SPSFC 3 Author Interview- F.D. Lee
What inspired the world, characters, or core concepts of your story? Was it a particular event, piece of media, or a speculative scientific idea?
I write Science Fiction and Fantasy, and my SF novel, In The Slip, has made it to the first round of #SPSFC3. The inspiration for this story came from a conversation with my partner about time travel. You know how Marty McFly ‘invents’ rock n’ roll in Back To The Future or those conversations you have about what you’d invest in or invent if you could travel back in time – Apple or Amazon, and so on? Well, Kong, the main character, is a Trans-Temporal Copyright Agent, and it’s his job to stop people doing that. I can’t go into too much detail about the story as it’s a mystery/noir, but Kong manages to pick up the wrong criminal and things spiral from there. I think a lot of influences are in this book, to be honest. Identity and sociology are big research areas for me, and at the time I was deep into the socio-psychology of choice and capitalism. I wanted to explore the fallacy of choice that capitalism presents and how identities can become caught up in branding and image. Basically, Kong lives in a post-apocalypse world in which everything is, at least on the surface, perfect. Everyone has choices and the freedom to choose, but beneath that façade, there’s really no freedom at all. If you enjoyed The Forever War or Altered Carbon, I think you’d like In The Slip, but it’s not for me to say!
How did you approach the creation of your main characters? Were they modelled after real-life figures, or did they evolve organically as you explored the world of your story?
In The Slip started as a short story for a Creative Writing MA I audited during my PhD. The task was to create an unreliable narrator and show the reader this rather than tell them, so Kong’s voice was the first thing that came through. He has a really unique way of thinking and speaking; from there, it was a question of digging into him and discovering why he thinks and speaks the way he does. What influences, occurrences, and people have shaped him? Characters are the absolute focus of all my writing because they are what I enjoy most about reading. I write character sheets for all my main characters, and I often put them through different reflective models (like the Johari Window) to get a deeper sense of them. Even if some detail doesn’t make it into the story explicitly, it helps me understand why they might do or say something. To me, my characters are as real as any that I might fall in love/hate with that someone else has created. I love any book, any genre, that gives me a character I can carry with me, think about, talk about, the works. So that’s what I try to create—I hope successfully!
Science fiction often delves into questions of ethics, technology, and humanity. What central theme or moral question does your story grapple with, and why did you feel it was essential to explore?
I wanted to explore the idea of choice, freedom, and identity in In The Slip. SF provides such a wonderful space to crack open complex and timeless discussions on all the things in your question. The time travel element, in particular, allowed me to explore the consequences of choice. One of the things that Kong rails against is that the people in his past (roughly our present) knew the dangers of global warming, had all the warning signs, and still—in his timeline—did nothing about it. They chose inaction, and now Kong is living with the consequences. He has to reconcile that with his own choices of action and inaction; he vilifies the past but is part of the problem in his present. I think we’re all guilty of this kind of doublethink, I know I am, and it presents a fascinating, dynamic, and emotive space to explore ideas about love, trust, choice, and power.
I published In The Slip in 2019, and it was born as much out of my anger and frustration as it was from wanting to write about the things I was researching. I almost had to write it because I felt like I was losing my mind watching the news daily, hearing about everything that was going—and continues to go—wrong. Kong’s cynicism and sense of betrayal are very closely tied to how I felt while writing him. How I still feel now, to be completely honest. Having said all that, I don’t believe it’s an ‘angry’ book, but it definitely taps into a lot of the great topics that SF is so famous for. We need more people, and people with voices louder than mine, to call out looming or potential catastrophes and make them real and relevant to wider audiences, and SF has always been a space for that.
How did you approach the integration of futuristic technology or scientific concepts in your story? Did you base them on existing theories or let your imagination run wild?
This is a really fun question! So, in Kong’s world, time travel isn’t easy. There is ‘time pressure’, which means the further back you go, the more the weight of history bears down on you. Like water pressure, if you do too deep, you’ll pop. This is, I believe, quite a unique thing to my story. At least, I’ve not read any time travel books with a similar Macguffin! I didn’t sit down and consciously create this limitation; it came about naturally in the world. I did do a lot of research in other areas, however, particularly on prediction models for climate change and the psychology of choice. Identity has been a research area of mine for years, so I had a lot of that in the bag already. In terms of tech, I don’t get too realistic on the time travel technology, but I did have some fun reading books on time travel, multiple universes, string theory, and the like. I’ll be honest, though: In The Slip is not hard SF. It’s a character story, so the tech doesn’t feature beyond what it needs to do to make the story happen, though it does have consistent rules. I adore hard SF, but it doesn’t suit my personal writing style.
The sci-fi genre provides a canvas to depict diverse cultures, species, and worlds. How have you incorporated representation and diversity in your work, and why do you think it's vital for the future of science fiction?
Another great question! And a big reason why I adore science fiction and fantasy. When creating a world, you can bring as much or as little of this world's dynamics with you as you wish. SFF can hold a mirror up to our reality or smash it and run wild in the plains outside. For example, I write a lot of LGBTQ characters and have chosen to place them in worlds where being LGBTQIA+ isn’t prejudiced against. Exploring those conflicts is worthwhile, but I wanted to create worlds where it wasn’t an issue. My characters have enough to deal with, believe me! Something that bugs me is when a person will say such-and-such isn’t accurate or realistic. You’re reading a book about dragons or robots, and yet the presence of X character is what breaks your suspension of disbelief?!
Representation is very important (I wrote a PhD on the representation of women in high fantasy), so I am very conscious of including wide rep in my work. Reading provides people with experiential learning, a way to practice and map how to be empathetic, participate socially, and be true to themselves. Fiction often teaches readers many unwritten rules about the society in which they live but, by that same token, fiction can also help to write those rules and teach readers the wrong lessons about empathy and social practices. When a cohort of writers and/or publishers only allow one type of representation through, whether positive or negative, that can influence the beliefs, expectations, and sometimes even the values readers hold. There is so much fascinating research on this! Check out The Story Telling Animal by Jonathan Gottschall for an excellent and very readable introduction to the social and psychological effects of reading. The Dark Fantastic, by Ebony Elizabeth Thomas, is also brilliant, especially the chapter on Gwen from BBC’s Merlin. I could talk for hours about this, but the upshot is that writers and publishers have a very real responsibility to show diversity because what people read affects what they think.
SF has always been about looking forward whilst also exploring the present. It’s a shame that for so long, the genre was dominated by a specific type of author telling a particular type of story—whatever the merits of the individual story and author might be, but thankfully, that’s changing. It has to for the genre to retain its unique place in terms of relevance, foresight, and exploration, and honestly, this lowering of the drawbridge (or turning off of the shields) should have happened a long time ago. One of the greatest things that indie- and self-publishing does is provide space for authors and books that traditionally would have been marginalised or even outright silenced. I’m of course delighted to see that traditional publishing is catching up but, for me, indie publishing remains light years ahead in terms of representation both in books and authorship. I love being a part of this world and, hopefully, have some small impact on its success.
As for my writing, I certainly haven’t experienced everything reflected in my characters’ lives. Kong, for example, is a multiracial man, and I’m a white woman. I have a great critical friend group that can provide insight and concept/sensitivity-checking when my own experience falls short, and I follow a lot of different blogs etc., either targeted expressly at writing (Writing With Color is a great one, huge recommend) or people simply sharing their experiences to help me avoid making any mistakes. Any mistakes or missteps in my books are entirely my own! I think, though, whatever your background, it’s vitally important to write diversely and, crucially, to write real people. I’m sure that Kong’s experience won’t chime with everyone who looks or feels the way he does, but his experiences are real to him, and that makes him a whole person, for better or worse. Some of what Kong goes through comes directly from my own life and experiences, some from advice from critical friends and all those kind people who have been so generous in sharing their experiences publically, but most of it comes from him himself.
Every author has a unique writing process. Can you share a bit about yours? How do you manage world-building, plot progression, and character dynamics in such a complex genre?
I am not an organised writer with plot outlines and such, so I redraft a lot. It’s likely not the most effective way to write—I don’t write quickly, that’s for sure—but it helps me to keep the process organic and allows the characters to behave in a way that is more natural for them.
What's next for you after SPSFC? Are there any upcoming projects you can share with us?
In The Slip was initially meant to be a standalone, but I love Kong so much and can’t shake his story out of my head, so I have a loose outline for a sequel I’m hoping to get started on. I’m also nearly at the end of my fantasy series, The Pathways Tree—one book to go! So I’d like to see both Kong and Bea, my fantasy character, off well. Beyond that, I have an idea for SF book about robots that has been kicking around my head for a while and a fantasy book about pre-Roman Britain with dragons. I guess my next goal is to tick off two major genre elements for SSF?!
