Category: creativity

• Paul McAuley on writing Anthropocene fiction

  Paul McAuley’s Austral is a gorgeous, haunting novel—brimming with fractal stories-within-stories—about a fugitive on the run through the backcountry of the new nation established on a greening Antarctica. McAuley’s unskimmably precise prose conjure the bleak beauty of the internal and external landscapes the protagonist navigates as she tries to find her way in a world where…

• Viktor Frankl on success

  From Man’s Search for Meaning: Don’t aim at success—the more you aim at it and make it a target, the more you are going to miss it. For success, like happiness, cannot be pursued; it must ensue, and it only does so as the unintended side-effect of one’s dedication to a cause greater than oneself…

• Imagining the future

  On May 21st, I’ll be joining Marija Gavrilov to discuss how to think like a science-fiction writer: Imagination and storytelling in times of crisis are powerful vectors for activating change. We’ll come together with science-fiction writers in a semi-bookclub format to discuss imagination, possible futures, and better worlds. The first session is with Eliot Peper,…

• The promises and perils of geoengineering

  I went on the Technotopia podcast to talk to John Biggs about geoengineering, the future of climate change, and the inspirations behind my forthcoming novel, Veil. Complement with my conversation with Andrew Liptak about Veil, how it feels to write fiction, and this podcast interview about how technology shapes society. This blog exists thanks to…

• Cultivating a sense of presence

  For me, writing fiction often boils down to cultivating a sense of presence, of being fully immersed in a scene, of stepping outside of self and into a character. It feels surprisingly similar to runner’s high or meditation, only in this case thoughts are displaced by imagination. Unfortunately, I find that maintaining that sense of…

• Alix E. Harrow on opening doors to other worlds

  Alix E. Harrow can spin a tale. Her debut novel, The Ten Thousand Doors of January, is a no holds barred adventure full of heart and imagination in which a young girl discovers magic doors that lead to other worlds and must learn to harness her power to write changes into reality itself in order to untangle…

• How to overcome creative blocks

  I went on The Lisa Show to discuss getting yourself unstuck: Have you ever been working full steam ahead on a project, only to encounter a setback and find that you’ve totally run out of steam? This phenomena, commonly called writer’s block or creative block, is incredibly common, and can be incredibly frustrating for those…

• Why companies are hiring sci-fi writers to imagine the future

  Katie Underwood interviewed me for a Pivot Magazine feature on how business leaders are commissioning science fiction that challenges them to think differently about the future: In recent years, major multi-national companies like Nike, Google, Apple, Ford and Visa, and governmental bodies like NATO and the French army, have all enlisted the services of sci-fi…

• What’s worked for me as a novelist

  Live my life, pay attention, ask hard questions, engage in deep conversations, and follow my curiosity. Notice a story I want to exist in the world. Write it. Edit it. Finish it. Share it with people who have a specific, personal reason to love it. Publish it (myself or with a publisher). Reflect on what…

• Seth Godin’s new workshop for creatives

  For me, writing a novel is an emotional rollercoaster. Here’s the 1980’s montage version: bursting with ideas and enthusiasm—>thinking “wow, this one is different in a good way” as I whiz through the first few chapters—>insidious doubts gather in my mental shadows until—>somewhere around the halfway point I have an existential crisis that this book…