From: don gibson (dongibson183@excite.com)

hi there. quick drunk question. have you considered redoing your website? as great a writer and intellect that you are, i think that some remodeling is in order. if you do it or not, i still luv you! keep pen in hand and do your crazy craft. sober questions later, i promise.

Tell me what you think I need to change. No need to get sober, just get specific.

Mind you, I've been thinking lately I could do with some changes around here. I'm getting a little tired of the look--the narrow columns and the primary colours. I want something a bit smoother and calmer. Also, I'd also like to get some feeds here on the Ask Nicola page, and in What's New, and get the AN archives in order. I need some better content management. I'm toying with the notion of installing Wordpress or something similar. My current vague notions include a blog-type thing instead of AN, perhaps a mini-wiki for people to build neat stuff, like suggested reading lists, more downloadables (including some video) etc. I'd welcome suggestions from readers, sober or not.

From: johanna

Do you read fan fic? Cruising through your archives I note that you're familiar with old Xena fan fic....but do you read it now? Recently I came across a rant by Robin Hobb:

http://www.robinhobb.com/rant.html

and this response:

http://pandarus.livejournal.com/199872.html?style=mine

from a fan fic LJer. (To be more accurate, I encountered the response first, then went and found the rant.) Where are you in this? Do you think a tv show about Aud is like fanfic? Would you be pissed if fans wrote Ammonite stories? Can you control what readers think? (Do you want to?)

I could keep asking all night but I guess it's time for you to get a word in :)

Aud on TV as fan fiction? Whoa. Never thought of that. Interesting.

This is Your question is timely, too, because I've just found out that someone wrote a Jeep fanfic. At first I was pleased more than anything, and very curious, but then I paused, and stopped to think. I've decided not to track down the author or his/her work because then I would have to have an opinion and a position on it, and frankly I'm not ready to do that yet.

Here, though is what I'm currently thinking. I think that if anyone wants to write something set in my world and/or using my characters, they need to have, on every page of that story (or play, or poem, or whatever) a line that says: based on fiction and characters that are copyright Nicola Griffith. They have to make it clear that they are not now, or ever will be, trying to make any kind of money from said work. I own those people and those places. Currently I have no objection to people playing there but, by god, anyone who does had better acknowledge my ownership, and that they are just playing, or I'll send Aud to their home for a little chat.

At WisCon 30 I had a most illuminating conversation with a reader (thanks, Elizabeth!) about the ways in which other writers have dealt--graciously and otherwise--with fanfic and fanfic writers. There are all sorts of legal niceties to observe; all sorts of ways I, as the author, could suffer if some fanfic writer does certain thoughtless things. So I will definitely be thinking about this further, and carving myself out an opinion for the future.

For now, though, I would say my feelings on the matter are not very similar to Robin Hobb's. (Though I'll note in passing that her rant is clearly labelled a "rant" and so might not be the whole of her considered opinion.) Perhaps this is because I haven't read anything that takes my work and messes with it (or pays beautiful, loving, tender homage, depending on your perspective). Right now, I think I would find fanfic set on Jeep to be nothing but a compliment. To find that my work has touched a reader so deeply that s/he can't resist building upon it, well, that blows me away. I think it's cool. At least I believe that's what I'd think if the fanfic pertained to Ammonite or Slow River or any of my short fiction. That's because those works, for me as an artist, are essentially finished. Oh, it's possible I could revisit Jeep in a story or two, but I am no longer living there myself. Fanfic about Aud, hmmnn, that might be more problematic. She's still living inside me, so I might get rather protective. I don't know. I suppose the only way to find out is for someone to give it a go and for me to see how I respond.

Is TV or film like fanfic? Well, if I squint I suppose I could see it that way. I've always considered TV and film to be collaborative media, so my hope would be that any producer would want me to consult, at least to begin with. After all, of all the people on the planet, I'm the one who knows my characters best. If, then, a producer wants to use my characters (as opposed to some other aspect of the work--the notion of bioremediation in the particular configurations I've posited, say) then it would behoove them to talk things over with me; I'm the expert. I've said several times, here and elsewhere, that I think it would be seriously, seriously cool to see my work through another artist's eyes.

In the final analysis, that's how it would be to read fanfic, too: amazing to see how others see my creations. But, oh, if they (fan writers, Hollywood, whoever) really screwed it up, then what? Well, I suppose if it were Hollywood the money would help me be philosophical about it. If it were fanfic I'd just hope someone better would have a go.

From: sam (websternerd@sbcglobal.ne)

There is a great amount of sex in the novel Slow River, my favorite one, and I was wondering what posed you to write so explicitly? I see sex as an underlying theme, as a sort of statement that says: humans have this instinct! Sex is what drives us! Correct me if I'm wrong, I want to know your take on sex and how it fits into your novel and in life. Thanks.

Sex, for the homeless, is currency, and therefore an everyday (sometimes many times a day) fact of life. For young adults, sex is also omnipresent: all those hormones, all that understanding, finally, of what this equipment is for. Put the two together and it's going to happen. A lot.

So, fictionally speaking, for character under a certain age sex is inevitable and sex matters. Showing how a character approaches sex and how s/he feels about sex, then, tells a reader more, probably, than showing how that character approaches and/or feels about drinking or violence or nature or, well, most things. To not talk about sex, then, is to ignore a vital tool in character delineation.

Sex is a challenge to write, too. I try to write the kind of sex that means something for the plot, for the character, and for the reader--whether that reader is young or old, African or English, straight or queer. That fits with my own personal beliefs about sex, which is that the essential drive, the basic need and feeling, is the same for everyone. There are circumstances when it is greater or lesser, but the thing itself is the same; it's a universal, like grief, like rage, like fear, like hunger. We may grieve or rage over, fear or hunger for different things in different circumstances, we may express those feelings differently due to cultural constraints, but the emotions are the same.

From: hanna (purple2006@hotmail.co.uk)

when you first started did you practice every day and was it hard at first

No, I didn't and no, it wasn't. Writing is easy.

Gustav Mahler once said, "Interesting is easy, beautiful is difficult." I believe anyone can write--anywhere, anytime: bum to seat and pen to paper and, blam, writing. It's as easy as that. A *good* novel, or story or poem (or screenplay or, well, you get the picture) is a different tale. That requires rewriting. It requires understanding what the point is and making sure everything lines up and supports that point. It requires experience, that is, practise. Start writing, keep writing, do it over and over again. If, for the entirety of the process, writing is hard, then stop, because it shouldn't be hard. It means writing isn't for you. Or at least not the kind of writing you're doing.

Sometimes we think we're essayists and turn out to be novelists; sometimes we think we're novelists and discover we're poets; sometimes we think we're poets and find out we're screenwriters. Think of it as a question of focal length. Try different things. If it still hurts, stop. Writing isn't meant to hurt. Pain, in nature, is a sign that something is wrong. Listen to the message.

From: anonymous

I thought you might be the best person to ask this question 'cos there is simply no other way to share this deeply personal secret with anyone around me. Please shed some light into my situation and am really grateful if you could respond back to me by email.

I am a married woman, late 30ish with a good hubby and two teenaged children. Although I wouldn't go as far as describing myself as 'happily married', we have a quite normal sex life together. However, being a woman with string of lesbian encounters prior to the marriage, my thoughts kept wandering into those 'special' moments and on more than one occassion, fantasized making love with another woman again. I know it sounds odd, but for someone who experienced the love of another woman so early in life (I was barely 16 when I was sexually involved with a girl for the first time) it's kinda hard to resist those feelings. About six months ago, Laurie & James became our immediate neighbours when they moved into our neighbourhood after their wedding. I began developing a 'crush' for Laurie from the very first day I saw her and her beauty kept me fantasizing about her, both day and night. We chatted, laughed, exchanged recipes, discussed fashion and spent quite a lot of time with each other - sometimes even talking about some intimate stuff. But I really haven't expressed my feelings as I am quite nervous as to how she would take it (and most of all, don't wanna ruin our great friendship). Laurie has been responding well for some of my 'borderline' advances and loves to show off her sexy 'curves' whenever we are alone. I sometimes think that she is 'hitting' me as well. I really don't know what to do. It's hard to resist the temptation but on the other hand, I know I got a lot to lose here as well. Please tell me what to do as I really cannot share this with anyone else. Please, please email me in confidence.

Most definitely, no, I will not email you in confidence. I don't know you. You don't know me. I don't understand why you would want a complete stranger to tell you what to do in this (or any other) situation. You're an adult. You know your situation better than anyone else possibly could. You don't need my advice.

I am struck by four things. One, what is a normal sex life? I've talked to a lot of people about sex and the one thing I feel fairly confident about is that there is no such thing as normal. Two, you appear rather passive as though, even though you're in your thirties and therefore meant to be all grown up, you're a child waiting for permission. You want this woman, Laurie, to make all the running--to kiss you, say, or put her hand on your breast--because that unmistakeable action would take away the burden of making a decision, taking a risk. This fits with you wanting me to tell you what to do so you don't have to decide. Three, I wonder whether you have an open marriage. If everyone involved understands what's going on, and is an adult, then fair enough. If, however, there's deception involved, then that's not good. Sex, in my opinion, shouldn't be about deception, especially self-deception. Four, I'm beginning to think you might be using a double standard here. Would you be considering having sex with your neighbour if we were talking about James rather than Laurie? Or does the fact that you're contemplating having sex with a woman as opposed to a man make it morally different for you?

My opinion in a nutshell: you're a grownup; act like one.