An Interview With Ian Benke
Compelling Characters. Readers will either love or hate a character depending on their role in a story, but they must be compelling and inspire curiosity about what makes them tick. Think about Frodo in The Lord of the Rings. Why does that poor little hobbit decide to take the burden of the ring? Because he has a deep sense of honor, and we must follow along as he suffers for his integrity.
Science Fiction and Fantasy are hugely popular genres. What does it take for a writer today, to write compelling and successful Science Fiction and Fantasy stories? Authority Magazine started a new series called “How To Write Compelling Science Fiction and Fantasy Stories”. In this series we are talking to anyone who is a Science Fiction or Fantasy author, or an authority or expert on how to write compelling Science Fiction and Fantasy.
As a part of this series, I had the pleasure of interviewing Evette Davis.
Evette Davis is the author of 48 STATES and WOMAN KING and DARK HORSE, the first two installments of the Dark Horse Trilogy. When she’s not writing novels, Davis dispenses advice to some of the country’s largest corporations, non-profits, and institutions as a consultant and co-owner of BergDavis Public Affairs, an award-winning San Francisco-based public affairs firm. Before establishing her firm, Davis worked in Washington as a press secretary for a member of Congress and as a reporter for daily newspapers in the San Francisco Bay Area.
In 2014, Davis founded Flesh & Bone, an independent publishing imprint. In 2015, DARK HORSE garnered an honorable mention at the San Francisco Book Festival. In 2017, Friends of the San Francisco Public Library named Davis a Library Laureate. Her work has also been published in the San Francisco Chronicle and Book Country. In 2021, 48 STATES was named a runner-up in the San Francisco Writers Conference Writers Contest.
Evette splits her time between San Francisco and Sun Valley, Idaho, with her husband, daughter, and dog. For more information, visit evettedavis.com, her Pinterest and Facebook pages, or follow her on Twitter @SFEvette.
Thank you so much for joining us in this interview series! Before we dive into the main focus of our interview, our readers would love to “get to know you” a bit better. Can you share a story about what first drew you to writing over other forms of storytelling?
I was a book nerd almost from the time I was born. Words and literature fascinated me. All the places you could go, all the adventures to be had. It was amazing. During my elementary school years, when other children were outside hitting balls or swimming, I was winning awards for reading the most books in the school library. I belonged to a children’s book of the month club. I have a vivid memory of sitting cross-legged at the Los Angeles Library branch in Woodland Hills, surrounded by Stephen King novels. I could not believe there was a place that would let you check out a stack of books as tall as your 11-year-old self for free. My father fed my habit, and by high school, I was reading Jack Kerouac and Carlos Castaneda. When I arrived at Mills College in Oakland, I knew I wanted to study literature. But I’d also been interested in journalism and had enjoyed a few internships during high school. Journalism is another kind of storytelling that really appealed to me, obviously very different than fiction but so important to democracy and public discourse. I opted to become a reporter and that is the job I held for many years until I transitioned into politics. There was a point after I transitioned into public affairs that I realized I was too far away from words, and I began to write again. Five novels later — three published, I’m fortunate to be able to write every day, although I do have a day job running a PR firm in San Francisco.
You are a successful author. Which three character traits do you think were most instrumental to your success? Can you please share a story or example for each?
Self-Discipline. There is a fantasy that being a writer is this free-flowing easy creative life, but the truth is that you must put yourself in a chair every day for several hours and write. There is no easy way to get the first draft of a novel, and that is just the beginning of the work you’ll need to do to have a completed manuscript. I’m not saying I always write every day, I’ve taken breaks, but I have been successful at making writing a priority despite being married, a mom, and running a successful business.
The ability for self-improvement. Writing is a humbling experience. You are putting yourself out there every day, and there will be times when what you create is not great or well-received. I have the capacity to put my disappointment aside and learn from criticism. My latest novel, 48 States, was a project started for an agent who later rejected the manuscript. In hindsight, I can see the book wasn’t ready. I changed editors and took the book through several more revisions, including feedback from a panel that reviewed it as part of a writing contest. As unpleasant as it was, my editor and I were able to unpack what needed to be done, and I drilled in on some character development issues. Reviews of the book now are a far cry from those at the beginning, but I would not have gotten there if I wasn’t able to learn from the feedback.
A sense of wonder and joy. Being an artist should be fun. I write stories that I hope offer a snapshot of the world that has never been never contemplated and give people an opportunity to think. When I put a manuscript down and come back to it, I love the sense of wonder I feel when I read the words on the page. “I did that!” I think to myself, and it inspires me to try again.
Can you tell us a bit about the interesting or exciting projects you are working on or wish to create? What are your goals for these projects?
Well, 48 States just published in June. I have some readings and a spot in a literary festival coming up in the fall. Early next year, I will publish the third book in my Dark Horse Trilogy, which is an urban fantasy set in San Francisco. I would love to see all four books made into television series or movies. I have two different projects I can start after that: one is a fantasy series involving a magical detective agency, and the other is a romance series. It’s good to have choices!
Wonderful. Let’s now shift to the main focus of our interview. Let’s begin with a basic definition so that all of us are on the same page. How do you define sci-fi or fantasy? How is it different from speculative fiction?
I think speculative fiction captures sci-fi, dystopian, and fantasy. We’re speculating on a specific future or present in which something happens that bends space, time, memory, gender, or some other here-to-fore fixed guidepost.
It seems that despite countless changes in media and communication technologies, novels and written fiction always survive, and as the rate of change increases with technology, written sci-fi becomes more popular. Why do you think that is?
Who doesn’t want to travel to a galaxy far, far away? Or meet a kick-ass heroine who started out as a genetic experiment for an evil corporation. Or an army veteran who stumbles into a conspiracy to overthrow a government already shaken by terrorism and displacement. Science fiction takes us places; it allows us to bend the rules of time and space to revisit problems and be free of the “real world.” I know some people who just don’t care for SF because it rankles their sense of reality. I feel the opposite; I think science fiction is the main event of the real world. It sneakily takes current problems and throws them into faraway solar systems or other dimensions and allows you to tinker with the solutions and examine human behavior without the fear of intruding on reality.
In your opinion, what are the benefits to reading sci-fi, and how do they compare to watching sci-fi on film and television?
Honestly, I think they’re both fun. I read the first three books in the All Souls Trilogy like ten times and then binged the TV series. I loved them both. I’m waiting patiently for the Lord of the Rings prequel on Amazon.
What authors and artists, dead or alive, inspired you to write?
It’s a long list and includes writers, newspaper journalists, musicians, editorial cartoonists, and filmmakers — there is no form of expression that doesn’t inspire me in some way. This is a brief snapshot, and I know I am leaving out lots of people: T.S. Eliot, Jack Kerouac, Christopher Buckley, Stephen King, Nora Roberts, Deborah Harkness, Ursula K. Le Guin, e.e. cummings, Shakespeare, Neil Finn, Eddie Vedder, Spoon, Aimee Mann. The late R.W. Apple from the New York Times; PJ O’Rourke when he was at Rolling Stone Magazine. More current writers like Jesse Mihalik have been inspiring because of her great sense of timing and drama in her novels. There are old food reviews in Gourmet Magazine that inspire me because of a turn of a phrase or description. The whole lot swirls around in the back of my mind and ends up (somehow) on the pages.
If you could ask your favorite Science Fiction and Fantasy author a question, what would it be?
I’d like to talk to Ursula K. Le Guinn about the Earth Sea Trilogy and what inspired her. That book made it cry, it was so beautiful, and I use it as a guide for my work now.
We’d like to learn more about your writing. How would you describe yourself as an author? Can you please share a specific passage that you think exemplifies your style?
My style is fast-paced and tight, with electric dialogue. I am interested in grabbing the reader from the first chapter and bringing them with me to the very end. I specialize in strong heroines on a path of self-discovery via near-death experiences. This is from chapter one of 48 States:
River sensed someone standing behind her. The stench of body odor and solvents invaded her space as he leaned in to speak to her. She breathed through her mouth to avoid the smell.
“What’s the matter?” he asked. “Don’t you like my gift? Maybe I should’ve sent you what I’m having. Bartender! Bring over another ‘Taste of a Woman.’”
“No thanks,” River said, wanting nothing to do with the bourbon cocktail he was pushing. “I’m not drinking.”
“That’s a bunch of bullshit,” he said, cutting her off. “I see your glass right there.”
“You didn’t let me finish,” River said. “I was about to say I’m not drinking with other people.”
“Well, that’s too bad,” he said. “Because I’ve decided you and I are going to have ourselves a little party tonight.”
“That’s not going to happen,” River said, keeping her gaze straight ahead.
“Oh, come on,” he said. “I can be a lot of fun.”
“Actually, I was just leaving.”
“We can walk out together then,” he said. “Are we clear?”
The majority of the bar patrons, never candidates for charm school to begin with, sensed the promise of violence and turned to watch. Her unwanted visitor grinned, egged on by the spectators, revealing a mouth full of missing and half-broken teeth.
“I promise to be nice,” he said, grabbing River’s newly cropped brown hair. The pain was immediate as he dragged her closer to his rank breath. “Don’t make this harder than it has to be. I don’t want to have to hurt you.”
River nodded as she rose from the barstool. She stomped on his foot, grabbed his other hand, and brought his arm in close, using it as a fulcrum to send him tumbling. The man let out a whimper as his bone snapped. He landed flat on his back with a thud. River snatched her Glock from the back of her jeans and pointed it straight at his chest.
“If you so much as raise a finger, I will put a bullet through your heart,” River said. “Are we clear?”
Her attacker nodded, but remained otherwise motionless.
“Good,” she said. “Because I don’t want to have to hurt you.”
River turned back to the bar, grabbed her glass, and finished her drink, catching Bobby’s eye along the way.
“I’ll pay you next time,” she said, heading for the door.
She kept her gun out and did not let her guard down until she was inside the cab of her truck with the engine running. The snap of the man’s forearm echoed in her head as she tried to catch her breath. Two tours of duty in the Army, and she still hadn’t grown comfortable with her ability to inflict pain. It didn’t compute with the images she carried of herself.
Her father’s death, and the poverty it brought, forced her to enlist after high school. Although it had been a welcome distraction from the ache of bitter disappointment, she carried a lingering sense of shame over how easily she’d adapted to the Army, to the physical endurance and, eventually, the feel of a gun in her hand. The preparation for war, the rehearsal to kill, the military’s rhythms and customs, hierarchy, division of labor — all of it brought a sense of organization and certainty that were comforting. Beyond the orderliness, it bore no resemblance to what she’d previously wanted or had known back when she’d been a different person with a different trajectory. She’d mistakenly believed that her life would be pleasant and filled with possibilities until it had all been irrevocably altered, like the landscape of the Territory.
River felt safer cooped up in the desert in the Middle East with twenty men and little more than a hole to shit in than working in the Territory. For almost two years, she’d been ignoring incessant offers to buy her a drink and made sure to engage the flimsy chain on her motel door nightly. Her gun had been a constant companion since arriving.
River thought about switching bars as she drove home. She decided against it. If she saw the rig tech again, the semi-automatic would prove crucial; there would be no fumbling to reload, just a steady supply of bullets in the chamber. If he came for her, she would end it. There was no penalty for killing a man inside the Territory. For that, you would need laws, and the government had signed them all away.
Excerpted from 48 States by Evette Davis. Copyright © 2022 Flesh & Bone Books. Reprinted with permission from Flesh & Bone. San Francisco, CA. All rights reserved.
Based on your own experience and success, what are the “Five Things You Need To Write Compelling Science Fiction and Fantasy Stories?” If you can, please share a story or example for each.
A plot. This may sound obvious, but we’ve all read books and seen movies that didn’t seem to have a direction. I map out my books from the beginning, thinking about both the obvious plot and subplots that drive the story. In 48 States, for example, I’ve got three pairs of people who are all having separate dramas that are interconnected, but they go it alone until all parties converge towards the end. What’s the point of all it? What’s the main event? 48 States is about the power of love and forgiveness set in a dystopian landscape.
Good dialogue. I rank this right up there with writing good sex scenes because it’s the same thing in a way. Dialogue, when done well, builds tension. It helps set a scene, it explains a character’s motivations, and it makes the book electric for the reader when it works. Here is an excerpt from my novel Dark Horse:
This day was no different, except that I found Josef sitting on my landing as I walked up the street toward my doorstep.
“Hello,” I said, realizing that it had been a few weeks since we’d seen each other.
“You’re training without me?” he asked.
“For now,” I replied, leading us up the stairs and inside so I could make coffee. “I like practicing in the park. It’s peaceful.”
“That’s a word that can’t be used to describe me, I’m afraid,” he said, offering me a rare smile.
I laughed. “No, but you’ve got other good qualities,” I said.
“Like what?”
“You’re loyal,” I said, suddenly feeling serious. “And you saved my life, more than once.”
“Then why are you avoiding me?”
“I’m not avoiding you,” I said. “I’m focusing on me for a while. When you’re around, I can’t think.”
“I know how you feel,” Josef said, coming to stand near me. He picked up my hand and held it gently in his. “Do you regret what happened?”
“On some days, I regret all of it, the whole damn thing, especially the parts where I threw myself in Nikola’s path,” I said. “I nearly got myself killed. But my time with you? No. What we did was for each other, and it belongs to us.”
“But we don’t belong together,” I said. “You deserve to be loved the right way. What we have is like an unstable element, ready to explode at any time.”
Josef lifted my hand, kissed it, and let it go. “I do love your fighting spirit, your fierceness,” he said. “But I’m not William. I can’t offer you that kind of attention or devotion.”
“So, we’re friends?” I asked.
“Don’t be ridiculous,” Josef said. “We’ll never be just friends.”
Compelling Characters. Readers will either love or hate a character depending on their role in a story, but they must be compelling and inspire curiosity about what makes them tick. Think about Frodo in The Lord of the Rings. Why does that poor little hobbit decide to take the burden of the ring? Because he has a deep sense of honor, and we must follow along as he suffers for his integrity.
Tension between characters. Whether it’s sexual tension — wanting two people to get together — or the drama of a fight for power, readers need that tension to push them ahead to see what will happen next. In my Dark Horse Trilogy, I split up the two main characters (Olivia and William) repeatedly and make them find their way back to each other. The second book in the series ends with her leaving on an airplane for a job without him. Yesterday I received an email from a fan who basically said, “I’m dying here…. when is the next book coming out so I can see what happens?” That’s when you know the tension works.
World Building. I think there are varying degrees of this. I’m not creating deep science fiction or fantasy where there are different languages, species, or kingdoms, but I nevertheless must put my reader in a place they’ve never been. They must be able to visualize that place. In the case of 48 States, they need to visualize a United States that forces people to wear RFID tags under their skin to track them, and has established fracking territories by forcibly evicting residents from states:
The skin around Cooper’s identification tag itched. It had since the day he’d gotten it. He suspected they’d put the damn chip in wrong, too hurried to get everyone tagged and bagged to identify the proper spot on his forearm. That was the government for you, always moving faster than their brains could carry them, but then they’d been in a rush to get under the skin of every American after the killings.
Normally the tag was just a mild annoyance. Cooper was a former soldier, after all. But today it stung as he scratched. He glanced at the angry patch of skin on his right forearm, then raised his eyes back to the road. He was barreling down Texas highways at speeds unsafe for most mortals, but if he didn’t hurry, he was going to be late for what was certain to be an uncomfortable meeting and a very bad day.
He’d signed on with Universal Industries as head of security prior to the formation of the Energy Territories and had accumulated enough zeros in his bank account to retire comfortably in a few years. It all seemed to be working so well. Unfortunately, today was the day the entire situation was going to explode, and Cooper knew there was very little he could do except try to contain things. The same way the Russians contained Chernobyl, he thought, but what the hell. Cooper gave himself a good slap in the face. He’d been burning the candle at both ends, flying to North Dakota, Wyoming, and then back to corporate headquarters in Houston every few days to review security reports and work with ground crews to clear away brush and debris inside the Territories. The pace was beginning to catch up with him despite his ironman conditioning. The eyes in the sky had to be able to see clearly. More importantly, so did the guards on the ground. Territory One had a defendable space of twenty miles between its borders and production areas. Wyoming, now Territory Two, was more complicated, its terrain forcing them to focus their operations on the east side of the state. The city of Casper served as the main hub; he’d personally overseen the burning of the brush all the way to Cheyenne.
We are very blessed that some of the biggest names in Entertainment, Business, VC funding, and Sports read this column. Is there a person in the world, or in the US, with whom you would love to have a private breakfast or lunch, and why? He or she might just see this, especially if we both tag them 🙂
The two people I would like to meet are Reese Witherspoon and Taylor Sheridan. Reese is obviously someone who has promoted countless female authors and helped convert their stories into television and film. I’d love to discuss my work and see if she had any interest. Taylor was the screenplay writer for the film “Hell or High Water,” and I loved his script. The dialogue was superb. I think he would be a good choice for 48 States.
How can our readers further follow your work online?
They should visit my website for buying options.
Thank you for these excellent insights, and we greatly appreciate the time you spent. We wish you continued success.
Author Evette Davis On How To Create Compelling Science Fiction and Fantasy Stories was originally published in Authority Magazine on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.