On Fiction, feat. Eliot Peper | Traces, Appendix 24

A conversation with Eliot Peper about writing fiction, creativity, the Bay Area, the feedback loop between technology and society, independent art, and more.

Find me at [email protected]

About the Guest:
Eliot Peper is a novelist based in Pacifica, CA. He is the author of Foundry, Reap3r, Veil, Breach, Borderless, Bandwidth, Cumulus, Neon Fever Dream, Exit Strategy, Power Play, and
Version 1.0, and his books have earned praise from Seth Godin, Kim Stanley Robinson, Malka Older, Cory Doctorow, Tim O’Reilly, Amal El-Mohtar, Robin Sloan, and Ev Williams, as well as the New York Times Book Review, BBC, Popular Science, Businessweek, San Francisco Magazine, Every, Newsweek, io9, Boing Boing, Publisher’s Weekly, Polygon, and Ars Technica.

His writing has appeared in the Verge, Tor.com, Harvard Business Review, the Boston Globe, OneZero, NEO.LIFE, TechCrunch, GEN, Terraform, Future, Techdirt, Anthropocene Magazine, and the Los Angeles Review of Books, and he has given talks at Google, the Electronic Frontier Foundation, Niantic, Qualcomm, Future in Review, Comic Con, Interintellect, SXSW, and the Conference on World Affairs.

Find more about him at eliotpeper.com

References:
- Eliot Peper's Foundry (book): https://amzn.to/3OzAGQH
- Eliot Peper's Uncommon Series (books): https://amzn.to/3uxcZRZ
- Robin Sloan's Mr. Penumbra's 24-Hour Bookstore  (book): https://amzn.to/49JZA8r
- Torren Martyn's Style of Surf (video): Torren Martyn - 'Calypte - a sailing and surfing voyage' - needessentials
- Amor Towles' A Gentleman in Moscow (book): https://amzn.to/48h1LPG
- Frank Herbert's Dune (book): https://amzn.to/3HOwwjY
- Genki Kawamura's If Cats Disappeared from the World (book): https://amzn.to/3HTYqv3
- John McPhee's Oranges (book): https://amzn.to/3upzOaf
- John McPhee's Levels of the Game (book): https://amzn.to/3UqHPXc
- James Gleick's The Information: A history, a theory, a flood (book): https://amzn.to/49qB0sL
- Pierre Bayard's How to Talk about Books You Haven't Read (book): https://amzn.to/49slnB0

Set Up:
- Camera: https://amzn.to/3PZVscb (don't laugh)
- Microphone: https://amzn.to/46f3pB5
- Teleprompter Stand: https://amzn.to/3tgS98y
- Telepromter App: https://amzn.to/46jdH31
- Teleprompter Screen:  https://amzn.to/3PNfKFI (yup)
- Headphones: https://amzn.to/46gMSwo

Timestamps:
00:16 Introduction and Initial Conversation
01:09 Elliot Pepper's Journey into Writing
04:27 The Art of Storytelling and Its Impact
05:21 Exploring the Settings of Elliot's Novels
05:27 The Role of Art in a World Full of Art
10:19 The Craft of Writing and Its Challenges
24:47 The Transition from Tech to Writing
32:39 Deep Dive into Foundry and Its Worldview
39:53 Character Analysis: Foundry
40:51 The Art of World Building
43:50 The Power of Suggestion in Storytelling
44:53 The Role of Background Material in Character Development
45:17 The Hybrid Approach to Writing
45:52 Unpacking the Character of Leia
46:33 The Art of Chiseling Characters
46:51 The Power of a Single Sentence
48:30 The Joy of Writing Adrian
49:03 The Art of Storytelling in Foundry
50:26 The Speculative Nature of Fiction
51:02 The Power of Imagination in Storytelling
53:58 The Art of Cooking and Storytelling
57:00 The Power of Speculative Fiction
59:44 Favorite Books and Their Influence
01:07:17 The Importance of Commitment in Writing
01:15:34 The Power of Creativity in Everyday Life
01:16:24 Future Plans and Final Thoughts