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Die deutsche Fassung dieses Interviews befindet sich hier. Who is R.W. Day? Well, we´ll just let her introduce herself: I can't remember a time when I wasn't carrying a book. My family spent a lot of time travelling and I missed beautiful vistas of the U.S. because my nose was stuck in a book. I take books with me wherever I go, and bought a palmpilot so I could download stories and read them while standing in line at the grocery.
So naturally, that degree of obsession led to a career first as an English teacher, now as a pseudo-librarian (what is more correctly called a library paraprofessional). Currently, I work the reference desk at a public law library, which would be a wonderful job if it weren't for all the lawyers. I live relatively happily with 1 husband, 1 teenaged daughter, 4 dogs, 2 cats, and the ghosts of assorted gerbils, hamsters and fish. (from her homepage www.rwday.net) So, without much further ado, on to the interview! Darina Goldin: Hi Becky. How does it feel to see your first novel in print?
R. W. Day: It still hasn't sunk in that it's mine, really. I look at it on the shelf and think there has to be some mistake. Iris is working to get it distributed to book stores, and perhaps seeing it on the shelf will make it real, but even after several months, it's still in some ways like a dream. But it's also one of the most satisfying experiences I've ever had. I highly recommend it!
Darina Goldin: You used to write fan fiction but have given it up for a couple of years. Is it easier to work with your own characters and settings? And which of the two is more fun?
R. W. Day: Both fan fiction and original writing have their advantages. I love fan fiction as a vehicle for learning to write. You can concentrate solely on plot as the characters and world are already provided. Plus, the fandom community is very nurturing in a lot of ways – without the feedback I got on my fan fiction, I'd never have had the courage to submit any original writing, though I'd been writing since I was a child. Of course, there are things you can't learn from fandom – world building and character development, etc., but you are learning those things as you immerse yourself in a fandom, because you're studying the canon in incredible detail. On the other hand, the freedom you have as a writer to create – worlds, characters, situations – is unparalleled. It's the closest we come to being gods, I think. I think maybe fan fiction is easier, but original is definitely more fun.
Darina Goldin: Iris Print specializes in boys' love, a genre that aims at heterosexual women. At the same time Thaw feels rather like a dark sci-fi thriller. Do you think you are reaching the right audience?
R. W. Day: I think so. I hope so! Though of course, I'd love to reach a wider audience. Science fiction has a strong tradition of being open to gay and lesbian characters. This year, in the U.S. publishing world alone, we've got Elizabeth Bear's Carnival, Ellen Kushner's Privilege of the Sword, Douglas Clegg's Mordred: Bastard Son, Hal Duncan's Vellum, all of which have GLBT characters and themes, and I'm sure there are many more. Pigeonholing books by genre is problematic for me, as a lot of my work crosses those lines.
Darina Goldin: How much experiences do you have with male homosexuality? When writing the two boys, do you try to keep them as realistic as possible or just stick to your own imagination?
R. W. Day: Well, I'm not a male homosexual, so I don't have any sort of direct experience. I think any heterosexual woman writing gay characters should be sensitive to the experiences of real life gay men, and I certainly try to be where the demands of the narrative allow it. When I was writing fan fiction, I sought out information and impressions by visiting websites like Minotaur's Sex Tips for Slash Writers and reading the works of gay authors. Sometimes I have these moments of doubt where I feel that I'm being presumptuous to write from a perspective I have no experience of, but you know, the key to all writing is imagination. If I can write from the point of view of a girl in the 25th century or a man in the 9th, or a Martian, then I can write a gay man. As to realism, I want my characters to be realistic to a point, but let's be honest. Most people don't read (non-literary) fiction to read about people just like us. We want our fictional heroes to BE heroic and a bit larger than life.
Darina Goldin: As David at some point admits, none of this would have happened if one of them had been female. Did the characters preceed the story?
R. W. Day: No, not really. I shouldn't admit this, as it shows a shocking lack of planning, but Thaw started when I was driving home from taking my son to college in Blacksburg, Virginia. We were crossing these low mountains, and I saw a shadow ripple across a valley full of fields and houses and imagined it was a dragon. The world developed from there. The characters emerged later. I started the first person narration without really much of an idea of who the narrator was. David developed as I wrote, and Callan just sort of showed up, almost fully formed. It's the only thing I've ever written that worked like that. No outline, no planning. It was written first as a novelette, then the novelette served as a sort of guide for expanding it into a novel.
Darina Goldin: The world of Moline is larger than David or even Callan realize. How much more do you know and not say? Do you know what brought the Ice?
 R. W. Day: I know. In the original version of the story, I hinted about the cause of the Ice, but much of that was edited out for the sake of length. If the sequel ever sees light of day, I'll probably re-incorporate some of that material. For the purposes of Thaw, though, the cause of the Ice isn't really important. It's just part of the setting, though obviously there's a whole world both within and outside of Moline that David in particular has no experience with. I see it a bit like the way J.K. Rowling approaches the Potter books – the initial books are focused on Harry and his friends, and only gradually do we see the larger world beyond Hogwarts. Not that I'm comparing myself to Rowling!
Darina Goldin: Is that the end you think our world is heading to?
R. W. Day: In some respects. I think we're heading for climatological and environmental changes, certainly, though I think it's more likely to be global warming than a new ice age. As to the degree of intolerance and religious bigotry – that's something that has abated in the West to a point, but I do think that the 'right' crisis could propel us backwards pretty quickly. I read somewhere that civilization is three meals away from collapse and I agree with that.
Darina Goldin: The burning of books always reminds me of Fahrenheit 451 while the overall feeling of helplessness towards coldness and power can be found in most records of political prisoners who've been force-moved to Sibiria. Are there concrete inspirations you've had for the novel?
R. W. Day: I would certainly say I've been influenced by Bradbury – he's one of my favorite authors, an absolute master of short fiction. Martian Chronicles is probably one of my favorite books of all time, though I also love F451.
As to the degree with which historical events influenced the book, I don't know that they did, consciously. But I don't think any modern person can write about oppression and government atrocity without acknowledging the impact that the events of the 20th century had on our thinking. Though now that I think of it, as a child and young adult, I read a lot of books about the Second World War and the Holocaust, and books like Esther Hautzig's Endless Steppe, so I'm sure those had an unconscious inspiration, at least. I also read a lot of post-apocalyptic and dystopian novels when I was young, starting with Canticle for Leibowitz, Alas Babylon, the late great Kurt Vonnegut's Player Piano, 1984 and Brave New World, of course – lots of sense of helplessness there.
Darina Goldin: J.K. Rowling once said that she had to cry after killing Sirius Black. So did Tiziano Sclavi with Johnny Freak. How did you handle the many deaths in Thaw?
R. W. Day: Just wait till the sequel is out – it has a body count to rival the Terminator pictures. How I handle any emotionally difficult scene is to play it out in my mind many, many times before I ever sit down to write it. I'll rehearse it, talk it through in the car as I commute, dream about it, and yes, I cry like a baby. But when I sit down to write those scenes, I'm not emotionally involved – it's like I'm transcribing something that has already happened and I'm not consciously thinking about what I'm writing then. After, when I read it over, if it moves me, I know I've done my job. If it doesn't, then that's when the revision starts.
Darina Goldin: Moline's people are homophobic, but they seem to have overcome racism?
R. W. Day: There are a couple of things going on there. Virginia still has anti-sodomy laws on the books right now. They're not enforced because of the U.S. Supreme Court's decision in Lawrence v. Texas, but the laws have not been repealed. But racism is pretty universally condemned. When I moved from Ohio to Virginia, I expected to see a lot of racism. Actually, I saw much less than I'd experienced in the north. Certainly there are racists around, and always will be, but the races today are by and large working and living and going to school together here. In my opinion, a disaster like the coming of the Ice isn't going to change that, but it likely would make people retreat to the comfort of their faith. With the exception of the far, far fringe, racism is not given support within a religious context. Homophobia is. David's world has narrowed, and unfortunately, minds have narrowed along with it.
Darina Goldin: At the end of Thaw the love story is told. The background plot however has only started evolving, just like with The Hobbit and Lord of the Rings. Is there any chance for a sequel?
R. W. Day: It's written, and I'm now starting the process of revision, so yes, I hope so! And the initial love story may have been told, but you know the course of true love never runs smooth. David and Callan aren't out of the woods by any means.
Darina Goldin: In the meantime, which other stories of yours are out there to look out for?
R. W. Day: I've had a number of short stories published, mostly speculative fiction. A list of that is available at my website at www.rwday.net. I've also published some homoerotica under my fandom name, Eumenides, but I think the only piece still in print is my story in Best Gay Love Stories 2006.
Darina Goldin: Thank you for the interview!
R. W. Day: Thank you for the chance to talk about my writing! Related Articles: Review: A Strong and Sudden Thaw Text Copyright Darina Goldin 2006
Pictures Copyright R.W. Day |
