Featured Character - Jean FridayJean Friday is the inspiration behind FOREVER IS MUCH TOO LONG, a science fiction novel set aboard a "generation ship" -- a space ship incapable of faster than light speed, but which has all the components aboard for eventual settlement on a planet circling some distant star, generations in the future. She’s based it upon a short story she’s written. Here on PanHistoria, it’s a novel which is home to a variety of personality types, some less sane than others. It is the interactions of all these people, and the plot twists, which drive this story. Jean's character serves as Chief of Security on ship. And yes, the Interviewer enjoys her chance to participate in the adventure! Jean is also an excellent wordsmith and collaborator, and a strong asset to PanHistoria, as well as being a professional writer in Real Life. Q: Tell us a little bit about yourself... A: A little? I thank you for that. A little is all I can summon up. Funny thing about writers -or perhaps it's just the writer I am. I can write up a storm about everyone else, but when it comes to me. Pah. I am a woman. I write for a living. I've been writing most of my life. It's not what I do - it's what I am. Q: Why did you join Pan Historia? Have there been other writing venues for you before your involvement here? A: I'm a professional novelist. I live by my pen. Or I would do if I didn't have this handy dandy laptop here in my literal lap. Be that as it may, before Pan as you see her today, Wyatt came a'callin'. Jean, he said to me, Jean my old pal, my old chum, come mess about in somethin' I dreamed up. When others come to join my dream, I was hopin' they'd find some writin' already in it. I believe he trapped a few others in this exact way. Q: Tell us something about Forever Is Much Too Long, and the inspirations behind this particular novel. A: Forever was a short story I knocked off ages ago. Wyatt said, Jean, you have anything we could build a scifi novel on? I reckon we need a scifi novel already there and waitin'. Well, I couldn't offer him my entire trilogy, a rip-roarin' space opera about a loyal band of intergalatic thieves, but Forever had never found a home no where (beginning to sound like Earp here), so I handed it over. It's turned out quite the vehicle for all sorts of writerly ventures. It's like a small town in space - with pesky neighbors. Q: Also, one of the things that impresses me about this novel (and, yes, your interviewer is now a participant) ... I noticed that, doc. ... is that it went into hiatus and is coming back strongly. If you could share a few suggestions about the best way to go about reviving storylines, I am certain a few Board Members would appreciate pointers! A: The first thing they should do is get Wyatt to kick their butts. A well-aimed kick can pretty much jump-start anything. But to get down to 'serious business' here - as a novelist, I've always written alone. I plot, scheme, create character, develop character, follow character, and just generally talk to myself for a living. But at Pan I've had to learn to play with others. It's been an interesting experience. Waiting - perhaps for days - for a character to talk back to you. Mind you, this is a character created by someone else, someone who can be unexpected, outrageous, go off on tangents. (Just like your own characters can, but you can ride herd on your own characters. Mostly.) I myself have become a character written by someone else. Too strange. Not to mention fascinating. Here's where I will tell a truth - in any novel, whether shared or traditional, story is everything. And sheer stick-to-it-tiveness is everything else. Story takes imagination. Stick-to-it-tiveness takes will. You have to want to tell a story. And you have to have the imagination to hear-see-taste-smell the tale as it flows out from under your fingers. One person can drive a pan novel. Two is better, or three. But one alone can do it. By writing more than one character, or by using the Planning Boards - suggesting storylines, imagining for others if they have a hard time for themselves. My advice for Board Members is: Be A Writer. What's a writer? She directs the novel as a director directs a movie, then jumps in to play the part. Or parts. She's the set designer, the sound technician, the costumier - he or she is all things as needed. Imagination is rarer than you think. Disciplined imagination even rarer. But if you want a novel - it's where you go. Into the dreamworld. And come out like Wyatt, all guns blazin'. Q: You are also active on Paper Ships, which is a writing critique reference book, in essence an online writer's workshop. How would you say active participation in Paper Ships has benefited you, and in what ways could it benefit others serious about writing here at Pan Historia? A: I'm embarrassed to say real life has taken me away from Paper Ships. I wish that weren't so. But it's a serious venture and requires a sincere and serious effort to maintain. I have nothing but admiration for Virtue Holliday who captains the ship with a steady hand. My own ship, the MotherLode, is all I can manage about now - though should the time come when I find myself once again able, I would hope to leap back aboard. As for its benefits - so many, so many. That is, if one is, as you say, serious about the craft. I suppose I could compose an entire essay on the subject - but I've noticed that The PanHistorian (splendid design, by the way) is only so big. Q: What are your greatest accomplishments, either in RL or here at Pan? A: Staying alive. In many more ways than one. Q: In some random hypothetical roleplay, what sort of character would be your greatest "stretch", but that you might consider tackling sometime? A: My greatest stretch would not be the type of character, but the quality. I despair of ever writing someone so vital, so true, so heartfelt, that they live beyond my novel and my time. But then, all artists secretly think they are not good enough, that they will never be good enough. Problem is, some of us are right. |
