As of this morning we have only nine more days to go on the Kickstarter Fundraising Campaign for WHAT FATES IMPOSE. We're up to $3,448 from 140 Beloved Backers, but we still need some help to get to $5,000!
If you'd like to help out, telling your friends is free and easy by clicking here, and there are reward levels from $1 on up at our Kickstarter page.
Sarah Hans is a writer, editor, teacher, and steampunk enthusiast. Her first anthology, SIDEKICKS!, contains one of my short stories, and has inspired at least two short films that are in development right now. Her story for WHAT FATES IMPOSE, "Charms," explores blackmail, identity, and difficult choices, using runes as a method of predicting the future.
Here's Sarah! Sharing her thoughts on Tarot, reluctance to get her fortune told, and writing from the perspective of characters different from herself. *showers of glitter confetti*
What's interesting to you about divination?
I was a tarot reader for a good 15 years, and what always interested me was the universality of the cards. My favorite deck is a Norse tarot deck because the cards tell a story, a universal story that appeals to anyone, anywhere, anytime. That's kind of an amazing thing.
Have you ever had a reading (Tarot, palm, runes, or whatever)? If so, what did you think of the experience? Was it accurate, or at least useful?
I actually prefer not to have my future read, most of the time. Ignorance is bliss. That said, my friend Meag the Happy Medium (look her up on facebook!) did a one-card pull for me back when I was deciding whether to continue getting my teaching license, and her advice was helpful. She advised that I keep going. As it turned out, I needed to switch my licensure area, and once I did, I was much happier. I'm glad I followed her advice and kept going!
If you are against the idea of getting your fortune told, what are your reasons for that?
I think life is more exciting if you don't know or can't guess what's coming.
How did you get started on developing the idea for your story in What Fates Impose?
Nayad asked for stories with LGBTQ characters, and specifically said she already had a lot of gay characters but no transgender ones. So I set out to write a story about a transwoman rune reader. I did a lot of research and hopefully did her justice.
Do you have any advice for aspiring writers?
Keep writing, and sending stories out. No story is a waste of time, even if it's rejected, because you can always learn something from it, even if it's "That didn't work very well." Never, ever delete anything, because you never know how you might be able to rework that awful story or use one of the characters in another piece.
Which subjects and themes do you write about often, and why?
My favorite part of writing is taking on the perspective of another person, so I write a lot of fiction about people who are very, very different from myself. Sometimes they're even robots! I write about women a lot because most of what I write is horror, and editors complain that they don't get enough horror submissions by and about women. There are often Buddhist themes in my work, because I'm a Buddhist, and I can't help but let that color my words.
What's your favorite story of all the stories you've written, and why?
"Alive in the Wolf's Belly" is probably my favorite thing I've ever written. Writing it was magical--the words just flowed, and the characters were there immediately. I didn't struggle at all. The story really did write itself! You can find it here.
I'm also really fond of "The Death of a Monk," a Buddhist spec fic horror story I wrote that still hasn't found a home. So hopefully people will get to read that someday.
What do you like and dislike about the process of writing a story for a themed anthology?
I love writing for themed anthologies because I do my best work when given a focus. I love a challenge, and the more limits are put on my writing the bigger the challenge is.
Where can people find other published work of yours?
My website: sarahhans.com.
What else would you like to tell people about any subject?
Death gets a bad rap, but it's really not such a bad card. The Tower is the one you really want to avoid.
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Only nine days left until the WHAT FATES IMPOSE Fundraising Campaign succeeds or fails on July 14, 2013. It's all or nothing!
(That URL is http://bit.ly/kickfate.)
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WHAT FATES IMPOSE Author Series
- GUEST POST: Jennifer Brozek and her Karen Wilson Chronicles
- AUTHOR INTERVIEW: Wendy N. Wagner
- AUTHOR INTERVIEW: Alasdair Stuart
- AUTHOR INTERVIEW: Ferrett Steinmetz
- AUTHOR INTERVIEW: Sarah Hans
- AUTHOR INTERVIEW: Lucy A. Snyder
- AUTHOR INTERVIEW: Beth Wodzinski
- AUTHOR INTERVIEW: Tim Waggoner
- AUTHOR INTERVIEW: Jamie Lackey
- AUTHOR INTERVIEW: Remy Nakamura
- AUTHOR INTERVIEW: Cat Rambo
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Disclosure of Material Connection: I have a story in SIDEKICKS!, and I'm the editor of WHAT FATES IMPOSE, so purchasing either of them may one day result in me getting a little bit of money. Use your best judgment. :)
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