Literary Birthday – 3 May – Becky Chambers

Happy Birthday, Becky Chambers, born 3 May 1985.

Becky Chambers Quotes

1. I wanted to know what it would be like for an ordinary person to live in an intergalactic future. So I decided to build a space opera and flip the camera around. Instead of focusing on the heroes, we’d focus on the characters walking through the spaceport, the people just trying to get through another day. (WeAreWhitefox)
2. [On where she likes to write] Home, mainly. I like being able to grab snacks and take catnaps and pace without people looking at me weird. That said, I wrote The Long Way in lots of places. The preliminary world-building stuff I did mostly in airports, or behind the bar I tended for a while. During the last couple of months of editing, I rented a reading room at a university library, so that I could buckle down undistracted. Generally, though, I like having creature comforts on hand. (Women’s Prize)
3. I take my weekends off, but during the week, it’s my writing time, my research time, or whatever it needs to be. It is very much a full-time job. (WHSSignals)
4. Ursula K. Le Guin... made me want to write science fiction in the first place. Her books inspired me to aim for aliens that felt alien, and showed me that quiet stories can be every bit as compelling as the louder ones. (Women’s Prize)
5. I’m always trying to grow and change in my writing. I never want to find myself treading water. The joy for me is in choosing something specific to tinker with or improve upon. It’s hard for me to critique my own work, but I would say that overall, I’ve gotten more precise with my words, and less afraid of failed experiments. (ClarkesWorld)
6. I like to compare writing a book to making dinner out of whatever leftovers you have in the fridge; it’s all these different pieces of my life smushed together. It might be something in a science book I read, it could be something from a random conversation I had with a friend, it could be something in a movie I watched. . . . I’m just sort of a magpie with things of interest! (WHSSignals)
7. I don’t outline, so I haven’t had a manuscript yet that hasn’t changed a ton from beginning to end. (ClarkesWorld)
8. For me, it’s all about the little details. Everyday habits tell you everything you need to know about a character. What do they eat for breakfast? What kinds of entertainment do they like? Do they swear, and if so, under what circumstances? Once you’ve got a general feel for what their deal is, then you can start exploring how they get along with everybody else. That’s when you properly understand who they are. (ClarkesWorld)
9. I want my characters to talk the way people talk, and actually hearing what I’m writing down is my favorite tool for figuring out if I’m on the right track. (ClarkesWorld)
10. The other key part of writing scenes like this is asking myself what work the scene is performing for the story as a whole. Do we need to know everything that’s in here? Do new concepts come across clearly to someone who isn’t living in my head, or do I need to shore them up more? (ClarkesWorld)
11. Experiment constantly. Give yourself new puzzles to solve. Constantly navel-gaze over what your preferences and strengths are. Figure out what you like to write, what you don’t, and what you’d be excited to try, then never stop exploring those things. (Reddit)
12. Some stories don’t work, and that’s okay. The more you practice, the more you’ll learn to recognize flimsy ideas before you get stuck in them. But also, don’t ever throw anything out. (Reddit)
13. If you love your story, somebody else will, too. Believe in it. (Reddit)

Becky Chambers is an award-winning American author of mundane science fiction novels. She is the bestselling author of the Wayfarers series that started with The Long Way to a Small, Angry Planet (longlisted for the Women’s Prize for Fiction), the Monk and Robot novellas, and other works of science fiction. She is a two-time Hugo Award winner, a Locus Award winner, and has been nominated for the Nebula Award, the Arthur C. Clarke Award, and the Women’s Prize for Fiction, among others. Her latest work is the upcoming novel As You Wake, Break the Shell, the first in a new duology. She is known for her innovative worldbuilding and character-driven stories, and is a pioneer of the hopepunk genre. She still hopes to see Earth from orbit one day.

Source for image: Author’s website

by Amanda Patterson

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