What is your dream job?

Now that you’ve “explored” space, do you think you will return in future novels?

I don’t think so. I always want to do something new. I’ve had an itch to write a story with aliens for a long time, but next I’ll go somewhere else.

You also developed the online nation simulation game NationStates. Has working in that realm had an influence on your storytelling methods in your fiction?

NationStates has given rise to a whole bunch of role-playing communities, to the point where it’s almost a writing workshop in some places more than a game. There’s just something about being able to create your own country online that seems to inspire people to tell stories within it. I haven’t gotten deeply involved in that myself, but I do think there’s crossover in that both require thought about structure and worldbuilding. There’s also a lot of ethical choices at the heart of the game that make you confront your own views and discover what you’re willing to sacrifice for what you value, which is the kind of thing that’s always at the core of a story.

You’ve said writers should “find their own voice and guard it.” Could you elaborate on that advice?

I don’t think I’ve ever read a novel and been wowed by the author’s spelling, or grammar, or how rigorously they’ve adhered to the common wisdom on structure. I have been wowed by authors who did something different—who spoke clearly with an original voice from the very first sentence. There is a spark that some writers have, an energy or a clarity, that leaps off the page.

When you’re learning to write—and we’re all still learning to write—you naturally want to figure out what the rules are and follow them. But that really only works at a very basic level, and if you follow it slavishly, you wind up writing a book that could have been written by anyone. (And may be written by AI in the future.) Really, every rule or guideline on writing boils down to: Understand what you’re putting into people’s heads. You can do whatever you want so long as you understand how it will make someone feel when they read it. Also, I think we all tend to become more conservative as we age. So you can always write your proper books when you get old. If you’re young, write young.

What writers have influenced your work? Are there any on the list that might surprise us?

Probably not—some of my all-time faves are Margaret Atwood, Stephen King, George Saunders, Neal Stephenson, Shirley Jackson, John Irving, Kazuo Ishiguro, and Philip K. Dick. If I’m going to pull a left-field one, Joss Whedon, who is responsible for a huge amount of the TV and film I enjoyed from the 1990s onward.

“Every rule or guideline on writing boils down to: Understand what you’re putting into people’s heads.”

Are you at work on a new novel? Can you give readers a sneak peek into what to expect?

I’m always at work on a new novel. I haven’t not been at work on a new novel since about 1990. I am incredibly reluctant to talk about the new book until it’s done, though—I feel like this is always a mistake, for two reasons. Firstly, it releases some kind of hype valve in my brain, diverting energy away from writing and into convincing other people that what I’m writing is really good. And secondly, such hubris angers the writing gods, on whom I depend to grant me story ideas.