MVF Interviews: Ilsa J. Bick
Back in July, I reviewed a phenomenal book by an amazing new author. If it sounds like I’m gushing, it’s because I am! Anyway, this book is called Ashes and guess what?! It’s officially released TODAY! Make sure to click the Amazon link at the bottom of this post to get your copy.
But I have even better news! Ilsa Bick has been great enough to agree to an interview with MVF! It was hard to focus when deciding which questions to ask because I was still on the high of reading this ARC. I think you will enjoy what you read and it will make you salivate to read Ashes. I gave it a perfect 5 out of 5 fangs and I think you will too.
Now, on with the interview…
Sue: Have you always been a writer? At what point did you decide to submit for publication?
Ilsa J. Bick: That’s an interesting question and the answer is: not really. That is, while I wrote some very bad epic poetry when I was a teenager and, I think, one story, I didn’t write-write, if you know what I mean. What I did, instead, was tell myself stories. My family was a big one for chores—every hour of every weekend, or so it seemed—and to pass the time, I’d dream up cool, kick-ass adventures. Of course, I had a starring role and always saved the day.
In terms of writing fiction, I guess you could say I sidled up to it. I got a little bored during my psychiatry residency, so I went back to school at night and got my masters in liberal studies with an emphasis in film and literature. About then, I got interested in applying psychoanalytic theory to film and began to write and present in academic arenas. So I’m going along, seeing patients and raising my kids and writing film articles and having a pretty good time, and then one day my husband says, “You know, I really think you want to write stories.” I thought he’d lost his mind. But he must’ve picked up something because I decided . . . well, okay, why not?
See, my secret ambition was to write myself into a Star Trek adventure. (Yes, it’s true; I was in lust over Captain Kirk’s chest. I’m serious. First season, that guy lost his shirt about every other episode.) So I wrote a bunch of really bad stories (none of them Trek) and then six, really bad books (three of which were Trek). Of course, nothing sold, although I came close twice with two different books (one Trek and one not).
By then—roundabout August, 1998—I was in the slough of despond, ready to give up. Really. Now I’d heard about a contest—Strange New Worlds—which was this Trek-oriented competition. You could set a story in any one of the shows (that is, Original Series or Voyager or whatever). I waffled and then figured, fine, one last try. After shooing away the family for a week’s vacation, I bought a new journal and fountain pen, camped out in a coffee shop, and wrote my fingers off for a week. Started on a Monday, finished on a Saturday night and did the whole story, soup to nuts. (At that point, it was the fastest I’d ever written anything which, I think, was key.) Typed up the story and sent it. Forgot it.
Then, day before Thanksgiving, I get this call from the Trek editor at Pocket who told me that my story had won Grand Prize! OMG. I let out this jungle yell. The poor guy’s ears are still ringing, I bet.
Anyway, that was my first sale. The prize and publication money also bought my new refrigerator (which still works, thanks). And I’d discovered an important lesson for me: write fast because writing fast means you get out of your own way.
Sue: How did your background as a child psychiatrist help you when writing this book?
IJB: Suffering keeps you honest. No one I saw—either during my surgical residency or in the years I saw psychiatric patients (first in the Air Force and then in my private practice) was happy to be there. No one is just dying to see a shrink and, frequently, I was the last stop because all other avenues hadn’t worked. So, by definition, the people who saw me felt like failures, were terribly anxious, and—more often than not—experienced great shame. Not a good combination. Stress usually doesn’t bring out the best in people and finding the courage to change isn’t easy.
So I always approach my characters aware of that complexity. People say one thing but mean something else. Almost nothing is black and white, and folks do a lot of things they think are right for the wrong reasons.
Sue: You do such a phenomenal job writing these characters – do you sit down and do a background on each character or do you let them develop as you write?
IJB: Thanks—and yes, I do write a little bio when I start: just a thumbnail to point me in the right direction. But I almost always discover new things about my characters because they get themselves into so many interesting situations or meet up with other characters and those relationships bring out other qualities. Sometimes a character says something I would never have expected—but which is exactly right.
Sue: Do you have a particular process you follow when you write (ex: listen to music, outlining, etc)?
IJB: I’m an outline fiend. In part, that’s because I did a lot of work-for-hire—Star Trek, Mechwarrior, Battletech, Shadowrun—where you’re playing in someone else’s sandbox. This means you’ve got to run the story by an editor first before he’ll green-light the book and, frequently, you have to structure your story to accommodate the needs of that particular universe. My outlines used to be humongous and incredibly detailed, too. I mean, we’re talking upwards of two hundred pages. One of my editors joked that all I had to do was add adjectives, and the book was done.
Over time, I’ve cut that down, though. I still do outlines from beginning to end, but then I pretty much put the outline away and almost never refer to it when I write the actual book. I don’t slavishly follow outlines either. Once the book gets underway and I know where I’m going—like, I almost always know the last line of the book and, in the case of the ASHES trilogy, the final scene and who gets the last word—then I rarely refer to the outline. Sometimes I’ll check back to see where I’m supposed to be in the story, but by that point and nine times out of ten, I’ve already deviated so completely—those characters surprising me again—that the outline’s virtually useless. But that’s okay. I almost always need to tell myself the story first—and then I can tell you.
Sue: Many of our readers are aspiring authors – what advice would you give them when it comes to writing and publishing?
IJB: Well, everyone has their own way of doing things. What works for me might not be everyone’s cuppa. But two very wise writers, Dean Wesley Smith and Kristine Kathryn Rusch, gave me this advice, and I follow it to this day: Write. Write fast. Write a lot. Write every day. Forget the muse. She’s frequently MIA. Writing is a job, not a hobby, so treat it as such. Then send what you write to an editor who may buy what you produce, and immediately—without fail—move on to the next project
.
Oh, and put your ego in a box and dare to be bad.
Okay, that’s me talking, but I hear Dean’s and Kris’s voices in my head, so they probably said it first. The point is sending out your stuff takes guts and a thick skin because you will fail, and often. I have so many rejections, I could pad three mattresses. But all those rejections mean that you didn’t grab that reader, and it’s up to you to figure out why. Could be you picked the wrong agent or editor—so do your research—or you didn’t follow directions (naughty you, although you also need to know what rules you might be able to break)—or your writing is very good, but the editor knows her audience and understands that the piece isn’t right for her. There are all kinds of reasons for that rejection letter.
True story: I just got a rejection letter the other day for DRAW THE DARK. But, uhm, well, that’s been a book-book since October, 2010 and won awards and all that. So it just goes to show: not that editor’s cuppa.
So does a rejection mean your stuff isn’t “good enough?” Yeah—for that editor. But, on any given day, it might be someone else’s great find.
Which brings me to another Dean-and-Kris-ism: keep your stuff in the mail. Don’t give up. Heck, these days, you can e-publish if you want. But don’t stop sending. Turn that sucker around and get cracking on the next story or book.
Sue: Will we ever find out for sure if Alex is “cured”?
Inquiring minds want to know (read: me), is Tom really gone forever?
Will Chris actually follow Alex into the woods, or were they just trying to get rid of her?
Basically, I’m dying to know more about what happens in the 2nd book, and does it pick up where Ashes left off?
IJB: Patience, grasshopper. All I can say is . . . things get worse. Much, much worse.
Sue: Are you working on any other projects? If so, please tell us about them!
IJB: Oh, I’m always working on something else. The down-time between books drives me batty. I mean, I just gotta write. Anyway, this coming spring, the excellent folks at Carolrhoda Lab are publishing my YA contemporary, DROWNING INSTINCT. SHADOWS, the second ASHES book, comes out Fall, 2012; and in Spring, 2013, Carolrhoda Lab steps up again with SIN-EATER. If all goes according to plan, MONSTERS, the final book in the ASHES cycle, will appear that fall.
At this point, I’ve already written the first book in a new, very weird two-volume series, so fingers crossed on that—and I’m now starting a new standalone because I just can’t be still for long.
Sue: Who are some of your favorite authors?
IJB: Anyone I happen to be reading at the time who’s written just a bang-up story. But, gee, having to read fabulous stories by amazing writers—and calling it work—everyone should be so lucky.
Many big thanks to Ms. Bick for taking the time to answer my questions. And if anything, I’m dying for the next book in the Ashes trilogy…
No, go order the book and get to reading! ;-)
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