‘Authors need to be fearless about everything’
Christina Dalcher’s new novel, Femlandia, promises to be equally as chilling and gripping as her debut, Vox, as she tells Ella Dove
Femlandia is about a female-only community, set against the backdrop of a total economic collapse in the US. Where did the idea initially come from? Femlandia stemmed from reading a 1915 novel by Charlotte Perkins Gilman called Herland, which is about a feminist utopia where women are self-sufficient and thriving. I found it interesting, because I can name a lot of dystopian novels, but we don’t see many utopian stories. Of course, reading it led me to think about the darker elements, particularly the idea of procreation. In Herland, it just kind of happens, almost like magic, so I decided to write a book where a female-only community procreates in a different way and really make it a horror story.
Your books all feature near-future alternate realities and extreme versions of societal rules we know today. What is it that draws you to exploring this darker side of human nature? I really do love good horror – I’ve been a fan of Stephen King for the best part of 40 years. The reason I love his writing is that it’s horror on the surface, but he has a knack for exploring things that we all feel, think or fear and don’t necessarily want to address consciously, for instance what it means to die. I think the essence of a dystopia is extremism, so I find it fascinating unpicking what people might be capable of if they believe something too perfectly.
What is your secret to making an alternate society or a near-future so believable?
You go to The Times online and read the headlines! I’m not kidding – it’s getting to the point where I feel like I don’t have to make things up any more. With Femlandia, when I saw that hashtag #killallmen on Twitter, I didn’t have to make too many leaps of the imagination to start thinking about what would happen if women really thought that.
How important is it to you that your female characters show the tougher, stronger side of women?
I think of myself as a strong woman and people do say ‘write what you know’. I don’t think my attitude, philosophy or outlook on life could come through realistically or believably if I tried to write about women who were so completely unlike the way I think of myself.
Who are the strong women that inspire you most?
I would definitely say Mary Shelley, because Frankenstein is one of my favourite books ever. I think she did an absolutely fabulous job, asking a very important question: how much should men play God? Aside from that, my maternal grandmother, who was a poor immigrant farmer’s daughter and had 10 children, yet ended up self-educating for the rest of her life. From someone who grew up with nothing, I think that’s hugely admirable.
Tell us about your writing process…
I write mostly in the mornings – I have a clearer mind, so I drink some coffee, sit down and plug away. I like to do a first draft quite quickly, following Stephen King’s advice not to take more than three months. You hear people say, ‘It took me 10 years to write this book,’ but I think I’d just run out of steam. My work ethic is: get it done while there’s that momentum.
What is the hardest thing about being an author? Comparison. It’s very difficult as an author to escape that temptation to compare yourself and your books to every other author on Earth, thinking things like, ‘I’m never going to be long-listed for the Booker Prize.’
What is the best advice you’ve ever been given?
Be fearless. My first syntax professor, who I dedicated my book Vox to, once called me fearless in a recommendation letter. He’s passed away now, but I’ve never forgotten it. You have to be fearless with respect to your own self-doubt and fearless about the content of your novel and the way you write, as well as about criticism and rejection. Maybe the book’s not going to sell as well as you hoped, but that doesn’t mean you shouldn’t write it.
Femlandia (HQ) by Christina Dalcher is out 28th October
‘I REALLY DO LOVE GOOD HORROR’