Interview with Ysabeau S. Wilce

Q: The two main female influences on Flora—Mamma and Nini Mo—are strong, resourceful, and courageous women. Yet Flora often doubts her own abilities. Does Flora realize that these characteristics reside within her as well?
A: I think Flora aspires to have these characteristics but often feels that she fails to live up to the examples that Nini Mo and Buck offer. She’s trying, though! Sometimes she succeeds, sometimes she fails, but the important thing is that she does try. As Nini Mo might say, “Dare, win, or disappear.”

Q: In contrast to the stereotype that all teenage girls are obsessed with clothes, Flora is not a fashion victim. In fact, her best friend Udo Landaðon is far more interested in fashion than she is. Does their relationship provide an opportunity to discuss gender? Can clothing be used to express aspects of a character’s identity to readers?
A: Insofar as Flora and Udo are concerned, I wasn’t trying to make a particular statement about the gendered construction of clothing. Udo’s character just happens to be clothes mad—I didn’t plan on making him that way! In Califa vanity is not a gendered vice; men like Udo and the Dainty Pirate can be just as vain as women, can dress just as floridly, and can be just as hair obsessed. Prior to the end of the eighteenth century, men’s clothing was just as gaudy and fashion aware as women’s, and it was this period that I wanted to evoke in Califa. Another major difference between the way people dress in Califa versus the way we dress today—at least in the Western world—is that in Califa both men and women wear skirts. Why? Because I thought it would be cool!

I am extremely interested in the history of fashion, which is why I have tried to be rather specific in my descriptions of the clothing worn in Flora Segunda. Characters’ clothing choices help to reveal their motivations and agendas. After all, clothing says a lot about people; it both reveals and disguises. Lord Axacaya, for example, continues to wear traditional Huitzil clothing—what does this say about him? Buck mostly appears in uniform, which is a kind of disguise, but she doesn’t always wear garments appropriate to her rank—what does this say about her? Flora has to make her own dress for her Catorcena—her ability to do so says something about her maturity and readiness to be considered as an adult.

Q: Flora’s initial impressions of Valefor, Lord Axacaya, Paimon, and even Poppy turn out to be wrong. Actually, Flora has a tendency to jump to conclusions before she has all the facts. Can her behavior serve as a warning of sorts to young people that they should think before making judgments about people and situations?
A: First impressions are important, but it’s always good to reevaluate and keep an open mind. Flora is learning that life can be supercomplicated, and there’s often more than one side to a story. However, I’m not sure that in our world we need to be so suspicious of everyone! Flora happens to live in a particularly political and tumultuous time and place, but most of us have much more prosaic lives and can take people more at face value.

Q: Califa is the setting of “Metal More Attractive,” a short story you wrote prior to Flora Segunda. With that piece and this novel, it seems you’re creating the history of Califa. Do you think history can play a role in works of fiction?
A: I think creating a sense of history is pretty important in fantasy worlds because it helps to anchor the setting and also make it seem more realistic. For fantasy to work well, it still has to have a kind of logic to it, and having realistic details helps make the fantastic elements easier to swallow. Keeping some details realistic also helps the reader relate to the world and its inhabitants. As a historian I’m fascinated by patterns and connections; history is made of interlocking events and motivations that are often only understood much later. I like to play with those connections—set the characters loose, let them plot and scheme, and see what happens. It makes the creative process seem like a little chess game, and much more entertaining than if I plan everything out myself!

Q: Your short fiction has been widely acclaimed and has appeared in popular science fiction and fantasy magazines such as The Magazine of Fantasy & Science Fiction and Asimov’s Science Fiction. What are the differences, if any, between writing a novel and writing a work of short fiction?
A: I find it easier to write novels. My short stories are always very long. I need the space to develop characterization and action. For me, the most important element of fiction is characterization; I’m quite happy to have no plot, or an extremely slow plot, if the characters are compelling! But most people do require some action to move forward, and I find it hard to squeeze both character and action into a small word count.

Q: Flora Segunda has playful, descriptive language—choco sandwies and Stealie Girl, for example—sprinkled throughout the text. There are a number of Spanish-sounding words as well, such as Catorcena and Califa. Are you interested in how language is constructed and how it’s influenced by culture?
A: Because I’m not really a linguist, I can’t say much about language construction. But I am interested in how language is an expression of culture, and also in how it functions as a way to enforce group identity. Army slang, for example, is all about creating a sense of esprit de corps within a group of people whose only commonality is that they belong to the same organization.

Language can be quite powerful. Obviously, I’m not the first writer to explore that topic, nor am I the first to create a magickal system that hinges upon language. But because language really is a form of magick, I figured there was room for one more writer on that boat, and thus climbed aboard! Language exposes us; our word choices tell the world who we are, what we believe, and sometimes even why we have those beliefs. And of course, for a writer language is all there is—it’s the only way to communicate with the reader. Words are all you have, so you must make sure each word is the right one and make it count.

Q: The type of stories you write can be considered speculative fiction. How do you feel about categorization of your work? Which writers or genres did you read when you were younger? Who do you read now?
A: All fiction is speculative, of course. And all fiction is fantastic by its very nature—even fiction that pretends to be realistic. Specific categorizations, I think, are more meaningful to booksellers and reviewers than they are to writers. I just write what I write; I don’t worry about the details. When I was younger, my favorite books—and therefore biggest influences—were probably T. H. White’s The Once and Future King, Shakespeare’s Hamlet, Gene Wolfe’s Shadow of the Torturer, and all the Icelandic sagas. I also read tons and tons of popular history which hugely influenced me. I pretty much read everything I could get my hands on and graduated out of children’s fiction at a pretty early age.

Modern writers and books I adore include Dorothy Dunnett, whose books are complicated and rich with details and melodrama; George MacDonald Fraser’s hilariously bawdy Flashman books; Elizabeth Hand, who writes lushly descriptive novels about obsessive artists and terrifyingly beautiful dystopian futures; Paul Park’s gorgeous Starbridge novels, as well as his latest series, A Princess of Roumania; and Stephen King, who is, in my opinion, the great American novelist of the twentieth century!

Specific young adult writers I love include Diana Wynne Jones, Tove Jansson, Tanith Lee, Joan Aiken, Ursula K. Le Guin, Daniel Pinkwater, and T. H. White, just to name a few.

Q: When can readers expect to read more of Flora’s fantastic adventures?
A: As soon as Flora gets out of bed and gets going!