HJ reporter Scott Roche recently had the opportunity to interview Mur Lafferty, author of the upcoming novel form Swarm Press, Playing For Keeps in addition to several podcast novels, freelance writing projects, and the brains behind such non-fiction podcast as I Should Be Writing and The Geek Fu Morning Show.
HJ: Mur, before we get into talking about your more recent projects I’d like to talk a little about the Heaven series of novellas. I’ve listened to and enjoyed them all, especially the way that you mashup a number of pantheons. Was there any particular rationale behind which religions you chose to represent?
Mur Lafferty: Yes, but not a very compelling one. I went from the ones I knew fairly well and needed little research on to the ones that I’d always been curious about. So I did a lot of research into the Chinese and Japanese afterlives, read Purgatorio by Dante, etc. The concept of Hell Notes in the Chinese Afterlife has entranced me and I’m still using that concept in my fiction with my current novel.
HJ: That’s a good lead in to my next question. I know that you’ve said in the past that you’re more of an “organic” writer, but I’m curious as to how much research went into looking at these faiths specifically and how much research you do in general?
ML: With the faiths, I did a good bit of research. With Playing For Keeps, I read an awful lot of comics. And for my current novel I’m doing a lot of researching New York City. When I say I’m an “organic” writer, I mean I don’t do a lot of outlining, because I often get my best ideas when I’m in the middle of writing a scene.
HJ: Reading comics, that’s research I can get behind.
One thing I particularly liked was watching the struggles that Kate and Daniel go through as they deal with the abilities and difficulties that come as a result of their new natures. To me the religions that sprang up around them said quite a bit about how we as humans tend to twist our views on religion to suit ourselves and our ends. Was that intentional?
ML: Not really - I didn’t try to link them, I just tried to give them both internal problems and external problems, and give them different settings in which to deal with them.
HJ: So if memory serves you’ve got one more “season” in this series. Can you tell us what lies in store for us? Give us a little tease?
ML: Well, it’s called “War”, and Kate and Daniel have the monumental task of freeing Heaven and Earth 2 from the beast that took over and exiled them both. But they have the exciting Earth 3 at their disposal, and I will say that there will be a bit of adventure to free the trapped gods, and a bit of adventure in readying for the battle, and an awful lot of time spent in Meridian and Lathe, as that’s my favorite place of any setting I’ve ever written.
HJ: Sounds great. Each one seems to have gotten better/stronger than the previous one so I’m really looking forward to it.
Okay let’s move on to talk about Playing for Keeps. This is a novel based in a universe where superheroes are real and focuses on a group of people that have powers that are deemed not quite useful enough for “super” status. It was recently picked up for publication by Swarm Press (congratulations by the way) and is your first published novel. Can you share with us a little about the journey that you took to get this published?
ML: Thanks! PFK has had a very long journey. It started with an idea I had at DragonCon many years ago - 7 or 8 years ago. I wrote a short story that quickly became a novella. It sat for a while, I submitted it to some places, it sat longer, and then I realized it wanted to be a novel, so I started working on rewriting and lengthening it. I’d never written a novel before so the process was done in fits and starts. I finished it in early 06, I think, and then got into the Viable Paradise workshop. I workshopped it with Cory Doctorow and Teresa Nielsen Hayden and James Patrick Kelly, which was eye opening. I finished the rewrites in December of 06, started the agent hunt in 07. That failed, so I podcasted it in the fall/winter, the podcast reaching nearly 20,000 people. In the spring, Swarm Press contacted me - unsolicited - with an offer to publish the book. *pant pant* So, here we are.
HJ: You’ve mentioned Viable Paradise in ISBW. Can you give me a real brief run down on why writers should try and get in to a workshop like this one?
ML: I recommend any workshop taught by pros. Clarion and Odyssey are the big ones, but they are 6 week residential programs, and it’s hard to find the time and money to go away from your life, family, and job for that long. Viable Paradise is a week of workshopping at Martha’s Vineyard with SF industry pros, a place where you can find your peers, writing-wise, and really learn a lot, if you’re willing to listen. I recommend the book “Storyteller” by Kate Wilhelm, one of the founders of Clarion, for more information on SF workshops, it’s a fantastic book.
One difference between the longer workshops and VP is that the long ones focus on *writing* while VP focuses on critting and editing the manuscript you used as your submission. We did some writing exercises, but we had more focus on lectures and crit groups.
HJ: I plan on trying to hit that up one day. Okay back to PfK. What impressed me most about PfK, other than the story itself was the way you used multiple forms of media to get the story and the universe out to your fans. How did all of that come about and how difficult was it to coordinate?
ML: I knew if the agent hunt went poorly that I would podcast it, so the podcast was kinda brewing in the back of my head the whole ten months I searched for an agent. That gave me lots of time to come up with things, and I wanted to do new things, like the author-approved fan cast (Stories of the Third Wave) and giving the book away as a PDF as I released the audio. I also put audio Easter eggs into the PDF, another new concept, and I had a LOT of help from friends and fellow podcasters. I definitely didn’t do it alone.
HJ: That’s one of the great things about the podcasting community, the fact that it is very much a community. When will we be seeing this in stores and do you have any more plans for this universe?
ML: The book comes out on August 25. Because of the limitations of the small press, it’ll only be available in your store if you request them to order it, but it’s available online at Amazon and B&N. Incidentally, I’m requesting everyone who wants the book to order ON August 25 to let me make a good showing on the Amazon charts.
As for future plans, I do have two more books in mind, but we’ll see if PFK sells well and my editor wants more.
HJ: Well I wish you luck. I know you get this question a lot, but it’s one I hear asked and ask myself quite a bit. You have two non-fiction ‘casts, your fiction ‘casts, your freelance writing, a family and a ton of obligations. How do you find time?
ML: Well, getting laid off in December freed up a lot of time, but honestly, it’s just prioritizing my time. I really want to create this content, so I find time to do it. If people say they don’t have time to write (I get that a lot on my podcast, I Should Be Writing), I ask them if they have time for TV, or shopping, or other extracurricular pursuits. And yes, I understand the need for down-time. But if you really want to do something, you’ll find time for it. And heck, it’s paid off so well that there’s plenty of incentive to continue.
HJ: Okay just a few more. You’re a huge proponent of Open Media/Creative Commons. Where does that come from? How did you get there?
ML: I am actually a convert
HJ: How did that happen?
ML: I was a young writer learning about the business when I attended a panel by a certain crotchety SF master who screamed at us that when we submit, ALWAYS GET PAID. So I left the panel thinking “always get paid always get paid” like a sheep. And what he really meant was, when giving your story to someone else for them to publish, thereby making their publication looking good, always get paid.
Because when it came to releasing my own stuff for myself it’s a different thing. But when I saw Scott Sigler and tee Morris releasing their books, I thought it was a terrible idea. Until I saw the responses - they built incredibly loyal fanbases who fully supported them, appreciated the free content, and evangelized the free content.
I did some research on Creative Commons and found it to be a revolutionary (and I don’t use that lightly) system allowing people to give things away without giving their rights away. Read some of Cory Doctorow’s essays on the value of giving it away, and that sold me right there.
I liken it to Ben and Jerry’s free cone day. They give away free ice cream once a year, and the line is out the door. But that’s one thing that keeps people coming back to pay every other day of the year. And no, there’s not a line out the door every day. And maybe there are people who only eat Ben and Jerry’s on free cone day, but the brand loyalty they build in their other customers is priceless.
HJ: Earlier you mentioned a new project and that you were researching New York. Can you spill anything?
ML: The new project has no title, but is called Project Underground. It’s a story about a travel book written by monsters, for monsters. And the book in question will be about NYC. The story is about the people making the book, but I need some good info about the city to make it realistic.
HJ: I’d buy that on spec. Well Mur thank you VERY much for your time. Is there anything else you’d like to say in closing?
ML: Actually yeah, I’ll be starting up The Stories of the Third Wave again and soliciting content from listeners about the world of Keepsie and her friends. I have some hot podcasters contributing, and it’s going to be awesome and please buy PFK on amazon.com on August 25!
Mur Lafferty’s work can be found at murverse.com.
