What inspired you to write this novel?
My debut novel, as is often the case, was introspective, poetic, dreamy, and focused on human emotions rather than plot. It was a deeply personal work about generations of women in Ukraine that had taken me five years to complete. By the time I had finished, I had a burning inside me to write something that was different in every possible way. Thus – my main characters were an ego-driven man and a genderless alien. My locations were New York City, a distant planet and an after-life dimension. And my themes were – the meaning of life on Earth, the meaning of everything, how everything connects in the grand scale. I was at last able to release my writing in all the directions it hadn’t been allowed to travel while I was concentrating on my first book. What drove you to write within the Science Fiction genre? Science Fiction for the main part deals with the future, or with alternative realities. As someone who likes to think about the meaning of everything in our history and on our planet, it is really the only genre which gives a wide enough range for expressing philosophical, metaphysical or futuristic scenarios. I am a firm believer that what we are able to perceive as humans on Earth is a tiny proportion of what is in the universe, and I think that writers and artists have a very serious responsibility to be the ones to envision and suggest and project scenarios that could well turn out to be true, but which we cannot even test without the extrapolated possibility. In comparison, there are far fewer female authors within Science Fiction. Why is this and how can it be remedied? There are two main reasons for this. The most obvious is – that there are traditionally less women in science, and it has been considered a man’s field. Thus, as women over the centuries found their voices in literature, they chose subjects where they were strong, such as everyday details and relationships, rather than subjects where they were unequal in knowledge. However, I think this is being overturned already – first of all by women rising in Science and Maths, and being loud about their contributions. The recent movie “Hidden Figures” was a great example of this shift. And check out Sabrina Gonzalez Pasterski and if you have any doubt as to whether women are going to continue keeping quiet about their part in scientific progress. It won’t be long before women writers are taking on the hard science areas of science fiction – and I can’t wait for it to happen. In fact, I might petition Gonzalez Pasterski to start the trend! However, there are plenty of areas of Science Fiction where you don’t need hard science. Ursula Le Guin is of course the queen of Sci-Fi women writers, but she is too often used as the stand-out. Margaret Atwood writes on the edge of Sci-Fi, and we have for a female classic Madeleine L’Engle. And there are many female writers now forging careers and feeling free and empowered to do so. I believe the way to remedy this is for the women who are writing in this genre to be bold and loud and promote themselves and support each other. Make sure that the world knows that they are present and writing and part of the conversation. It is time to change the story – and this is both our specialty – and our profound responsibility. What are your thoughts on how women are portrayed in Science Fiction novels and films? The portrayal of women in films is extremely frustrating. 90% of the time, even if the women have a major part, it feels like pornography. I always do an experiment for myself just to test my paranoia level – I imagine the men in the films dressed equivalent to the women and the women dressed equivalent to the men. Of course, this would mean men in tight, flimsy costumes showing large amounts of flesh, and women in perfectly normal clothes. Then I get angry again. It is something that simply has to change, otherwise women will continue to be viewed only in relation to men, and never in their own right. With regard to books, it is less easy to write great literature nowadays without developed female characters, and so it is rare for me to notice overt sexism in serious modern science-fiction. However, I would like to see much more writing from a future perspective, looking back on “the ages of inequality.” I feel we need as many books as possible establishing the current model as obsolete before we can truly leave it behind. In light of women coming forward, in Hollywood and around the globe, rebuking the “boy’s club” mentality, do you think we will begin to see a change in the way women are portrayed or treated in the media? I think with regards to Hollywood, that it will be extremely slow, and will only happen when women control the money and the ultimate decisions – and we are a very long way from that point. Until then, it will be microsteps, most likely empty gestures disguised as progress, such as powerful female characters who are still dressed like porn stars and have stereotypical bodies. The real progress will most likely come from small productions upwards, for example, Britt Marling’s excellent OA. And for her own brush with Hollywood sexism, here is an excellent piece by her: When reading a book, does the gender or ethnicity of the author impact the voice you assign the novel in your head? The ethnicity of a writer has no impact on my reading of a character, however the gender of a writer can influence this, as I am always fascinated at how accurately women write deep, complex male characters, and visa versa. I am always impressed when writers truly capture someone of a different gender, and I seek to learn techniques from them. I equally enjoy writing male and female characters, and I even have a genderless character in my novel, so it is something I follow closely. What are you currently reading and why did you pick it up? I’m reading We by Yevgeny Zamyatin. Russian / Soviet Science Fiction is a gap in my reading that I’m trying to fill. I lived in Ukraine for ten years and gathered a list of “must-read” books from my friends and this was at the top of it. I’m also particularly interested in the Russian view on Sci-Fi as I have read some British/American ones and recently Chinese (Ken Liu led me to Liu Cixin) and I am now interested in more world perspectives. What are some good writing habits you’ve discovered? I have written in very different circumstances, so I am aware that each writer struggles to find time and discipline in their own way. I have written with no time or financial pressures. I have written to a launch deadline. I have written with 2 children and a crazy household going on around me. The habits that have stuck with me are:
How can an author cope with feeling their story deserves to be heard, but fearing criticism? This is simple: you have to be brave, brave, brave.The writer’s job is really extraordinary, in that every piece of work you want to earn money for, you have to put into the public where literally every person on Earth, now and into the foreseeable future, can judge you! It’s terrifying, horrific, and the bravest thing you will ever do in your life – especially the first time you publish. My advice is – be ready with some statistics. Expect 70% positive reviews and 30% terrible reviews. Expect the press to be extremely harsh. Expect your mother to be extremely biased. This is a total cliché, but some readers will absolutely love your work and some will think it’s the worst thing ever written. My experience, over a year and a half: with overall 80% 5* reviews, I have received an e-mail from a reader telling me my novel was the best thing she had ever read and I am now her favorite writer. A couple of days later I had two 1* reviews saying it read like a first draft, and sounded like I had written it drunk. This is what you get, especially with speculative fiction – some people are open to experimentation and love it; and some hate it when you go off template. But at the end of the day, the only thing you really need is courage. And lots of it. 10. What else do you do outside of writing great books, and how do you juggle life and writing? I struggle to balance everything in my life! I have 2 teenagers who demand a lot of time (in the most wonderful and exhausting way) and I also teach part time to maintain my income. I have to write and read a lot, of course, and when there are pockets in between this I run and travel, go dancing and spend time in Barcelona and New York, my favorite cities. 11. What’s next for you on your writing journey? A lot more novels. I have now launched 2 novels and I very much hope that the process will get easier. Not the writing itself – as I will always challenge myself to the maximum in every piece of work – but the editing journey, which has to date taken months and years. I hope that my first drafts will get faster and better, and my editing skills sharper. And of course – that most wonderful gift at the end of the novel rainbow – the readership! I have been incredibly lucky to have dedicated readers and it will most certainly help the journey knowing that they will grow. |
THOUGHTWARDS
Thoughtwards is a blog celebrating forward thought and the diverse thinkers who think them.
M. Lachi is an award winning recording/performing artist and composer, a published author, and a proponent of forward thinking. Having studied Management at UNC and Music at NYU, M. Lachi employs both savvies in her creative endeavors. For more on M. Lachi's music click here. 
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