Every month I’ll be interviewing an author who writes historically-influenced fiction, and introducing you to some fantastic new writing talent. Their genres vary, but all of them are writing stories set in the 19th and early 20th centuries.
This month’s featured author is fantasy and steampunk writer M.K. Wiseman. She’s about to release Kithseeker, the second book in her Bookminder trilogy. You can find her through her website, or on Facebook, Twitter or Instagram, where she goes by the handle @FaublesFables.
How long have you been writing and what got you started?
My writing journey started in earnest in the [northern] summer of 2004. I was recovering from a rather serious surgery and had a lot of time of my hands plus some very vivid post-hospital dreams. One, in particular, stuck with me for reasons unknown. I spent the rest of my summer break figuring out the story behind it. That became the crux of my first novel, The Bookminder. However, the manuscript sat in a drawer, only partially finished, until a number of years later when I knocked together a short story for fun, simply because I had heard about a publisher accepting submissions for an anthology. Three short stories in, three anthologies later, I’d unearthed my old half-cooked novel and started to write full-time.
What are the best and worst things about being an author?
The misery of it all. (Mostly kidding there. Mostly.) Truthfully, writing is a rather solitary pursuit. Or, really, it’s a very private pursuit. I run, leap, shout, scream, do magic spells, and go travelling for hours a day—and all inside my head. It’s exhausting. And then I emerge from this imaginary space and try to cook dinner or iron a few shirts. It’s a little like wilfully choosing to be a bit mad.
*Note, I did answer the question . . . The best and the worst, for me, are all rolled up into this same, ever-curious experience of truly believing your imaginary friends are real, and then making them so, and then going out amongst people at the grocery store and pretending you’re absolutely normal on the inside and that you did not just murder a man in the Old West a half an hour ago.
What’s your favourite historical time period to write about and why?
Late 1800s. For the simple reason that there is ever so much more information available on that time period than, say, the 1600s. (Information of the flavor I use, that is. For example, I adore historical map overlays. Also, I love the idea that a building I am writing about is still standing and might be visited by the intrepid.) Additionally, English is much closer to our modern use when you hit the end of the 19th century. e.g. If I want a character to simply say “Hello” I can, actually, do so.
What’s the weirdest thing you’ve researched in relation to your writing?
I once had to determine whether there was a train route in Nebraska, in 1890, that crossed over a trestle at the exact point of a ley line.
If you could travel anywhere in time and space, when and where would it be?
This is a terrible thing to ask a Whovian! 😉 😉
Though the thought terrifies me, I think I should like to go somewhere into the far future and see how far we all travelled out into the stars, if world peace was ever found . . . and, essentially, whether we humans “make it” or not in the end.
Where do you find creative inspiration?
I think the heart of everything I write stems from “things I love.” I don’t sit on a bench and people-watch, or collect interesting dialogue overheard at a coffee shop. I don’t put enemies into my books and give them gruesome deaths, as the old threat goes.
Each story is a love letter of sorts, me “geeking out” and sharing a place, a concept, an interest that I hold dear . . . and then taking it out of the personal so that I can deny up, down, left, right that my characters have any of me in them. 😉
What’s your favourite historical resource?
I absolutely adore the National Library of Scotland’s map overlays. I love, love, love this resource and am dropping a link here so that folks can go explore it. Historical maps + Bing overlay for easy modern reference? Amazing. Thank you, National Library of Scotland. Thank you.
The best place in the world to write is…
I think my favorite spot for writing is the Memorial Union Terrace at the University of Wisconsin – Madison. Good light, good movement and sound—a perfect hum of distant distraction and productivity. A lake to look at when my eyes need a break. Access to good foods and drinks. . . . And there’s always a chance I might run across an old sailing buddy who needs an extra hand on a keelboat for the afternoon. Being on a campus, the place is simply steeped in ambition, the air heavy with endless, lovely potential.
When you’re not writing, what do you get up to?
Reading, of course. But I also play with a Croatian folk orchestra (I play brač) and so have to keep those skills sharp. I juggle a bit; unicycle for fun; am trying to learn a couple languages via phone apps (I figure that with such a marvelous technology, I ought use it to better myself); I am a big fan of anime; I have a love/hate relationship with running; and, this year, am learning to play my dad’s accordion. You know, hobbies. 😉
What are you currently working on?
Looking to finish the Bookminder trilogy. Which is a huge project, really, and ought to be filling my time. But I also have several back-burner projects, one of which I am actively shopping, one which I pick at/edit from time to time, and a third—my current favorite—which will require endless research and, potentially, a trip to finish.
