Interview with K. C. Shaw

TN: Can you tell us what inspired Weaver's Shroud?

K.C. Shaw: When I wrote Weaver's Shroud, I had just started learning how to spin. It seemed natural to make Liza an apprentice weaver who takes a job as a spinster. It's silly how many fantasy characters are thieves, assassins, wizards, kings, or warriors. Someone has to make the cloth.

TN: So is Fantasy your preferred genre?

K.C. Shaw: Yes, absolutely. There's just so much fun a writer can have with completely new worlds.

TN: Can you tell us a little about what else you've written?

K.C. Shaw: I'm having a blast right now writing stories about a weredeer named Kristof. The first one, "The King's Messenger," appeared in Renard's Menagerie #5 this year. It's a challenge to make Kristof seem realistically deer-like but have his motivations feel normal to the reader; I also love the world building involved in creating a society of shape-shifters who aren't just wolves. Plus Kristof's just a really nice guy--who's always getting into weird situations. Some of my other stories are set to appear in ASIM, Beneath Ceaseless Skies, Space Squid, MindFlights, Fictitious Force, and others, all within the next few months. I've had a prolific year, apparently! And of course I'm plunging into NaNoWriMo with a new world and a new plot to play with.

TN: Who were your biggest influences as a writer - Who do you love to read?

K.C. Shaw: My favorite authors are Diana Wynne Jones and Terry Pratchett, but one of my biggest influences is actually L. Frank Baum. My mother read the Oz books to my brother and me when we were small, and as I grew older I read them to myself. I still read them occasionally. Baum knew how to mix the marvelous with the practical--for instance, the Tin Woodman is a fantasy creation, but Baum made sure he had to worry about rust and where his oilcan was too. Some of my other favorite authors (in no particular order) are Naomi Novik, Lisa Shearin, Caroline Stevermer, Dorothy Sayers, Edward Eager, E. Nesbit, Monica Dickens, Agatha Christie, Daniel Pinkwater, and Robert Louis Stevenson.

TN: So you've been a reader since your early, formative years. When did you begin to write?

K.C. Shaw: I know I was telling stories to other children by the age of four. My mother tells me she had to find a new babysitter for me at that age--apparently I was scaring the sitter's daughter so much with stories of a mean teddy bear that the sitter refused to watch me anymore. The first story I remember actually writing was called "Dr. Dragon." I think I was seven. By middle school I was writing horrible novels.

TN: "Horrible" novels ? :) It's a writer's lot to constantly improve, taking on more complex plots as confidence and skill gain momentum. Is there something you've wanted to try but didn't feel you were ready for yet?

K.C. Shaw: I'd love to try writing a true mystery--I love reading them. It takes a lot of really careful plotting, though, and I just don't feel secure enough in my plotting skills at this stage to succeed. Maybe it's time to try. I'd love to write a full-blown actual murder mystery, with all of the mystery genre's tropes firmly in place, in a fully realized fantasy setting.

TN: We all have our strengths, and weaknesses, as writers. And while it's difficult to look at our own work without a jaded eye, it's also important for us to be able - and willing - to point them out. What do you feel is your best attribute as a writer, and your biggest struggle?


K.C. Shaw: I think my characters are likeable and interesting. As a reader, if I don't like the main characters, it doesn't matter how good the book is in other ways--I'm probably going to put it down before too long. I've worked hard to make sure my characters are people readers enjoy hanging out with for several hundred pages. My biggest struggle is writing description. It's so not fun for me. I can spend more time working on one paragraph of description than I spend on several pages of dialogue and action, and I'm rarely completely happy with the results. But since I find it so hard to do, it's what I'm focusing on right now. Weaknesses don't get better without a lot of effort.

TN: When you're not writing, what entertains you?

K.C. Shaw: I love movies, especially animation. I used to write a weekly movie review for the local paper, which got me in the habit of going to the movies almost every week. I also still spin (on my wonderful Kromski Symphony spinning wheel, or on various of my drop spindles), plus I knit and crochet. And of course I do a lot of reading. Um, and I jump out of airplanes for fun! (Okay, I don't really. I just realized how boring I am!)

TN: So you haven't jumped out of any airplanes - Is that something you'd like to do?

K.C. Shaw: Actually, no, I bet it's horrible. I would like to go hang-gliding one day, though. And just so no one thinks I'm totally inactive, I do love horseback riding and hiking.

TN: Is there anything you'd like to say to your fans - any words of wisdom you'd like to pass on to prospective writers?

K.C. Shaw: Let ideas simmer and don't be afraid to try new approaches to writing. If you like a particular author's voice or style, try imitating it as a writing exercise--that's a good way to find your own voice. Most of all, write every day and don't be discouraged if you don't like the results. You don't get better at anything unless you practice. And to my fans: please, nominate my stories for lots of awards. Because that looks good in query letters and makes me happy. Happy authors write better.