This interview with Kate Orman was conducted
during October 1998. The interviewer was Kevin Mahoney.
KM: Kate, how did you first get into writing? What kind
of a process did you have to go through to become a published novelist?
KATE ORMAN: I'd been writing fan fiction for years before
I penned "The Left-Handed Hummingbird". It was my third submission to
Virgin Publishing - when they announced they'd be producing a series of
original "Doctor Who" novels, I stopped writing fanfic and started
writing novel proposals!
KM: For years, the biography on the back of your novels
has made very clear your frustration at being the only female New Adventures
writer. What is your reaction to Rebecca Levene finally joining you? Why have
so few female fan writers contributed to the range?
KATE ORMAN: I think it's simply that "Doctor
Who" fandom is mostly male - most of the submissions are coming from men.
I'd love to see more women contributing to the books - there are some very
talented ladies out there writing fan fiction, so I'm hopeful that some of them
will break into the line.
KM: How much do you emphasise with the central character
of the New Adventures, Bernice Summerfield? You're pretty much a globetrotter
yourself, aren't you?
KATE ORMAN: "Walking
to Babylon" was partly about all the travelling I was doing - I wrote
the bulk of it while living at Jon's place in the states. We were still trying
to decide whether to move to Australia, or to live in the US. So Benny took on
some of my feelings about travel - like me, she's getting very used to packing,
getting there, and coping with new environments. Unlike me, she was by herself
- until she met Lafayette, who was just ass isolated and lonely. I think the character
of Benny is one of the great
triumphs of the New Adventures. She's capable, but also vulnerable; she's a
cosmic adventurer, but she's also very human. I do identify with her in many
ways - she's a pleasure to write for.
KM: Do you think that the BBC's removal of the Doctor Who
licence has constrained the New Adventures? Will their legacy survive, or will
they, like the Missing Adventures, literally go 'missing'?
KATE ORMAN: It'll certainly get harder and harder to
obtain the books - but their influence will continue to be felt. The NAs
successfully showed you could do Who in novel form, and Who for grown-ups. They
proved that "Doctor Who" was even more flexible than we thought.
KM: How would you describe the New Adventures universe?
How fertile a ground is it for a novelist?
KATE ORMAN: Because the Doctor can go anyone, anywhere,
it's a surprisingly unfettered series - you can set a story in just about any
time and place you can imagine. There are some limitations; you're still
writing a science fiction adventure story with a basically positive, moral
central character, andof course the main characters are provided for you. But
within those limits, there's tremendous flexibility. (I'm surprised the novels
don't vary more than they do!)
KM: A number of New Adventure writers have moved onto
television. Have you ever been tempted or offered to work in television?
KATE ORMAN: I've never had the offer, but I'd jump at it!
KM: The New Adventures are now only to be published
bimonthly. Why this change?
KATE ORMAN: It's for artistic reasons - slowing down the
books' production will mean more time and care can be spent on individual
novels and on the series as a whole.
KM: To what extent is Bernice's gender an issue in the
New Adventures? I'm thinking here of a couple of instances in 'Walking to
Babylon' where Bernice seems to under threat due to the fact that she is a
woman: "The thugs were discussing just what they could get away with doing
to her without having their pay docked". What are sexual politics like in
the 25th century?
KATE ORMAN: I'd like to see this investigated more. We
get flashes of information - like the fact that bisexuality is normal in
Benny's time. Being a woman is a disadvantage for the time traveller investigating
Earth's history, because women are worse off than men whenever and wherever you
go. I like to think that will change in the future, and a 25th Century woman
would find our time quaint or puzzling - why are so many of the politicians and
chief executive officers men? Benny fights off a rapist in "Walking to
Babylon", which was directly inspired by her quickly disposing of a rapist
in "Death
and Diplomacy".
Anyone thinkingshe's a helpless woman is in for a short, sharp shock!
KM: Most novelists I've spoken to have day jobs. Is it
possible to earn a good living from writing the New Adventures?
KATE ORMAN: The NAs made it possible for me to stop working full-time and start working part-time, so that's quite a substantial contribution! But I think to live off the novels, you'd have to write *all* of them. :-)
KM: How do you go about researching your novels? 'Walking
to Babylon' does mix several different genres. There's the historical aspect of
the ancient city of Babylon, and also futuristic science of the Dyson sphere
inhabited by the People. To what extent do research and imagination interact?
KATE ORMAN: The People and their Dyson sphere were easy
to research: I just re-read "The
Also People" and took notes. :-) But I'm a research addict: I'd
already read a fair bit about ancient Mesopotamia, especially the religion, and
so the novel was an excuse to do a whole lot more. I work at a university
library, which makes getting research material - even obscure stuff, like the
article on "Attitudes to Deviant Sex in Ancient Mesopotamia" :-) -
easy. I still have a little folder of photocopies, and gosh knows how many
notebooks.
KM: The God of the People seems at times to be quite a
jokey character. Does Bernice live in an irreligious world? Has God, like
Clarence (of Bedford Falls), just become another catchy postmodern reference?
KATE ORMAN: God is, of course, an opportunity to make all
sorts of silly puns. Bernice takes little comfort from religion - she's a very
lapsed Catholic; so in the novels religion tends to be something outside,
perhaps the motive for some strange aliens, or just something that pales when
compared with insanely advanced technology. The God of the People can do most
of what the Old Testament God was capable of, short of creating the universe.
KM: What next for Kate Orman?
KATE ORMAN: Working hard to get something completely
original published. But I want to keep working part-time, so expect more
"Doctor Who" novels from me, at the very least. :-)
Other Kate Orman titles include:
Vampire
Science the Doctor and Sam encounter blood suckers in San Francisco
Seeing
I the Doctor and Sam are separated on the planet Ha'olam
