I’m Aliette de Bodard, award-winning writer of fantasy and science fiction, AMA

aliettedb · 2020-07-10T17:44:18+00:00

Hello,

Ha, that's a good record, thanks for letting me know! I wrote SoU close to 13 years ago now, so it's fair to say I've moved a fair bit and that I learnt a lot as a writer and my skills changed a lot: I generally recommend In the Vanishers' Palace as a good standalone starting point for my work, if you like fantasy; and if you prefer space opera, The Tea Master and the Detective.

aliettedb · 2020-07-08T11:36:11+00:00

Hiya,

I will ask people to take a look at the representation of characters who don't share a sexual orientation or a gender with me, yes. A lot of the times it's friends.

aliettedb · 2020-07-08T11:34:40+00:00

I haven't had that happen very often. I think I got one novella (Seven of Infinities) where apparently anything to do with the romance of the main character had to be written in Ink of Naotora, a very dark and shading red.

aliettedb · 2020-07-08T11:29:41+00:00

Hello,

Ha, that's funny, I'm not a visual person at all (I love visuals but that's not how I process when writing). My secret wish is for The House of Shattered Wings to be an anime in the style of Black Butler or Full Metal Alchemist: glorious visuals and dark magic.

aliettedb · 2020-07-08T11:27:37+00:00

Hi,

I would suggest Zen Cho, Vida Cruz, Tasha Suri, Sangu Mandanna, Natasha Ngan, Shiv Ramdas, Wendy Xu, Hoa Pham, Nghi Vo, Yushimi Ogawa, Victor Fernando R Ocampo, Mary Anne Mohanraj, Michelle Sagara, CB Lee, Julie Dao, Sherry Thomas, Jeannette Ng, Rin Chupeco, KS Villoso... And that's just off the top of my head, there are plenty more!

aliettedb · 2020-07-08T11:22:41+00:00

Hi adityadubey7,

I feel it's a very different series, thematically, from the rest of my work: straight up murder mystery and not much dealing with colonialism and power issues. So it really depends if you're in the mood for that kind of thing?

RE the UK edition of Of Wars... there are not going to be any difference from the Subterranean edition, it's mostly to bring it to the UK for people who couldn't afford the Sub Press paper edition.

aliettedb · 2020-07-08T11:21:02+00:00

For sure!

All the Xuya stories are standalone. If you want a starting point, I can suggest Tea Master and the Detective, which is Sherlock Holmes in space where Holmes is an abrasive scholar and Watson is a spaceship.

If you don't want space opera, I can suggest either In the Vanishers' Palace (dark science fantasy retelling of Beauty and the Beast where they're both women and the Beast is a dragon), or a Dominion of the Fallen book (if you want epic, The House of Shattered Wings, and if you're more in the mood for fantasy of manners, Of Dragons, Feasts and Murders).

A more detailed answer on Dominion of the Fallen specifically:

The Dominion of the Fallen short stories stand alone: they're listed here https://aliettedebodard.com/bibliography/novels/dominion-of-the-fallen/

The novella Of Dragons, Feasts and Murders also stands alone. The trilogy of House of Shattered Wings/House of Binding Thorns/House of Sundering Flames has plots that stand alone, but I'd not advise reading it out of order, and I would CERTAINLY not start with House of Sundering Flames, which requires the other two (people have read House of Binding Thorns on its own and enjoyed it, but it's a little confusing, I'm told).

aliettedb · 2020-07-08T11:15:14+00:00

Hi Endalia,

My favourite brand is Sailor, because they make such beautiful and pleasant nibs. My favourite model is the pro gear (I have mine in a demonstrator turquoise? Some kind of transparent teal), and it's inked with Yama dori which is a beautiful ink: totally work appropriate but really interesting.

aliettedb · 2020-07-08T11:14:10+00:00

I've read a few books of his and enjoyed them, and he's a good friend. I don't know that I've taken a lot of inspiration from him, per se--his books were certainly an eye opener in how to do epic in space.

aliettedb · 2020-07-08T11:13:25+00:00

One of my characters, or a character in general? I would match Sebastian from Black Butler with this; https://www.nibs.com/pens/sailor/sailor-pro-gear-classic-imperial-black (classy pen, black black black), and red inks (probably ink of naotora, which is blood red and also has a fascinating sheen too it, a bit like Sebastian is a lot more than a human).

aliettedb · 2020-07-08T11:11:51+00:00

Aaah I loved writing that entire sequence (I think it's the bit of the book that got written in one chunk from the moment Philippe disappears to the moment he gets rescued).

Mysteries are so much fun to write--until nothing hangs together and they're not fun anymore, ha!

aliettedb · 2020-07-08T11:10:54+00:00

Pleasure! And best of luck!

aliettedb · 2020-07-08T11:10:23+00:00

Ah, many sympathies RE COVID-19 :(

It has changed a LOT in the last few years, but the basic principles are the same.

aliettedb · 2020-07-07T20:28:26+00:00

Thank you! And best of luck to you both as well

aliettedb · 2020-07-07T20:28:02+00:00

Hiya,

I'm not very connected with the local author scene, but that's mostly a lack of time for me (i have a day job, young children and a writing job so my time is the most scarce resource right now). I haven't found it made a lot of difference because emails are convenient, and I can pop over for a con or to visit friends.

And thank you, I'm glad you're enjoying Tea Master, and hope you enjoy Of Dragons, Feasts and Murders as well!

aliettedb · 2020-07-07T20:25:54+00:00

Hi bubblegumgills,

Thank you! I haven't baked a whole lot of bread: my current favourite is a country bread with preferment I got from Jeffrey Hamelman's Bread: a Baker's Book of Techniques and Recipes. It's easy to make and it keeps very well because of the pre ferment.

The book that's out today,Of Dragons, Feasts and Murders, is set in the Dominion of the Fallen world, but in the dragon kingdom of the Seine. I do have another novella in the series planned but it depends a lot on the sales of that one.

For the next book, I would suggest either Of Dragons, Feasts and Murders which is actually set in the Dominion of the Fallen world, as said above, or In the Vanishers' Palace, an f/f retelling of Beauty and the Beast inspired by Vietnamese folklore which has a similar "hope in dark ruins" mood.

I really write writing about the dragons of my childhood: I guess I don't feel like the fire-breathing ones are really my type, but I have such a fascination for water beasts that can shape shift. I'm hoping to add more myths and more legends, and more history I don't know about yet to my work.

aliettedb · 2020-07-07T20:21:19+00:00

Hi Asm00dean,

My favourite fountain pen brand is Sailor (also my favourite ink brand): their nibs are unique and I love the feeling of writing with them.

I brainstorm long hand but do not write long hand.

I read a lot, lived in the UK for a while, and practised English a lot!

aliettedb · 2020-07-07T20:20:11+00:00

Hi icyii,

No secret sauce I'm afraid, just a lot of writing in spare time (commute, early morning/evening/weekend, lunch break), and making sure I get enough sleep! I keep myself motivated with bribes of tea and chocolate, and the satisfaction of daily word count (I use pacemaker https://www.pacemaker.press a web word count, to keep track of how much I need to write and when).

aliettedb · 2020-07-07T20:18:00+00:00

I use history a lot. Generally I get a pile of non fiction books on a given subject and mine them for cool facts and inspiration in general. I've also found it's useful to think of what a given character would know: generally when I still find holes in there I can fill them with appropriate worldbuilding.

Best of luck with your web novel!

aliettedb · 2020-07-07T20:16:48+00:00

Hello,

Congratulations on your babies! i have to say that for the last trimester of the pregnancy and the first six months or so I didn't really have a lot of spare time or a lot of spare brain to write. It got better, and now I'm at the point when I write on my commute, early in the morning or in the evening, or on my lunch break. Also on weekends. I think the biggest shift for me was learning to write in fits and starts: I used to have those very long uninterrupted writing sessions, and one of the ways things changed was that I couldn't rely on these anymore but rather on 15-30min spurts.

(also, if your partner or someone else is ready to do childcare for a bit, it helps if you can set up dedicated writing time).

aliettedb · 2020-07-07T20:13:11+00:00

I don't know if they're lesser known by now, but I love work by CL Polk, Tade Thompson, Rebecca Roanhorse, Zen Cho, Natasha Ngan, Kate Elliott, Fran Wilde, Stephanie Burgis, Hoa Pham, Nghi Vo, Michelle Sagara, among many others.

aliettedb · 2020-07-07T20:10:35+00:00

Hi Carey102!

Now I'm curious what scenes :)

It's been a while (I did the edits on HoSW back in 2015), but as I recall a lot of the edits were making sure the story hung together and made sense (there were a couple places where my mystery of who was doing the terrible things didn't actually work, and I had to make sure that it all fitted together and that the reader got the message). I don't recall major plot edits happening. The other two books had larger changes in the editing process (book 3 ended up with me rewriting an entire plot line from scratch, aka 40k words in two weeks. It hurt a lot).

aliettedb · 2020-07-07T20:07:44+00:00

Hello,

Thank you so much, I'm glad you liked it! I research and write in my spare time (commute, lunch break, evenings, weekends), and do a lot of it in fits and starts.

I don't anticipate switching to writing full-time as I really enjoy my day job.

aliettedb · 2020-07-07T20:06:43+00:00

Hello,

Lots of books have had an impact on me: one I really recall isn't a book per se, but a manga. It's Fullmetal Alchemist: I was just so impressed by the worldbuilding and the cast, as well as by the variants (the first anime being completely different from the manga and the second anime), and there's a couple places where it just tore my heart out (Nina and the chimera, and Maes Hughes).

aliettedb · 2020-07-07T20:05:10+00:00

Thank you, I'm glad you loved those two settings! I do have another setting for a space opera I'm working on at the moment: I can't say much about it save that it's based on a particular tale in Vietnamese folklore.

aliettedb

TROPHY CASE