Welcome back to the Tuesday Ten! This week we feature the John W. Campbell, and Multi-Hugo Award-winning author, Elizabeth Bear! You’ve been extremely busy lately, so we here at Top of the Heap really appreciate you taking the time to answer some questions for us!
1.) So it’s a busy time right now; what’s keeping you so busy?
I live in the land of deadlines currently. Basically, it’s 50,000 words a month until April. Then I get to fall over for a bit, before I start trying to write and sell a novel proposal.
There have been a bunch of short story projects, some edited manuscripts, some Shadow Unit, and of course, the big looming deadline is that Book 3 of my Eternal Sky trilogy–Steles of the Sky–needs to be delivered in March. Which is also, coincidentally, when Book 2, Shattered Pillars, comes out. And so in the middle of that I will be doing a bunch of travel and promotion–signings and appearances in Massachusetts, Austin, and Minneapolis.
And around all that, there’s life. Dinner needs to be cooked, dog needs to be walked, floors do not sweep themselves, nor do the bills pay themselves (sadly).
2.) How different is it putting together a short story for an anthology opposed to writing your novels, and which is more difficult?
Well, short stories and novels are very different beasts, and its hard to compare them. Short stories, obviously, are less physical work–by which I mean typing–than novels. They take less actual time to write. But I have had some that have taken years and years to figure out. And as for hardness–well, they’re also hard in different ways. Novels require sustained effort, attention to consistency, sustained invention. Short stories require concise brilliance, no wasted movement, perfectionism and attention to detail.
If you think of them as the difference between grandfather clocks and pocket watches, you will see what I mean.
Novels can sprawl a little. They have room for grace notes and flourishes and cuckoos and little mechanical figurines. Novels can have some white space in them.
In a good short story, on the other hand, everything needs to be doing about six things at once, and if one tiny thing is a little bit out of line, it throws the whole mechanism off. The tolerances are much tighter.
3.) How much of your time is dedicated to research for your stories/novels?
Most of it. *g* Seriously, though, the lovely thing about writing is that everything is research. It’s all material; it’s all research. Life experiences (broken hearts, rock climbing, travel, running, hugs, family tragedies, driving across America, twisting an ankle) and all reading or art (science journals, memoirs, paintings, television). It all contributes.
4.) Why Science-Fiction?
Because it’s what I have always loved to read.
5.) I’ll be honest, I love Shadow Unit, and I’m sad to see it end. What drives you to write entries into that series when you have a lot of other works on your desk? Especially since it’s free on the shadowunit.org website.
Shadow Unit is a labor of extreme love. It’s a matter of joy to me that we’ve pulled it off to this point, and the excitement and the pleasure of working with such a fabulous team turns it into a giant game of “what awesome thing will somebody think up next?”
At its best, it has all the joy of a roleplaying game, except everybody is playing all the characters and there’s no GM. We’re just making up the most awesome story we can think of.
6.) How did you come to collaborate with the others in the Shadow Unit project?
Emma asked me! And boy am I glad she did.
7.) Is it as successful as you hoped?
I can’t rightly say how successful it is, since its popularity still seems to be growing.
8.) How has social media and popularity of eBooks affected your sales?
Damned if I know. I’ve been blogging since before I sold my first novel; I have no metric of comparison.
9.) On a completely different note, how is your half-marathon training going?
Ooof. My long run this week was 12 miles. My first 12 miles, and it convinced me that I never want to run longer than a half marathon. Even though I was fit and ready for it, and had already completed a couple of 11+ mile runs, somehow that last half mile was really, really hard. And the aftereffects were very uncomfortable.
I guess what everybody says about the 12 mile point being where your electrolyte balance starts to implode is absolutely true.
I hear tell there’s an even worse wall at 17 miles. I look forward to never finding out, unless I am running from a polar bear.
10.) Is there anything you haven’t told anyone else that you’d like to reveal right here on Top of the Heap?
I got nothing. Let me think. Nope, nothing. My professional life is an open book. 
Bonus Question: You are a highly decorated author, winning many many awards. Is there one that holds any more weight than the others?
No, I’m delighted whenever anyone thinks enough of my work to remember it for an award.
Thank you so much Elizabeth for taking the time to answer these questions. We wish you the best of luck in everything you do. All your hard work has really paid off! Good luck with your half-marathon, those things can be tough!
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To get any information on Elizabeth Bear, her books, or her thoughts on anything, you can visit her website at www.elizabethbear.com .
About the Author:
Sarah Bear Elizabeth Wishnevsky is an American author. Writing under the name Elizabeth Bear , she works primarily in the genre of speculative fiction, and was a winner of the 2005 John W. Campbell Award for Best New Writer, the 2008 Hugo Award for Best Short Story for “Tideline,” and the 2009 Hugo Award for Best Novelette for “Shoggoths in Bloom.” She is one of only five writers who have gone on to win multiple Hugo Awards for fiction after winning the John W. Campbell Award for Best New Writer.
You can check out our review of her short story The Deeps of the Sky right here:
http://topoftheheapreviews.com/flash-friday-the-deeps-of-the-sky-elizabeth-bear/
You can also purchase all of her work at all major online retailers, here are links to Amazon and B&N:
