Writing Out of the Box.

Two of our most distinguished authors of genre fiction talk about setting the literary imagination free

Octavia Butler. Walter Mosley. A writer's conference at the Smithsonian. An intriguing combination. Her height is imposing. Her ebony face is like a majestic African mask. Her deep, mellow voice bears a slight lips. Her stories are mystical and at once otherwordly and familiar. He is chunky, fair-skinned, animated and given to wry humor. His best-known stories are engrossing mysteries with characters who become your friends. At first the pairing of a science fiction writer and a mystery writer seemed old. But think about it--they are both the top African American writers in their respective genres. In fact, Butler and Mosley are probably the only black science fiction and mystery writers whom most people can easily name.

These two very successful authors are also trying to reach beyond the boxes that publishers and booksellers have put them in. In addition to his Easy Rawlins mysteries, Mosley has written two books of short stories, the novel Always Outnumbered, Always Outgunned and Blue Light, a science fiction tale. Most of Butler's works are classified as sci-fi, but they aren't the high-tech variety. Her books Parable of the Sower and Parable of the Talents, for instance, deal with the social, psychological and mystical aspects of people and communities of the future.

The gifts of both authors are well recognized. Mosley has sold one million books, including five mysteries published in 18 languages. Butler has won top science fiction awards, and in 1995, was awarded a MacArthur "genius" grant.

The two authors endeared themselves to the audience of fans and aspiring writers who gathered recently at the Smithsonian in Washington, D.C. for a panel discussion, co-sponsored with BIBR. The session was moderated by Carol Randolph of Court TV, who is also a literary agent, and Butler and Mosley dispensed their wisdom borne of experience.

What drives them to write

"I wanted to write since I was ten," Octavia Butler said. She has always liked writing about other worlds. "I got into it because I was lonely and shy. I was reaching out to others in ways that were interesting to me."

Walter Mosley likened his need to write to a natural need for sex. "I could be dying and I'd still be writing. Writing is the process of living for me." A onetime computer programmer and a potter on the side, Mosley, who is approaching fifty, didn't begin writing until he was in his thirties. He was raised in Texas and California by a black father from Louisiana and a Jewish (not white, he insists) mother from New York. Both parents grew up poor and mistreated, but learned the ghetto legacy of humorous storytelling as a way to inspire others. That tradition informs his work.

He has Zen-like approach to writing. His goal is not greatness, but satisfaction. "The important thing is to write a story that keeps people wondering what happens next. That's hard to do. There's a wonder at play."

For Butler, writing is about self-discovery. "I didn't realize how much I had absorbed of my American culture. When I was working on the Parable books, I knew that I wanted a character who would begin a new religion and who might, at some time after her death, after everyone had forgotten how imperfect she was, be deified. The sad truth is, I couldn't believe a black woman could do all of that, so first I had to work on myself."

Butler works on herself all the time. She reads everything she can get her hands on, she says. She takes long walks in the morning before writing, often with a Walkman playing motivational tapes. She also admitted to being a news junkie. "A lot of terrible news went into Parable of the Talents."

How they see their work

Agents and publishers often don't know what to do with African American writers who don't fit into a prescribed mold, the authors maintained. When Mosley tried to sell Gone Fishin' early in his career, agents said it wasn't "commercial" enough. He was told that whites didn't want to read about blacks, that black women didn't like black men, and finally, that black men didn't read. Devil in a Blue Dress eventually proved those notions wrong.

Similarly, Butler had limited success with her first three science fiction books before her fourth and bestselling book, Kindred, broke through. "Publishers told me, `We don't know how to sell it. Blacks don't read science fiction.' I told one of my publishers that my audience was black science fiction readers and feminists. He accepted black and science fiction, but feminist scared him. But then feminist bookstores started calling." Now she feels she has peaked with her science fiction audience, and her books have found a much broader audience. "The Parable books are as mainstream as [Margaret Atwood's] The Handmaid's Tale."

Butler said that she worries about the lack of vision and the timidity of the publishing industry. "Publishers are like movie producers--they won't do something unless they've seen it done successfully several times in the past."

The pros and cons of genre

"I hate having to explain that a good story is a good story regardless of genre," Butler said. The downside to being categorized as a science fiction writer is that it's seen as fiction lite, "something a 14-year-old can read." Butler reminded the audience that her work is not intended for children.

In the past, the advantage of genre, of course, was the novelty of being a black science fiction writer. "It got me published when nothing else was going on for me." A friend who was doing PR for a rock band helped line up TV interviews for Kindred, and it captured the attention of readers.

The mystery market has served Mosley well. Of the people who like and buy his books, he said, "I can carry about half of them into a new genre."

He said he doesn't worry about appealing to everyone. (Having the president of the United States as an acknowledged fan doesn't hurt.) "People like Stephen King, John Grisham and Mary Higgins Clark are writing books that are available to a much broader audience--that's fine with me." Their novels, he finds, tend to be "exclusive of all the flavors and notions of character development that might cause questions in the reader. [The stories are] completely interesting, but you never get any comment on the inner workings of the character[s]."

Both Butler and Mosley gave kudos to McMillan's Waiting to Exhale for kicking down a few publishing doors for other black writers, (Mosley recalled the difficulty in selling his work in the 1980s, "PTM, pre-Terry McMillan.") and to Oprah for exposing black writers books to wider audiences.

Advice to up-and-coming writers

Eaves-dropping and people-watching," have been valuable tools for Octavia Butler. She highly recommends them to other writers. Just as significant, she said, as reading. "What you bring to a book as a reader is as important as what [the writer] put into it." She reads novels, newspapers, medical journals and science periodicals, and as a writing instructor, she reads teaching books. She is especially fond of The Art of Dramatic Writing by Lajos Egri.

But how do you get a story started? Butler said she prefers to dive in, but suggests that beginning writers outline first. "Have a notion of what the end is. I like being able to summarize my story in one sentence." In addition, writers have to control the perfectionist in themselves. "You'll never be done. You have to stop."

Mosley said writers should do their best but, likewise, know when to stop. "If you know how to fix it, then you're not done. If you don't know how to fix it, you're done." Butler recommended classes and workshops where writers' work is critiqued. Mosley is too defensive for that. "What helps me is talking about someone else's work or listening to someone talk about other people's work."

Showing work to friends and family before publication

Butler laughed. "Not even to an enemy!"

Mosley pointed out that once a work is published, everyone will read it. "Worry about what others might think all you want, but write anyway," he said. "The work should supersede the fear."

Both Butler and Mosley have dealt with large publishers and small ones. They have also experienced the insult of large companies that have been slow to publicize their work. Both recommended small publishing houses and black-owned companies, because they give more attention to writers, especially beginners, even though they have less up-front money to offer. Butler and Mosley encouraged writers not to be shy about seeking publicity. They should write the press releases and send them out themselves if the publisher hasn't done so.

There's little room for fear and intimidation, Mosley counseled. "Art is a series of mistakes. If you're an artist, you learn from those mistakes and make it better. The book goes out into the world and the book changes--depending on what the reader brings to it and gleans from it." In the end "controlling your reader is impossible."