Seanan McGuire is one of the most prolific modern-day science fiction novelists. In the past two years, she’s published six (full-length) novels, written a few others and composed many short stories. Last year, she was nominated for five Hugo awards. Most impressively, she did it all while holding down a full-time office job.
Earlier this year, a friend gave me Feed, the first book in the Newflesh trilogy. Published under McGuire’s pseudonym/darker alter ego Mira Grant, this novel focuses on a team of bloggers chosen to cover a presidential election. In a world where zombies are a fact of life, this assignment could – and does – go wrong pretty quickly. I read the entire trilogy in less than a week.
I recently spoke with McGuire via email. Her newest novel, Half Off Ragnarok, was just released on March 3.
Clair McLafferty for See Jane Write: I heard you quit your day job! When did that happen? How awesome is it to be out?
Seanan McGuire: My last day at the day job was January 15th, 2014, and it has been so awesome. So, so awesome. I’m actually sleeping again, which is a miracle, and I now feel like I can sustain my current pace for a lot longer, and with a lot less damage to my psyche.
SJW: I’ve read that you’re a horror movie and epidemiology nerd. How did these subjects first catch your attention?”
SM: I’ve been watching horror movies for as long as I can remember–literally. One of my first memories is of watching Alien with my uncle, who had a very curious idea of what as appropriate for toddlers. I was sick a lot as a kid, and I got extremely interested in viruses. I could either be scared of them, or I could love them completely. I went with the latter.
SJW: Which is more likely: end of the world by massive power grid or zombie virus?
SM: Neither. Economic collapse leading to social unrest, coupled with the dawn of the post-antibiotic era.
SJW: What personal guides to surviving the zombie apocalypse would you recommend?
SM: I don’t really have any personal guides to recommend. I mean, I love reading them, but I haven’t tested them, and everyone has a different starting point. Just prepare for your local area and the challenges it’s likely to face. Earthquake/zombie kits are never a bad idea.
SJW: What skills would you add to a survivor group during the initial outbreak?
SM: I own a lot of machetes, can identify most edible plants in North America, and I’m really good at dealing with snake bite.
SJW: Your works as your given name, Seanan McGuire, have a lighter and slightly more supernatural bent. What mythological, fictional and historical references have you used to write works like the InCryptid series?
SM: All. Of. Them. I don’t discriminate when it comes to my cryptids.
SJW: What are some of your personal fandoms?
SM: Right now, Haven, Sleepy Hollow, Elementary, Monster High, Doctor Who, and So You Think You Can Dance.
SJW: What advice would you give to writers and bloggers looking to pursue their passions full-time?
SM: Don’t quit your day job until you can pay your bills with your royalties, after deducting the appropriate amount to pay your annual taxes.
Clair McLafferty is the author of our geek girl culture column Talk Nerdy To Me. When she isn’t writing, Clair can usually be found nerding out on programming, cocktails, physics, comics and movies. Some of these interests spill over into her writing at clairmclafferty.com and on to her Twitter feed @see_clair_write.
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Since the third series of the BBC’s Sherlock hit England, my Facebook and Twitter feeds have been buzzing about the show. Needless to say, the Internet was pretty much in agreement that it was awesome, beautiful and almost perfect. But one sector of the fandom was discussing it in terms of how the TV series fit into the original Sir Arthur Conan Doyle Stories.
I became aware of this discussion after following the Baker Street Babes on Twitter a few months ago. Their all-female blog and podcast has a huge (and growing!) following, and has members who are fans of all of the different parts of the Sherlock-verse. As their About page states, they “hope to provide a bridge between the older and often intimidating world of Sherlockiana and the newer tech savvy generation of fans that are just discovering the Holmes series.”
Though a few of the Baker Street Babes bloggers, podcast participants and social media mavens came to the series through the BBC show or the Robert Downey Jr. movies, most began reading the Sherlock novels when they were kids. “As a kid, I can definitely say I didn’t get all the nuance, but I loved them,” says Babe Amy Thomas. The diversity of the members’ passions and interests gives them the range and ability to explore new parts of the canon, says Baker Street Babe Lyndsay Faye. “We’re never going to run out of awesome content.”
The Babes’ influence isn’t limited to the Internet. In fact, many of the contributors are active participants in fan groups in their areas. Their New York annual charity benefit, The Daintiest Thing Under A Bonnet, draws substantial crowds for its theme party and auction. Most importantly, several of the members are authors in their own right and benefit with writing-focused organizations in their areas.
Despite the focus on the male subjects of the series, Faye doesn’t believe that it’s a male-dominated fandom. “There have always been rabid female fans,” says Faye. “After Sir Arthur Conan Doyle wrote Sherlock’s death, there was an anecdote about a woman who wrote him and called him a brute.” As the author of Girl Meets Sherlock, Thomas focuses largely on women’s issues within Sherlock Holmes. When she attended the 221B Con (a Sherlock convention), she noticed it was “incredibly female-dominated.”
“I was so thrilled and amazed to see that,” says Thomas. “It’s amazing to think that women weren’t welcome in some settings, but couldn’t be kept down because it was something they cared about.”
The Babes’ advice for woman bloggers was simple: write about what you’re really, really passionate about. “Choose the subject you can’t stop talking about after your second glass of wine,” Faye says. Thomas’s advice is to share your thoughts and perspectives without fear. “What makes a fandom amazing is the variety of perspectives,” says Thomas. “Get what you love out there.”
Check out Amy Thomas’s personal blog, Girl Meets Sherlock and find more of Lyndsay Faye’s writing at LyndsayFaye.com.
Clair McLafferty is the author of our geek girl culture column Talk Nerdy To Me.When she isn’t writing, Clair can usually be found nerding out on programming, cocktails, physics, comics and movies. Some of these interests spill over into her writing at clairmclafferty.com and on to her Twitter feed @see_clair_write.
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Every Game of Thrones nerd knows that the Mother of Dragons is a respected leader. Not everyone knows, however, that she sets a good example for woman bloggers. Here are some lessons to take away from that violet-eyed badass.
Free the slaves. The Khaleesi cultivates loyalty by freeing the slaves of the peoples she conquers. Though the blog-o-sphere isn’t a place of servitude, freeing your mind and body of negative thoughts and habits provides more mental space for you to focus on writing.
Never underestimate the power of language. The Mother of Dragons’s skill with language wins her the first part of her army. On the Internet, being fluent in SEO and Google Analytics can help build your online brand. However, don’t sacrifice good writing for the sake of keywords. Strong content with a meaningful message is ultimately what will keep your readers engaged.
Draw strength from your past. Overcoming abuse, lack of experience or diminished inspiration is a big challenge for leaders and bloggers alike. Your past experiences shape who are now, but they don’t define you. Draw on your past victories as a source of strength and wisdom.
Keep fighting. Even when it seems that you’re facing insurmountable odds, keep going. Write about your struggles and open up about them to your close friends. It isn’t necessary to broadcast them to the world, but having someone share your burdens can considerably lighten them.
Listen to your advisors, but follow your moral compass. Daenerys Stormborn’s advisers come from a different cultural background than she. As a result, their advice doesn’t always mesh with her morals and standards. Though mentoring is important in the blogging world, take some recommendations with a grain of salt. Don’t compromise your morals or standards just to follow someone else’s path.
Be wary of big promises. The Khaleesi is promised many things because of her beauty and gender. Some of those making the promises betray her and many more simply don’t follow through. As the old saw goes, plan for the worst, but expect the best.
Learned any lessons from the Mother of Dragons? Share them below in the comments!
Clair McLafferty is the author of our geek girl culture column Talk Nerdy To Me. When she isn’t writing, Clair can usually be found nerding out on programming, cocktails, physics, comics and movies. Some of these interests spill over into her writing at clairmclafferty.com and on to her Twitter feed @see_clair_write.
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When I have kids, they will not be allowed to watch The X-Files until they have watched the entirety of Joss Whedon’s body of work. They will not watch Star Trek Into Darkness until they have been thoroughly indoctrinated, I mean, introduced to the original series.
Call me what you will, but my children will learn first and foremost to be the heroes of their own stories. In The X-Files and Star Trek Into Darkness, female characters are defined first and foremost by their relationships to the men around them. None of their degrees, experiences or qualifications informs how these characters act.
In The X-Files Dana Scully, a medical doctor turned FBI agent, is specifically written to fill certain roles. She is the science-loving skeptic to Mulder’s beliefs for the first six seasons, then later serves as a champion of the paranormal to counter Agent Doggett’s skepticism. She credits Mulder with inspiring her strength to survive cancer. She is the mother to a super-soldier. She is Mulder’s love interest.
Some might argue that Scully is a strong woman within the societal boundaries of the time. However, Buffy The Vampire Slayer started only four years later, and the female characters are completely dissimilar. Despite Buffy’s powder-puff name, she is defined by her choices and struggles with identity, not by her (really, really) dysfunctional relationships with men.
More troubling is how Hollywood hijacked both J. J. Abrams and the women of Star Trek. As one of the strongest woman characters in television history, Uhura has been reduced to the role of Spock’s girlfriend. Carol Marcus, a PhD in applied physics, appears as Admiral Marcus’s daughter – and for a completely gratuitous underwear shot.
It’s certainly not that J. J. Abrams is unfamiliar with creating strong, independent women. As the creator of Felicity from Felicity and Agent Olivia Dunham from Fringe and the director for Zoe Saldana’s Uhura in Star Trek (2009), he is aware.
The next generation of nerds is at stake here. Frankly, the fact that women are still being portrayed as not quite full characters is ridiculous, but nipping this trend in the bud requires that we recognize this trend and fight back.
As geeky as it sounds, the first step to action is to start the discussion. If you see woman characters created for men, by men, speak up. Introducing this concept to your friends and children helps all of us recognize the problem.
After this point, cast your vote with your remote. Your time and energy are two of your greatest assets, and focusing them away from problematic shows brings down the show’s ratings. If the conversation becomes large enough, the character might be resolved by an early cancellation – or a rewrite.
Our voices are our strongest weapons in determining the aspects of pop culture and fandom that endure. It is only when we use them on a regular basis to express our pleasure or distaste that we can make a true change.
Clair McLafferty is the author of our geek girl culture column Talk Nerdy To Me. When she isn’t writing, Clair can usually be found nerding out on programming, cocktails, physics, comics and movies. Some of these interests spill over into her writing at clairmclafferty.com and on to her Twitter feed @see_clair_write.
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Three Chic Geeks is basically a nerd girl’s roadmap to being awesome at fandom. (Urban Dictionary defines fandom as “The community that surrounds a TV show/movie/book, etc.”) Originally started as an excuse for the three to drink and write for friends, the blog quickly turned into something more. “We went viral on Reddit,” said Critique Geek Amber. “It was a post about fictional characters we’d like to date. It went crazy viral.”
After their posts went viral, the site’s readership exploded. Though their success gave them the freedom to commit to blogging full time, it also brought on the trolls.
“Reddit is a great thing, but use it with caution,” said Freak Geek Katherine. “There’s Dave Grohl, but there are also some very mean Redditors who see that you’re a chick and deserve to be trolled.”
Despite the trolls, the geeks’ creative process is still largely the same, with inspiration coming from Pinterest, fanfiction and online arguments. Each DIY, rant or article is written by an individual geek, but most are born through a collaborative brainstorming process.
The website has also opened up new freelance markets. Critique Geek recently covered Comic-Con in San Diego for MTV Geek, and Freak Geek has already started to budget for New York Comic Con in October. “We all freelance for MTV Geek,” said Critique Geek Amber.
“We get to make pterodactyl sounds and go to things for free,” Freak Geek Katherine added.
When I spoke with them, their biggest piece of advice to nerdy woman bloggers was to write about what you love, said Unique Geek Cecelia. “You can’t care what anyone else has to say.”
When she isn’t writing, Clair McLafferty can usually be found nerding out on programming, cocktails, physics, comics and movies. Some of these interests spill over into her writing at clairmclafferty.com and on to her Twitter feed @see_clair_write.
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When I was young, being both female and a nerd doubly complicated my life. Despite my height, my interests never involved much athletic achievement. Instead, science fiction novels, comics, LEGOs, science and math filled my days. Fortunately, my parents and some of my friends both encouraged and challenged my interests. But connecting with the girls my age was difficult, and as I got older, finding dates who could hold my interest was near impossible.
Earlier this year, I stumbled across an infographic of a speech from actor Wil Wheaton that outlined why being a nerd is awesome. In his words, “It’s not what you love, it’s how you love it.”
Though the individuals who write fan fiction, love Star Trek and watch trashy science fiction TV are nerds, so are sports nuts and beer aficionados. Spending time chasing and talking about your passions may not make us the same type of nerd, but it does mean that we are equally nerdy.
The beauty of being a nerd now is that it is easy to find others who share your interests. With the advent of social media and interest-specific websites, connecting with like-minded individuals has never been easier. Pinterest, Etsy and blogging platforms have made procuring nerdy goods and DIY tutorials cheaper and easier.
However, my brand of nerd is a little more traditional. I have been called a fangirl about my love of more things than can be counted on appendages. I own multiple Doctor Who T-shirts, have read almost every book by Neil Gaiman and China Mieville, run social media for a tech startup, and I am learning to program. As a result, I have uncovered many different websites and blogs that deal beautifully with different types of nerdy interests.
This column will focus on how these blogs and the women who run them have combined their writing talents and their particular brand of nerdiness. As it continues, I hope to include blurbs about upcoming movies and events that delve deeply into this sphere.
Nerds, assemble.
Do you have an idea for our Talk Nerdy To Me column? Email your tips to seejanewritemag@gmail.com.
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