Stephen Donaldson builds worlds with words.
Donaldson will be the guest of honor at the 37th annual Bubonicon Science Fiction Convention that celebrates fantasy, science fiction and horror. The events cover a wide range of possibilities, he said, including open panel discussion, an art show and several short films.
"I seem to have a talent for world building," he said in an e-mail interview. "If I can't invent the world in which my stories are set, I can hardly write at all."
Donaldson is the award-winning fantasy author of such publications as the Gap Sequence, The Chronicles of Thomas Covenant the Unbeliever, and several mysteries and short story collections. He said he blames his love for words on Joseph Conrad for his prose style and content, Henry James for story structure, and J.R.R. Tolkien for convincing him that fantasy was worth writing.
"My writing appeals to people who like emotionally intense storytelling in which suspense and excitement are based on deep engagement with the characters," he said.
He said started writing full time in 1972. Five years later, he published his first book and moved to New Mexico.
Donaldson said he chose to write science fiction because it was what he was good at.
Writing mystery novels has helped Donaldson become a better writer, he said, as does anything that stretches his abilities in a new way. He also said mystery elements have been increasingly finding their way into his fantasy novels. But aside from obvious mechanical differences, he said the two genres are thematically alike.
"A story is a story is a story," he said. "They all come down to imaginative insight and effective communication, regardless of genre."
Donaldson said science fiction and fantasy are genres of hope.
"The people who write these genres tend to believe that being human and alive is worth the effort required and that the effort required can be effective," he said. "As that message becomes increasingly rare, it becomes correspondingly precious."
With many years of writing under his belt, Donaldson said he is becoming more concerned with the dignity of his characters and the nuances of their personalities, experiences and actions. Characters do what they do because of who they are, he said, not because he wants them to do something. He also said he's not afraid to tailor his approach to themes, characters and structure to fit the needs of a particular story.
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"I'm rather proud of the fact that readers often can't recognize me from story to story," he said.
Donaldson said he's looking forward to being the guest of honor at Bubonicon.
"The thing I find most attractive is that Bubonicon is quite relaxed," he said. "Everyone there knows everyone else - or if they don't, they soon will."
He also said being guest of honor, like so many other awards and honors he has received, is a kind of food for a hungry ego.
"The trick is to be able to enjoy ego-food without being dominated by hunger," he said.
To keep himself balanced, Donaldson said he lives by the saying, "To thine own self be true."
"I fail at it as often as I succeed," he said.
