Nancy Kress 2010 Interview
Nancy Kress was nominated for her novella “Act One”.
“Act One,” your novella on the final ballot for the Nebula Award for 2010 , is a story of genetic engineering in the near future. What was the inspiration behind this story?
It wasn’t any one thing, but rather a combination: a long-standing interest in the ambiguities of genetic engineering; happening to stumble across a fascinating book on dwarfism; an image of a beautiful woman descending a grimy basement stairs; and a poodle who seems exceptionally adept at reading body language. Such things cross-fertilize in the mind, and I’m usually surprised by what emerges.
The protagonist, Barry Tenler, suffers from achondroplasia dwarfism. Why did you choose him and his affliction as the main viewpoint character?
Again, I came across a book in the library, In The Little World by journalist John Richardson, and was intensely interested in what he had to say about dwarfism. I frequently choose as protagonists people who are somehow marginalized in society. “The Erdmann Nexus,” which won a Hugo last year, and “Fountain of Age,” a Nebula the previous year, both had as protagonists very old men - another kind of marginalization.
When writing “Act One,” what did you find the most difficult? The easiest?
This particular story was uniformly easy to write. They are not, alas, all like that. One of the most useful pieces of writing advice I ever received was from Gene Wolfe, very early in my career. He said, “It’s good to have two different things going on in a story, so they can end up solving each other.” “Act One” has three: genetic engineering by “The Group,” Barry’s hopeless love for Jane, and his relationship with his ex-wife and son.
Much of your fiction explores genetic engineering. What is it about this field of science that appeals to you most?
That this is the future - and closer than most people appreciate.
You write in both the long and short form. Which do you prefer more and why?
I prefer the novella over all other forms. It’s long enough to create an alternate reality, but short enough to (unlike the novel) be sustained by one major plot line. The three components I mentioned above are all part of that same line.
You’ve taught at Clarion over the years. What differences do you see in young writers today than when you started out?
Not much difference at all. Some are open to learning, some defensive; some are imaginative, some less so; some can persevere, others will too easily become discouraged. And the same basic mistakes turn up as did twenty years ago. People, and their core abilities, don’t change much.
Who are a few of your literary influences? Who do you like to read for pleasure?
I don’t know who my literary influences are, but for pleasure I read Ursula LeGuin, Bruce Sterling, Somerset Maugham, Jane Austen, Philippa Gregory, Connie Willis, and a lot of non-fiction.
What are you working on now?
Something different for me: a YA novel. We’ll see how that goes.
What haven’t you attempted in your writing that you’d like to try in the future?
Whenever something new occurs to me, I attempt it almost immediately. So there isn’t a backlog of new things waiting to be tried. Unlike many writers, I don’t seem to get a lot of ideas. I just try to make the best of the ones I do get.
Nancy Kress is the author of twenty-six books: three fantasy novels, twelve SF novels, three thrillers, four collections of short stories, one YA novel, and three books on writing fiction. She is perhaps best known for the “Sleepless” trilogy that began with BEGGARS IN SPAIN. The novel was based on a Nebula- and Hugo-winning novella of the same name. She won her second Hugo in 2009 in Montreal, for the novella “The Erdmann Nexus.” Kress has also won three additional Nebulas, a Sturgeon, and the 2003 John W. Campbell Award (for PROBABILITY SPACE). Her most recent books are a collection of short stories, NANO COMES TO CLIFFORD FALLS AND OTHER STORIES (Golden Gryphon Press, 2008); a bio-thriller, DOGS (Tachyon Press, 2008); and an SF novel, STEAL ACROSS THE SKY (Tor, 2009).
Kress’s fiction, much of which concerns genetic engineering, has been translated into twenty languages. She often teaches writing at various venues around the country.
Marshall Payne has worked as a touring musician, music producer, sound technician, a salesman, and a waiter. He has written over 100 short stories and his fiction has or will appear in Aeon Speculative Fiction, Brutarian, Talebones, Hub Magazine, Fictitious Force, to name a few. He has a website at http://marshallpayne.com/ and a blog at http://marshallpayne1.livejournal.com/.
