I interviewed Ryan A. Span about his web serial, Street , a dystopic
world where drugs and telepathy are just another way to make a living.
LT: How did you come up with the main character ?
RS: Heh, actually, it’s because I was a little embarrassed . . . A few years ago I was looking at a bunch of my stories, and I realised almost every single one of them featured an early-twenties white male for the main character, with temperaments a lot like my own. Turns out I’d never really challenged myself with regards to characterisation, not even to write a convincing woman who didn’t just talk and act like a man. In response to that, Gina was born.
LT: You describe your web-serial as fast paced “cyberpunk”. What does that mean to you?
RS: I always think of huge imposing cityscapes, a culture dominated by consumerism and social inequality, virtual reality taking the place of actual reality, and technology inching into every part of society.
LT: You’ve created a very tough environment to base your story around. What was your inspiration?
RS: When I was growing up, my entire conception of science-fiction was Star Trek, Star Wars and other pulpy material about spaceships and laser guns. Because of language issues (it was hard to get hold of English books and comics where I grew up) I didn’t get exposed to a lot of things until much later, when books like Neuromancer and Snow Crash opened my eyes to a whole new world of ‘dirty’ SF. Suddenly I knew that that’s what I wanted to write.
LT: How long has it taken to create the trilogy?
RS: So far, three years . . . And I’ve just about finished the second book. I’m not the quickest writer on the planet.
LT: Who are your favorite characters and why?
RS: Gina, because she started it all, and Rat, because sometimes your own characters can surprise you.
LT: What inspires you? Movies? Music?
RS: I’d say music more than anything. I have a weird habit of finding a
particular song that goes well with a (section of a) story, and play it
over and over again until the writing’s finished.
LT: What scares you?
RS: What -scares- me? Well . . . Probably the idea of oblivion, dying without my life having meant anything. Yeah, that’s actually the kind of rubbish that keeps me up at night.
LT: What’s the most difficult part of writing?
RS: The middle bit. When you’ve got a beginning and an idea for where you’re going, but you just have to write a satisfactory way of getting there.
LT: Conversely, what is the most rewading?
RS: Most rewarding is probably when you sit back after a long session in the ‘zone’, look at what you’ve just written, and realise that you wouldn’t change a damn thing about it. When it’s right just the way it is.
LT: Do you have any other projects in the works that you’d like to tell us about?
RS: I’ve actually just had an e-mail that sci-fi mag Alternative Coordinates (http://www.ac-mag.com) have accepted a short story of mine, called ‘Heavy Gravity’, so keep an eye out for that one! Other than that, I’ve been working on material for several anthologies and even a fantasy novel, but nothing concrete on those yet.
LT: If you could write something completly different than anything you’ve tried before, what would it be?
RS: I try to do that every time I start a story!
What I’d really like to write at this point is a post-apocalyptic setting
inspired by one of my favourite books, ‘Roadside Picnic’ by the Strugatsky Brothers. Kind of an exploration into how things would go for humanity if alien species treated us and our planet the same way we treat animals occupying exploitable land. Of course, I might be the only person in the world to find that idea appealing!
LT: Is there anything that you’d like to add?
RS: Only that Clairvoyance (the second book of STREET) is set to be released in print in the first quarter of this year, so make sure to keep in touch by way of RSS feed, Twitter, Facebook, whatever. There is definitely going to be an announcement of some magnitude through all these channels. I’ve got my fingers crossed that this volume is gonna sell even better than the first.
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©2010 Lori Titus
To dive into the world of STREET, click here: http://www.streetofeyes.com
Tags: Ryan A. Span, STREET
January 18th, 2010 at 3:57 pm
Great interview. Looking forward to the print edition of Street: Clairvoyance. And congrats on the upcoming short story pub.