Brief Interviews with Women Writers of the Fantastic #5: Nisi Shawl

After reading Jeff VanderMeer’s post praising the work of women in fantastic literature, I thought that it might be nice to interview as many of these significant authors as possible for their take on writing, their own work and sexism in their chosen field. The following is part one of an ongoing series. Please note that each author received the same set of questions.

Interview with Nisi Shawl

Would you mind introducing yourself?

I’m Nisi Shawl. I’m a writer. I have had over a dozen short stories published, and dozens of reviews, interviews, and essays as well. My collection “Filter House” is available from Aqueduct Press. Ursula K. Le Guin, Karen Joy Fowler, Matt Ruff, and Tobias Buckell gave “Filter House” enthusiastic blurbs, and it got a starred review in Publisher’s Weekly. I have one previous booklength publication: “Writing the Other: Bridging Cultural Differences for Successful Fiction,” which I co-wrote with Cynthia Ward based on a workshop we teach.

When did you first consider yourself a serious writer?

Do you mean as in, “Other people need to take my work seriously?” When I was about 20. I dropped out of college, because that place wasn’t teaching me a thing I needed to know about writing. That’s when I started sending stories out to editors. Or maybe you mean as in, “Other people *are* taking my work seriously?” That happened in 1993, when Gardner Dozois, one of my Clarion West instructors, bought a story I’d written during the 1992 workshop. If you’re asking when I thought of myself seriously as a writer, the answer is, “Since I could write.” That was in second grade.

How would you describe your writing style?

I seem to do a lot with different voices. I sometimes refer to my novel in progress, “The Blazing World,” as “The Book of People Who Talk Funny.”

Who are your strongest influences?

I don’t know who they *are*, but I know who I wish they were: Colette and Raymond Chandler. Both had a way of making settings live, of animating objects normally seen as inanimate.

What is your greatest strength as a writer?

Ummm. My ear. I hear everything. If it clunks instead of ringing, I get rid of it.

What is your biggest weakness?

The need to pay rent. I’d probably write a lot more stuff that I liked a lot better if I wasn’t worrying about groceries and overdrafts and such.

What is your favorite piece out of everything that you’ve written?

My favorite piece is always the most recent. At the moment I’m not quite done with “Something More,” a fantasy based on the life and death of British folksinger Sandy Denny. So that’s the freshest, and to me, the sweetest of my stories. But I love all my writing. I know there are people who can’t stand their own work. Not me. I love re-reading what I’ve written. It’s like sleep, or chocolate mousse; I sink right down into it and smile.

As a woman, have you ever experienced sexism, bias or exclusion in your chosen field?

I think so, but how can I know? I’m African American, and I’m sure I’ve experienced racism. But people aren’t usually forthright about their prejudices, so it can be difficult to pinpoint what the exact problem is in any given interaction. For instance, when I was a child, my parents went house hunting. They spoke on the phone with a woman who was very encouraging and asked them to come right over and look at her place. But when we got there half an hour later, the house suddenly wasn’t available anymore. My guess is that she hadn’t realized we were black till she saw us. She didn’t say anything like that, though.

I’ve been told a particular story was “too interior” for one editor. I’ve been told that another story focused too strongly on “domestic details.” Certainly those are examples of biases, but are they sex-based biases, or merely the result of those particular editors’ personal aesthetics? And how much do those aesthetics depend on internalized anti-woman values?

Do you think that there are some common barriers that all writers who are women face?

Yes. Here’s a simple example: If we’re trying to live off a day job while working creatively, we’ll be paid less than a man would for doing that same day job. If you want to get a grip on all the other issues facing us, read Joanna Russ’s “How to Suppress Women’s Writing.” She lays it out clearly and irrefutably.

Are there any common strengths that women bring to the craft of fiction?

Women and minorities are taught from an early age to listen and observe. Those are survival skills when you’re the non-dominant party in the majority of social and economic interactions. Listening and observing also come in handy when you want to write verisimilitudinously.

Over all, do you think that the writing and publishing communities are healthier, worse, or about the same for women writers?

I’m really not sure. I’ve been involved primarily in writing and publishing for most of my adult life, so I have nothing to compare that with. I’ve worked in bookstores, done copywriting for a writers workshop, freelanced reviews for a newspaper, edited theses-all related to writing and publishing in some way or another.

What are your longterm career goals?

They keep changing; achieve one goal, and others arise. At the moment my short list looks like this: Get my novels published and widely read and loved and acclaimed. More stories, ditto. See a couple of them transferred to other media, such as film and games. Make people realize I mean to do the things I’m doing, artistically speaking. Receive offers to write cool stuff from editors who adore my work. Take in enough money to buy land, build a home, and help my family live well. Start a school.

What are you working on now?

I’m participating in the Clarion West Write-a-thon from June 22 through August 1. My goal is to produce 500 words a week on top of the book reviews and reports I must also produce to keep the tofu on the table. So for that I’m collaborating with Eileen Gunn on a children’s fantasy called “Looking for Lim.” If you want to donate in support of my goal, go to <http://clarionwest.org/events/writeathon>. I’m also revising a young adult fantasy called “Verde” (Vair-day).

Where can we go to learn more about you?

I have a website! That’s <www.sfwa.org/members/shawl>. Aqueduct Press posted an interview with me on its blog at <http://aqueductpress.blogspot.com/2008/04/seeing-voices-conversation-with-nisi.html>. I think there’s a Wikipedia article about me, too.

Where can we read your work?

My new collection from Aqueduct Press, “Filter House,” is on sale for a discount now till August 1 at <http://www.aqueductpress.com/>. Also, there are links on my website to online publications.

The floor’s all yours: is there anything else that you’d like to say?

If anyone wants to get in touch with me after reading my work, I’m accessible through my website.