“Most of us have nicknames-annoying, endearing, embarrassing.But what about your true name?It is not necessarily your given name. But it is the one to which you are most eager to respond when called.Ever wonder why?Your true name has the secret power to call you.” NamesGivenSecretWonderAnnoyingEmbarrassingNicknamesEndearingGiven Names Author:Vera Nazarian
“I think I became [writer] despite myself - tricking myself into it, really.” ThinkingDespite Author:Vera Nazarian
“When I was a little kid back in Moscow, Russia, I've always thought I would become an artist or a folk dancer or an astronomer. In fact, if you'd asked me then about a life of solitary writing I would have said, "Oh how boring! Imagine, to sit at a desk all day and just write."” IfsWritingLittlesSaidFactsKidsArtistImagineFolksBoringRussiaDancerSolitaryDesksLittle KidMoscowAstronomers Author:Vera Nazarian
“I was forgetting that an artist also just stares at a piece of paper or canvas all day. It somehow never occurred to me to connect these two diverse creative modes.” TwoArtistForgetCreativePiecesPaperStaringDiverseCanvas Author:Vera Nazarian
“I've always been creative verbally, had a flair, my teachers said - wrote great expository essays in elementary school, scribbled little poems, embraced all writing assignments. And all along I read voraciously - first in Russian and then, after we left the USSR, in English, and even Spanish.” WritingFirstsLittlesSaidSchoolLeftCreativeTeacherEssaysAssignmentsElementary SchoolFlairUssr Author:Vera Nazarian
“I started to write. And I wrote and wrote all through high school.” WritingSchoolHigh School Author:Vera Nazarian
“At some point, sitting in the school library, during reading period, I looked up from my leopard print hardcover composition notebook where I was scribbling a derivative [John Ronald Reuel ] Tolkien epic full of purple prose in tiny handwriting and thought to myself, "Damn! I am a writer! How did that happen?".” HappensSchoolReadingPeriodsSittingLibraryTinyDamnProsePrintCompositionEpicPurpleNotebookDerivativesHandwritingLeopardsSchool LibraryLeopard Print Author:Vera Nazarian
“I relished the sweet sense of keeping a unique secret in my mind - a wonderful magical universe that I could go to any time, any place, and no one had to know. It was my personal place, better than any I've read about in any other book. And when I wrote, I was in the process of pulling that personal universe out of nothing and into the cold reality of the greater world.” KnowsWorldMindBookRealityUniverseProcessSecretGreaterWonderfulSweetColdUniquePulling Author:Vera Nazarian
“The act of sharing with readers was at first too much of an intimate thing. But it evolved into an intense necessity to share.” FirstsToo MuchShareReaderIntenseIntimate Author:Vera Nazarian
“Marion Zimmer Bradley took apart my first submission to her, covered the manuscript in red ink revisions, and told me to try her again. I had never been so reeling with authorial joy as I had been that day, holding Marion's letter and seeing that ravaged manuscript - finally, it meant that someone cared!” TryingFirstsJoySeeingRedLettersCoveredSubmissionInkManuscriptsRevision Author:Vera Nazarian
“I sat down and wrote a short story in two weeks and submitted it to Marion Zimmer Bradley. And Marion bought "Wound On The Moon" .My first sale and my first pro sale rolled into one.” FirstsTwoStoriesWeekMoonDown AndWoundsSatShort StoryTwo Weeks Author:Vera Nazarian
“However I will never forget what Marion [Zimmer Bradley] did for me by accepting that first story from a stupid enthusiastic kid.” FirstsStoriesKidsForgetAcceptingStupidNever ForgetEnthusiastic Author:Vera Nazarian
“Of course at that point I had no idea that the adventure was only beginning and that the struggle and the rejections were to pile before me, a typical young writer, in an implacable mountain. But I was on my way.” WayIdeasYoungCoursesStruggleAdventureMountainMy WayNo IdeaRejectionTypicalYoung Writers Author:Vera Nazarian
“I would say it was [ifluence] all the Greeks and the Russian classics like [Lev] Tolstoy, [Andrey] Goncharov,[Fedor] Dostoyevsky, [Alexander] Pushkin, and the international classics in Russian translation like Victor Hugo, George Sand, Charlotte Bronte, Sir Walter Scott, Mark Twain.” MarkInternationalGreekSandTranslationsCharlotteDostoyevskyBrontePushkinLev Tolstoy Author:Vera Nazarian
“If you ask me now, I think every single writer whose work I've read has had some influence upon me, and I continue to be influenced, subtly, by everything I read, like a sponge. But then, what writers aren't? Being a literary sponge is one of the prerequisites for this insanity.” IfsThinkingAsksInfluenceAsk MeInsanityPrerequisitesSponges Author:Vera Nazarian
“Short stories are like individual jewel stones on a necklace, wonderful in themselves like standalone gleaming entities of semantic intensity.” StoriesIndividualWonderfulStonesIntensityShort StoryEntityJewelsNecklaces Author:Vera Nazarian
“The satisfaction of short fiction does not come close to the rich pleasure I get as a writer in the long deep immersion in the same long work and its growing complexity. I suppose you might say I love to wallow in my characters and imaginary worlds. I love to play with the whole necklace, not just one glittering stone.” WorldLongDoePlayWholeCharacterMightPleasureFictionRichGrowingStonesSatisfactionComplexityJust OneImaginaryNecklacesImmersionImaginary WorldLong Deep Author:Vera Nazarian
“I technically live in the desert - Los Angeles being an artificial oasis - but my interest stems even farther to my own ethnic roots and to my love of antiquity, of the Old World and of the east.” WorldInterestMy OwnRootsEastDesertLos AngelesArtificialStemAntiquityOld WorldOasis Author:Vera Nazarian
“I also find the desert a wonderful metaphor for desolation and yet the exact counterpart of the ocean with its hidden depths. Both are vast, harsh, implacable, homogenous to the untrained eye, and beautiful. Bothallow the wind to roam on the surface. And both serve as wonderful vehicles for human survival stories.” HumansStoriesEyeBeautifulWonderfulWindOceanSurvivalDepthMetaphorSurfaceDesertVehicleHarshDesolationCounterparts Author:Vera Nazarian
“A made-up proverb from Dreams of the Compass Rose says, "In the desert, the only god is a well." I love exploring the intensity of such juxtaposition, the dangerous edge.” WellsMadeDreamDangerousRoseEdgesDesertIntensityExploringCompassJuxtaposition Author:Vera Nazarian
“In the desert, water gives life, while in the ocean an island stands to give anchor. Opposites are desirable and necessary. Once again, you see the theme of taking away a precious element of the world or making it rare and precarious.” WorldGivingWaterElementsOceanOppositesDesertIslandsThemeDesirableAnchorsPrecarious Author:Vera Nazarian
“The desert is an ideal illusion of a blank slate - so much mystery in endless layers is hidden underneath its bright, pseudo-sterile surface.” MysteryIllusionIdealsSurfaceEndlessDesertLayersBlankSlatePseudoBlank Slates Author:Vera Nazarian
“I must admit that I do have a particular soft spot for the character of the chameleon-trickster goddess Ris in Dreams of the Compass Rose. Ris has gone through the whole spectrum of personal change and has had the longest road of all. And in the end she chooses to come back to the world, to guide, and to help, and to open the eyes of those who are suffering. In that is her true strength and humorous wisdom. I really do like her a whole lot.” WorldEndsWholeCharacterHelpingDreamEyeSufferingGoneParticularHumorousRoseGuidesSpotsGoddessCompassSpectrumLike HerChameleonTrue StrengthPersonal ChangeTricksters Author:Vera Nazarian
“I usually focus on the whole group of characters in any given work-in-progress, and as a result they become particularly dear to me as I delve into their innermost motivations and live out their lives.” WholeCharacterMotivationGivenResultsFocusProgressGroupsDearWork In Progress Author:Vera Nazarian
“One of the things that I've noticed over the years is that I seem to be fascinated as a writer with the notion that we already have all that we need.” NeedsYearsSeemsNotionFascinated Author:Vera Nazarian
“It is right here, all of it, here for the taking, right before our eyes - happiness, fulfillment, hope, peace, justice. And most of all, there is truth, ordinary and simple, just sitting there to be plucked, if only we get our lazy rear ends off the pillow of complacency. But first, we need to open our eyes to this banal fact. And for that we need a periodic bit of shakeup in the form of an infusion of wonder - fantastic literature.” IfsNeedsFirstsEndsFactsEyeFormLiteratureBitsJusticeSimpleWonderOrdinarySittingFantasticFulfillmentLazyComplacencyPillowPeace JusticeInfusion Author:Vera Nazarian
“A related recurring theme is the exploration of how we take for granted the things in our immediate environment that are common and ordinary. Existential blindness, of sorts.” CommonEnvironmentOrdinaryGrantedRelatedThemeExplorationExistentialBlindnessRecurringRecurring Themes Author:Vera Nazarian
“Our world is so bursting-full of natural wonder that we are all experiencing a sensory overload. We are no longer perceiving all of Ú the details, just the ones that immediately interest us.” WorldInterestNaturalWonderDetailsOur WorldSensoryBurstingOverloadNatural Wonders Author:Vera Nazarian
“We often engage the defense mechanism of tunnel vision, just to keep ourselves focused on our daily lives. This makes us terribly jaded in our perception of what is really around us.” VisionPerceptionFocusedDefenseDaily LifeMechanismTunnelsJadedDefense MechanismsTunnel Vision Author:Vera Nazarian
“Here is where I like to burst in as a writer, to take one strong sensory detail or image and instead of enhancing it or directing attention to it by shouting about it, I simply take it away.” StrongAttentionDetailsShoutingSensory Author:Vera Nazarian
“In Lords of Rainbow I start out by taking away color from the world, and in the process show color's vital place in our lives. At least I hope that by the end of the book it's a portion of what the reader comes away with - a sense of how much color perception enriches our lives and how its lack can make our sensory experience incomplete.” WorldBookEndsShowsProcessLordOur LivesColorReaderPerceptionPortionsRainbowIncompleteSensory Author:Vera Nazarian
“Even for the people who are color-blind to any degree, I believe their experience would also be affected [ in Lords of Rainbow ] if everyone else too only perceived the world in colorless monochrome.” PeopleIfsWorldBelieveI BelieveLordColorDegreesBlindAffectedRainbowColorlessMonochrome Author:Vera Nazarian
“In some of my works I take away other elements of the world - normalcy, sex drive, sense of time, memory, a loved one. Without some of these basics, characters have no choice but to do something to reclaim their lives.” WorldCharacterChoicesSexMemoriesElementsLoved OnesBasicsNormalcySex Drive Author:Vera Nazarian
“Seems to me that there is no better way to experience the depth of loss than after the fact. No more powerful instrument of imbuing value in an object than parting with it.” WayFactsSeemsValuesLossPowerfulObjectsInstrumentsDepthPartingBetter Ways Author:Vera Nazarian
“And it is a quiet terrible thing, too, to discover the value of love this way [after loss] - when the object of love is no longer there, when love dies or goes away or changes. When it is too late.” WayValuesDiesLossLove IsObjectsTerribleQuietLateToo LateTerrible ThingsValue Of Love Author:Vera Nazarian
“My characters often start out with a loss of some sort, usually a loss of emotion or purpose or hope. What I do in the course of my writing is weave a thematic arc of fulfillment. It is my constant theme as a creator.” WritingCharacterPurposeCoursesLossEmotionConstantCreatorFulfillmentThemeArcsThematic Author:Vera Nazarian
“I love to fool my readers, but in a good way. If you've read any of my work, there's a good chance that at some point I surprised you.” IfsWayChanceFoolReaderGood WayGood Chance Author:Vera Nazarian
“I was nurtured on Greek Mythology and the classical epics. I lived and breathed Homer. Other mythologies - the Russian, the Norse, the Persian, the Indian, Egyptian, etc. - all came later. First and foremost were the Greeks, and they were all living in my head as though I were Zeus and they were a clamoring Chorus of Athenas.” FirstsMythologyIndianGreekEtcEpicGreek MythologyChorusEgyptianPersianZeusAthenaGreek MythNorse Author:Vera Nazarian
“Everything I write now might have roots in myths, often disguised,often dissolved into new multi-ethnic myths of my own making.” WritingMightMy OwnRootsMyth Author:Vera Nazarian
“When reviewing my novel Dreams of the Compass Rose for the Magazine of F&SF, master fantasist Charles de Lint called it "engaging and resonant, creating a new mythology that feels so right one might be forgiven for thinking that it's the cultural heritage of some forgotten country or people that have been lost to history." This of course I take as the highest compliment, since it was indeed my sincere intent.” PeopleThinkingFeelsHas BeensCountryDreamMightCoursesLostNovelMastersCreatingHighestRoseForgottenMythologyMagazinesSincereComplimentHeritageForgivenEngagingCompassCultural Heritage Author:Vera Nazarian
“My brand of fantasy is completely devoid of the traditional notions of magic as ritual. Instead I see the fantastic as a meta-layer of existence beyond the real world.” WorldRealExistenceFantasyMagicNotionTraditionalBrandsFantasticRitualReal WorldLayers Author:Vera Nazarian
“No waving of enchanted wands but heightened perception. No magic objects, but a transformed and enhanced reality. No spells or chants, but the raw power of the human will to enact supernatural change upon the universal fabric. This is the kind of "magic" that fills Lords of Rainbow - elemental, organic, humanistic - an extension of reality.” HumansKindRealityLordMagicObjectsPerceptionUniversalSpellsTransformedRainbowFabricExtensionsEnchantedWandsElementalsHumanisticHuman Will Author:Vera Nazarian
“I think fantasy literature is the one true literature of hope and imagination.” ThinkingLiteratureImaginationFantasy Author:Vera Nazarian
“Some writers whom I respect very much, like China Miéville and some others of the New Weird, consider the true role of fantasy to be not Tolkienesque consolation but subversion - a kind of rebe Ûllion from complacency. Yes, I can see what is meant here. And I also see the need to change, to fix, to drastically improve the human lot.” NeedsHumansKindI CanRolesFantasyChinaConsolationComplacencyNeed A ChangeSubversionYes I Can Author:Vera Nazarian
“I see no profound progress taking place when there is no hope, no inspiration, only drastic overthrow and rebellion. Before having a revolution of thought there must be real ideals to aspire to, and they are only to be found within.” RealInspirationFoundProgressRevolutionIdealsProfoundRebellionBeing RealAspireNo HopeDrastic Author:Vera Nazarian
“Fantasy plunders the well of our deepest selves for existent truth instead of creating new truths out of the illusory fabric of recent events or the flow of society.” WellsSelfFantasyEventsCreatingFlowFabricIllusoryPlunderRecent Events Author:Vera Nazarian
“Fantasy is not the literature of subversion of the status quo but of 'awakening to' the status quo.” LiteratureFantasyAwakeningStatus QuoSubversion Author:Vera Nazarian
“Consolation has been wrongly reviled. Consolation is not apathy or inaction. It is not closing one's eyes to the evils of the world. Rather, consolation is the first step in regaining personal equilibrium and strength, which necessarily precedes the ability to act.” WorldFirstsHas BeensEyeEvilAbilityStepsApathyFirst StepsConsolationClosingInactionEquilibrium Author:Vera Nazarian
“Thus, true long-term change is brought about not by destructive passion of the moment but by well-reasoned constructive action. Violent shock of Armageddon that leaves nothing in its wake but a blank slate is not a solution, only a postponement of progress.” WellsLongMomentsActionPassionTermProgressSolutionsViolentLong TermShockDestructiveBlankConstructiveSlateArmageddonBlank SlatesPostponement Author:Vera Nazarian
