The incomparable Mur Lafferty has written a new novel called I Suould Be Writing. The nonfiction piece shares the same title as her world-renowned podcast about writing, and the bushels of writers she has interviewed over the past twelve years. She is one of the rising stars in modern fiction, having written The Shambling Guides to New York City, Ghost Train to New Orleans, and Six Wakes, her most recent book. Writing s book about writing is something different for her, but with the rlease date fast approaching, I was generously awarded an audience with her via phone, and was blue to get an exclusive interview about her new book.
Being a fan of Mur's work, and having read Six Wakes, I knew that she was a modern authority on all things writing, working harder than most to break into the always volatile writer's market. I Should Be Writing isn't like every other style book on the market. Look elsewhere for to the likes of Strunk, or Bradbury, or even Stephen King for a discussion on such matters. Mur wanted to talk about herself,mane how she wasn't always the writer she is today,mother she wasn't always writing day-in, and day-out like some of the greats, and how she knew going in, that this wasn't going to be another book about writing, it was going to be a book about actually sitting down, and writing, and just how difficult that sometimes can be for so many "wannabe fiction writers."
I chatted with Mur, and asked her just what her newest book would entail. This is a transcription of our discussion. ML standing for Mur Lafferty, and MA standing for Malacast Agent:
MA: The first question I thought of about the ISBW book that seemed obvious is how will the book differe from the podcast? Will the information be different, or will it be taken directly from the podcast of nearly 400 episodes?
ML: It's going to be very similar. It's better thought out, and I use the concept of the 'muse and the bully.' The muse being the inspiration, and the bully being the editor who sits on your shoulder and tells you your writing is crap. I use them peppered around making little comments. Where [the book] is different is I give a lot of prompts, and s lot of writing exercises. It's part: "I Should Be Writing" in a book, but it's also part journal. There's also going to be blank pages, so you can make notes in, and write directly in the book as I understand it.
MA: Which company, or publisher are you working with for this book? I know someone approached you, rather than you forming a proposal for the book and having it be accepted.
ML: The publisher Quarto approached me, and we got the deal made. The book will be out before school starts in August, so hopefully it will be s good gift for people on their way to college.
MA: Cool! So it'll be reactively soon for the book to come out then?
ML: Yes, the book will be out on August 22.
MA: what is going to happen to the podcast after the release of the book? Are you going to use the book to reference the podcast, or are you going to change the formula of the podcast?
ML: I haven't planned on doing anything different. I do hope there's some cross pollination with my listeners that will want to get the book, and my readers would like to check out the podcast. I don't know if I should change then podcast or not, I probably should decide if I'm going to change the podcast or not. I don't see it changing too much, I do have that wider awareness of more people going no to be paying attention to it, I hope.
MA: So you're going to stick with the old axiom for now?
ML: It's worked for me for twelve years, so I probably shouldn't mess with it too much. Actually the book will be coming out about the twelve year anniversary of I Should be writing, I just realized that!
MA: Congratulations to that, are you thinking of doing a special episode for that then? To celebrate the anniversary of the podcast?
ML: I always, always forget to do a special episode in ISBW, for its birthday in August, or my own personal podcasting anniversary in Decembeer. I always forget to mark them.
MA: I'm sure that Ditch Diggers is also having it's anniversary fairly soon. It's the two-year anniversary correct?
ML: I wanna say that we started that earlier in the year, I think we started that in January I think. [Matt Wallace and I] are on episode 44 right now, but we've only recent,y started to get a good regular biweekly schedule.
MA: You're about to publish two books in one year, which is difficult for any writer nowadays, so how does that impact your writing method going forward, and does this give you more leeway to try out new ideas?
ML: Because the books were done months and months before the came out, my part was largely dine, except for promotion. I'm not big enough to send on a book tour or anything, so I don't have that distraction. I've actually been free to write lots of different stuff because I have the luxury of "not having a contract" right now. So that's both freeing and scary, because I can write whatever I want, but I have no actual work. It's nice to just try out anything, whatever comes to mind, which is what I'm trying to do.
MA: Are you then going to try to keep pace with doing two books a year?"
ML: That's all the decision of publishers, I don't have that much control over the books that I publish. I'm not that sure of a thing. I don't know if I send my editor a book, they're going to publish it. If I did get a book deal now, it won't likely come out until another 18 months. If I could do two a year, sure! I'm just trying to get contracts to sell.
MA: They say by the fifth book is when you start seeing the payoff, and by all definition you have now become s sort of veteran to the publishing industry, as you say "I'm still learning" every podcast, but what will you then take, going forward that you've learned from Six Wakes, and ISBW book, how would you take that in the approach to writing your next book? How will it change the way you write going forward?
ML: I'm going to try and have more confidence in my work because I honestly had no idea whether Six Wakes would work, or not. It's been by-and-large my most well-received book, except for one bad review from Kirkus. Overall it's been very well received,mane the book I've had the least confidence in, so I need to start trusting myself more. That would be the biggest lesson that I've learned: I may not be the best judge of my own stuff. If my agent and my editor, and my readers tell me some thing is really good, I should listen.
MA: So it's more an internal thing, you're going to try and change that within yourself? You're going to approach it with a more opene-minded, confident approach. That will change the writing aspects of your work for the better I'm sure.
ML: Very likely! Just having the courage to try something new is going to change things.
MA- How will the ISBW book differ from so many current writing memoirs on the market? How do you separate from such famous memoirs like: Bradbury's Zen and the Art of Writing, King's On Writing, and of course Strunk Jr.'s The Elements of Style?
ML: Well, On Writing was a major half writing style, half memoir book, and I don't have a long description of. Y addiction, and the intervention my family had to do to get me out of it in mine,mbut I try to bring to the book is what I bring to the podcast is honesty and vulnerability. In-fact, back in 2005 I had another nonfiction book that was about podcasting. When I tried to write about things I did incorrectly, saying "look, I tried this, and it failed I suggest you do something else. " my editor didn't like it because it made it sound like I didn't know what I was doing, when clearly I knew exactly what I was talking about, because I learned something from experience that I was trying to put on stage. But they wanted experts to always be experts I guess. I tried to show vulnerability, and show that a lot of authors go through a lot of the crap new authors go through, which can make it seem really depressing depressing, and the imposter syndrome never goes away, but it can also be comforting that every other person doing their job the same way you do inside, they're just hiding their emotions better. I haven't read Zen in the Art of Writing in a very long time, but I'm pretty sure Bradbury didn't talk about his vulnerability and lack of condifence, and that's what I try to touch on.
MA: I always felt Bradbury spoke almost prophetic about it,min-that you have to be vindictive in your writing, you have to write every single day, do all this, and do all that, but I feel that was him just prostrating towards the generalization of what writing is, but I did find more his discussion of growing up in Illinois to be the better part of that book.
ML: While being open and vulnerable is not necessarily a memoir, I just talk about years that I didn't write, and that's why I started the podcast, so other people wouldn't go through the dry spell I went to for so long.
MA: That seems to be the differential then,mbecause most people who've written the memoirs and style books,mother tend to go straight into it,meow to do it, they don't talk about not writing as much, and so that is likely where you're going to have that sort of confidence orlack-thereof. Now you said in a recent podcast that they're not going to do s Six Wakes sequel for a while, it's going to be on the back burner for a while.
ML: Right, the editor didn't want a sequel to it. It's not my call, i certainly would like to, I have an outline for it, but it's not my decision to let another publisher take it or not, that very clearly on somebody else's plate. Would I like to? Definitely! Is it going to happen? I have no idea.
MA: It's only because it seems today that the sequels always sell the prequels, that's why I was shocked that they didn't want to do it, and that they wouldn't want to jump on the opportunity of a sequel, and feed that fire. By the time it went through production into publication, your talking already well over a year out from it even potentially getting published. I'm absolutely shock they wouldn't want to do that.
ML: It's a weird beast.
MA: What are your ideas for looking forward? I know you said it's not necessarily your call, and you are just going to put some ideas out there for publication, and hopefully you'll get s deal, but are you thinking of doing a fiction after this, or a nonfiction again? How do you feel you're going to approach the potentiality of getting published after the I Should Abe Writing releases?
ML: I'm definitely going to stick with fiction ISBW was specifically focused towards my podcast, and I'm not sure what other specific skills I have that I would write s while bunch of nonfiction books, and I much prefer fiction. Although I will admit the nonfiction was easy to write, I've been talking about this sort of thing for twelve years. I got s couple of books I'm working on is, throwing around ideas, focusing on Science Fiction, and humor. I have s few proposals out as well. A couple of novella ideas. I am very wide open and brainstorming a lot of stuff.
MA: With Six Wakes, you've done a cloning facility aboard a humongous ship carrying a huge population of humanity out into the wide trek of space, and also made this huge ship seem very small by adding a locked room murder mystery aspect. This bit of maneuvering on your part has made crafted quite an original story. So what other genres would you like to pursue, and is there a genre outside of Sci-Fi you'd like to do something risky and unique, to perhaps "redefine" said genre so-to-say.
ML: Well you really like to dabble in mystery. I did a lot of mystery reading to prepare for writing it. I've been doing a lot of mystery reading in the Agatha Christie way,mane not in the modern mystery thriller way, which has a lot more weird elements going into it. I'm not saying that's a bad thing,mom just don't think I can get my mind to work that way,mbut it would be an intestine challenge to try. I also like writing humorous, contemporary women's fiction, doesn't have to be for women, but primarily stars women. That's something I wouldn't be adverse to doing in the future.
MA: Going back to the book, you give me some examples of just what readers can expect from I Should Be Writing?
ML: I do touch on craft, but s good deal of the book is about getting out of your own head, and understanding the publishing process. I talk about why you would make more money over three years working s minimum wage job, than a $100,000 contract over a trilogy, there's that math. There's also the explanation of what agents do, as m aynpeople say you don't need agents anymore, which is very damaging, especially to upcoming writers. Veteran writers say they don't need an agent, and good for them! They don't understand the industry, but there are other reasons to have an agent, especially for new writers. I talk about that, and I mainly tell people whatever they're feeling, it's okay, and it's not a reason to quit writing. Whatever they're imagining is the reason to quit writing they're likely wrong. They may be write, but they're probably wrong.
MA: Definetely! I like that about the podcast as well, that you take everything with a grain of salt. Yeah, you're going to get a lot of rejection, a lot of returns, but that is the nature of the beast, so-to-say,as you pointed out.
ML: Yes.
MA: Where can people purchase the book? In what formats will it be availed?
ML: Right now, it's availed in eBook, and print versions, not sure about audiobook plans. I would love to have an audiobook planned.
MA: You've done the audiobook for Six Wakes entirely by yourself, You've as the whole thing, correct?
ML: Yes
MA: Wow, that's a lot of work!
ML: it is a lot of work, and extraordinarily tiring. Nobody expects that just to sit and read aloud for hours and hours. It's a great deal of work.
MA: I have recently purchased Six Wakes, and found it to have amazing dialogue, and sound, well-developed characters, and in a locked-room setting, that is crucial to the success of the story. How did you approach that, because I always found that intriguing that certain writers can almost become their characters, and others just have these swampy, salty half-written characters with little personality.
ML: I appreciate that, and I'm not certain I can give a solid tangible answer, it's important to make sure that every character is coming from a place of wanting things,mane they all have different reasons for what they do. It's sounds kind of elementary, but that's where I get started, where people are coming from, what they need, and what they want. It's also important to know how they all fit together, and how they all feel about each other. This is a trick I learned from working with Book Burners, and working with the cereal box team, it's making sure who everybody is, and how they relate to one-another. Just one person thinks they're friends, and other isn't so sure, and that can really help flesh out a character. I just try to make sure they have personalities and are relatable."
MA: You speak about promotion a lot,mane how you're going to have to now go out and promote the new book I Should Be Writing, Doyle speak about promotion in the new book, or is that more a Ditch Diggers topic?
ML: Yeah, I didn't talk about promotion much in I Should Be Writing.
MA: I k so, that probably would be more of a Ditch Diggers concept than ISBW. Which then leads me to pose the question: would you say, in five years or so, if you're still doing it of course, be interested in doing a Ditch Diggers book?
ML: Oh I'd love to! But doing a Ditch Diggers book would require I Should Be Writing to be a success, but I would love to. I know Matt would be up for it.
MA: I think that would be a great co-author book, you and Matt play off each other very well on the podcast, and that would translate greatly to the book format. That's why it's such a success, and Is up for a Hugo award.
ML: Yes, it's up for a Hugo this year, voting ends soon, and we'll know the results in a month.
NOTE:
As of August 15th, Ditch Diggers did not win the Hugo, but Tea and Jeopardy instead won.
MA: Last,y, is there anything I -particular you would like to mention about the ISBW book? What would they not expect? What is in the book, without giving too much away, that people would simply not expect from a writing memoir?
ML: The weird thing about having a twelve-year-old show is not knowing how often I had repeated myself, and so people may not know how long I've been writing,mane how long I've took a break for, I think the real surprise will be the writing prompts, as I don't do them in the show, and those kind of things. The good part of the book is dedicated to giving you new ideas to run forward with and create.
I have to thank Mur for her valuable time, and to say thank you for such an insightful interview into her newest book. You can preorder I Should Be Writing: A Writer's Workshop right now on Amazon.com. The book will release Tuesday, August 22nd, and already looks to be gaining some motion. I'm very interested in seeing the success of this novel, as it has a great deal of information behind it, and a treasure trove of history from the ISBW vault.
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