An Interview With Ian Benke
To write compelling science fiction and fantasy stories, you also must have some kind of speculative element. If you do not have a speculative element, you do not have speculative fiction. This is the element that differentiates your story from non-speculative-fiction. Your story could take place in the future, an alternative past, on another planet, in outer space, or whatever time or place your imagination can envision. Your story could have non-human creatures such as dragons, fairies, mermaids, elves, witches, aliens, or androids. In general, you probably do want to have some kind of magic system in fantasy or advanced science in science fiction. A good way to make your story fresh is to combine more than one speculative element. Remember, the sky is not the limit!
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 Lesley L. Smith.
Lesley L. Smith, M.F.A., Ph.D., is a prolific speculative fiction author with over a million words in print. Her latest novel, “Neutrino Warning,” a cli-fi adventure, came out in 2021. She loves reading and writing speculative fiction and encouraging other authors.
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 blame my misspent youth! I always loved reading stories and often could be found reading when I was supposed to be doing other things like annoying homework or pesky chores. So many of those wonderful characters became my friends, including Nancy Drew, Frodo Baggins, and Arkady Darell. Trying my hand at creating some new friends with new stories was just a natural progression.
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?
Probably the most instrumental trait for my success is persistence. I started writing when I was a girl and shared stories with friends and family. In high school, I got some encouragement from teachers, and in college, I placed (but didn’t win!) in a couple of writing contests. Nevertheless, I persisted. I continued writing and submitting stories for publication even though I was unsuccessful in publishing anything. This is very important; an author cannot succeed if they don’t write and submit. But it wasn’t until I mastered preparation that I achieved success.
Thus, another important trait for success is preparation. As I persisted, I gained more experience, skills, and knowledge — all of which made my writing better. My first professional sale was actually due to preparation. I’ve subscribed to “Analog Science Fiction and Fact” for many years, and they have a fun science fact column. I wrote a story inspired by one such column on quantum physics and told the editor in my cover letter. Lo, and behold, they bought the story! This was a huge turning point in my career.
Finally, in my opinion, professionalism is key. As an example, later in my career, I went to a West Coast writers conference and met a bunch of awesome authors — many more successful than me. I was very careful to be friendly and respectful to everyone. Through connections made there, I was invited to participate in some really neat anthologies. This was another turning point, and I don’t think it would have happened if I hadn’t been professional.
Oh! Look at that! I have three P’s for success. (Isn’t alliteration fun?)
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?
I’m working on a really enjoyable project right now, called “Spec the Halls: Volume 2.” It’s a collection of short speculative holiday stories to be published this fall. As a writer, I love adding spooky, fantastic, or science-fictional elements to holidays like Thanksgiving and Christmas. My goals are to share these stories with readers and help make their holidays spectacular!
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?
What intriguing questions! There are many, many definitions of sci-fi, fantasy, and speculative fiction. I’m going to say speculative fiction is fiction that includes something outside our real-world experience. In speculative fiction, there must be a story element that could not happen on Earth today. It might take place in the future or on another planet, include aliens, creatures, magic, or new science/technology. Thus, speculative fiction encompasses both sci-fi and fantasy, as well as supernatural fiction, horror, and other non-realistic fiction. Sometimes, it can be tricky to differentiate sci-fi and fantasy. Some scholars believe sci-fi began with the industrial revolution and its emphasis on new technologies and manufacturing processes. In contrast, fantasy began as a reaction against this logical mechanized world. So, sci-fi is rational not-realistic fiction, and fantasy is irrational not-realistic fiction.
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?
I think written sci-fi, and sci-fi in general, are becoming more popular because we are living in a more sci-fi world! Some of these developments, such as machine learning and mRNA vaccines, are positive, but some like pandemics and ransomware are negative. Hence, readers read partly to understand the people and the world around them, and sci-fi helps with this. Sometimes, readers read to learn new things, and sci-fi, ‘hard sci-fi’ in particular, can be very effective here. Often, readers read to be entertained or distracted from stress, and sci-fi is great here, too!
In your opinion, what are the benefits to reading sci-fi, and how do they compare to watching sci-fi on film and television?
Reading and watching use different parts of the brain. Reading is wonderful because it is almost a telepathic connection between the author and the reader. Reading enables us to become someone else, experience what they experience, and feel what they feel. Hence, reading builds empathy among human beings.
Both reading and watching sci-fi are super fun, however; they’re both very entertaining and stimulate our imagination and sense of wonder. Personally, I love both reading and watching sci-fi!
What authors and artists, dead or alive, inspired you to write?
When I was a girl, Isaac Asimov was my hero. He was a very prolific author and had a real talent for explaining complicated scientific ideas in a clear and conversational way. This is something to aspire to. When I was a young woman, Janet Evanovich opened my eyes to how wonderful humorous fiction could be. She definitely inspired me to try to write humorous fiction.
If you could ask your favourite Science Fiction and Fantasy author a question, what would it be?
I absolutely devoured the time-travel series “The Chronicles of St. Mary’s” by Jodi Taylor during the early weeks of the pandemic. I would thank Ms. Taylor very much for the wonderful distracting entertainment; it really helped me get through the isolation of the lockdown. I felt like the heroine Madeleine Maxwell was a friend. As for a question, I would ask her how she creates such funny and empathetic characters and situations. (Oops! That may be more than one question. Oh well.)
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?
I like to say I write science fiction with heart. Many of my characters have special abilities such as time-travel, manipulating luck, or controlling quantum physics, but readers often say their real superpowers are their big hearts. Writing characters with empathy, sympathy, and respect for others is very important to me.
And, of course, the speculative elements make it fun!
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.
1. The number one thing you need to write compelling science fiction and fantasy stories is: a passion for what you are writing about. This passion will power your writing and make it unique. Only you have your specific combination of experiences, skills, and passions, so only you can write your stories.
I’m passionate about quantum physics and climate science, so I often write about them — as in “Neutrino Warning.” Figure out what you are passionate about, and write about that. It can be anything in the universe! We are talking about science fiction and fantasy here, after all!
2. The number two thing you must have is at least one intriguing protagonist. This is true for all fiction. Readers experience the story through the protagonists or main characters. It’s almost as if the reader becomes the protagonist. Thus, protagonists are often heroic and empathetic. Sometimes, they’re underdogs, fighting the good fight against the system. Less commonly, protagonists are negative or even evil characters; but if this is the case, the reader should be able to understand why they behave as they do. (More commonly, bad characters are the antagonists, which the protagonist must fight against.) As an example, Charlie Gordon, a 32-year-old janitor with an I.Q. of 68 from the classic short story “Flowers for Algernon” by Daniel Keyes, is an amazing protagonist. He’s very sympathetic, and the reader instantly empathizes with him because he has so many challenges.
3. The number three thing required is a plot. This is also true for all fiction. This should take the form of a problem for your protagonist in the opening of your story. Ideally, in speculative fiction, this would be an exterior problem, like invading alien squids, and a linked interior problem, like a personal phobia of tentacles. The protagonist dealing with this complex problem, then, is the plot of the story. Plots generally end with protagonists solving their problem (happy ending) or failing to solve it (sad ending/tragedy). In “Flowers for Algernon,” scientists experiment on Charlie to make him smarter, and, let’s just say, things do not go well.
4. To write compelling science fiction and fantasy stories, you also must have some kind of speculative element. If you do not have a speculative element, you do not have speculative fiction. This is the element that differentiates your story from non-speculative-fiction. Your story could take place in the future, an alternative past, on another planet, in outer space, or whatever time or place your imagination can envision. Your story could have non-human creatures such as dragons, fairies, mermaids, elves, witches, aliens, or androids. In general, you probably do want to have some kind of magic system in fantasy or advanced science in science fiction. A good way to make your story fresh is to combine more than one speculative element. Remember, the sky is not the limit!
In our “Flowers for Algernon” example, the speculative element is the advanced science experiment. Note that while we might have the scientific expertise to do such an experiment now, it is legally prohibited, making it speculative.
5. The final thing you need is emotion. The main job of any fiction author is to evoke emotion in the reader. The way to do this is to create high stakes for the protagonist if he/she doesn’t solve their problem. Often, the writer includes multiple try/fail cycles, wherein each fail puts the protagonist in more jeopardy.
Authors make readers feel emotions by showing, rather than telling, the emotions of the characters.
In “Flowers for Algernon,” the reader experiences a lot of emotion as Charlie gains and then loses intelligence. The ending is masterful as once-again-low-IQ Charlie shows compassion for Algernon, the lab mouse (who also underwent the experiment), requesting flowers for his grave. The reader knows and feels what’s in store for Charlie, even if he doesn’t. Wow. I’m getting a little teary just thinking about it. Kudos, Mr. Keyes!
We are very blessed that some of the biggest names in Entertainment, Business, V.C. funding, and Sports read this column. Is there a person in the world, or in the U.S., 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 🙂
Maybe it’s because I was just thinking about her, but Jodi Taylor would be super fun to have a meal with. It would be great to chat about writing with someone whose work I enjoy so much.
How can our readers further follow your work online?
For more info, please check out my webpage http://www.lesleylsmith.com/.
Thank you for these excellent insights, and we greatly appreciate the time you spent. We wish you continued success.
About The Interviewer: Ian Benke is a multi-talented artist with a passion for written storytelling and static visual art — anything that can be printed on a page. Inspired by Mega Man, John Steinbeck, and commercials, I.B.’s science fiction writing and art explore the growing bond between technology and culture, imagining where it will lead and the people it will shape. He is the author of Future Fables and Strange Stories, the upcoming It’s Dangerous to Go Alone trilogy, and contributes to Pulp Kings. The CEO and Co-Founder of Stray Books, and an origami enthusiast, Ian is an advocate of independent, collaborative, and Canadian art. https://ibwordsandart.ca
Author Lesley L. Smith On How To Write 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.