Welcome back to the conclusion of our interview with Noah Lemelson, author of The Sightless City.
Read Part 1 here.
Read Part 2 here.
Read Part 3 here.
Airship Ambassador: COVID has really put a damper on travel. Have you been to any on-line or physical events? What has that been like, and the reader reaction?
Noah Lemelson: I did one in person event in LA, a reading a month after publication in a local art gallery. We took significant covid precautions, and the event went excellent!
AA: Congratulations! How do you keep a balance between writing and the rest of your life?
NL: It’s a difficult balance. The key is that novel writing is an endurance run, just to keep at it little by little every week, to keep up the motivation while still giving yourself time to decompress. Time to yourself, to relax and be with your thoughts, can be just as important as actual writing. Though, of course, writing doesn’t happen unless you do eventually write.
AA: That’s a key for a lot of things – take that first step and then keep taking another step, no matter how slowly, just keep taking them. Do you get to talk much with other writers and artists to compare notes, have constructive critique reviews, and brainstorm new ideas?
NL: I have worked with a writer’s group for the past several years, and I think it’s one of the most important sources of support, notes and community a writer could have. I highly, highly recommend it. Writing can too easily become a solitary discipline, it’s really important for writers to stick together and support each other.
AA: Would you agree that writers need to be readers, too?
NL: Hard to say actually, a lot higher if we include audiobooks, but I love to read. For every book I get to there’s a dozen I still need to find the time. It a Sisyphean task, but we must imagine Sisyphus happy.
AA: Now that is definitely something every reader can identify with. There’s no such thing as having too many books, or having a to-be-read list that is too long. As a reader, what has made you stop reading something before finishing it?
NL: Other distractions mostly. Though I do have a bugbear with protagonists whose authors think are too cool for school.
AA: What do you consider your first real writing experience?
NL: I wrote a short story in high school that I wish I kept, but my first foray into writing was a filmmaking class in 9-10 grade. I was a terrible director, mediocre editor, but wrote some good scripts (at least by juvenile high school boy standards).
AA: The first step is very important! How have you and your work grown and changed since those scripts?
NL: I certainly hope so! I did my undergrad in biology, so I’m a big proponent of evolution.
AA: In your experience as a writer, what have been the hardest and most useful skills to learn?
NL: Knowing how to take notes from others. Figuring out what notes to use, what notes hint at a problem even if they give the wrong solution, and what notes can/must be ignored.
AA: Separating the chaff from the wheat and still being able to make good bread. When you are writing these days, is some aspect still a challenge? What come easily, or at least easier, for you?
NL: Lengthy action can be a challenge. There’s a lot to balance in a fight scene or other multi-page action scenes, description, dialogue, choreography, and you still need to be attentive to each character just as you would in a slower paced scene.
AA: Lots of details to track in longer scenes like that. Is there a story would you like to write but haven’t, yet?
NL: I have a whole virtual notebook full of them. I have enough to keep me till my death bed, and new ideas come at an exponentially faster rate then I can write them. The next short story I want to write is a take on the haunted house genre, IN SPACE!
AA: I can relate to that – too many ideas and no where enough time to make them all happen. Writing can be a challenge some days. What are some of your methods to stay motivated and creative?
NL: I usually sit at the keyboard messing around an hour or two until the weight of guilt from not writing compels me to panic write.
AA: Guilt can be such a motivator, LOL. How is Los Angeles for writing?
NL: You don’t get any cool points for being a writer in LA, for one. Everyone is trying to be a writer, or actor, or director, or something. It can be hard to convince people to drive an hour on the 10 at 5 pm on a weekday to go to your thing. There are great communities and people in LA, but you have to find them, and that can be tricky. I’m grateful both to CalArts and to the UCLA Extension Writers Program, for introducing me to great people.
AA: In your experience, does it seem like readers prefer a print or electronic format? Do you have a preference?
NL: Ebooks are great, but there’s something special about having a printed copy in your hands. Though I don’t have all the sales data yet, so I haven’t a clue what’s selling more.
AA: There is something special about having a tangible item in hand and on the shelf, although moving them is a whole different story! Ebooks are much lighter in that regard. If you weren’t an author, what else would you be doing now?
NL: I’d be a mediocre biologist.
AA: Most of the authors I’ve talked with have some type of day job and that writing is their other job. What has that situation been for you and how has it helped/hindered begin a published writer?
NL: Recently I’ve been teaching. And it some ways, that job has taught me something. It taught me that being a teacher is hard!
AA: I’m sure none of it got easier during the many days or lock down and initial resumption in person. Looking beyond steampunk, writing, and working, what other interests fill your time?
NL: I enjoy low key hikes, lazy days in with my wife and cat, and probably too much video games.
AA: How do those interests influence your work?
NL: As a kid who grew up loving video games, I was always fascinated by the worldbuilding present in RPGS like Warcraft, Warhammer, Mass Effect, ect. The setting of The Sightless City traces its evolutionary lineage to attempts to create hypothetical game settings back when I was a teenager.
AA: There’s only so much time in a day – what interests don’t you have time for?
NL: I’ve always wanted to try my hand at designing a board game.
AA: Games led to writing, so it’s not much of a leap towards gaming, again. What other fandoms are you part of (as a fan or participant) ?
NL: I used to be big on Star Wars, Warhammer, and Pokémon as a kid, though I never did many fan activities. Fanfiction’s not my jam, but I respect that a lot of genre writers start that way, and I can see its appeal. With all the giant cinematic universes and sprawling multimedia stories out, I’ve actually come to appreciate smaller self-contained works.
AA: There are so many stories to tell, and other perspectives to tell them from. Fan fiction can help boost other people people’s creativity, too. What is on your to-be read or watched pile right now?
NL: I’m finishing up the second book in Octavia Butlers Xenogenesis trilogy. My to read pile is way too messy to say for sure what I’ll pick up next.
AA: Are there people you consider an inspiration, role model, or other motivating influence?
NL: I owe a lot to Brian Evenson, who taught me at CalArts. He’s an amazing horror writer who’s managed to break through that pesky wall separating genre from literary. On a personal level, I take a lot of life inspiration from my late grandmother.
AA: What event or situation has had the most positive impact in your life? What has been your greatest challenge?
NL: It might be too obvious, but “meeting my wife” has to be high on the positive impact list. There’s always challenges that come up with family, career, just life in general, I’ve been lucky not to have anything unusually disastrous recently.
AA: What is the best advice you’ve been given?
NL: True friends (and family) are beyond precious.
AA: Definitely great advice! When you do interviews, what is something that you wish you were asked about but haven’t been?
NL: Anything where the answer is Ursula K. Le Guin or Stanisław Lem. People aren’t reading enough Le Guin or Lem!
AA: That’s a good hint for future interviews! Any final thoughts to share with our readers
NL: Steampunk is the retrofuturism of the 19th century, cyberpunk the retrofuturism of the late 20th century. I’ve very curious what will be the prefix for our current era. I suppose that means we have to figure out what our vision for the future is, and what that will communicate to future generations about our values, ideals, fears, anxieties, and hopes.
Thanks, Noah, for joining us for this interview and for sharing all of your thoughts. We look forward to hearing about your next projects!
Keep up to date with Noah Lemelson’s latest news on his website and on Twitter.
You can support Noah Lemelson and our community by getting your copy of The Sightless City here.
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