Fantasy Book Critic: SPFBO Champions' League Interview: Olivia Atwater

AUTHOR INFO: Olivia Atwater writes whimsical historical fantasy with a hint of satire. She lives in Montreal, Quebec with her fantastic, prose-inspiring husband and her two cats. When she told her second-grade history teacher that she wanted to work with history someday, she is fairly certain this isn't what either party had in mind. She has been, at various times, a historical re-enactor, a professional witch at a metaphysical supply store, a web developer, and a vending machine repair person.

Publisher: Starwatch Press (May 6, 2022) Page Count:286 Formats: ebook, audiobook, paperback, hardback

Looking back to when you entered SPFBO, did you ever imagine your book would take the top spot? What made you take the plunge and submit?

Good lord no, I never genuinely expected to win. I had made a habit of submitting a book each year, because it was fun and I wanted to enjoy the community. And then, for some reason, Small Miracles just kept… persisting. I would say that right up until the day it won, I was expecting it to be knocked out at any moment!

How has life changed since winning SPFBO? More book sales? Wild parties? Paparazzi at your grocery store?

The parties remain tame, I’m afraid. (Attendees still include my husband and the cats.) I’m very pleased that Small Miracles has attracted its own little following due to its SPFBO win, though, as it’s otherwise considered a lesser-known book of mine. It’s very special to me, and I’m glad that people are reading it!

Many champions talk about the pressure of following up a winning book. Did you feel that? How did it shape your next projects (if at all)?

I think I must have a very relaxed attitude about books, actually. I don’t tend to feel pressured to make each one better than the last—mostly because each book is very different from the last, and therefore difficult to compare. To be fair, though, I came by this attitude honestly, in the way that most authors do: I wasted ten years of my life trying to write a perfect magnum opus, and then realised that at some point, you just have to grit your teeth and publish something. I compare everything to that useless ten years of work now, and say to myself “at the end of the day, publishing something is still better than publishing nothing—so finish what you’re working on, and stop worrying.”

There are nearly 3,000 SPFBO entries out there. What, in your opinion, helped your book climb to the top?

o My god, why would you ask me this question? There’s no good answer to this question! Either I try to guess why my book won a competition and end up sounding like an egomaniac, or else I say I just don’t know. Er. I suppose that I’m very obsessive over readability. I have a background in technical writing, and I do literally go line-by-line through my books making certain that there’s only one way to read something, and that each sentence flows naturally into the next sentence. I’m always very concerned about my neurodiverse readers and my second- or third-language readers, and I want them to be able to enjoy the text without struggling. That doesn’t mean I give up on having a style of my own; it means that I have to work even harder to prioritise clarity while still adding flair on top of it. I don’t allow myself to slide on either one.

Imagine your main character finds out they’re competing in the Champions' League. Are they thrilled? Terrified? Confused? Demanding a rewrite?

Gadriel has no idea how she’s conned her way here, and frankly, she thinks you’re all bonkers for letting her get this far. She’s not going to dissuade anyone, mind you—but she won’t be putting in any further effort. That’s on you for expecting better from a mediocre little devil.

Every author has that “this is never going to work” moment. Did you? How did you push through and keep writing?

Small Miracles was an exercise in humour, and a lot of the chapters originally fell flat, for reasons I originally struggled to identify. Finally, I realised that almost all of the book’s humour comes from dramatic irony—and the best way to heighten that irony is often to change the primary viewpoint character of a chapter. It’s so much easier to make deadpan jokes about a situation when the character in question knows almost nothing about what’s really going on.

Apart from your own novel, is there a past SPFBO book (any year, any entry – doesn’t have to be a winner or a finalist) you’d hype up to readers - maybe one you loved or thought deserved more of the spotlight?

I thought A Rival Most Vial was an incredible romantic fantasy in so many ways! There was brilliant structure to it of the sort you only really appreciate if you’ve written a lot of romance. It had a lot of genuine heart to it, too. I got to judge that book myself, and I remember giving it very high marks. Truly, I think it was a perfect example of a book that both epitomised and improved upon its sub-genre of choice.

What’s the project currently on your desk - and is it behaving, or making you question all your life choices?

I am currently working on the second book in my Victorian Faerie Tales series, Rosemary & Thyme. It is… more or less behaving. But I tend to write very self-contained novels, and this is the first time I’ve written a book two that really requires readers to have finished book one. It feels oddly uncomfortable, like part of me is convinced that everyone will complain that it makes no sense unless you’ve read book one. Well, all right—a lot of people will complain about that, based on experience. But I need to convince myself that those people are not my intended audience.

What’s one piece of writing advice you completely ignore - and one you swear by?

If I could strike just one rule from every author’s mind, it would be that absolute stinker of “show, don’t tell”. It’s terrible. Every author thinks they’re beautifully implying things far more clearly than they actually are. Anyone who’s ever run a D&D game in their life knows that the players won’t pick up even half of what you lay down with your “very obvious” descriptions, and they’re definitely not going to guess the answer to your “very obvious” riddle. Readers are exactly the same. What I recommend instead of this rule is: “show, then tell.” Basically, once you’ve done all of your lovely descriptions, you’re obliged to briefly clarify what you meant by those descriptions as simply as humanly possible. It doesn’t take long, and it takes pity on your second-language readers, who just can’t fully digest a lot of metaphorical purple prose.

Win or lose, your book’s in the top 10 of nearly 3,000. But personally, what would be your proudest writing achievement - published or still locked away on your hard drive?

I think I might have a healthy mindset on this one? I’m very proud of everything I’ve already published. I’ve put a great deal of work and care into all of it. I’m also going to be proud to finish much of what I’m currently working on. I feel like every book I write has something special about it that doesn’t ever go away. If anything, I suppose I’m proud that I never settle for writing anything just for the sake of writing it. I always have a theme I’m working up to, or a narrative statement that I want to spend an entire book fleshing out, and it’s always something that I deeply care about.