. My writing
apprenticeship continues on that learning curve!
Q: What sparked the idea for your story
in Unearthed? Can you remember?
A: I
wanted to write something on the lighter side for this anthology. The
childhood memory of making mud pies came to me first, but I had no story
to go with it. Independent of that idea came this question: if a family
had magic at their disposal, would they ever use it to control each
other? Those were my starting points and it turned into a fun mix. Read
the story to find out how they blended!
Q: What's the title of your story in Unearthed? In general, do
you get the title first, or do you write the story first? Do you remember what prompted this particular title?
A: The title of the story in Unearthed
is "Mud Pies." Considering that was my initial idea, this story was an
easy one, but titles aren't always that obvious. I have started stories
based entirely on a title that came to me, but that is the exception.
The story folders in my computer are often filled with multiple
revisions--all with different titles. I consider the title to be
extremely important and it feels like magic when the exact right one
comes to me, but let's face it, it's not the most important part. The
title is the curb appeal, what's inside sells it.
Q: Please tell us: one book you've read recently, one book you're reading now, and one book on your to-read list.
A: Hugh Howey's Wool (a novella), The Windup Girl by Paul Bacigalupi, The Night Circus by Erin Morgenstern.
Q: What's the best/worst writing advice you've ever been given?
A: Good
advice - "Don't think," from Ray Bradbury. His point is that
over-thinking, intellectualizing, kills not only spontaneity, but
creativity and makes for self-conscious, and therefore, bad writing. All
that thinking also includes the worst writing enemy: self-censorship.
Turn it all off for that first draft. Thinking comes later in the revision stages.
Bad advice -
One of my early writing teachers told me that whenever a writer--no
matter how experienced--starts a new story it is always as a beginner.
While I think her point had to do with each story being a journey of its
own, the idea that there could be no learning from experience in
writing was extremely discouraging to me as a true beginner. Luckily,
I've found this bit of "wisdom" to be completely false. Some writers
would like you to believe that writing is a mystical, unlearnable craft,
but this is simply not true!
Q: What are you working on now, or what's your next planned writing project?
A: I
have a handful of stories in various stages of completion plus a YA
novel that is finished but needs tweaking before being marketed. I hope
to begin a new novel in the fall. It's been a couple of years since I've
worked on a longer piece and I'm itching to get into a story with more
complexity than short stories allow.
Thanks, Nancy!
