“I Don’t Have Plots; I Have Situations” Ursula K. Le Guin Audio Clip from the Archives
Greetings from beyond the paywall! We have been posting new content monthly on our Patreon Archive Feed – scans of vintage Locus and audio clips from author interviews and more – and wanted to share a little of what that feed looks like by making some of our earlier posts public. Come check out this post on our Patreon with an audio clip of Ursula K. Le Guin.
In addition to all the benefits of lower tiers, including a digital subscription and other perks, patrons pledging $15+ monthly have access to the Archive content (AKA the Secret History Feed). This includes monthly back issue posts, author interview audio clips, and complete access to the archive of past posts full of unique SF artifacts and ephemera like this audio clip from Ursula K. Le Guin.
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From the Audio Archives: Ursula K. Le Guin, 2018
Ursula K. Le Guin was one of the most important voices in SF during her more than 50-year career. She passed away in January 2018 and was remembered in our March 2018 issue.
Locus founder Charles N. Brown interviewed her in our September 2001 issue, and we’ve selected some audio clips to share with you, in which Le Guin talks about her writing style, SF vs fantasy, and the significance of stories.
‘‘My books are character-driven. I don’t have plots; I have situations, I have stories. I’m a good storyteller. But plot! When I read a mystery, I can’t even follow the plot. I say, ‘Just tell me what happened and who did it! I don’t understand all these intricate convolutions.’ A real plot writer, like Dickens, I’m awed by. How did he do it? How did he remember?”
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