Feb 8 2024
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 cristian@ccb.lifeAbout 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, andVersion 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.comReferences:- 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/49slnB0Set 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/46gMSwoTimestamps:00:16 Introduction and Initial Conversation01:09 Elliot Pepper's Journey into Writing04:27 The Art of Storytelling and Its Impact05:21 Exploring the Settings of Elliot's Novels05:27 The Role of Art in a World Full of Art10:19 The Craft of Writing and Its Challenges24:47 The Transition from Tech to Writing32:39 Deep Dive into Foundry and Its Worldview39:53 Character Analysis: Foundry40:51 The Art of World Building43:50 The Power of Suggestion in Storytelling44:53 The Role of Background Material in Character Development45:17 The Hybrid Approach to Writing45:52 Unpacking the Character of Leia46:33 The Art of Chiseling Characters46:51 The Power of a Single Sentence48:30 The Joy of Writing Adrian49:03 The Art of Storytelling in Foundry50:26 The Speculative Nature of Fiction51:02 The Power of Imagination in Storytelling53:58 The Art of Cooking and Storytelling57:00 The Power of Speculative Fiction59:44 Favorite Books and Their Influence01:07:17 The Importance of Commitment in Writing01:15:34 The Power of Creativity in Everyday Life01:16:24 Future Plans and Final Thoughts