Page Created: 09/25/20. Last Updated: 10/03/20
DARYL GREGORY
Meeting Date: September 12, 2020.
Meeting Site: Zoom Video Conference.
Attendance: 28.
Meeting Program: Talk / Q & A with Science Fiction / Fantasy Author.
Notes:
Author / Past Speaker / Club Member A J Colucci attended: https://www.facebook.com/allison.colucci
Additional notes appear after the Newsletter Account.
Newsletter Account:
The following account is reprinted with permission from THE STARSHIP EXPRESS Copyright 2020 Philip J De Parto:
Science fiction writer Daryl Gregory spoke and answered questions at the meeting of the Science Fiction Association of Bergen County on Saturday, September 12, 2020. The meeting was held via Zoom video conference, with a separate, informal hang out afterwards.
Mr Gregory has written the novels, AFTERPARTY, THE DEVIL'S ALPHABET, HARRISON SQUARED, PANDEMONIUM, RAISING STONY MAYHALL, SPOONERS, and WE ARE ALL COMPLETELY FINE. His short fiction has appeared in F&SF, ANALOG, ASIMOV'S and other magazines and anthologies. His com book credits include working with Planet of the Apes, the Green Hornet, and Dracula.
Our speaker was bitten by the writing bjg at a young age. He is surprised more people don't want to be writers, As children we love to be told stories., We love to tell stories. He simply never outgrew that calling.
He attended the University of Illinois and graduated with degrees in English and in Theatre. He has taught at colleges and high schools, and worked in the IT industry. The plan was to pay his bills as a part-time programmer, hone his writing, and transition to becoming a full-time writer. That didn't happen.
What Daryl discovered was that he did not become more productive when he left the daily grind. He became sidetracked and was producing the same amount of material as he had when writing part-time. Th 9 to 5 provided a structure which forced him to be efficient in the use of his time, so he returned to the traditional workforce.
Mr Gregory's first sale as to F&SF in 1990. He said that science fiction is a great field to learn the craft of writing because there are so many markets for short fiction. He attended the Clarion Science Fiction Writers' Workshop, which was like going to a creative writing school Perhaps the best advice he received was from Samuel R Delany who told the group that when writing, don' accept the first idea you have for a character. Change the class, gender, background and see how the changes would effect things.
It was nearly 20 years after his debut in F&SF before he sold his first novel, PANDEMONIUM, to Del Rey Books. It won one award was nominated for others and had decent sales. His second book, THE DEVIL'S ALPHABET, was also well received. It seemed he was finally on his way. And then came RAISING STONY MAYHALL.
He called STONY a hard science zombie novel. The critics liked it, but it failed to connect with his audience. The people who liked zombies didn't like the hard science. The people who liked hard science didn't like zombies. And neither of them liked the measured pacing and philosophical and religious issues which informed the work. It gradually found an audience, but in the short term it was a disaster.
Del Rey dropped him, but he did better with his next two books, WE ARE ALL COMPLETELY FINE and HARRISON SQUARED. Both are horror novels. The first is about a support group for survivors of attacks by serial killers or other monsters. The group itself is the protagonist, with different members narrating each chapter. Harrison is the prequel tale of one of the group's members, Harrison Harrison.
A traditionally-published writer must accept that many of the components which can lead to success or failure are beyond one's control Your book may have a terrible cover, it can be mis-branded, your editor can leave or be fired. There is the ever-looming presence of the midlist death spiral. You can only worry about the writing, the one thing you can control. And the writing is always challenging, although the challenges change over time.
Take his most recent novel, SPOONBENDERS, a work about a family of psychics. The book was in development as a television series for Paramount when the pandemic struck. Like so many other projects, the series is now in limbo.
On the other hand, writing is an old man's game. You don't blow out your knee and have to hang up your cleats,. It's hard work to stay current, but not impossible.
Daryl Gregory was asked how he broke into comic book writing. He replied that he ad been a comic book fan for years and was jealous of friends who were writing them. He learned the mechanics of plotting and writing comics (you need a mini-climax every two pages to get the reader to turn the page and continue), He put out feelers and was able to pick up work from the indie presses. Planet of the Apes was the most fun because they gave him complete freedom. Another interesting aspect of comics is that the artist is your co-storyteller.
Additional material will appear on the club website on the 2020 - 09/2020 Meeting Page. Our thanks to Daryl Gregory, to Carol Gyzander for creating and moderating the session, to Kathy Cannarozzi for doing the same for our post-meeting zoom, and to everyone who participated and attended.
Additional Notes:
These are random bits which did not make it into the newsletter:
A cafe is a great place to be among people and not have to talk. At home you are expected to answer.
Daryl was raised by Evangelicals.
Even within science fiction, he was drawn to the weirder stuff.
Translators are interesting people. They will catch things that everyone else misses. The literal translation of the title of the Israeli version of WE ARE ALL PERFECTLY FINE is WE ARE ALL F***ING MOTHER.
His favorite book is LITTLE BIG by John Crowley.
If you are writing about somone unlike yourself, research, research, research.
RAISING STONY MAYHALL is a story about faith. The story of Abraham and Isaac haunts Daryl. Was God testing Abraham to see if he would obey Him, or was Abraham testing God to see if this was a god he should worship?
Religion is like being a Chicago Cubs fan before they won the World Series. It's a matter of faith.
He is not a fast writer. He is a recursive writer.
The current situation reminds him of 2008 when Borders Books went out of business and publishers cut staff. He lost two editors in the aftermath.
Book tours are not about selling books to the public. They are about establishing relations with the bookstore staff who will continue to sell your books for you for years.
Regarding SPOONBENDERS: 40% of his sales fare from audio books. That's where he will make most of his money.