Talking Writing with Eugene Fischer, Writefest 22

WS: What genre do you write in? Why?
EF: Though I also write fantasy and realist fiction, my heart is in science fiction. My parents are both science fiction readers. I grew up reading their substantial collection, and had my imagination shaped by the mechanisms of the genre.

WS: What is your favorite book or writing craft book? Why?
EF: I like too many books for too many different things to have a single favorite. But my favorite book that I've read in 2022 so far is a work of historical fiction, The Dream of Scipio by Iain Pears. The prose is gorgeous, the intelligence palpable, and the exploration of the meaning of virtue and what (if any) role it plays in civilization is (to me) profoundly compelling.

WS: What fears do you have about your writing?
EF: ...I saved this question for last in the hope that I would come up with a good answer for it while I wrote the other ones. I guess the only thing I really fear about writing is the idea of being misunderstood, or engaged with in bad faith. That's not a fear limited in scope to writing itself, but it's the only writing-related thing I can think of that's legitimately scary.

WS: If you could have dinner with any famous author (dead or alive) who would it be?
EF: Carmen Maria Machado, because she's my closest friend that I haven't seen since before the pandemic who also qualifies as a famous author. I miss seeing many of my friends, and would rather have dinner with any of them than with a famous dead person.          

WS: What are your tips for submitting writing?
EF: Read and follow the submission guidelines. Don't query for a response until after the response window has fully elapsed. Don't interpret rejections as an indictment of your work; there are tons of reasons for editors to pass on a story that have nothing to do with the quality of the story itself. (And most longtime editors can name stories they've declined that went on to be published to great acclaim.)

WS: What's the best (or worst) writing advice you've ever received?
EF: Kelly Link once told me to "write from your inner passion and your inner perv," though she may have been quoting someone else when she said it. Someone—I think it was Neil Gaiman—told me that writers shouldn't be concerned with "finding your voice," because your voice is exactly those things that you can't help doing. Those were both good advice. The worst advice I ever got was to avoid writing genre fiction. Fortunately, that was the best kind of bad advice: the kind you know is bad as soon as you get it.

WS: What inspires your writing?
EF: Anything I find interesting enough to keep thinking and talking about. I get bored easily, so if something keeps my attention, there's probably something worth writing about in it.

WS: Where are you from and does that place ever enter into your writing?
EF: I'm from San Antonio, Texas. The peculiarities of the state of Texas have certainly been a component of some of my social science fiction.

WS: Do you do research for your writing? If so, what are some unexpected resources you've found?
EF: I do a great deal of research for my stories. I'm not sure what makes a resource expected or unexpected, though; it's all just searching for things online, reading websites and books and articles, and following links and references to more things to read or watch or listen to. Actually, no, I do have one: a writing partner did once send me a link to a podcast and said we both needed to listen to it as research. That was literally unexpected, as he'd never sent me a podcast to listen to before.

WS: Drop any links or promos for your recent work, include your social media links
EF: I've spent the last couple of years writing things for television that, unfortunately, I can't link to. I'm currently writing a new story for Audible, but of course can't link to that either. The last thing I published that people can actually buy was an original story in the World Fantasy Award-winning anthology The New Voices of Fantasy. I don't really use social media anymore. My website is www.eugenefischer.com.