Talking with Bonnie Jo Stufflebeam

WS: What genre do you write in and why?
JS: Sci fi/horror/fantasy, because I love the fantastic and playing with unlimited imagination.

WS: What is your favorite book or writing craft book? Why?
BJS: I love reading short stories, because often, writers are able to be more experimental in shorter forms. Particular, the works of Helen Oyeyemi and Kelly Link.

WS: What fears do you have about your writing?
BJS: I imagine mine are similar to other people's: on my worst days, that I'm a hack. On lightly better days, that my hard work on longer works or bigger challenges won't go anywhere. On my best days, that I'll accidentally convey messages I don't believe in.

WS: If you could have dinner with any famous author (dead or alive) who would it be?
BJS: Someone I could laugh with and learn from at the same time, like Ursula K. LeGuin. She had such a wealth of knowledge, and an amazing attitude toward people who tried to hold her back.

WS: What are your tips for submitting writing?
BJS: Don't obsess over the things you've submitted. Instead, write new things while you're waiting for a response. Because the more things you write and submit, the better chance you have of being published.

WS: What's the best (or worst) writing advice you've ever received?
BJS: That I would grow out of science fiction. There's a lot of people who don't understand sci fi and who haven't experienced the wealth of work out there, from the purely escapist to the philosophical to the life-affirming. I don't like advice now, unless it's line- and grammar-specific.

WS: What inspires your writing?
BJS: Most often? Other forms of art, like song lyrics or visual art. But sometimes, weird corner-of-the-eye hallucinations, like seeing a creature running through the streets who isn't really there and thinking, what if it had been real? Or fun thought experiments with my creative friends.

WS: Where are you from and does that place ever enter into your writing?
BJS: I live in a college town in north Texas. It features heavily in my writing. It's such a vibrant town with lots of characters, and the town I use a lot in my short stories--Riddle--is directly based on it.

WS: Do you do research for your writing? If so, what are some unexpected resources you’ve found?
BJS: Sometimes! I've had to research Imperial Russian ballet for a book, and I discovered some excellent first-person accounts from ballerinas at that time. One of my favorite details was their love for chocolate, because it gave them a burst of energy without slowing them down too much.

WS: Drop any links or promos for your recent work, include your social media links.BJS: I'm on Twitter @BonnieJoStuffle, and I have a short story collection and a novella coming out in fall 2022!