From: Sonya

I’ve been enjoying both yours and Kelley’s books and stories for a while now and would like to thank you for sharing such wonderfully rich, strong, interesting characters. They are intelligent and you treat them with the same intelligence as you do the reader. I wasn’t going to comment as I didn’t have anything to say other than fantastic, beautiful, intriguing, thought provoking, thanks, cheers etc. However earlier I read the comments regarding particular English words.

I absolutely don’t want to turn this into a debate but I wanted to offer an alternative point of view to the suggestion of altering your writing and not using the word swang etc. It seems such an insignificant thing, indeed I’d not even noticed that you had used it, but that’s most likely because I’m English. Although not a northerner I must use it in my everyday vocabulary for it to have gone unnoticed as I tend to dwell on unusual words as to their exact meaning and context and file them away for future use.

But may I just propose that those who are suggesting you not use words they are uncommon with to re-consider. Now I know this sounds extreme but would you ask a painter not to use a particular colour? Why ask a writer to use different words? If the language used is considered too different or too old then surely that a)negates a great deal of English literature b)takes away part of the essence of the author and individuality of the writing. I for one prefer it that way.

Of course it is your work, your writing and you have every right to do as you wish.

P.s. Looks like MSWord auto-spellchecker doesn’t like swang either…oh well.

I hate that auto-checker. Everytime I reinstall Word or get a new computer (which I had to do very recently, lost a pile of data--including years of email), I forget to turn off that damned thing. It's really disconcerting to be prosing away, deep in the groove, and suddenly all these wiggly coloured lines sprout through the text like bindweed. Really pops me out. Tuh.

Your suggestion, though, is very refreshing, thank you. Having said that, I'm not sure your painter/writer analogy holds up. Words and pictures--colours and words--are perceived and used differenly. If, in a painting, you stick a clock on someone's face it doesn't stop you seeing the rest of the picture, it doesn't stop you telling yourself a kind of story about what's going on. If you're reading along and keep getting popped out of the narrative by a word, you don't fall into the story. If you don't fall into the story, the reading experience is seriously lessened. (Yeah, call me old-fashioned, but fiction is all about *story*. That's the point, people. Beautiful prose without a sturdy story--and by story I mean the intersection of plot and character--is dead text. Lifeless. Heartless. Empty.) So if and when there's another edition of Stay I might very well go ahead and swap "swung" for "swang." There again, I might not [grin].

From: Jay Salamon (jsalamon@hcsattys.com)

Hi. I've never read one of your books, but that should be rectified shortly. I'm about 75 pages into The Blue Place and have Slow River on my nightstand. I've been so impressed thus far that I wanted to learn more about you, so I found my way here.

I wondered if you're familiar with the Kathy Mallory books by Carol O'Connell, and if so, what you think of them? One of my first thoughts as I began to read about Aud was that I'd love to see what would happen if she and Mallory ever bumped heads. In fact, it occurred to me that it's too bad you can't take two contemporary characters from two different writers, shake them up in a jar, and create a story -- like having Aud and Mallory team up on a case.

If you don't know Mallory, she's been described by one reviewer as "the toughest, most competent woman detective in crime fiction." (Aud or you might disagree.) Mallory also is a sociopath, totally unencumbered by other people's rules, and emotionally damaged from childhood. Unlike Aud, she seems to be utterly uninterested in sex. But like Aud, she's tall, blonde, beautiful, dangerous, seems to have plenty of money, and spends lots of it on great clothes.

Anyway, thanks for creating this site and making yourself so accessible to your readers. To share more than just her work is a rare gift from any writer.

Oh, Aud's clothes are much nicer than Mallory's. For one thing, Aud wouldn't be caught dead in sneakers/cross-trainers/running shoes. (I forget what, exactly, Mallory wears on her feet, but I have a hazy picture in my head of white sneakers.) I like clothes, but the stuff that appeals to me is absurdly expensive, so I indulge myself mainly through Aud. I admit to having some Eileen Fisher but I'd kill for a made-to measure Armani suit. I long for a beautifully cut suit that drapes just right, that is sharp enough to take your fingers off, that has pockets big enough to actually put things in. Why do designers of girl clothes either omit pockets altogether from their jackets and trousers--pockets in dresses? ha, forget it--or use stupid little things that you can barely fit a credit card in, never mind keys or a phone or a pen or a USB drive or contact lens drops or... Hmmn. Maybe I should run a poll on my discussion list.

As for making a character cocktail, there's nothing that says it can't be done. (In fact, I have a vague recollection of someone having already done it; I just can't think who. If anyone out there knows what I'm talking about, drop me a line.) It would be quite pleasant to have others' characters wander though a chapter. (Oh, but what character? I think Travis McGee or James Bond might be fun.) Hmmn. Tempting. Full-throttle collaboration, though, that's another story. I've collaborated with Kelley on one essay, and loved the experience, but the idea of sharing a whole novel makes me want to stick a fork in my eye.

From: anonymous

what new characters are on the second season of the l word?

Well, as every lesbian writer in the world knows every other lesbian writer, whether we write novels or tv scripts or advertising jingles, I do of course know, absolutely, all the plot lines and hooks and characters for the new season. (Naturally I also know very well all the actors, particularly the lesbian ones. Oh, yes, they really are lesbians, whatever they might say in public. I'm a lesbian. I know these things.) But, you see, unless you've been through the initiation ritual and know the funny handshake, unless you have the secret decoder ring and are conversant with the seventeen mantras of dyke lore, if I told you, I'd have to kill you. Or maybe subject you to an evil lesbian ritual that would be a Fate Worse Than Death.

From: anonymous

I have read Stay, The Blue Place and Ammonite and very much enjoyed them and your rich style. I would like to get a copy of Slow River but have been told by my bookshop here in Sydney, Australia it is out of print - can you recommend who I would approach please? Also, are you likely to write a sequel to Ammonite - it's one of my all time favourites. Lastly, your site says Ammonite is reissued - where could I get a copy please? Many thanks.

Well, if you want unsigned books, probably the fastest route would be to get them from amazon.com (if you go to my novels page and click on any of the pictures of the books; it'll take you to exactly the right place). If you want signed, personalised books (including my collection of stores, With Her Body, which isn't available via amazon.com) then email Duane Wilkins at the University Bookstore here in Seattle and he'll take care of you personally. Just specify what books you want, and how you want the books signed, and then give your address and credit card number, and pay extra if you want the books shipped airmail rather than book rate. Oh, and Slow River is not out of print. At least the US and Japanese editions aren't. And I've just heard that there will be a Romanian edition by the end of this year. (Don't suppose you speak Romanian? No?) But, yes, the UK edition is no longer available. In fact, none of my books (and I mean none: not the novels, not the collection, not the anthologies I've edited) are available in the UK. Why? English editors just don't seem to think my stuff is right for their market. I disagree but, well, I would. It's hard not being on the shelves in your own country.

As for Ammonite, yes, that was reissued in 2002 with a new cover, a glossary, a map, and other little extras. I'm very pleased with it. I doubt, though, that I'll be writing a sequel any time soon. For more on this, see previous Ask Nicolas (there are many, but begin with March 31, 2005 or June 10, 2004 for more on this--there's also the Ask Nicola Archives).

It occurs to me that I really need to build a FAQ for this site, but I simply haven't had the time--or, frankly, the inclination. Yeah, I know it would save hours and hours in the long run, hours I could spend writing instead of hunting down previous answers, but, well, me and detail work have never really seen eye-to-eye. I'm impatient and careless. (The worst part about publishing a book, for example--at least for me--is reading through the galley proofs, hunting for typos. Just kill me now...) At four o'clock in the morning when I'm musing on fantastical ways to improve my life and this website, I dream of a small group of detail-oriented readers who step forth and volunteer to take a first pass, dividing the work between them, having a happy time getting to know each other while doing something... Well, I can't in truth say "interesting" because, to me, it would be deadly, but I know there are people in the world for whom this kind of thing is actually pleasurable. Anyone out there want to play with my archives? Ah, well. Just a thought...