An Interview with Lisa Mantchev

Since making her first sale in 2002, Lisa Mantchev’s fiction has appeared in a variety of markets, including Clarkesworld, Strange Horizons, Weird Tales, Aeon, Fantasy Magazine, Abyss & Apex, and the SWFA anthology, New Voices in Science Fiction.

Lisa grew up in the small Northern California town of Ukiah. Her first forays into fiction were the short stories and play adaptations she thumped out on an ancient typewriter. After graduating from the University of California at Irvine, she taught elementary school, directed theater classes for children, started writing short stories again, and gave birth to her daughter before becoming a novelist.

She makes her home now on the Olympic Peninsula of Washington state with her husband, Angel, her daughter, Amélie, and four hairy miscreant dogs. Lisa kindly agreed to answer a few of my question for The Fix.

Describe a typical day in the life of Lisa Mantchev.

Any day at my house, typical or atypical, revolves around my three-year-old daughter. We scamper about making and cleaning up various toy messes (naked Barbies are the bane of my existence.) On a really thrilling day, we’ll get dressed in real clothes and go into town to grocery shop. I stuff the writing into the cracks—during naptime, after my husband gets home, really late at night on occasion.

We also have four large, hairy, indoor dogs (a Chow Chow, a Keeshond, a Siberian Husky, and a mutt.) So between letting the dogs in, letting the dogs out, letting the dogs in, I vacuum. A lot.

Of all your short stories, do you have a favorite, and if so why does that story appeal to you most?

I very much love the characters and setting in “The Girl with Blueberry Eyes.” Vera Violetta is an appealing little soul and very dear to me. Every child yearns to fit in with her peers, but there’s something underneath Vera’s wistfulness, the steel in her spine, that’s evident in all the decisions that she makes.

There’s imagery in that story, too, that I love. My friend Kate suggested the peach-chandelier, and the rest floated in on a jam-sticky dream (I am pretty sure I was canning preserves when I started writing it…)

You’ve recently had two companion pieces in Clarkesworld, “A Dance Across Embers” and “Threads of Red and White.” These are two of my favorite stories of yours. Where did the idea for this worldbuilding come from?

Those stories are based heavily on my husband’s childhood experiences. He was born in Bulgaria when the Communists were still in power. And while I didn’t want to hit people over the head, either with a political message or symbolism, it’s the simple truth that he remembers that people were taken in the middle of the night by the secret police. There were invisible but very real lines drawn between those who were members of the party and those who were not.

I tried to draw as much as I could from the folklore of the region, particularly the stories of Grandmother Bear, who is said to get married when the sun shines through the rain. I started writing the story without any idea where it was headed, with the idea that she had to marry someone, and who exactly would Grandmother Bear marry? The idea of Father Time sent the story down a path of a little girl about to learn some very hard lessons about her world; this story is as much about the shattering of Milena’s innocence as it is Ventsei’s escape.

I spent quite a lot of time hollering at my husband over the stairwell for details about what he ate, his walk to school in the snow, what the firedancers were like. But I also spent hours scouring the Internet, researching and reading. I learned that the eagle was a bird believed to ferry people to the lake of eternal life, and I knew immediately I could use it as a connection to his emigration to America. I like when bits of research click into place and suddenly everything has a new layer of meaning and emotional resonance.

Of all my stories, “A Dance Across Embers” was the one I was the most nervous to show my in-laws, because I had a very great desire to respect their heritage. It was a big relief to hear that they liked it.

In early May, your story, “The Stolen Word,” in Fantasy Magazine sparked some controversy. In the comments following it, some readers expressed that they found your story offensive, contending that it perpetuated negative stereotypes about the Romany people. Would you care to provide your thoughts on this?

It’s never comfortable to be the one standing naked in the spotlight, but the dialog that happened in the comment thread (aside from the name-calling) was helpful for a lot of people besides myself.

I think, in the end, I was guilty of romanticizing an ethnic people who have suffered from hundreds of years of discrimination. I can’t—or shouldn’t—stand behind a story with cries of “but I didn’t mean it that way,” but I think that’s exactly why we had such a duality of reactions; some people were offended because they thought I portrayed the Romany as a negative stereotype, and others (including those of Romany descent or those educated in Romany history) were not offended because they didn’t perceive negativity.

Important lessons learned: if someone is offended, shut up and listen to them. It not only allows them the opportunity to make clear their thoughts, it gives me, as the author, time to absorb what they’re saying and prevents a knee-jerk defensiveness on my part. I learned that no two people will ever read a story the exact same way. I learned that my fiction could—and would—be used as a springboard for discussion and the furthering of personal agendas. And I was reminded (because this is a lesson I’ve been learning since my first publication) that while it’s never good to dismiss a dissenting opinion as someone who “just didn’t get it,” there’s a lot to be said for target audience.

Am I sorry it happened? No. I received many encouraging notes from people I respect very much in this field, as well as new people joining my LiveJournal flist. Those who liked the story will hopefully be back to read more, and those who didn’t will find something else that they will enjoy reading. That’s the best thing about fiction: if you don’t like it, there’s plenty of other stuff out there to read.

You have a background in theater. Tell us a bit about that. How has that helped you in writing fiction?

I spent most of my time growing up doing three things: reading, writing, and acting in community theater. When I was in high school, I decided to write a play. When it was done, I took the script to the Board of Directors at the local playhouse and said “I want to direct this on your stage” and they actually agreed. That led to a scholarship for college and actual playwriting classes.

My playwriting professor was all about the characterization. He had us fill out sheets of paperwork for each person who was going to appear onstage, because he firmly believed that characters will be influenced by everything from their religious upbringing to what sort of cereal they eat for breakfast. Once a playwright has made conscious decisions about character details, then we ought to know what that character wants. The conflict arises naturally from introducing characters with opposing desires to one another or a situation. When I first transitioned to writing fiction, I used those character sheets faithfully. I don’t fill them out anymore, but when I get stuck somewhere, I think about who’s in the scene and what it is they want (and yes, sometimes, what they had for breakfast!) and things usually get un-stuck very quickly.

The other interesting influence from the playwriting is that I don’t think of stories in terms of chapters but in scenes, and the scenes are composed of “beats.” It’s an inner rhythm thing that works well for me, but occasionally drives my readers batty because there’s always that dramatic, unspoken “AAAAAND blackout!” moment at the end of my chapters.

Your agent recently sold a three-book hardcover deal of your Théâtre Illuminata trilogy to a major publisher. What can you tell us about it?

For now, I can encapsulate it thusly: “The Théâtre Illuminata: where real fairies fly on wires and pirates sail painted seas, foundling Beatrice Shakespeare Smith must take Center Stage so that the next curtain call won’t be the last.” The first book is slated for publication in Spring of 2009 by Feiwel & Friends, which is the new imprint at Macmillan.

The funny part was that I never planned to write a trilogy. When my first reader, Sunil Sebastian, mentioned the need for a second book, I yelled at him quite a bit, and I’m pretty sure I used the phrase “over my dead body.” I was completely intimidated by the idea of writing a series. Then, of course, the first book ended with all these lovely plot threads trailing off into “what next?” and I had to pick them up and keep going.

Book one opens in an enchanted theater, and my protagonist is Beatrice Shakespeare Smith, a seventeen-year-old wiseass who drinks too much coffee. She’s best friends with fairies and pirates, there are Shakespearean characters running amok, long conversations about pie, fart jokes, and the promise of twoo wuv.

The youngest of my beta-readers was eleven (and she was very disapproving of any use of profanity) and the oldest in her fifties (who didn’t mind the profanity but was appalled at my creative punctuation). I think the books will appeal to those both young and young-at-heart. The ones still looking for the entrance to the labyrinth. The ones who would like to fall down the rabbit hole.

You especially enjoy YA fiction. Any particular reason why?

The scope for the imagination just feels wider in YA, personally. I think a huge part of it is that I went from a college campus, where everything is analyzed, torn apart, and sewn back together with endless rhetoric, to teaching elementary school. Little kids analyze, but they don’t glory in the process of thinking things to death. Things are exciting, magical, interesting just because. And there is nothing so powerful, so heartfelt as a child pronouncing something “wicked” or “awesome” and really meaning it.

Children spend far more time saying “yes.”

Yes, I can draw! Yes, I can sing and dance and turn somersaults for hours. Yes, I believe in magic! Yes, someday I am going to join the circus and train lions and shoot myself out of a cannon. Yes!

I’m a positive person, and I’d rather write for the people who are more inclined to say “yes.”

And that’s not to say that I think younger readers are any less critical than adult readers. I was quoted in my high school newspaper as saying, “Kids today are growing up too quickly,” and fifteen years later, I still feel the same. Eight-year-olds have cell phones and text message their friends and use the Internet to research their homework; they have families that are even less likely to stay together, are growing up under the threat of global warming and worldwide unrest, and yet there’s the assumption that fiction for a younger audience should be sanitized for their protection. But that’s simply not the case. Younger readers can and will deal with deeper themes such as loss and regret, and they will call “bullshit” on any adult who talks down to them. Writing YA fiction is demanding and requires walking a delicate line at times, but that just makes it all the more rewarding.

What are a few of your nonliterary interests or hobbies?

We have a hunk of property, and in the warm months I attempt to garden. Anything still living in my yard is a hearty plant, impervious to my reckless but fickle enthusiasm.

I love treasure hunting at thrift stores because I collect everything from glass fisherman’s floats to 78 rpm records. I enjoy cooking and baking, especially trying out new recipes. The foodie-love comes through in the writing…there’s always something about food in my fiction.

I love to travel, explore new places, and dig into new cultures, but I am a horrible flier and I work myself into a foaming lather over getting to the airport and checking luggage. I’d really like a nice flat in every major city with clothes and food at the ready when I arrive. Is that too much to ask?

What do you enjoy most about the field of speculative fiction?

It took me a long time to find “my people,” but here they all are. I have met some of my very best friends through online critique groups, blogging (primarily at LiveJournal), and conventions. I walked up to Jenna Waterford at CascadiaCon two years ago and announced I liked her skirt (which was covered in zippers and buckles) and now we have two-hour phone conversations and critique each others’ books.

What makes a great short story? One assumes that every writer’s aim is to improve on works that have gone before her. What are your objectives, themes, or motifs to illustrate your uniqueness as a writer?

A great story is one that makes an impression, that resonates, that pokes a finger in the reader’s gut and says “Ah-ha! And you thought you were the only one who felt that way?”

I think that when I speak about objectives or themes, they come after the story has been drafted and edited and sometimes even published. When I’m writing, the objective is to get the words on the page. The objective is to then edit them into better words.

Afterwards, I can say, “Oh look, I did that coming-of-age thing again,” or “Another normal narrative colored with fanciful description.” Looking at my body of work, I can see that I like dealing with romantic relationships and the magic in the everyday and the way life mirrors art instead of the other way around. But I always think about the people first, and characters show up swallowing keys or having blueberry eyes and not in boxes labeled “Unusual young girl learns to love herself.”

You were an editor at Shimmer. How did that come about? Do you see any trends in the slush pile that made you want to tear your hair out?

Early in my con-going experience, one of the panelists mentioned that the best way to improve your own writing was to read slush for a while. I had hit a wall with the writing, and couldn’t see my stuff improving, so when Shimmer’s editor-in-chief put out a notice that they were looking for submissions readers, I answered.

In a panel like “It Came From the Slushpile,” I would pick on the stories about the sexual encounters that never were. So if your narrative features a thinly veiled version of YOU going into a bar and getting picked up by a nymphomaniac who might or might not be a vampire/werewolf/alien life form…just don’t. Ditto for stories that should only be told around a campfire. We saw a spate of “there was a lone figure walking alongside the highway in the dead of night” stories, and artificial tension absolutely kills my interest as a reader.

Both of these are examples, I think, of writers trying to figure out their voice. And goodness knows I wrote my share of “this is what I think you want to read” stories. Write what you want to read and believe in the stories that are dearest to your heart.

What does the future hold for you? What are your long-term goals you hope to accomplish?

The goal for the foreseeable future is “a novel a year and some short stories shoved in between.” The long-term goal involves a never-ending supply of minions and pie, but the details are a closely guarded secret.