Ms. Wilde visited us to discuss Updraft, and these questions arose in class.
Cal: Did you ever consider writing only one book, and if so, what made you decide that you needed a trilogy?
Fran: I knew that it was going to be a trilogy from the start, but I wanted to make sure Updraft had a complete arc as well - and answered the main question I posed at the start.
Garrett: Why did you choose to have luck play an important role in the characters' lives?
Fran: In any scarcity society, but especially in long, slow scarcity societies, people often find reasons why bad things happen that are different from what’s really happening. Luck, good character, etc.
Raven & Victor: Were there other novels or works that inspired Updraft?
Fran: There were! I answered that question more fully at The Booksmuggler’s blog: https://www.thebooksmugglers.com/2015/09/updraft-fran-wilde-on-inspirations-influences.html
Logan: Where did the idea for the Skymouths come from? Marc: Why did you make the skymouths invisible?
Fran: I wanted a monster that would be very scary to a flying culture -- so something that could attack from any direction, unseen.
Sonia: If the littlemouths, nonviolent creatures, found safety in the clouds…perhaps there is more life down there and people in the city could once again live below them. What is beneath the clouds?
Fran: Oh that is a good question! Read on!
Cullen: Why did the characters want to destroy the Spire?
Fran: At first the characters you meet do not want to destroy anything -- they’re trying to get along. But there’s a secret that the Spire is hiding and I don’t want to spoil anyone who hasn’t read the book.
Ricky: Was there a time where you had to decide which direction you wanted to take the book or did you have a set plan for the characters and plot from the beginning?
Fran: Oh absolutely -- many times! I revised the second half of the book completely, and then redid it when I realized my characters required a different ending. I always go in with a plan. Sometimes the plan needs to change.
Dylan M: Does the true role of the Singers in the city have any kind of political / social message to our contemporary political system? What inspired you to take this direction of those being the most trusted with the protection of the city actually being those doing the most harm?
Fran: That’s a really good question -- What do you think may be the reasons and outcomes of a different approach? Why might a group like that, over time, cause harm? Why might they not?
Annie: What are the challenges that come with creating an entirely new world, and how did you overcome those challenges to create it? Related Q by Erick: I would like to know what inspired you to create a society that focuses so much on flight and how that played into the worldbuilding in Updraft?
Fran: once I knew I was writing a city in the air, flight, for me was an absolute -- I love wind -- so one of the challenges was to envision the line of supply for their man-made wings -- where did the structure come from (bone) and the construction? suddenly I knew a lot more about that part of the world, and I did a lot of research to find out the rest.
Rider: What inspired you to use bone to build the towers and what are some interesting facts that you learned about bone in the research process?
Fran: Bone is organic -- and I wanted an organic, not man-made structure. Best fact I learned was that some antler plates, when abraded, begin to grow again.
Bryce: Which character did you find most difficult to write?
Fran: Kirit. But she’s also the most rewarding.
Loreto: Were there any characters based on people you know?
Fran: I cannot confirm or deny this. It is a work of fiction.
Alex: Given your background in computer science, why did you choose to write a novel that many would consider fantasy? Did your background actually play a part?
Fran: Absolutely my background in both computers and engineering played a part, as well as game design (there’s actually a game built into the second book).
Cole: Can you elaborate on the term delequerriat? Where did you find the basis for this idea and how did it guide you during the writing process?
Fran: I answered this one in class, but online I’m going to hold out because spoilers. Linguistics in the Bone Universe is related to age of the word and the falling away of culture as the city rises -- so delequerriat is a very old word as evidenced by its complexity.
Dylan R: How did you decide upon the names for characters?
Fran: Character names are all based on bird sounds from walking in the woods near my home, and tower/family relationships.
Akil: For Kirit, family is everything and throughout the book she proves that. Why, then, doesn't Kirit call Ezarit "mom"?
Fran: answered in class, but primarily she’s both growing older, this isn’t a culture that emphasizes that word, and Elna was also much more of a mother figure in her life.
These are all excellent questions - thank you for asking them when I visited class!
~ Fran Wilde
franwilde.net | instagram.com/fran_wilde
Some more reading about Updraft, if you’re interested!
The Cover Art - which I love - https://www.tor.com/2017/07/26/illustrating-the-arc-of-a-series-the-art-of-the-bone-universe/
Change the Language, Change the world: https://www.tor.com/2015/09/01/sleeps-with-monsters-fran-wilde-change-language-change-world/