Mike Resnick on his Science Fiction Writing Career - Part 1 of 3
It would take an eon to list Mike Resnick’s numerous science fiction
awards and nominations. I’m certain this wry, safari-jacketed man finds
occasion to retire to the award wing of his house to watch the staff
polish his Prix Tour Eiffel, his Nebula, five Hugos and assorted others. His work
has been translated into 22 different languages—you know you’ve made
your mark when can find your work published in Latvian. His books may
well be shelved under science fiction, but his keen ability to buddy up
with and rib human faults and triumphs, power up vivacious characters,
and deliver unbelievably well crafted dialog, like Bradbury’s, will
speak to every genre of reader.
With the numbers of books Resnick has put out, you’d swear that they
are mating and producing offspring in his basement. It’s one thing to
rank high in quantity, it’s quite another, however, to match that with
quality. Resnick began his career paying his dues in the sultry
trenches of the “adult” field. From 1964 through 1976 he sold more than
200 novels, 300 short stories and 2000 articles--most written under
pseudonyms. Then, add to that, he also edited seven different tabloid
newspapers, and three men’s magazines: Rascal, Men's Digest and Best for Men. Feeling lazy yet? How about
inspired?
It’s hard to imagine that all this was in preparation for the science
fiction writing career Resnick was desirous of. Somewhere in the middle
he and his wife, Carol, bred show collies from 1968 through 1981.
Resnick has been actively involved in science fiction fandom since the
early 60’s and continues to write articles to fanzines. Which leads to
Resnick’s second act. Beginning with the release of Soul Eater
(Signet), his breakthrough novel, Santiago (Tor) and now with 81 science
fictions books, more than 170 short stories, and his Kirinyaga series
receiving 66 major and minor nominations—Resnick is The Man.
In Part I of this three-part email interview, Resnick goes into detail
about how he achieved his start, agents, and his writing process. Next
month, in Part II, he addresses e-publishing, foreign sales and why he
chooses to work from 10:00 PM to 5:00 AM. Finally, Resnick poses a
provocative argument against self-publishing in Part III.
I was swiftly and with good reason handed a tissue (twice) to wipe the
egg of my face due to my use of the “pejorative” abbreviation
sci-fi--which I will never, ever do again.
Write and Publish Your Book: How did you get from "adult fiction" and "men's magazine's" to writing and publishing your first science fiction?
 Mike Resnick: I always wanted to write science fiction, and in
fact wrote and sold three very mediocre science fiction novels in the
late 1960s that return to haunt me at autograph sessions. By the
mid-1970s I’d sold a couple of hundred books and over a thousand
stories and articles, almost all under pseudonyms in the: ”adult” and
Gothic fields, and I’d served my apprenticeship. I thought that the
kind of science fiction I wanted to write probably wouldn’t reach a
very wide audience, and that we’d need another source of income. Since
we’d been breeding and showing collies with considerable success (23
champions, most of them named after science fiction titles and
characters), we bought the second-largest luxury boarding and grooming
facility in the country (which is how we came to live in Cincinnati),
and after four years the kennel was supporting us and I went back to
writing, this time at a much slower pace and with books and stories I
was proud to sign my name to. When the writing began out earning the
kennel on a regular basis, we sold the kennel (in 1993).
WAPYB: Was finding an agent difficult? What makes for a great
agent? Have you had one agent for a long time or have you gone through
several?
MR: I began with one agent, the best I could get with my
qualifications at the time, but actually a pretty poor one. I was able to sell in spite of her, but certainly not for what my stuff was worth.
She made one foreign sale in the four years I had her. In 1983 I’d had
a number of well-received science fiction books out and decided that it
was time to get a top-notcher, and I did; she immediately auctioned the
first book I gave her for three times the best price my old agent had
gotten me, and she made 31 foreign sales the first year I had her.
We’ve been together 23 years now, and as far as I’m concerned we’ll be
together until one of us dies.
What makes for a great agent depends on the needs of the writer. I
know that sounds like I’m begging the question, but I’m not. For
example, do you need an agent who knows more than one or two categories
(by which I mean, is she equally knowledgeable in science fiction,
young adult, romance, and Westerns) or isn’t this important to you? Do
you want an agent who acts as a first reader/editor, or who simply
sends your stuff off without comment? Do you want an agent who handles
your short fiction (most prefer not to, but some insist on doing it)?
What kind of foreign desk does your agent have? What Hollywood
connections (and do you need them, or do you prefer to use your own)?
Is your agent so big that you’ll be handled by an assistant, and if so,
does that bother you?
n See what I mean? It depends on your needs.
Finding a good agent is never difficult. There are rarely more than
half a dozen top-notchers around in any field at any time. The trick is
to be good enough so that one of them will take you on as a client.
WAPYB: You call your stories "limp science fiction" and that you
didn't think anyone would want to buy or read your particular style of
sci-fi at first -- what do you mean by both of those?
MR: No, I said that I don’t write hard science, and I don’t
write soft science – I write limp science. (Not limp science fiction,
or I couldn’t sell it.) It was a semi-facetious remark, meaning, in
essence, that you will find almost no science in my books or stories,
and when you do, it won’t be a tenth as important as the characters.
The science fiction bestseller lists, when I began writing in
earnest, were dominated by men and women, all very good in their ways,
who wrote precisely the kinds of stories that I had no interest in
telling. Therefore, I didn’t think there’d be much of an audience for
my work. I can’t tell you how happy I am that I was wrong.
WAPYB: What are your strengths you commonly draw on? Any weaknesses?
MR: My mechanics. (Barry Malzberg and Bob Silverberg would use
the word “technique”.) My apprenticeship lasted for better than ten
million words, and by the time I came back to science fiction I knew
how to push a noun up against a verb with some grace. I can write in
any style, at any length, and have enough mastery of my technique to
know which will be the most effective.
WAPYB: Is there a style/genre of writing you attempted that did
not pan out (I would find this difficult to believe about you), maybe
was even humorously horrible?
MR: No. Occasionally I’ll use the wrong approach, or the wrong
viewpoint character, but I usually know that it’s not working by page
3, and I scrap it. I’ve never wasted an entire book or story that way.
WAPYB: Have you always had a knack for dialog--any discoveries that you've made writing it that you are willing to share?
MR: Yeah (note: yeah, not yes), dialogue has always been my
greatest strength; I probably use it a little more than I should, but
it just flows so easily that I usually just write it and then go back
and prune it. I think the best way to tell how your dialogue sounds,
and indeed how accessible your story is, is to read it aloud, even in
an empty room. Things that are grammatically correct on the printed
page sometimes grate on the ear, cause the reader to stop and make sure
he understands what he just read – and you never want to give the
reader a reason to put the story down, even for a moment. (By that same
token, I don’t use a thesaurus, on the assumption that if I have to
look up a word, so will the reader – and like I said, you don’t want
him to stop reading for any reason.)
Be sure to check in next month as we continue this interview with Mike Resnick
About Mike Resnick
 Mike Resnick has won an impressive five Hugos and been nominated for twenty-three more. He has sold fifty-three novels and almost two hundred short stories. He has edited forty-two anthologies. His work ranges from satirical fair, such as his Lucifer Jones adventures, to weighty examinations of morality and culture, as evidenced by his brilliant tales of Kirinyaga. The series, with 66 major and minor awards and nominations to date, is the most honored series of stories in the history of science fiction.
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