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In this latest installment of the Never Have, Never Will interview, we're joined by Kelly McCullough. Kelly is the author of theRavirn series, which is a fascinating mix of magic and technology, with sorcerers who double as reality-hackers, and goblins that can turn into laptop computers. The series starts with WebMage, and the most recent title is MythOS.
1. Is there a story you’ve written that will never see the light of day? Why would you deprive us of this genius?
Well as with so much in life the answer is both yes and no. There are a number of stories I've written that won't ever be sent off to publishers in their current state and which I may well never get around to rewriting into an acceptable draft. That means some of them are likely only to ever be found by people looking at my stuff in the archives at NIU at some future date after I've officially given up on them.
2. What’s a story you’ve never written, but always wanted to?
The third book in Roger Zelazney's Changeling series. I want to know how the series would have ended, and since Zelazney isn't going to finish it from beyond the grave, the only way I can think of to find out is to get permission from the estate and write the book myself. It's on my list of things to do when my profile gets high enough that they might consider saying yes to the request.
3. Is there a character or plot point you’ve wanted to change in retrospect?
Not to any great extent. There are bits and pieces of WebMage that I might have done differently to make later stories easier if I'd known that there were going to be later stories when I was writing it, particularly with the mechanics of the mweb, but it hasn't been anything I haven't been able to work around. Mostly I'm pretty content with leaving a story alone once I'm done with it.
4. Which of your characters would you never want to meet (in a dark alley or otherwise)?
It would depend on the circumstances, because as long as whoever it was didn't have me on their agenda, most of them would make for interesting conversation. If forced to choose though I'd have to say Discord. While she is one of my favorite characters to write and is not at all a villain in the context of the stories, she is the one who is most likely to simply destroy one's life because she can.
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5. Which of your worlds/realities/cities would you never want to visit?
Of the (thus far) published stuff Hades is the place I would least like to enter. Absolutely, utterly, unremittingly bleak doesn't work for me. At the same time, it would be concrete proof of a hereafter and that's a reassuring thought. So, if it was only for a visit...
6. Are there any real-world locations you’ve written about but have never visited (or never want to)?:
There are any number I've written about but not visited: the central areas of Iceland, various bits of Australia, parts of New York, the moon...none though that I wouldn't love to visit under the right conditions. I like travel a lot as long as each day ends with an acceptable place to sleep and the meals aren't too few and far between.
7. Is there a piece of writing advice you’ve never followed?
"Write what you know." That one drives me straight up the wall, as it's essentially antithetical to writing things like fantasy and science fiction. I'm not too fond of "Show, don't tell" either since writing is telling.
8. What is an aspect of the writing craft you’ve never had a problem with (and why)?
World building is my friend, probably because I've been building elaborate fantasyscapes for pretty much as long as I've been thinking. I absolutely love doing it, and it's probably my greatest strength as a writer.
9. What’s the one book out there that you wish you’d written (but of course won’t, because it’s already written, and writing it again would be plagiarism, and that’s just mean)?
That's a tough one, narrowing it down that is. I'll give you three: Robin McKinley's Sunshine, Martha Wells' The Element of Fire, Neil Gaiman's Graveyard Book. They're all more or less perfect, and unlike most of the other books on my perfect list they're all close enough to the way I tell stories that I could at least imagine having written them if were very lucky and worked very hard.
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10. What aspect of writing will you never stop working to improve in?
All of them, really. I can't imagine not trying to hone and polish every aspect of my craft. If I'm not trying to do something that's at least a little bit beyond what I know that I can do, I'm doing something wrong. I love the challenge of pushing into the unknown, both in terms of story and technique.
11. What’s one part of the publishing industry/process you wish you could do without?
Promotion. Of all the things I do as an author the stuff that I do purely for promotion's sake is what I like the least. Fortunately, such things are pretty rare for me. The vast majority of activities that I do that count toward my promotion karma are activities I would happily participate in even if they didn't help me sell books. I like cons and readings and talking about the work with people who are interested in it for interviews. So all of those things do double duty for me, promotion and recreation.
12. What’s the one thing you would never do to shamelessly promote your current release?
Spend one minute of time that I believe would be better used writing. Effective promotion requires a highly specialized skill-set, one that takes years to master and is as much an art as it as a science. While I do posses a highly specialized skill-set that takes years to master it's for writing. I could try to master the skills of promotion, but if that really interested me I'd be in the ad business or a publicist instead of an author. It took me years to get my writing this far and I've still got miles to go before I sleep—I don't intend to waste a minute of traveling time.
13. What’s a question you’ve always wanted to answer, but have never been asked?
Why is the sky darker in the center than it is around the edges? Okay, so not really, but I don't really have a question that I've been dying to answer that has gone unasked. I've been very lucky in my interviewers over the years.
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