Q&A with After Dinner Conversation author, Geoffrey Hart
A bite-sized interview for your Sunday morning.
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Q&A
Are there any ideas or topics that you wish you had the courage to write about?
I’ve contemplated writing about why it seems like more people have been killed by the dogmatism, insecurity, and xenophobia of conservative organized religion than (probably) all the plagues throughout history. Isn’t preventing that kind of horror and helping people live together in peace the whole point of religion? But this seems like one of those topics that is unlikely to convince either the religious person or the atheist, while simultaneously leading to rains of hellfire on my head for the (likely short) rest of my existence.
Which philosophy or philosopher most aligns with your own beliefs?
I’m probably closest to Buddhist in outlook, but I’m far too syncretic for that to be an accurate description. Moreover, I’m fortunate enough to have had a good life with only my own share of hardship and sorrow. Thus, I love living in the world, so the Buddhist desire to escape the wheel of life doesn’t attract me. Like many people, I cherry-pick what beliefs speak to me and ignore the others.
Is there any standard publishing or writing advice that you disagree with? Or any standard advice that you feel is too often neglected?
Pretty much any “standard” advice provides a good starting point for thinking about what you’re planning to do when you write, but because it’s standard, then by definition it doesn’t apply to non-standard situations. Recognizing the difference means that most rules are actually guidelines. I believe one should understand the reason for a supposèd rule before one chooses to break it; rules are created and survive because they encapsulate some form of wisdom and often work very well in specific contexts. But not always: they’re not laws of physics. In terms of neglected advice, I offer “write what you love and worry about selling it later”. The money may or may not follow, but at least you’re having fun while you write and revise and write and revise. (If you’re not having fun? Maybe find another hobby that’s more fun or that pays better.) Incidentally, this is one thing that separates human-written fiction from AI fiction: you can usually tell when a human author is having fun. The AI? Not so much. At least, not yet.
Is your process for writing philosophical fiction different from the way you approach other works?
Yes and no. Yes, because writing to pose a philosophical question represents a different goal from writing to make someone shiver in horror or laugh or get really pissed off at me. There are different criteria to achieve different goals. For example, an After Dinner Conversation story must raise at least one question, usually without proposing an answer that would make it look like the author’s preaching. That’s not necessary for (say) an action-adventure story. No, because I generally try to approach all my writing the same way: First, come up with an idea, then start listing the scenic spots I want the reader to view along the road to the destination where they’ll learn the point of the story. Next, figure how to connect those dots, and then decide what message (if any) I want the reader to take away with them. I wrote “try to approach” because I usually don’t figure out what I’m really trying to accomplish until I’ve finished writing and then realize the actual point of the story is deeply buried, and I have to excavate before it’s publishable.
How do you come up with ideas for your short stories?
Schenectady. (For readers who aren’t be old enough to remember Harlan Ellison, he provided this response to the “where do you get your ideas?” question many years ago.) In my case, there are several sources. First and foremost, I try to make time to think about the many things I read each day and ask myself what kept me reading to the end of the article, story, novel, whatever. What things did I like and dislike? What made me respond emotionally? Those thoughts usually suggest at least one thing I’d like to write about, whether because the author didn’t write about it, wrote about it badly, or wrote about it differently from how I’d have written it. That can motivate me to write something different that enters into dialogue with the author, whether implicitly or otherwise. I also keep a pen and pad of paper in most rooms of the house and in my backpack so that I’m never at a loss for somewhere to jot notes when inspiration strikes. (Not being a Neandertal, I do use my phone or tablet periodically, but I’m an old guy and am not chained to these devices. Also, I still favor paper. It has a whole different feeling from a screen or keyboard.) Having a hyperactive imagination and a restless mind makes the pads necessary, though I eventually transcribe the ideas into electronic form. I have hundreds of questions or story ideas (possibly thousands by now) that I someday plan to publish online, free for the taking; I’ll certainly never have time to write all those stories, but someone else may benefit.
Are there any ideas right now that are ripe for fictionalizing?
AI, of course. I have a couple stories making the rounds about AI. One is just a straight-out parody of how AI resembles its creators in ways both fair and foul. The other hinges on one of the key aspects of AI stories: when will software that is only smart actually become sentient, and how will we and it know? My readings in animal behavior suggest that an animal becomes truly sentient the moment it becomes self-aware. For AI, that wouldn’t mean a binary “I’m plugged in/unplugged” kind of thing, but rather recognition that one exists as a self-aware self—that is, the ability to recognize oneself in a literal or metaphorical mirror. Second, I keep being tempted by solarpunk, but have generally been unable to muster the optimism required to write such stories. I’ve studied global climate change for more than 20 years, and the more I think about it, the less optimistic I feel that we’ll survive this looming disaster as a species. I recognize that optimism is essential if we really want to try to solve the problem, but I try to be honest in my stories, even the ones in which I’m deliberately lying to my readers. (Then I’m at least honest to the story’s setup.) That being said, I have written one semi-optimistic apocalypse story, Saviors.
If you could obtain certain knowledge of one specific thing, what would that be?
As someone whose training was in scientific research, I tend to believe that searching for truth is often more important and satisfying than finding truth. And one person’s truth is another person’s nonsense in this era of “my opinion trumps your supposed fact”. Since truth has become so subjective, we might as well enjoy the journey and hope that it leads us to a truth we share with someone else.
Describe your ideal reader.
My really, truly, honestly ideal reader is a magazine editor who sees the beautiful bones of what I’m trying to say, even though it’s so deeply buried in a heap of self-indulgent kruft that I can’t see it myself—and who’s willing to do the work to help me get there. (Editors of the really big magazines can’t be bothered; they get so much good stuff they can afford to throw away stories that would be a good addition to their magazine but that would require them to put in some work to achieve that goal.) Fran Eisemann of Cosmic Roots and Eldritch Shores recently became my ideal reader. Some time back, she sent me a note that basically said “we love your story and want to publish it, but you need to change everything”. And she was right. (The short version was that she wanted me to lose the surface veneer of broad satire and focus on the underlying SF story. I didn’t want to accept that advice, but eventually realized that she had a point.) Four major revisions later, that story (The Ninth Tentacle) won the 2023 Kepler Award. The version that will be published is actually the 7th revision, which means three additional significant post-award revisions that further improved the story. It could never have happened without Fran’s guidance and persistence. That kind of reader is the proverbial pearl without price.
What is the greatest compliment you have received as a writer? The most stinging criticism?
One editor noted that even though they didn’t publish stories like what I’d submitted, and never sent feedback because they didn’t have the time, they nonetheless loved my “polished, butter smooth” prose and they really wanted me to send them more stories. How can one resent such a rejection letter? My most stinging criticism was by a writer’s group with four professionals and a few wannabes like me who tore apart every aspect of one of my early stories. They had nothing kind to say, other than perhaps the fact that there were no typos and the sentences were mostly grammatical. I learned a lot from their comments once I got past my defensive reaction, and my revenge was sweet: I upped my game enough that two of the former critics bought one of my stories for an anthology they were editing. (The eviscerated story, as it happens, changed almost completely and expanded into a novel that’s slowly approaching completion.)
Which authors or books would you recommend to those who want to challenge their own thinking?
Those who know me might note that I’m somewhat opinionated, so I try to find things that challenge me rather than simply confirming my existing ways of thinking. That’s an attitude rather than a specific written resource like a “how to” book. I may still retain my existing way of thinking, but it’s exciting when I don’t.
Is there an interview question you wish someone would ask you? How would you answer it?
“Where can I buy 1000 copies of your book to give to my friends?” I’d answer that by pointing them to my Web site and the various links therein. After all, the whole point of writing is to be read.
Geoff (he/him) works as a scientific editor, specializing in helping scientists who have English as their second language publish their research.
He’s the author of the popular Effective Onscreen Editing and Write Faster With Your Word Processor. He also writes fiction in his spare time, and has sold 73 stories thus far.
Check out his website.