Deborah Willis is a Calgary-based author whose first book of short stories, Vanishing and Other Stories, was blurbed by Alice Munro. I feel like that’s all you need to know as an introduction. If Alice Munro thinks your writing is “astonishing,” you’re GOOD!! Debbie’s published two books of stories (The Dark and Other Love Stories followed Vanishing) and her debut novel, Girlfriend on Mars, is coming out in June (now)!!

Your first two books were short story collections and were very well received. So it seems to me you could have kept on that track without the pressure many fiction writers feel to publish a novel, but your newest book, Girlfriend on Mars, is a novel! Tell me why did you decide to write a novel this time, and how did the experience of writing this novel differ from that of writing your two story collections?

There were so many reasons that I turned towards writing a novel! For one, I naively figured: how hard can it be? Hahaha what? I thought it would be like writing a reeeeeeeeaaaally long story—but soon discovered that the length meant that I needed to learn a lot more about plotting and character motivation (which are, I believe, the same thing), and that my experience as a story writer hadn't prepared me for the novel's new demands. Stories have their own challenges, don't get me wrong; but the skills I'd learned as a story writer didn't fully translate.

I also wanted to try the dominant literary mode, of course. There are more readers for novels and that felt exciting. (Though now, as my novel is about to come out, this fact feels daunting. As a story writer, I realize now that I felt protected and sheltered, by virtue of the fact that my audience was small.) Due to there being readers, there's also potentially actual money in novels! Astonishing. And what writer doesn't dream of living off their work, even just for a year or two?

But finally, most importantly, this narrative really demanded to be a novel. It began as a short story that I published in my last collection, but those characters never left me; I loved them, felt so close to them, and the voices came so easily and naturally. That story was a joy to write and I also liked reading from it at public events—whenever I did a reading, I could sense the material was still alive for me. I also knew, right from the start, that the concept would work as a novel. I would have been foolish not to follow this idea further. A reality show to send people to Mars! Sometimes I wonder if it'll be the best story idea I'll ever have.

Yeah, you got it! Girlfriend on Mars centres on Kevin, a 30-something guy who is happily "going nowhere"—growing and smoking illegal weed in his absurdly overpriced Vancouver basement suite—when his girlfriend, Amber, announces that she will appear on a reality show called MarsNow. The show is a Survivor–meets–Star Trek amalgam where Amber will compete for one of two seats on the first human-led mission to Mars, funded by Silicon-Valley billionaire Geoff Task. And if Amber wins, she will stay on Mars forever, because the technology to come home doesn’t exist yet.

Of course, Kevin doesn't want his love to blast off to another planet. And Amber is driven, competitive, social-media savvy, and pumped for the MarsNow challenge—in other words, ready to be a star. But she's also secretly missing her boyfriend, longing to have a family, wondering if this Mars pursuit is a humiliating mistake, battling climate-change-induced depression, and possibly falling in love with another contestant.

The story is meant to be satirical, moving, and dark as a Martian night.

Ten years ago, I came across the idea in the news; there was a company that really did try to launch a reality show with the aim of sending people to Mars. My story and premise ended up very different from that endeavour (in real life, the show was never produced), but this news story was a jumping-off point, something that fired my imagination. I did a lot of research about Mars, space travel, and reality TV, but I've always loved research. I find it comforting as a writer—the details I come across help writing feel alive for me.

In terms of where the story came from, it also arose from anger. The book was a place where I could hold and examine my concerns about the societal and environmental emergencies we're facing. Such as the environmental crises, particularly the ways in which most of us dissociate and distract ourselves from them. The addictive quality of social media, celebrity, and click-bait media. And most of all, the ways in which Western culture—through religion, capitalism, and colonialism—has embraced a disconnection from nature, a belief that we are separate from and above natural systems. Which is, of course, a rejection of this planet, our only home—and a rejection of the self, since we are biological creatures, mammals, fortunate to be part of a community of species.

I was also able to express my frustration at the existence of billionaires, taking as my focus the almost hilariously immature space competition that some of them engage in. The satire practically writes itself: a few bros who have exploited the planet and human labour so profoundly that they are now richer than God—these guys are building space-tourism rockets instead of helping to save the only planet that, as far as we know, harbours life. How is this happening? How are we standing for it?

It helped to approach these broad, political concerns through the nuance of character, and to explore my thoughts through humour, satire, fiction. I could also investigate my own complicity and laziness and hypocrisy when it comes to these issues—fiction allows you to be more honest with yourself than you otherwise would be, I think.

Your first book was shortlisted for the Governor General’s Award for Fiction and your second book was longlisted for the Giller Prize, and won the Georges Bugnet Award for Fiction. How do you feel about book awards and the credibility they give to an author or even just how they help a book to be noticed by the reading public?

Oh awards! I'm so grateful that they exist, and am so thankful that I've had brushes with prize lists and even won a couple of smaller awards, and I have friends who've won big awards and deserve every ounce of that recognition. But awards are so bad for our mental health as writers, aren't they? When my book was longlisted for the Giller, I was far from naive; I knew what getting on the shortlist could mean for my so-called "career," so I couldn't help but long for that success. As a result, those three weeks on the long list felt so...well, long. I didn't enjoy it nearly enough. At one point, I paid actual money to a fortune teller, hoping she'd tell me if I'd get on the shortlist. (I discovered that fortune tellers don't tell you the future. They act as quite affordable therapists.)

I’m wondering if you have any tips on time management. I know that you work at Freehand Books, an indie press in Calgary and perhaps you do other work on the side as well. How do you manage your life in order to carve out writing time among all the other work that you do?

I have a lot to say about this! I don't carve out writing time at the moment (more on that below) but I think I'm nonetheless a master of time management (which is possibly another way of saying that I'm burnt out all the time?). I have a daughter who's nearly two and not in daycare yet, so it's challenging enough to care for her, work as an editor, and promote my novel. My daughter isn't one of those kids who needs long naps or who even goes to bed early, so my partner and I trade off and try to give each other as much time as possible (we both work freelance from home). It's very challenging for us both.

If there are other parents/writers reading this, I guess my biggest tip is to do as much with your child as possible. Involve them in your life whenever possible. There was a time, when my child was younger, when I hardly had a moment without her—I worked while she slept on me or next to me. I strapped her to my chest when I did dishes. I socialized with her, taking her for walks with friends or (when the pandemic allowed) to restaurants or people's homes. I think some people assumed that I didn't want to be apart from her for even a minute, and I do love spending time with her—but actually, involving her in those aspects of my life was a survival strategy that allowed me to be a writer during those challenging postpartum months. I had limited "baby free" time and needed to use it for writing or for restoring my energy.

Now that my daughter is older, it's harder to bring her along to everything, but I try to involve her in the mundane parts of life—and she loves doing dishes, gardening, flinging laundry around—so that I'm not using "my time" for those tasks.

What are your thoughts on Goodreads? Do you think authors should ignore it, worry about it, engage with it? Do you ever use it to decide whether or not to read a book?

I never thought about Goodreads much until my publisher did a Goodreads giveaway about a month ago. Then I went on to see early reviews, and realized how emotional it is to see—almost in real time—readers' reactions. I was devastated by the negative comments and so grateful when a reader understood what I was aiming for. I also learned that my novel seems to be a “love it or hate it” book, and saw how expectations shaped responses. When readers came expecting a light romp about reality TV and space travel, and found instead a book where the humour is actually meant to underscore themes of loss and grief, the disappointment was palpable. 

I'm hesitant about Goodreads in general, because of the starred rating system. It feels so inaccurate and simplistic to give a starred rating to books, and it makes me wonder how filmmakers feel about the prevalence of these types of ratings in their industry. I've also heard there are problems with the usability of the Goodreads platform, and the ways in which it's moderated. I've heard good things recently about StoryGraph, an alternative to Goodreads.

And finally, what are you working on now?

I have some ideas and jot them down, often in the middle of the night, and have a concept that I'm passionate about. But I'm not working in a sustained way on a new project. I sometimes feel frustrated by this, for sure, but I can mostly embrace this fallow period—I can even see the necessity of fallow periods, in general. When I think about the last two years of my life (about those complicated first postpartum weeks, about doggedly and exhaustedly revising my novel while my baby napped on my chest, about parenting without much outside support during the pandemic waves), I can see that I need to go easy on myself.

I’m also interested to know how you came up with the idea for your new novel? I’m writing these questions before I’ve had access to your book, but I think it’s about a pothead who’s happy to be stuck in his life and his girlfriend, who decides to appear on a reality TV show in which contestants live on Mars. It’s a great idea but I feel like if it were to occur to me, I don’t know that I’d believe in my ability to pull it off! How did you approach the plot and the technical details of the book (i.e., was there a lot of research, etc.)?

All this, despite having been on juries and knowing that the choices they make are necessarily subjective. And despite knowing that the sense of security that I was longing for—the belief that if I was "successful enough" I could finally relax—is both elusive and illusive.

So I guess this is to say that I don't think prizes are good for writers because they foster a "winner takes all" mentality, but I do think they're good for the media, who have often lost the way when it comes to covering books. And perhaps prizes lists are good for readers, because it's likely that many discover books they might not otherwise read. Essentially, readers discover books that are being recommended by writers, since the juries are most often made up of writers.

How do you deal with the deflating side of being an author—not being mentioned on lists of books “we’re anticipating,” not being on awards lists, negative reviews, etc.?

I have to prepare myself for the very real possibility of negative reviews coming out very soon! I also think there's no way to prepare for it. But my first thought is: it's so amazing to do this work. To have a vocation, to do what I love, and to be able to foster and nourish my small talent. Sometimes writing is difficult and usually it's underpaid, and yet on another level it's a lot of good luck—to be able to devote the time to writing involves so many layers of privilege. So I guess I tell myself: the counterbalance to all this good fortune is that some people are going to dismiss my stories, even cruelly.

Another way I cope with negative reviews is to try to be open to them—I know that sounds counter-intuitive. But if I'm in a learning mindset, I can read a negative review and try to see it as a chance to hone my judgement ("is this point valid?") and my craft ("could I improve next time?").

That's the best-case scenario; sometimes I just feel defensive and depressed. Then I try to accept and make space for disappointment. For feeling sad, pouty, pissed off. Negative emotions and experiences are inevitable and necessary, so generally my aim is to feel them deeply as a way to process and move on from them.

What would be your number one piece of advice for an emerging author (a) creatively and (b) about the business side of writing?

The best advice is to read a lot. You can't be a writer if you don't read—that has been proven to me again and again, when I've worked as an editor and with writing students.

I also tell writers to aim high and see where they land. And to think of the whole publishing process as a journey of finding your readers. I think the first piece of advice allows writers to envision what success might mean to them individually, while also leaving themselves open to other possibilities. Maybe you'd love to work with a particular agent—I would advise you to pitch to that agent, no matter how out of reach she might seem. But of course this agent might not be the right reader for your work, at least not at this moment, so rather than being totally undone by the rejection, just keep searching (and reading and revising!) until you find the people who do connect with your writing.

Lately I've also questioned that impetus to always be productive—humans are meant to do more than produce and consume, and right now my priority is to nurture my daughter. It's an honour to do it, and I know this phase won't last forever, that she won't always need or want to stay so close to me, and I'll miss these moments when they're gone.

Another priority is to support my novel as it comes into the world. Taking time to answers questions like these, for example, in the hopes that it might allow my book to find some readers. I'm grateful you're giving me this space.

I also must admit that the world doesn't require my books! There's really no rush to write something new. I never want to publish a book unless I trust (as much as possible) that it's worthy of people's time and attention, and even worthy of the materials and energy that will be used to produce it, so I'm happy to be slow and thoughtful.

Deborah Willis was born and raised in Calgary, Alberta. Her first book, Vanishing and Other Stories, was named one of the the Globe and Mail's and NPR’s Best Books of 2009, and was shortlisted for the Governor General's Award. She was a bookseller at Munro's Books in Victoria, BC, a writer-in-residence at Joy Kogawa House in Vancouver, BC, the 2012-2013 Calgary Distinguished Writers Program writer-in-residence at the University of Calgary, and the Writer in Residence at MacEwan University in Edmonton. She currently works for Freehand Books in Calgary.

Her second collection of short stories was published in February 2017 by Hamish Hamilton, the literary imprint of Penguin Random House Canada, and W.W. Norton and Company in the U.S, and translated into Italian by Del Vecchio Editore. The Dark and Other Love Stories was long-listed for the 2017 Giller Prize, won the Georges Bugnet Award for best work of fiction published in Alberta, and was named one of the best books of the year by The Globe and Mail, the CBC, and Chatelaine Magazine. Her fiction and non-fiction have appeared in The Walrus, The Virginia Quarterly, The Iowa Review, Lucky Peach, and Zoetrope.

Deborah’s first novel, Girlfriend on Mars, is forthcoming in June 2023 from W.W. Norton (U.S.), Penguin Random House (Canada), Serpent’s Tail (U.K.), Bollati Boringhieri (Italy), Gads Forlag (Denmark), and Payot et Rivages (France).