I focus a little more on pacing when I write books in the young adult category, and of course there's the great American fear of anything sexual, so that's somewhat backed off in YA.

Paolo Bacigalupi

Fiction is optimistic or unrealistic enough to demand that there should be a meaningful narrative.

Paolo Bacigalupi

I don't put a very clear label on my work. If anything, I write science fiction - looking at a moment now, in the present, and then extrapolating outward to think about what the future might look like if this particular trend goes on, or if this particular trend is the most dominant. That's a science fictional tool.

Paolo Bacigalupi

Sometimes when we label something dystopian fiction, I feel like we're trying very hard not to use the words 'science fiction,' because science fiction has those horrible connotations of rocket ships and bodacious babes.

Paolo Bacigalupi

As a kid, I always liked reading stories where I had a power-projection fantasy. I wanted to be inside of a story where I had power and influence, was going to rise to power, was going to somehow influence my society.

Paolo Bacigalupi

The conclusion I came to was that even if I couldn't sell books, I still liked the process of writing.

Paolo Bacigalupi

I'm less crazy and unhappy when I'm writing.

Paolo Bacigalupi

I have friends who are science journalists, and I'm seeing stories of theirs or talking with them about ideas that they're pitching. Certain kinds of science are around me all the time, like climate change and biology.

Paolo Bacigalupi

I am interested in agricultural corporations and how they function. The idea that they own the genetics of our food supply is a really compelling thing to me.

Paolo Bacigalupi

Science fiction has these obsessions with certain sciences - large scale engineering, neuroscience.

Paolo Bacigalupi

I think the fact that we, as writers, don't engage with resource-level questions is a symptom of our society where we just don't know where our stuff comes from.

Paolo Bacigalupi

As far as 'Windup Girl' becoming a hit - none of us expected that. 'Night Shade' was just hoping not to lose their shirts, and I had grown up hearing from everyone that science fiction didn't sell, so all of our expectations were very low.

Paolo Bacigalupi

Originally, 'The Windup Girl' started as a short story - a very gnarly, complicated short story set in Bangkok that didn't work very well.

Paolo Bacigalupi

I think there are narratives going on all the time that we think of as tangential - up until they turn out to be deciding factors in our lives.

Paolo Bacigalupi

I'm particularly interested in black swan events: unprecedented surprises that destroy the conventional wisdom about how the world works.

Paolo Bacigalupi

I used to work for a newspaper that covered local resource issues, and my coworkers and friends were journalists. Their reporting work was always pretty grim.

Paolo Bacigalupi

I think that we live in a highly specialized, technologically advanced society. Highly developed societies tend to have very remote understandings about what underlies our prosperity.

Paolo Bacigalupi

I'm interested in how we react when we're heavily pressed. When we're vulnerable and our survival is in question, how do we behave?

Paolo Bacigalupi

I started really thinking a lot about where does a country go when we stop being able to speak to each other, when a nation stops being able to solve problems because its ideological differences become so deep that it just becomes dysfunctional.

Paolo Bacigalupi

When somebody keeps telling you, 'This book is amazing,' you sort of have this pleasing instinct to say, 'Oh, let me make you happy again; let me do that trick again.'

Paolo Bacigalupi

Paolo Bacigalupi Quotes

I focus a little more on pacing when I write books in the young adult category, and of course there's the great American fear of anything sexual, so that's somewhat backed off in YA.

Fiction is optimistic or unrealistic enough to demand that there should be a meaningful narrative.

Sometimes when we label something dystopian fiction, I feel like we're trying very hard not to use the words 'science fiction,' because science fiction has those horrible connotations of rocket ships and bodacious babes.

As a kid, I always liked reading stories where I had a power-projection fantasy. I wanted to be inside of a story where I had power and influence, was going to rise to power, was going to somehow influence my society.

The conclusion I came to was that even if I couldn't sell books, I still liked the process of writing.

I'm less crazy and unhappy when I'm writing.

I have friends who are science journalists, and I'm seeing stories of theirs or talking with them about ideas that they're pitching. Certain kinds of science are around me all the time, like climate change and biology.

I am interested in agricultural corporations and how they function. The idea that they own the genetics of our food supply is a really compelling thing to me.

Science fiction has these obsessions with certain sciences - large scale engineering, neuroscience.

I think the fact that we, as writers, don't engage with resource-level questions is a symptom of our society where we just don't know where our stuff comes from.

As far as 'Windup Girl' becoming a hit - none of us expected that. 'Night Shade' was just hoping not to lose their shirts, and I had grown up hearing from everyone that science fiction didn't sell, so all of our expectations were very low.

Originally, 'The Windup Girl' started as a short story - a very gnarly, complicated short story set in Bangkok that didn't work very well.

I think there are narratives going on all the time that we think of as tangential - up until they turn out to be deciding factors in our lives.

I'm particularly interested in black swan events: unprecedented surprises that destroy the conventional wisdom about how the world works.

I used to work for a newspaper that covered local resource issues, and my coworkers and friends were journalists. Their reporting work was always pretty grim.

I think that we live in a highly specialized, technologically advanced society. Highly developed societies tend to have very remote understandings about what underlies our prosperity.

I'm interested in how we react when we're heavily pressed. When we're vulnerable and our survival is in question, how do we behave?

I started really thinking a lot about where does a country go when we stop being able to speak to each other, when a nation stops being able to solve problems because its ideological differences become so deep that it just becomes dysfunctional.

When somebody keeps telling you, 'This book is amazing,' you sort of have this pleasing instinct to say, 'Oh, let me make you happy again; let me do that trick again.'