Marty Essen On How To Create Compelling Science Fiction and Fantasy Stories
An Interview With Ian Benke
Trait is passion. I could never write a nonpolitical, mainstream book, because I wouldn’t be passionate about it. My goal for each book is to change the world. Realistically, I know that’s unlikely to happen, but it’s the passion to try that keeps me going.
Science Fiction and Fantasy are hugely popular genres. What does it take for a writer today, to write compelling and successful Science Fiction and Fantasy stories? Authority Magazine started a new series called “How To Write Compelling Science Fiction and Fantasy Stories”. In this series, we are talking to anyone who is a Science Fiction or Fantasy author, or an authority or expert on how to write compelling Science Fiction and Fantasy .
As a part of this series, I had the pleasure of interviewing Marty Essen.
Marty Essen began writing professionally in the 1990s as a features writer for Gig Magazine. Since then he has written seven books — three nonfiction and four fiction — and won ten national awards for his writing. He is also a talent agent and a popular college speaker, who has spoken on hundreds of campuses in forty-five states.
Thank you so much for joining us in this interview series! Before we dive into the main focus of our interview, our readers would love to “get to know you” a bit better. Can you share a story about what first drew you to writing over other forms of storytelling?
Sure. My first love was music. I became Minnesota’s youngest disc jockey at age 16 (back when you had to pass a test for a Third Class Broadcaster’s License before going on the air), which eventually led to running two music management agencies — booking and managing rock and contemporary jazz performers. Unfortunately, I have no musical talent myself. My interest in writing professionally surfaced when I was contracted to write three feature articles on the music business for Gig Magazine. When my first article generated a pile of thank-you letters from musicians across the United States and Canada, I became inspired to seek other writing opportunities.
While this interview is primarily about writing science fiction, I am more accurately a political author who uses science fiction as a vehicle for social and political commentary. My first two books, Cool Creatures, Hot Planet: Exploring the Seven Continents and Endangered Edens: Exploring the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge, Costa Rica, the Everglades, and Puerto Rico were nonfiction books that I used to accomplish the same goals I have for all my books, which is to fight to protect the environment and human rights. For my third book, Time Is Irreverent, I switched to science fiction, which caused my distributor to drop me, but it all worked out for the best.
You are a successful author. Which three character traits do you think were most instrumental to your success? Can you please share a story or example for each?
My first trait is stamina. Many authors claim they set aside three hours a day for writing. If that were me, I’d still be working on my first book instead of getting ready to publish my seventh book. I don’t have the skills some authors apparently have to finish a manuscript in a few drafts. So I make up for my lack of speed with stamina. When I’m “in the zone,” I write and rewrite 12 to 16 hours per day.
My second trait is passion. I could never write a nonpolitical, mainstream book, because I wouldn’t be passionate about it. My goal for each book is to change the world. Realistically, I know that’s unlikely to happen, but it’s the passion to try that keeps me going.
My third trait is using the skills I honed as a talent manager, which include being able to look at my work from an agent’s perspective and to promote, promote, promote!
Can you tell us a bit about the interesting or exciting projects you are working on or wish to create? What are your goals for these projects?
I’m incredibly excited about my latest novel, Doctor Refurb, which will be published on September 18, 2022, a date chosen to coincide with Banned Books Week. I write in my own genre, which I call “science-fiction political-comedy,” and this one is most definitely all of that. In the first part of the novel, Rodney, a planetary consultant from another galaxy, requires protagonists Dr. Stefan Westin (aka Doctor Refurb) and vet tech Tara Kramer to submit to body part extractions — which are immediately replaced with superior refurbished parts — in exchange for deporting real-life political figures to a depository planet. Each political figure has a history of harming the environment, and once that person is removed, Tara and Stefan learn how many years of viable life they’ve added to Planet Earth. Rodney’s requirement is that they add 200 years, or Earth will be recycled. My goal, as an author, is to demonstrate how damaging people — both past and present — have been to our planet and to put an actual number on that damage.
In the second part of Doctor Refurb, Tara and Stefan — aided by their refurbished body parts — travel through time to confront priests that are abusing children at a Catholic school for the deaf in Italy, a missionary who is abusing a tribe in Brazil, and the instigator of forced-attendance Christian residential schools that ultimately killed over 6,000 indigenous children in Canada. The big finish for the book occurs in Salem, during the witch hanging trials.
Heartrending yet hilarious, Doctor Refurb is influenced by actual historical events and confronts the serious subjects of climate change, far-right politics, and child abuse committed by Christian authorities.
Wonderful. Let’s now shift to the main focus of our interview. Let’s begin with a basic definition so that all of us are on the same page. How do you define sci-fi or fantasy? How is it different from speculative fiction?
For that, I will defer to the standard definition that science fiction is based on what is possible, using theoretical science, and fantasy is based on the imaginary. Speculative fiction, on the other hand, is broader and includes alternate history, dystopian, and supernatural elements. I’ve always considered my books closer to science fiction than fantasy, but in Doctor Refurb, an alien — using an avatar of Trevor Noah — occupies the brains of my two protagonists, and together they change history. To me, that adds elements of both fantasy and speculative fiction. But rather than being into labels, I prefer a good story that isn’t restricted by any one genre.
It seems that despite countless changes in media and communication technologies, novels and written fiction always survive, and as the rate of change increases with technology, written sci-fi becomes more popular. Why do you think that is?
Science fiction offers hope. That’s one of the reasons I’ve become hooked on every Star Trek series and the reason I use science fiction in my writing too. I’d like to believe that — despite attempts by today’s Republican Party to move the world backward — we actually are moving forward to a better future.
In your opinion, what are the benefits to reading sci-fi, and how do they compare to watching sci-fi on film and television?
As much as I love Star Trek and similar sci-fi, there are often instances where both the television episodes and the movies run up against the clock and have to wrap things up too fast. Novels, on the other hand, don’t have such time constraints and can more easily avoid endings that sometimes verge on deus ex machina.
What authors and artists, dead or alive, inspired you to write?
None. I was lucky to have an amazing writing teacher in high school. I took practically every class she taught, and I know I’m not the only student of hers who became a professional writer.
If you could ask your favorite Science Fiction and Fantasy author a question, what would it be?
My favorite science fiction/fantasy novel is The Time Traveler’s Wife. That novel was published in 2003, and ten years later the author, Audrey Niffenegger, announced that she was working on a sequel. At the time of this interview, that sequel has yet to be published. So my question to Audrey is, “What’s taking so long?”
We’d like to learn more about your writing. How would you describe yourself as an author? Can you please share a specific passage that you think exemplifies your style?
I’m a humorous, multi-genre author, whose writing reflects my values of protecting human rights and the environment. The following passage from Doctor Refurb demonstrates that. To understand the context, please note that Rodney is an alien, who appears inside Tara’s and Stefan’s heads — using the body of Trevor Noah as his avatar — and Ralph is an alien-villain, who originally occupied Jesus Christ and is now jumping from body to body through time. Stefan is also the story’s narrator:
I was sitting at the kitchen table, doing research on my computer, when I looked up and said, “Rodney, I think we should skip Canada.”
He materialized, wearing skates and a Team Canada hockey jersey, and asked, “Why?”
I did my best to maintain a straight face and said, “Because if it’s true that Ralph sticks with one primary person throughout the most malevolent years of that person’s life, I think that person was the priest we encountered in Verona. Therefore, if he was involved in the abuse and deaths of indigenous people at Christian residential schools in Canada, it was likely as a temporary side project. It’s not that the abuse was any less in Canada. In fact, I think it was worse. But considering that you said the time frames were similar, do you think Ralph would rather hang out in a remote school in Canada, where it’s cold in the winter and the mosquitos could carry him away in the summer, or in Italy, where the weather is milder and the territory oozes with history and culture?”
Rodney skated from one side of my head to the other before executing an Olympics-worthy jump and spin. “Skating is not cultural?”
I cringed. “Certainly not when you’re doing it in my brain! I know I’m only seeing an image, but just the thought of skate blades slicing around up there is giving me a headache.”
His skates vanished, leaving him standing in socks. “The time frames do not have to be similar. Canada’s residential school system operated from 1876 to 1996, and during much of that time, white authorities could forcibly separate indigenous children from their families. Those children were subjected to malnourishment and both physical and sexual abuse. At least six thousand of them died. The Canadian government administered and funded the schools, and the Roman Catholic, Anglican, Presbyterian, and United churches ran them.”
I looked at Rodney as skeptically as I could look at someone who was inside my head. “Sure, we could go earlier. But the abuse in Canada’s residential schools was so widespread that it would be almost impossible to find Ralph. Unless, of course, you have a specific person in mind.”
“Hold on.” He flashed out.
Tara, who was sitting opposite me at the kitchen table, looked up from the research she was doing on her smartphone. “If we can help in any way, we must do so. When I think of Canadians, the image that comes to mind is that they are the nicest people on Earth. While overall that may be true, what they did to those indigenous children was hideous. Canada’s goal was to assimilate the children into a white European colonial culture. Separating them from their families was just the start. They took away their native beliefs and traditions and forced them to become Christians. As part of that cultural genocide, they cut the children’s hair short, dressed them in European-style clothing, and forbade them from speaking their native language. Those who violated the rules were severely punished. Among the punishments the Christian leaders subjected the children to were tongue-piercings with needles, if they spoke their native language; locking them in cages, if they tried to escape; and shocking them, if they committed various other violations.”
I shook my head in disgust. “I haven’t attended church in years, but when I did, the minister frequently preached that Jesus wanted people to be loving and kind to each other. While I don’t doubt that many Christians live up to that ideal, the dark side of the religion frequently outweighs the bright side. Seemingly every generation produces multiple influential Christian groups that thrive by hating and abusing others.”
“Each of those generations also produces multiple Christian groups that generously contribute to society through charity work,” Tara added.
“That’s true. But do good deeds excuse bad deeds? We certainly wouldn’t let serial killers, like Ted Bundy and Jeffrey Dahmer, off the hook because they volunteered at a soup kitchen or donated clothing to a homeless shelter, so why do we let Christianity — or any other religion with a long history of molestations and deaths — get a pass?”
Tara raised an eyebrow. “Probably because those with political power fear they will lose that power without the votes and campaign contributions those religions provide.”
Based on your own experience and success, what are the “Five Things You Need To Write Compelling Science Fiction and Fantasy Stories?” If you can, please share a story or example for each.
I don’t know that I can separate what I do into five things. Unlike many authors, I don’t plot out my books in advance. Instead, I come up with a story idea and an ending (which will invariably change later), crank up the music, and write. I can’t write without music playing, because it keeps me from getting distracted, and, if I’m lucky, within a chapter or two, my characters will take over my fingers and type for me. The only disadvantage of this method is that my characters are generally sloppy when they type, and I have to spend hundreds of hours after the first draft going back and correcting their errors.
We are very blessed that some of the biggest names in Entertainment, Business, VC funding, and Sports read this column. Is there a person in the world, or in the US, with whom you would love to have a private breakfast or lunch, and why? He or she might just see this, especially if we both tag them :-)
Sure, Trevor Noah. One of the reasons I have Rodney, the primary alien in Doctor Refurb, use Trevor Noah as his avatar is because I’m a big fan of Trevor’s work. Also, if I’m lucky enough to have Doctor Refurb made into a movie, there’s a part waiting for him to play!
How can our readers further follow your work online?
The four best places to find me are Facebook, Twitter (@MartyEssen), my blog, and my website.
Thank you for these excellent insights, and we greatly appreciate the time you spent. We wish you continued success.
