Bloggasm

You can find Jay Lake’s journal over here.

Simon Owens: I’ve noticed that you’ve become slightly less prolific over the past months. Do you feel that your writing pace is slowing down?

Jay Lake: Not at all. My publication hit rate is a bit lower this year due to a combination of two things. First, my submission rate fell off late last year…chaos in my personal life and some rethinking of my market strategy. Second, I’ve been focusing more on novels. I’ve written two novels this fall and am working on another one right now. (The current one is under contract.) This cuts into my short story output, regrettably.

SO: Most writers I’ve spoken to say they prefer writing novels over short fiction, but out of all the genre writers out there, you seem the most enthusiastic when it comes to the short form. Now that you’ve had experience writing novels, which do you prefer?

JL: I don’t know that I’m the most enthusiastic about the short form, but I certainly enjoy it a great deal. And frankly, I still prefer it. Novels are a struggle for me. I have to do a lot of groundwork to write a novel, both psychologically and from a craft perspective. Short stories, on the other hand, flow like fire from my fingertips often as not.

Now, consider that I have written hundreds of short stories and sold well over a hundred. Whereas I have written five novels and sold one — plus one I sold on proposal, which will be my sixth novel when I have finished it. I’ve had *lots* of practice with short stories. Imagine doing weight work with only one arm for years, then suddenly picking up weight on the other arm. That’s sort of how I feel. It’s purely an internal issue of mine, not a literary or critical judgment about the relationship between the two forms.

SO: I’ve seen it said in some places that one can be too prolific. Do you think there’s any truth in this thinking?

JL: Not in the slightest. Everyone is as prolific as they are. For Ted Chiang, that means one short story every 12 or 18 months. For Elizabeth Bear, that means four to six novels per year. “Too prolific” is a defense against fear of failure, I think, an echo of the idea that fast writing cannot be good writing. There’s nothing inherently good about writing at any speed — the text speaks for itself — but complaining (or warning) about people being “too prolific” is another way of taking pressure off oneself for not writing more.

There are some other, marketing-driven answers to that question, of course, but the comment is usually made in the context of craft or quality.

SO: What are the five blogs everyone should be reading (besides your own)?

JL: Heh. Thank you, I think. Restricting my answers to blogs of writing interest…

eBear
Nihilistic Kid
Chrononautic Log
John Scalzi
Making Light

And thanks for the opportunity to raise my head above the ice and bark like a seal!