There was a last minute reading announced, and I was able to go. I thought someone might enjoy my disjointed notes (I apologize in advance for the quality)...

Mr. Mieville (he asked me to call him China when I talked to him), was wearing a faded blue t-shirt, cuffed khaki cargo pants, and black athletic shoes. When it was time for the reading, he donned a pair of black-rimmed glasses.

The speaker introduced China, making a segue to his most recent book, saying that he is at home in two overlapping world as a scholar and a fiction writer. I could tell the speaker was a bigger fan of China’s scholarly works as he grossly mispronounced Un Lun Dun. China smiled and said how he pronounced it.

China read for about 25 minutes total: 15 minutes from The City & the City and 10 minutes from a work that is in its final editing stage Kraken(?) if I understood the name correctly.

The reading from Kraken dealt with a spin on Egyptian mythology. “Statue shades” are undead workers that care for the royalty in the afterlife. Wati lead the “first ever strike of the afterlife,” which ultimately surprised the well-to-do who were told that they would need to work if they were to eat after they died

Wati was a “wrong-way walker” through the afterlife, making a journey of generations that spread multiple cultures versions of the undead. He became a myth among the undead. Until he finally came to the end (or the beginning), when he fermented rebellion among “created creations,” statues, familiars, etc…which resulted in the formation of the UMA-Union of Magicked Assistants.


Several questions followed:

1) What does China feel is the role of his public readings?

China loved this question. He said of course “to shill for Random House,” but also said that he is personally ambivalent about readings. While he loves reading aloud, he recognizes that some works are better read aloud than other and that authors shouldn’t be expected to be good bloggers or readers.


2) Use of metaphors and similes? Are they natural? Do you work at them?

He said that the voice of each section/chapter he writes is self-policing, that if he has to force the metaphor, it would make for a labored reading. Since he’s not looking for the “chimera of the perfect metaphor” that they come quick to him.


3) Regarding his opinion of his own works…

He is most satisfied with Iron Council even though it had the weakest reception from his readers, while he is the proudest of The City & the City as it’s his closest to ideal of a book that he could write.


4) Someone asked about the villages on the back of turtles from Iron Council? Was that something he invented or did he use the idea of the world turtle?

No, he didn’t invent the idea, and he of course referenced Terry Pratchett and Discworld. He went on to say that he simply loves turtles, particularly the structure and composition of the shell. He used this to illustrate his love for the Internet, because when he was writing this section he wanted some words for turtles in different languages, and when he Googled “names for turtles” that was the first link he got!


5) Philosophy for teaching fiction?

He answered this question with humility, saying he was still a newcomer. One major problem that he notices is the false expectations of success. Also, while they can be helpful workshops are a problem. First, he thinks that there is a tendency to pull the quality of the work toward the middle. That the poor and excellent quality gets lumped in, nothing stands out. Second, that workshops encourage a sense that because someone writes something that it deserves to be read. Sometimes the only purpose of writing something is to get the experience and learn from it. Having a work that deserves to be read is earned.

In terms of concrete advice, he is not a huge believer in the idea of innate talent, although talent can be learned (not taught). Writers should take significantly more time planning their books-completing an extensive chapter-by-chapter outlines. This allows the work to be completed in more manageable pieces. (I thought that was great advice for dissertation writing!)
He emphasized that the writer should “make readers want what you give” not the reverse. Write for yourself.

He discussed a Samuel Delany essay on characterization, a list on anti-advice, primarily that you don’t need to truly know your character when writing them (extensive histories are NOT necessary). Who do you really know that well in real life anyway? (That got a big laugh)


6) Why write Un Lun Dun? (similar to the question that I wanted to ask)

He said that he wrote it for his 9-year old self. He wanted to recreate the nostalgia he had at that age to completely inhabit a book. An homage to those memories.

Yes, he is writing another YA book, and praised the high quality of YA fiction.


7) Do you target your audience when you’re writing (in terms of genre expectations, multi-nationalities…)?

No. But he really liked teasing his readers by introducing supernatural elements in The City & the City and not really making them central to the story (I didn’t catch that part of the answer too well since I haven’t read the book).

(and of course the requisite GRRM question ) The audience member gave a quote from GRRM asking China what type of writer he was. Why do you write?

He replied that he would write even if it weren’t published. That he’s glad he’s able to do so-it’s a lot of sitting at a desk drinking tea. He worries about the notion of “writing because you can’t help it.” He continued that writing isn’t a career that should be glamorized. It’s just writing. Writers are not a special breed.


His humility impressed me. He took the time to talk to everyone that wanted to chat. I brought one book for him to sign, Looking for Jake, my favorite, as I didn’t want to be greedy. I’ll have to translate the personalization, as I didn’t recognize one of the words he used! I asked for a picture after the signings were complete (only ~40 people so it didn’t take very long), and he graciously obliged.