Interview with Author and Poet Wendy Van Camp

I’m continuing my series of author interviews with writer and poet Wendy Van Camp whose newest book is a collection of science fiction poetry!

Tell us about yourself! What would you like readers to know about you?

Wendy Van Camp: I am Wendy Van Camp, an author, poet, and a blogger. My writing platform is called No Wasted Ink. My blog features classic scifi and fantasy book reviews, author interviews of up and coming in genre authors, a top-ten writing craft article list, my own articles and illustrated science fiction themed poetry. Everything is free to read on No Wasted Ink.

I write science fiction and fantasy stories. The stories can be found in many magazines, on Medium, and at Curious Fictions. My Austen Regency book is on all online outlets including Amazon as are several anthologies that have published my science fiction short stories. I have several science fiction novel series in the pipeline.

I am known for my scifaiku and astropoetry. Scifaiku is science fiction themed haiku. Astropoetry is any poetry that features the science of the cosmos. I illustrate my scifaiku and sell them as art prints at science fiction convention art shows. My first poetry book is “The Planets: a scifaiku poetry collection” and it features 108 poems about the planets of our solar system. The book is nominated for an Elgin Award.

Alexis: Interesting! I’ve also had good luck selling books at Cons, and they’re really fun to attend. I’ll admit, I haven’t read much science fiction poetry, but I have noticed that magazines like Fantasy & Science Fiction or Asimov’s often include scifi poetry. I think it’s a really fascinating and emergent genre.

Wendy Van Camp’s book, The Planets: a scifaiku poetry collection.

What book or books have most influenced you as a writer?

Wendy Van Camp: I first started reading science fiction as a pre-teen. The first book I read in genre is “A Princess of Mars” by Edgar Rice Burroughs. I loved the Thark woman Sola and Dejah Thoris as much as the hero, John Carter. Next were the juvenile novels of Robert A Heinlein. The science detail of the stories entralled me. The stories were geared for young people and were mainly science fiction coming of age tales. They are somewhat dated today, but still entertaining. Other authors that I loved were Andre Norton, Anne McCaffery, Vonda N. McIntyre, and Ursula LeGuin.

I found books that highlighted the relationships of the characters and showed a more overview of their world more appealed to me rather than ones that strictly spoke about the science and little else. These are two different styles in science fiction. Both appeal to audiences, but for me the character driven stories connected better. As a writer, I find that my stories are also more character driven and I like to pull in a sense of reality to my world-building, even if the location is far from Earth or far in the future.

Alexis: That’s interesting! I actually really liked Anne McCaffery when I was younger, and I still love Ursula LeGuin. I’m reading a collection of stories by Octavia Butler now, with are incredible—fascinating and dark in the best possible way.

Who is your favorite character in your book? What do you like about them?

Wendy Van Camp: I do not have characters in “The Planets: a scifaiku poetry collection”. Instead, each chapter of the book focuses on a different planet of our solar system. I’m a bit old-fashioned in my including Pluto as a planet, but I still think of our home system as having nine planets with additional dwarf worlds. Using the scientific data as inspiration for my poems, I also included historical connections and science fiction concepts to flavor the science fiction themed haiku.

What are you doing to de-stress during the pandemic? Is there any coping mechanism you’d recommend (or NOT recommend)?

Wendy Van Camp: At first, I spent much time worrying that my family would not have enough food to eat. Facing those empty store shelves in March was frightening. The stress of watching all my speaking events and conventions close down one by one was difficult. I focused on learning how to keep my family safe from the virus and to cope with my husband working from home. I was not productive during this time and read plenty of books or watched old movies. I tried to limit my news watching so that it did not overwhelm me.

In April, I began to reconnect with friends and venues via Zoom and Skype. I was invited to be a co-panelist on a science fiction podcast as a semi-regular. I discovered that there was a range of new events where I could read my writing and poetry to new audiences. Then some of the conventions that I would normally attend in person went virtual and I found that I loved having additional access to these events in this way.

From that point on, I have found that my creativity and productivity have returned. I am busy writing new stories and poems, keeping up with my blog, and implementing new methods to generate sales online. I still miss selling at a table or going to an event to do programming as an author and poet, but in some ways this new “normal” has been good for me. As long as both my husband and I keep our health, I am content.

Alexis: I also found it was hard to be productive in the beginning of the pandemic. I think the stress and the daily grind, as well as working from home while wrangling a toddler, was just overwhelming. I’m glad that I’m finally starting to feel productive and inspired again.

Do you have pet? If so, share a picture of your pet!

Wendy Van Camp: My little co-worker is a cat named Biscuit. My husband saw her at the local animal shelter when we went looking for a new kitten. He refused to leave the shelter without her. She was a little tawny lump, afraid and alone. She wrapped her paw around his heart at first sight. Biscuit is now an adult and quite mischievous. She hangs out with me when I write and loves to steal my fountain pens or play with the elastic of my traveler’s notebook. Pouncing feet is her specialty.

Alexis: Biscuit is a adorable name for a kitty! My husband always tries to act like he’s too tough to love our cats, but then he’s totally thrilled when one of them sleeps on his lap all day now that he’s working from home. Honestly, my cats have loved us staying home during the pandemic.

Author Wendy Van Camp’s adorable kitty Biscuit! Photo by Wendy Van Camp, Interview by Alexis Lantgen on Lunarianpress.com

What do you like to do other than read or write? Do you have any interesting hobbies?

Wendy Van Camp: I am a certified gemologist and enjoy the study of gemstones. I did the training to aid me as a buyer in my former jewelry business. I learned a great deal about precious stones and diamonds and pearls. I felt my years of buying semi-precious stones at gemfairs made me a little better at identification than my instructors, but their knowledge of the stones and their properties/hardness was of aid to me as a jewelry designer. While I no longer consider myself to be a full-time artisan jeweler, I still enjoy creating the odd piece of jewelry for myself or friends.

Alexis: Gemologist! That’s fascinating! I used to love doing “rock projects” when I was teaching science, and I have a rock collection. Being a gemologist sounds amazing and so creative.

What advice do you have for other writers or people just getting started in writing?

Wendy Van Camp: I know that most people will tell you to “just write”. There is some truth to this. You can’t be a writer if you are not putting words on the page. I also like to tell new writers to find their community. Knowing other writers, peers who are going through the same learning curve and experiences you are, is extremely helpful. Our family and non-writer friends mean well and want to be supportive, but sometimes unknowingly they set up roadblocks to the creative process. Writing peers can give you advice about software and hardware choices, methods of scheduling, be co-workers at sprints and serve as sounding boards. There are many ways to connect these days. Online writing communities on the internet, Facebook Groups, local writing associations are all there to help you during those crucial early years. It doesn’t matter if you are a novelist, a short story author, or a poet. Finding your people should be a priority.

How do you choose what books you want to read?

Wendy Van Camp: I’m old-fashioned in that I generally find them via word of mouth. Many of my friends are writers and talking about a good book we’ve just discovered always comes up. Sometimes they are craft books, but other times they are books we’ve enjoyed. Another method is by going to conventions and hearing authors read their work. Many times I have listened to a reading and have ended the venue with an autographed book to take home.

If you write scifi, what technology or innovations or scientific discoveries have inspired your work?

Wendy Van Camp: As a science fiction author and poet, I find that keeping a “commonplace book” of science discoveries, announcements, or facts about other worlds is invaluable to me as a tool. For “The Planets”, I used science journal articles about our solar system as the inspiration for my poetry. I would read about the atmosphere, the ground, the composition of the air and I would use this as a starting point for my poems. Now that my poetry book is done, I am using the same science research as the foundation of a new series of novels and short stories that take place in the solar system. They are in the pipeline and I hope to debut the first of them by the end of 2020.

Alexis: That’s awesome! I found that learning more about science, especially other planets and moons in our solar system and current theories about AI, helped inspire my book, Sapience, as well. I think keeping a books of science discoveries is a great idea for science fiction writers.