Science fiction comes to life

African-American writer talks about career, personal struggles at CSULB

By Suzanne Johnson, On-Line Forty-Niner

Wednesday, October 14, 1998

For Octavia Butler, writing has never been easy but obsession, introspection and personal struggle have all facilitated her career as a writer.

Butler shared her experiences as a writer with Cal State Long Beach students Tuesday in the Faculty Staff Conference Center.

Butler, author of 11 novels including "Survivor," "Kindred," "Wild Seed" and "Clay Ark," is one of the few African-American science fiction writers.

She has received two of science fiction's highest honors: two Hugo Awards, for best short story and best novelette, and the Nebula Award for best novelette.

Butler describes herself as "a pessimist if I'm not careful, a feminist always, a black, a quiet egoist, a former Baptist and an oil-and-water combination of ambition, laziness, insecurity, certainty and drive."

Butler's venture into writing began at a young age with compositions recorded in a notebook.

"In that notebook I created for myself a universe," she said. "I could be anywhere, anywhen, with any people I chose."

"Science fiction is like the Pacific Ocean, there isn't anywhere you can't go," Butler said.

Too many people view science fiction too narrowly, she said. To her, it is the "freest genre."

When Butler told her aunt that she wanted to be a writer, her aunt recommended that she get a real job in order to support herself. "She was trying to save me from a lifetime of borrowing and excuses," she said.

"Obsession can be a useful tool if used positively," Butler said.

For her, it was a way of aiming herself at a chosen target, to sell a story.

Her most recent novel, "Parable of the Sower," is the odyssey of one woman who is twice as sensitive in a world that has become doubly dehumanized.

She drew upon recurring themes in the news such as global warming, throwaway labor and the widening gap between the rich and poor to create her story.

Butler said that writing has never been easy.

"No matter how much I loved it, it still fought me," she said. "I used to give up writing like people give up cigarettes."

For Butler, writer's block is not staring at a blank page unable to write.

Instead, it is writing volumes and volumes of bad material, she said.

Butler advises would-be writers to listen to people's life stories and experiences and to eavesdrop on other's conversations.

Personal struggles can prove inspirational as well, Butler said. "Your landlady should inspire you with terror to write in order to pay rent," she said.

Butler compares writers to miners.

"We mine our lives the way miners dig for gold," she said.

Butler says she has been influenced by every author whom she has read, both good and bad, but that there was no one in particular whom she wanted to model herself after.

Butler, who now resides in Los Angeles, was born in Pasadena.

She has been writing since she was 10. She was not paid for it, however, until her first book, "Patternmaster," was published in 1976.

All but her most recent novel have been written on a manual typewriter.

Butler received her associate of arts in history from Pacific Christian College but said her best training in writing has come from writers' workshops.

Butler's upcoming novel, "Parable of the Talents," will be available in November.