Mermaidbia
Kathy: Have you decided that your aim in life is to be a writer, and if so, at what age?
Bia: Odd question, to be honest. I don't know if I ever really *wanted* to be a professional writer, occasionally, I suppose, during those high times when I consider my own writing to be fantastic. (Very rare.) My writing is sporadic as hell to begin with - prolific rushes, preferably in the morning, and dry spells that last for infuriating weeks. I don't know if I could have the professional, disciplined attitude required from professional writers. I enjoy editing, and generally working with books, so my future may lie there. I do, however, consider myself a writer in the general sense. My parents tell me I learned to read at a pretty young age, and I've *always* expressed myself through writing somehow - when I like something, or something occurs to me about a subject I'm interested in, the first thing I do is write about it, in order to clear it up in my own head. I perceive the world mostly in words and descriptions, mainly because I cannot draw worth a damn. So my way around this has always been writing: Describing, explaining, theorizing, essay-ing, over anything and and everything. I think from that point it's only a short step towards writing actual fiction.
Kathy: Very thorough answer. I do believe, even without making a conscious decison about our future, our the natural bent toward self-expression in writing is a dead give away.
Bia: It's really like that, the first dead give-away that I enjoy something is that I write essays about it, about the most minuscule detail even, and I can go for pages and pages.
Kathy: Whats the earliest book or work of art, or piece of music that you remember having an impact on you?
Bia: Hmm. Music's always been a big factor for me, but I do remember that in our family, we had a lot of fairy tale anthologies, retellings of classic fairy tales with very simple, charming illustrations. The very first piece of media I remember having a pivotal impact on me was Disney's The Little Mermaid. This was the very first movie I saw at the theaters, at the age of four on my mom's lap, and it has been my favourite movie ever since. It introduced me to the concept of merpeople and ignited an obsession even before I understood what "obsession" meant. I'm physically disabled, and couldn't walk until I was six, so the fantasy of creatures without legs that move with unspeakable grace in the gravityless universe of the ocean had the obvious impact. Of course this was ultimately followed by Hans Christian Andersen's wonderful original tale. By the way, I don't buy the claim that Disney "sugarcoated" or "sweetened" the story of The Little Mermaid - it took the original concept as base to tell a completely different story, with different emphasis and a whole score of truly terrifying moments. The Little Mermaid - both the story and the movie - deal with the concept of sacrificing everything you have to gain a glimpse of something other than what you are - and that concept of sacrifice, of yearning to be understood and crossing worlds, also is an ongoing theme in my stories.
Kathy: Thank you for that peek into your childhood and into your grasp of the story! The idea of merepole is truly fascinating... and the "crossing worlds" theme in your stories as well. I've known you to say that music can bring you terrific inspiration for your stories, and now we know the Little Mermaid is not only one of your favorite tales/movies, but inspiration in your life as well, so what authors out there (in the past ten years) have you read that you enjoy?
Bia: Oh my God, favourite writers? Where to start...my favourite book of all time, unmatched by anything else, is "The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy", so technically my favourite writer would be Douglas Adams, may he rest in peace.
The writer I consider something like my "writing tutor", meaning the writer whose style I adore and covet the most and in whose footsteps I want to (very weakly) follow, is the German writer Kai Meyer. He has an absolutely incredible gift of employing the German language in the most poetic way possible, using the words as colors to paint pictures in your head, and engaging all the senses to see, hear, smell, feel and taste the tiniest details. My own writing, when bearable, tries to match that. He also has the gift of "magical realism", that is, in his books, the magic never belongs to a separate, wondrous world like Narnia, Wonderland or Middle Earth, but it's always woven together with the "real" world, and reality itself becomes merely a question of your perception and upbringing. I really enjoy this talent of bringing fantasy casually into the world without any big "whoa" effects.
My favourite "normal" (non-fantasy or sci-fi) book, and my favourite living writer, is "Everything is Illuminated" by Jonathan Safran Foer. The guy is so infuriatingly talented it makes me weep with joy. Every single goddamn sentence this guy writes, in some way, is pure poetry, dancing across the paper as lightly as a bird. Foer has a perception of the world that is both childish and meaningful. I think the guy could write a manual on VCR repair and make it sound gorgeous.
Another writer that I basically recommend every single book of is Tad Williams - the guy is *ridiculously* talented and has a gift for twisting fantasy and sci-fi clichés into something truly realistic and wicked. "The War of the Flowers", in my opinion, is one of the greatest fantasy novels ever. (I lost count of how many times I've read that one.) Tad Williams, to me, is the writer Neil Gaiman wants to be and fails.
Oh, speaking of Wonderland, I'm also an Alice in Wonderland whore. There's nothing like Lewis Carrol's twisting and folding up the English language.
Another writer honestly everyone should read? Sergey Lukyanenko, baby. He's a Russian writer of fantasy, sci-fi and crossbreeds of the two, his plots are evilly complex, but mostly, he has a realistic, tongue-in-cheek approach to fantasy that often subtly pokes fun at Western pop culture. It's like he's always saying "This is Mother Russia, we don't do crap like this." Also, due to him also being a psychologist by trade, he has a thing for exploring human nature in his books. But all his books have an indescribable atmosphere. Read the "Night Watch" novels if you want to experience a fantasy novel written like an underground agent noir novel, complete with guns - and by all means, read them at night!
My last recommendation - and the only woman in this roster - is Donna Jo Napoli. She habitually takes old stories and legends and merges them with a real story in front of a historical background. That's child's play by now and countless writers have done this, but there are few who do it as honestly and beautifully as Napoli does. Her writings are often simple in the wording, honest and intimate, and incredibly complex in the issues she addresses, and she doesn't do it so much for a "wow, I updated a fairy tale" effect like other writers (Gregory Maguire etc) tend to do. My all time favourite by her is "Zel", a fantastic retelling of Rapunzel, but she's also done her own spins on The Little Mermaid (Sirena) and Cinderella (Bound) That's a little peek into my literary universe. Yes, I like to talk about things I like, a lot. XD
Kathy: Wow. You should write book jacket blurbs reviews!! I'd buy any book with those gorgeous recommendations! When did you join the flame? Any interesting stories to tell about your experiences here?
Bia: I dimly remember having joined in June 2008, though my first "real" submission was the one for "spectrum". I haven't been as active on the Flame as I was during my "heyday" before October 2008 - mostly due to a depression episode - but I do know that sometimes, surfing the Flame's deadline brings out honestly the best in me. It sometimes seems that I work best under just a little bit of pressure - NaNoWriMo, too, can testify to that - even when all I ultimately have is a vague idea, often inspired by a song or a line in a movie, and an even more vague idea where I actually want to go. I can never really *plan* my writings, planning in advance blocks me off worse than a construction site. But when I'm flirting with the deadline, often at four AM, occasionally awesome stuff happens that I barely even remember afterwards. Like all my Ramona stories were submitted barely 20 minutes before deadline, just because I enjoyed the thrill of being almost out of time, writing for my life, as it were, and coming up with insane ideas and haywired similes on the spot. The Flame definitely has brought me that thrill, and some of my most enduring characters were born out of that rush. Deadlines do miracles on your artistic skills, people.
It goes without saying that through the Flame, I've also come across a whole bunch of honestly ridiculously talented writers, people for whom it's beyond me how they haven't gone professional yet, and who don't even realize their own genius as they keep submitting for every prompt. It makes me jealous quite often, but it also gives me joy that there are people out there - just random people you meet at an online writing group - who have a better grasp of this thing called writing than many published writers do.
Kathy: So... do you intend to participate in NaNo this year?
Bia: Definitely. I've participated the past three years, and failed two times out of three due to depression, but I'd never pass up the chance to try it again. It's the most invigorating writing exercise ever.
Kathy: I regret not getting to play yet! Besides NaNo, what are some other plans for writing?
Bia: Right now I'm trying to get myself out of a non-writing funk, yet again. Writing has to do with inspiration, but in a way it's like every other exercise you get better at by simply doing it, and doing it, and doing it some more. I compare it mostly to dancing - much like dancing, it requires absolutely no thinking when you're in "the zone" and trust your instincts, but you have to go out onto the dancefloor and do it, sometimes even regardless of the song and how you feel at the moment.
Ramona has been knocking on the door again the most vigorously, she *really* wants to have some more stories and corners of her world to explore. Ramona has merged from a Jessica-Rabbit inspired 'femme fatale' to the very demanding protagonist of her own sets of stories, and in retrospect, I really enjoy the world I created for her. It's an alternate universe of sorts where fantastic creatures of every known couleur - fairies, vampires, genies, golems, merpeople, take your pick - live in a sort of difficult coexistence with humans, commonly dubbed 'creatures outside the natural order' and living in differing parts of the city. I just like the idea of a world where the fantastic elements are not "outside" of this world (see?) but part of a gritty every day life, I enjoy mix-and-matching everything and contrasting it with the normality of humans (like a girl who is reputedly the daughter of a merman and a genie, and the ward of a Jewish city official) and that world keeps demanding to be further explored. It's not original by any means - nothing I write is original in my opinion - but it's my own world, still.
There are countless other, abandoned but still dormant story ideas that keep nudging me - one is the concept of a Victorian-era-inspired take on a dark, twisted and gritty underwater world, sort of a cross between mer-stories and the beautiful, strict horror atmosphere in "American McGee's Alice" (people who know the game will know what kind of atmosphere I mean) Another brainchild of mine that I definitely INTEND to eventually finish is Frog's Kiss, a sci-fi story of a student who establishes a connection with an amphibic mermaid kept in an observation tank, and eventually involuntarily turns into a merman himself. And I definitely want to write *something* inspired by the movie "9". When nothing else works, I occasionally write short fanfiction for the game "Psychonauts", and perhaps I can eventually develop a longer and more "epic" take on that. Not that that'll make much of a difference in the literary world, it's still something I love doing.
One thing I've noticed is that my writing has alltogether become darker and bleaker in tone, not necessarily less visually detailed, but I definitely have a darker perception towards the relationships between people, and my writing perhaps has become more focused on the inner workings of a character and their dealings in life, not so much on the colorful surroundings. In a way, it's sad to feel a more capricious side of you die, but I try to see it as a welcome change.
Kathy: Write a book review for me, of your latest favorite ;)
Bia: Skinned - By Robin Wasserman
Rich, beautiful and popular Lia Kahn is killed in an accident and only due to the advancements of modern science, her mind is salvaged and transferred to a completely electronic body. She is a Skinner: She will never age, never feel pain again and never die.
You'd think this is the premise for a simplistic, schmaltzy teen-novel, especially when written by a woman, about how Lia retains her humanity throughout all this, fights all prejudice and happily rejoins her family, mind over body. If this were written by Stephenie Meyer, it would have "immortality and eternal youth, yay" written all over it. Well, you're wrong. "Skinned" is a daring thought experiment that takes every established android-versus-humanity cliché in the book kicks it soundly in the face. The result is devastatingly honest, analytical, edgy and just so unbelievably *good*, it will make you scream in ecstasy and rage while you read it. Wasserman thoroughly explores what it truly means to have lost a human body, without any "romantic" notions a la vampire/immortality lore. She explores what emotions are truly for, what they mean for the interaction between humans and how losing this physical integrity - the still inexplicable ability to enjoy music, the way pain keeps us from making a mistake twice, and the fear of death dictates our lives - can lead to a total estrangement from yourself and the world around you.
There is depth in this book you normally don't expect from books of this kind. Nothing is sugarcoated for the sake of a Hollywood picture - in a post-apocalyptic, technology-reigned future, people still act like prejudiced assholes, there's fighting, injustice and mental breakdowns, but that is what makes this book so incredibly *good* and a fresh change from the brave new world kind fof mentality. Eventually it leads to the realization that Lia, by definition, IS no longer human, and her own acceptance and embracing of this fact. And you will close this book, exhale and go "MAN, this book was GOOD."
Kathy: *runs to amazon.com* Which of your stories are you going to let me feature today?
Bia: And Why Not. http://tide-scrolls.livejournal.com/4425.html
This is one of my absolute favourites among my own writing - and I'm usually not very fond of my work. Mostly because I remember being in an incredibly energetic mood when writing it, and it clearly shows. It's got a lot of trademark elements - fantasy in an ordinary setting, transformations, an odd couple, and a mermaid who's not quite the Disney standard. That being said, Tess is probably the most "normal" of my mermaids. Overall, there is a sense of reckless abandon and fun in this piece I probably never found again.
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