Ask the Author: Martha Wells
Answered Questions (52)
Martha Wells
Thank you so much, I'm glad you enjoyed it!
Martha Wells
Kevin, first, I am a traditionally published author, and I do not control the publishing format, cover art, price, packaging, retail, or distribution of any my 24+ books published by 7+ different publishers. Second, The Murderbot Diaries are a series of novellas, each under 40,000 words, about a third the size of a novel, and they are published by Tor.com, which publishes many novella series in the same way, including series by Paul Cornell, Myke Cole, Seanan McGuire, Sarah Gailey, JY Yang, Guy Haley and Margaret Killjoy. (https://publishing.tor.com/books/) A little research online, like maybe looking up the name of the publisher, would have told you that without insulting me first thing on a Sunday morning.
Martha Wells
I don't know. It's not something I can make happen. And if it did happen, I wouldn't have any input on the casting.
Martha Wells
When I was working on the first novella, it didn't seem logical that a SecUnit would be given any kind of reproductive system or any human parts that weren't directly useful for its security function. And the way Murderbot feels about humans, it didn't seem logical for its personality that it would identify with any one gender, or be interested in choosing a human gender for itself, and it sure wouldn't be interested in human sexual relations. So in a way I guess it was a coincidence, since I didn't plan it from the start, it was just part of the process of developing the character as I was writing. And thank you!
Martha Wells
Thank you so much, Joseph! There's at least one full novel coming out next May in the series :)
Martha Wells
Thank you so much! The Raksura have been some of my favorite characters to write. I do want to go back to that world at some point, though it might be with another set of characters, set somewhere else in the Three Worlds.
Martha Wells
Thank you! I like the format, too, as a reader and a writer. I first used it when I did four novellas as part of the Books of the Raksura series. I will probably do some more novellas in the future, though I'm not sure what they'll be about yet.
Martha Wells
It was originally going to be a short story, and SecUnit was going to die trying to save Mensah and the others. But the more I worked on it, the less I wanted to use that ending.
Martha Wells
Yes, the title is "Network Effect" and it will be coming out in May 2020. Thank you, I hope you're well too!
Martha Wells
No, I don't have any experience in screenwriting, so that's not something I would have been able to do.
Martha Wells
Thank you! I've seen a lot of great Murderbot fan art. If you go to tumblr and search on "the murderbot diaries" and "murderbot diaries" you can see some really good interpretations.
Martha Wells
Thank you, Eric! The narrator is Kevin R. Free, who is an actor and was also on Welcome to Night Vale. The audiobook publisher, Recorded Books, is the one who makes the final decision about narrators, but I really hope they'll be able to get Kevin for future works in the series.
Martha Wells
Thank you! My other books are written in third person personal, but All Systems Red was written in first person from the first early notes. I never really considered writing it in third person.
All Systems Red is a novella, which is usually defined as under 40,000 words, about 1/3 the size of a novel. It was originally intended to be a short story (with a sad ending) but while I was working on it I realized it needed to be a little longer to really tell the story. And I decided I wanted to give it a hopeful ending.
All Systems Red is a novella, which is usually defined as under 40,000 words, about 1/3 the size of a novel. It was originally intended to be a short story (with a sad ending) but while I was working on it I realized it needed to be a little longer to really tell the story. And I decided I wanted to give it a hopeful ending.
Martha Wells
Thank you! The only self-publishing I've done is a few ebook reprints of my earlier books, after they went out of print, so I don't have much advice about that. Just try to find out as much about publishing as you can, and beware of scams and get-rich-quick schemes. There's a lot of good information on the SFWA Writer Beware site and blog.
Martha Wells
Not at present. The only place I'm going this year outside the USA is Dublin, Ireland, for the World SF Convention. I don't have a lot of time and resources for traveling, so if I did a signing in Brazil it would have to be something arranged by a publisher.
Martha Wells
I haven't been doing a lot of out of state book signings because I generally can't afford airfare more than two or three times per year. But I am going to be one of the guests of honor at Capclave in Rockville, Maryland in October this year: http://www.capclave.org/capclave/capc...
And thank you!
And thank you!
Martha Wells
Thank you! Unfortunately, there aren't any plans to do that right now. My earlier books are out of print and I'd have to find a new publisher for them. It's just not that common for publishers to want to reprint older books that have already had hardcover and paperback releases.
Martha Wells
Yes, there is, but at the moment I think it's not going to come out until 2020, right before the novel is released. That might change, and I'll post about it when I find out the final schedule.
Martha Wells
Thank you so much!
Right now the only thing in the works is the novel, but I do want to do some more short Murderbot fiction.
Right now the only thing in the works is the novel, but I do want to do some more short Murderbot fiction.
Martha Wells
Yes, I still experience this, and I think it's still a problem for a lot of writers. It's like you fight a little war with yourself over each book. It can also manifest in different ways, like an intense feeling/belief that your writing isn't any good, that no one wants to read it, etc. This often leads to people finishing stories but never trying to submit them anywhere. (That's called self-rejection. You do it yourself, before magazines or publishers ever have a chance to evaluate your work. )
There's really no one trick to overcoming it. I think you have to realize that this kind of self-doubt is a part of your brain trying to sabotage you. Maybe it's fear, trying to protect you from hypothetical failure, but it's also trying to stop you from something you really really want to do. Think how you'd feel if this was another person trying to stop you from writing this story that you really want to tell, that is important to you. Then mentally shove that person out of your way.
Anyway, you're certainly not alone in feeling this way, and I hope that helps a little.
There's really no one trick to overcoming it. I think you have to realize that this kind of self-doubt is a part of your brain trying to sabotage you. Maybe it's fear, trying to protect you from hypothetical failure, but it's also trying to stop you from something you really really want to do. Think how you'd feel if this was another person trying to stop you from writing this story that you really want to tell, that is important to you. Then mentally shove that person out of your way.
Anyway, you're certainly not alone in feeling this way, and I hope that helps a little.
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