Jennifer61

Writer Spotlight: Martha Wells

It’s finally time. Martha Wells returns to her bestselling Murderbot Diaries series with a new novella, Fugitive Telemetry. A seasoned writer of sci-fi and fantasy, she is known for The Wizard Hunters, Wheel of the Infinite, the ‘Books of the Raksura’ series, and the Nebula-nominated The Death of the Necromancer, as well as YA fantasy novels, short stories, and non-fiction. We sat down with the winner of two Hugo Awards, two Locus Awards, and a Nebula to ask her about the new installment of the series, what inspires her, and Murderbot’s blogging habits.

Can you tell us a little bit about Fugitive Telemetry? What made you want to revisit the Murderbot timeline, and what excites you most for fans returning to the series?

There’s a scene in Network Effect where Murderbot shows Thiago a video clip of when it stopped an assassination attempt on Dr. Mensah with the help of Preservation Station Security. In the clip, Murderbot has a good working relationship with the Station Security people. I wanted to go back in the timeline a little and show how Murderbot’s relationship with those characters developed; the rocky start when Murderbot was still getting acclimated to the station, and how the people on the station got acclimated to Murderbot. And I’ve always loved murder mysteries, so that seemed a fun way to do it.

N.K. Jemisin once described Murderbot as a “loveable, snarky, gender-subversive killing machine.” What first inspired you and continues to inspire you in the writing of this distinctive voice?

Whenever I start a new story, the character voice is the most important part. Once I get that, I can build the world and the plot around that voice. I got the idea for the story that became All Systems Red in the summer of 2016, and the world seemed to be going to hell in an even worse way than it usually is. I had also been thinking a lot about escapism and how books and TV can be so important to self-care and providing a mental refuge, how they can help give context for your emotions and help process trauma. I was thinking about what a character like Murderbot would go through and what it would really want, and somehow I came up with the first line of All Systems Red. The voice just followed behind it, bitter and vulnerable but also snarky and fed-up and deeply sarcastic and jaded by what it had seen of humanity.

Do you have any advice for folks who are writing sci-fi, maybe engaged in fanfic communities, and wondering about making a career out of their writing?

Write what you love, what really appeals to you, what you’re most interested in. Also, if you want to be traditionally published, do your research and learn as much about the publishing industry as you can. There’s a lot of misinformation floating around, and it can really hurt your efforts. (Places like the resources section of the SFWA and the “Commonly Used Terms” section on Bookjobs can provide you with a lot of good information.) No matter how much you love it, professional writing is a job. It can be a very difficult one to succeed in and very rough on your emotions.

Do you have any hopes and dreams for the future of the sci-fi genre? What would you like to see more of?

In the past few years, there’s been a lot of new voices in the genre who are writing some fantastic work, pushing the boundaries of the genre in new and exciting directions, to the point where people have referred to this time as a new Golden Age of SF/F. I hope that that trend continues and that the genre continues to expand and grow.

As a writer, how do you practice self-care when juggling work commitments and the creative processes of writing and editing?

It’s not easy. :) Right now, I’m trying to go easy on myself and not push to get too much done in one day; just take it a little bit at a time. Even though I’ve been writing professionally since 1993, and I’m fairly experienced at wrestling with self-doubt, depression, and anxiety, it can still be rough.

If Murderbot had a blog, what would it be called, and what would it contain (fandoms/mood boards/incorrect quotes, etc.)?

It would probably call it something so basic as to be annoying, like “Blog.” It would have nothing except stills, publicity photos, and gifs from the shows it was watching, especially Sanctuary Moon.