Fiction Scribe

World traveler, writer, teacher, and historian, Dr. Gillian Polack is a busy woman, but that hasn’t stopped her from pursuing her writing passions. Dr. Polack has agreed to take time out of her busy schedule to answer a few questions here on Fiction Scribe.

Enjoy.

Hello and welcome to Fiction Scribe, Dr. Polack. Tell us a little about yourself.

Since you’ve asked for me to describe myself, let me poach from something I wrote for Andromeda Spaceways Inflight Magazine (issue 28). Describing myself is too difficult to do twice in such short a time. I write novels, short stories and anything else that can be captured in prose form. Alas for humanity, the things I capture reach print from time to time. The first Gillian-novel in captivity (Illuminations) contained footnotes and the second will have dead morris dancers. Stray information on my writing life can be found on my blog and much more interesting stuff on food history can be found on my other blog.

How did you get into writing? Did you always want to be a writer?

I’ve only wanted to be a writer since I was eight. Not ‘always’ at all J.

I’m not very confident (though I’m very good at looking confident) so it took other people to actually get me published. My first story was published after a writing workshop I attended when my weaving workshop finished too early one summer arts camp at university, for instance.

You mentioned you are a literary fiction writer. Could you define what makes literary fiction writing versus other writing?

In purely genre terms, it’s focus and level of plot development and characterisation. This is not a useful answer, however, because I’m as much a write of speculative fiction as I am a writer of literary fiction.

When you look at my writing from one angle it fits in one genre and when you look at it from another, it fits in another.

You also mentioned you have a strong fantasy element. How did you get into writing the fantasy side of things?

Dreams are important to me. The possibilities of life and the potential to live outside our reality excite me.

The best books are often walks in the minds of others and the worlds others move in. Some of them have fantastical elements (George Macdonald) and some don’t (Harper Lee). The thing that’s important to me is the reality of the world I’m exploring when I rad or write and the idea that it can grow in areas that I can’t myself experience.

You’ve written many things including a play and a cookbook; are you still finding your favourite genre to write in or do you prefer writing “a little bit of everything”?

My heart and soul are in novels.

I write short fiction because it’s a very good skill to learn. I wrote the play for my brother (Jacob Oberman - actor and producer) but never did much with it. I write lots to do with cooking because history is as important to me as writing and cooking is part of my history in many, many ways.

Everything else I’ve written I can give you reasons for. Novels are the only form of writing for me that doesn’t need a reason.

What is it about writing literary fiction and fantasy that you love?

I love exploring new worlds and ideas.

I love growing. If I don’t grow through my writing then I define that piece of writing as frippery.

I love meeting new people. The people I write about are my close friends while I write them: I’m never alone. I’m sometimes seriously disturbed by what I learn about these people, but I’m never alone.

Anything about it you hate?

The industry is a seriously tough one, especially for someone without enough certainty about themselves. The ups are pretty cool, but the downs are dreadful. The waiting - in particular - is soul-numbing.

I also hate it when people want me to tell them what they’ll enjoy in my writing. The whole idea of fiction for me is that we get to have our own relationship with texts. I know that putting words to these things is something that’s an aspect of publishing for many people, but I really dislike it.

You’re not only known as Miss Polack but as Dr. Polack, and you’ve been to many places including Toronto, London, and Japan; how did you and do you continue to find time to write?

Writing and travel. Mmm.

I take notes when I travel. I store memories and thoughts. I don’t spend a lot of time writing new stuff.

I tried when I was in London and Paris. I was researching Medieval stuff by day and had the long nights to write. I had to rewrite most of it when I got home, because reading texts in Old French and in Latin is guaranteed to do strange things to your writing voice and tone. I’m still using material I gleaned from those trips (ie themes and stories and ideas), but most of the work I wrote while travelling has been fixed since or put in my little ‘unpublishable’ file.

Mind you, when I travel somewhere with intent to write (Katoomba last year, where I was given two fellowships to Varuna, which is the most amazing writers’ retreat in the Blue Mountains) I write my heart out. It’s all about where my primary focus lies.

As I said, you’ve written many things. What has stuck out as your favourite type/genre of writing?

Not so much a genre as books targeted at a certain group. The best books for young adults have so many literary strengths and so much good writing that they’ll always be my reading-for-happiness.

Are there any authors who inspired/inspire you in your writing?

Too many!

I read voraciously. Across genres. Across languages. And there’s so much good stuff you there.

Sometimes I name authors as big influences because so many people ask this question, but today I must be totally honest and say that all the authors I have ever named are indeed inspirational - but so are so many other writers.

If you want my name-of-the-moment, it’s Ursula le Guin. This time last year it was Cordwainer Smith. What they have in common is that I was writing an article about Cordwainer Smith and am writing one about Le Guin, which means I’m bringing concentrated focus to bear on their work and discovering their best qualities all over again. It’s all about who I put the work into reading properly, of the thousands of great authors.

How do you do most of your research? Do you prefer the internet? Books? Interviews?

I’m a researcher. It’s part of who I am. Not just the historian part of me but part of how I see life. I have to think and learn, otherwise I feel rather dull.

What this means is I spend lots of time watching and thinking and processing. I explore strange places in books and on the web. I engage in fascinating conversations with all sorts of people and try to make sense of what they say. When it comes to writing fiction on a subject, I use this as a base and do the research I need to make it work. I will use all sorts of research techniques, from statistical analysis, to drawing cultural maps, to reading articles, to developing focus groups, to checking out stray websites. I guess I also ought to mention my small personal library of around 6,000 books - they get used.

The trick with research is not where you get it from, but how appropriate it is for what you’re writing. The other trick with research is that if you haven’t digested it and taken on the subject as your own, you either haven’t done enough or haven’t done it properly.

Do you have a muse? If so, who or what is it?

The simple answer to this question is “Clio” because she’s the muse of history. History is people and novels are people. Everything I write is in some way connected to people. This means that the real answer to your question is that my muses are everyone around me.

Do you have any guilty pleasures when it comes to writing?

I make menus for my characters, does that count?

What are your dreams for your writing?

Readers. Many readers. Each and every one of them engaging with my work and developing their own views and thoughts and interactions.

Any advice for fantasy and literary fiction writers?

Study history? After all, it’s all about telling stories, too J. I’m serious about this, but I’m even more serious when I say that it’s hard to give advice to someone you don’t know. Advice across the ether is one-size-fits-all and one thing I am learning about writers is how little they are one-size-fits-all.

Any advice for writers in general?

Study history?

Thank you for your time.

It was my pleasure.

Do you have any more questions for Gillian? Let me know, and I’ll post up a part two to this interview.

GillianPolack@Trivium
Even in a Little Thing
Food Past