In the lead-up to the release of Hope: The Thing with Feathers, I’m going to be posting mini-interviews with my fellow ToC-mates! You can pre-order Hope: The Thing with Feathers here.
“What We Had Left” is a beautiful story about finding connection when all else in the natural world fails. Audrey finds Tara as she searches her apartment for lingering survivors after a cataclysmic event in the oceans releases huge amounts of carbon dioxide into the atmosphere. Together, they head inland, away from the seas and the clouds of gas that will smother life. While Audrey and Tara grapple with the reality of the Sixth Mass Extinction, they also find hope in human connection against all odds.
Writing can be a tough profession, and authors of all stages tend to get “no” more often than “yes.” How do you cope with rejection?
Once my original project is out the door, it’s basically dead to me. I still love it and I hope it finds a home, but it’s out of my hands at that point. Sure, the “nos” still hurt, but the sting is diluted if I direct my energy towards a different project. Focusing on something new also takes up too much brainpower for me to ruminate on the fate of the submitted piece.
What piece of writing advice would you give yourself if you could go back in time to when you started writing?
Be Persistent. I thought I’d achieve “success” (whatever that is) quickly; in hindsight, I’m glad I didn’t. I had a lot to learn about the craft and the business. Statistics say it takes years for many traditionally published authors to get a book deal, with most writing multiple books before they’re published. Imagine giving up on the first book or story you ever wrote? I took this to heart and just keep marching steadily ahead. Now, a slew of my short stories have been published in anthologies and literary magazines and I have a romance novel out on submission to publishers.
There are hundreds and hundreds of books on writing out there. Do you have one that you especially cherish?
I really enjoyed Stephen King’s On Writing, but my go to writing resource has to be Jane Friedman’s The Business of Being a Writer (Second Edition!). Jane has so much information for writers of every kind; her book, website, and newsletter(s) are invaluable.
What’s the best SF short story you’ve ever read? What about it really spoke to you?
Several have stuck with me, to the point that I think about them years later. But by far my favorite is “Pig Son” by Sequoia Nagamatsu. It’s speculative more than sci fi with themes of grief, ethics, and animal agency and I recommend it to anyone even remotely interested in short stories. “Pig Son” is weird, funny, heart-wrenching and makes me feel deeply every time I come back to it.
What’s your favorite non-writing hobby?
I’ll dabble in just about anything creative. I’ve done a lot of fine art like oil painting, pencil drawing, and digital art, and fiber arts like crocheting, knitting, sewing, and (briefly) bobbin lacemaking. My favorite craft recently has been making pop up books for my young nieces (apparently this is called “paper engineering”). It is so fun to figure out little mechanisms that will work for the story I’m trying to tell. I thought I was going to make just one book as a special gift, but I’ve finished three already, and have way too many ideas for more.
What was/were the best book(s) you’ve read in the last year (or the one you always recommend to everyone you meet)?
The Immortality Thief by Taran Hunt! (and its sequel, The Unkillable Princess.) The moment I finished reading, I turned it around and started again. The Immortality Thief takes place on an abandoned spaceship where several different groups are trying to find valuable data before the others. It’s action-packed, deliciously spooky, and you’ll fall in love with the characters instantly..
Gabrielle Contelmo spends her time writing short stories, which often feature monsters with a twist, and character-driven romance novels, which always feature kissing. Her work has appeared or is forthcoming in What Lurks: A Cryptid Anthology, 3Elements Literary Review, NECKSNAP, and Grim & Gilded, among others. She has been nominated for a Pushcart Prize. Learn more about her work at gabriellecontelmo.com.
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