Interview with Stephen Chambers

If people can't see that science fiction and comic books can be well-written without changing the names, then those people do not understand science fiction and comic books. 

So.  How much science and how much fiction?  Again, there is a place for both.  I tend to write more fiction than science, I think.  Mainly, just because a lot of authors I grew up with--like Card, Zelazny and Gaiman--wrote that way.  It's more fun for me if everything isn't explained, and if you don't spend all of your time analyzing molecular bonds and thermodynamics you can get on with what I think matters in storytelling: characters and plot.  A lot of people might argue with me about the second point, saying that plot is secondary to characters.  That's true, and that's why I listed it second, but at the same time, there are good stories where plot takes precedence.  Look at Asimov's Foundation series, for instance.  I think the plot of that huge endeavor is more significant that the characters--and, yes, a lot of people criticize Asimov for exactly that--but, for me, it still works.   And that's what matters: whether a piece succeeds on its own terms or not.  At the same time that I champion soft SF, I understand the people who prefer science-science fiction.  For the most part, I'm just not one of them. 

Q: What are your plans for the future?

A: I plan to keep writing.  Honestly, though, that's not so much a plan as something that I don't have any control over.  I write compulsively, and when I am not writing--no matter what else I might be doing--I feel guilty, as if I should be writing.  Right now, the big debate for me, which is probably not nearly so fascinating for someone reading this, is the debate over whether or not to go to grad school.  I will be finishing up a BA in modern European history at the University of Chicago this year, after three years.  The question is whether or not it is possible to actually survive on the money that a freelance writer makes.  The answer, at the moment, for--I suspect--at least ninety percent of the professional writers in the U.S. is "no".  So, it might be helpful to have a degree, though I'm not terribly sure that a Ph D. in history will do anything more than give me a snotty title. 

I want to write, and when I was still involved in acting, as a kind of subgroup of that, I was also considering politics, which is still interesting to me to some extent.  So, in career terms, I would like to make a living as a freelance writer, though that may still be a good ways off. 

Q: As a child what kind of literature, movies, SF, fantasy were you exposed
to? What were your favourites?

A: I remember the book that got me started: in the sixth grade a friend of mine handed me a book he had just finished reading, called "Ender's Game" by Orson Scott Card.  I read it and, without really knowing it at the time, my mind was made up.  I read everything I could find that said "Hugo or Nebula award winner" on the cover.  Then, I got into a lot of comic books: Sandman, Cerebus, Sin City, all of that.  Music was very influential too.  For a long time in grammar school, Pearl Jam's "Ten" was one of those "soundtracks for my life".  Nine Inch Nails, a lot of the darker, more angry stuff--I still enjoy a good unintelligible trip down the spiral with "Rammstein".  Yes, I was the kind of kid that they would be pointing at today and saying "empty your backpack" so they can search it for handguns.  I remember the kind of miserably depressing things I used to write in English classes, and now they send kids to the guidance counsellor if they see anything that smells of angst.