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As a first time participant of the National Novel Writing Month, it is no small accomplishment to cross the 50,000 word line in little more than two weeks.
Water-Born, which is the working title for Selena Thomason’s Nanowrimo novel, found its source in an idea she had for a society wherein the sea was drying up and the members of this society had to move to dry land.
When she signed up for Nanowrimo, Selena had not thought about plotting and outlining, she simply wrote and watched the story evolve from that core idea.
Talking about Water-Born and what fascinated her about this piece, Selena says that this species has “always taken pride in this idea of being water born. They came from the water, dry land was a place they hated and feared.”
Later on in the book, the characters make a stunning discovery.
Selena: “Their culture and species started out on land. Learning that who you thought you were, what you thought about yourself isn’t true, that you’re really from this place you’ve always feared and hated, to find out that you are from there is something that shakes the society to its core and gives them a crisis about who they are and gives them something to wrestle with.”
In this book, Selena delves into how this water born society adjusts to make room for that discovery.
When she was in highschool, Selena did not attend a run of the mill high school institution. She went to a Science and Technology center, where the exposure to real science was so intense that a lot of who people studied there got burnt out on science and did not want to continue to study science.
The daughter of a scientist, Selena wanted to become an astronaut. However as a child she had a love for the theater that led her to take up a BA in Drama later on. It was not until she was busy with her Bachelor of Arts in Drama that she became more and more interested in writing.
Selena spoke about how theater influenced her writing: “At first, I mapped the story out in my head and acted it out as if two actors in a scene or movie. I discovered that I was so busy visualizing the stories that I didn’t get around to writing them. Now, I don’t do that anymore, I just write it out on the page.
Talking about early influences in her writing life, Selena tells how her scientist father made her aware about the relationship of real science to the science she used in her work.
Selena: “Growing up my dad introduced me to science fiction. He would always point out to me where the science was wrong when watching scifi shows like Star Trek. “This has made me more aware of how I use science in my writing. I tend to think of writing scifi as writing something that grows out of real science.”
Her father was not the only influence in regards to writing. Selena tells about how she had good teachers as a child. In high school, she remembers doing a project on Anne Tyler with her English group. Her English teacher at that time arranged a field trip for all of her group to go and visit Anne Tyler in Baltimore in order to interview the novelist about her proces p \ l `
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“If I struggle with things, its worth sharing that because everybody struggles and I don’t mind sharing that because it might help others who do read it.”
While Selena does submit even to non-christian markets, she desires to use her writing for good rather than to incite people to anger and hatred and evil. She doesn’t sit down with a moral in mind, but she sits down wanting to write a good story. Her recognition of the power of words to affect others influences her to try and use her words wisely.
This recognition of the porous quality of her mind has caused her to stop watching shows that exalt violence, instead, she exposes herself to uplifting and helpful things because she is “aware that everything you see affects you.”
This consciousness does not move her to write with a moral in mind, although she is drawn to stories that are enlightening and uplifting.
Selena: “I write to learn about something or to figure something out that is in my mind, to discover it for myself and then share it with other people. But it more often starts with me trying to figure out something.”
“Sometimes I sit down to entertain, but mostly I wrestle with issues and ideas and see where it takes me.”
What is Selena Thomason passionate about?
Selena: “Writing and scifi in general.”
Shows like Battlestar Galactica, and Firefly are her passion. Learning things and discovering things, are a passion, and her cats are her passion.
Selena: “Cats are good muses, because they help me to write longer. They sit in my lap when I am writing and force me to sit longer and keep on writing because they’re not ready to get up yet.”
In a larger sense, Selena is passionate about kindness, about doing the right thing and trying to be a good person. She tries to be someone she would be proud to know.
“It’s really important to act according to your own values,” she says. “I try to remember what it is that I value. Kindness, honor and doing the right thing are what I use to guide me through the day.”
As one of the assistant editors on The Sword Review, part of her job is reading and helping select stories that will go into the publication. While she confesses a partiality towards Dragon stories, she is more concerned that stories are well written. She thinks stories should deal with problems and issues while written in an uplifting and entertaining way.
What does she think her characters would say if they had a chance to talk about her?
Selena: “It would be fascinating to hear what they have to say. Perhaps they would say that I don’t listen enough to what they have to say.”
This insight changed the way she looked at people around her.
Selena: “Often when I am in a crowd of strangers it occurs to me that in the movie of my life, I am the star and all these other people are unnamed extras, but that each of them is starring in the movie of their own lives and in those movies, I am just an extra. All these nameless strangers have their own ideas, history and importance. Just because I am not paying attention to them right now and don’t know their names, doesn’t mean they are not interesting people in their own right.”
She has come to see these people as being more than faceless persons. This knowledge helps her to be more compassionate, and she realizes that some people can be rude or mean because they have had a bad day.
This realization served as a reminder to her, after she completed her first draft of Water-Born, to go back and pay more attention to her secondary characters. It has helped her to see characters on the periphery who are interesting.
She says, “Sometimes it is good to go back and let minor characters have their say, because that way, they become more of people in their own right and not just two dimensional characters.”
What interests her most about writing science fiction?
Selena: “Worldbuilding. Building another world and seeing how the religions and relationships evolve and what they do.”
To those who are timid about writing science fiction, Selena says: “You can always learn a little bit about science.”
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To learn more about Selena Thomason, visit her website at: http://selenathomason.com
Her column, Everyday Faith, is featured regularly on The Sword Review
Copyright 2005, Rochita Loenen-Ruiz. All rights reserved.
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