Author to Author with Donna Maree Hanson

I met Donna through the Canberra Speculative Fiction Guild around the time I was editing the guild’s second anthology, Machinations: An Anthology of Ingenious Designs. Donna had a great story in it called WWPro, though the anthology’s out of print now.

Donna’s here to talk about the top five stories that influenced her as a writer.

Head and shoulders shot of Donna Maree Hanson

About Donna

My name is Donna Maree Hanson and I write SF, SF romance, Fantasy and some horror.

I also write Paranormal romance under the name Dani Kristoff. I can’t remember a time when I wasn’t interested in SF.

I grew up on Lost in Space, Star Trek and UFO, Blake 7 and Buck Rogers. Star Wars, the movie and the tie-in books, really generated a lot of excitement in my brain.

Fantasy was a bit rarer, with a few shows like Jason and the Argonauts on Disney when I was a kid or reading fairy tales.

Foundation by Issac Asimov

The first story that drew me in was Foundation by Issac Asimov.

That probably firmly set my mind on the SF trail. I’d read 1984 by George Orwell and The Chrysalids by John Wyndam in school, but Foundation and the subsequent books drew me in completely.

At nineteen, I wouldn’t say I understood them, the pseudo mathematics for example was beyond me, but the scope, the dream that we will live in space and that we will live beyond the constraints of planet Earth.

Around that time I read a lot of other SF writers and it was the main genre I read. However, it was Star Wars that gave me my first ideas and desire to write.

Lord Foul’s Bane

The second book (s) that blew me into outerspace was Stephen R Donaldson Lord Fouls’ Bane.

A friend lent me the book and I was a lost woman. I know now that it closely followed The Lord of the Rings, but at the time I hadn’t read Tolkien.

After reading the series, I wanted to hug trees, feel the power of the Earth and the spirit of horses and so on.

Another series by Donaldson was the The Mordant’s Need duology, which still captivates me as I read it. Portal fantasy with romance elements what more could you ask for? This is now called Romantasy, but it’s been around for a while.

These books opened up my mind to the scope of fantasy, not only for personal escapism, but for writing books. Donaldson emerged at a time when there wasn’t much fantasy around and I am very grateful for that.

The Many Coloured Land

Top book number three, is Julian May’s The Many Coloured Land, the Saga of the Exiles.

What this book did for me was merge SF and Fantasy into science fantasy.

It had SF underpinnings but it ploughed the edges of fantasy too.

Time travel, aliens, mind power, landscape, interesting characters.

Warrior’s Woman

Top book number four is an SF romance by Johanna Lindsey called Warrior’s Woman.

This was a hot, spicy book, with SF underpinnings, sometimes the science borrowed from Star Trek I think. It merged for me SF and romance, a coupling I had not thought possible. It opened my mind to possibilities.

However, this very definitely influenced my first novel attempt. ‘Relic’ has not seen the light of day, but it had sex with aliens and a vast sprawling vision of a six book series. It also hovered on the edge of science fantasy.

Naked in Death

Book number five would be Naked In Death by JD Robb, this is SF futuristic suspense and romance with a difference. Set in a future New York it has a few interesting SF inserts into a crime series. The romance is between the main couple, sustained now for over 50 books.

I often think about how J D Robb keeps the story going. The main character Dallas was sexually abused as a child, and each book reveals more about her past. When I first read them I thought the author was very brave for writing about child sex abuse and I honoured her for it.

JD Robb is the pen name for Nora Roberts, an absolute powerhouse novelist. This also probably influenced my paranormal romance writing and also set a very high bar on productivity.

Other influences

There are other books, The Eye of the World, the Wheel of Time series by Robert Jordan, for instance! (Yes, I cheated with six) that taught me a lot about not always being nice to your characters and how much I loved backstory and world-building.

Reading widely helps with writing fantasy in particular because you don’t want to redo what others have done. My second novel, Argenterra, is a fantasy and I can see clearly influences from Donaldson. I remember that it was hard to be original and I had to think very hard about it.

Writing fantasy can be difficult to navigate because you need to think things through. For instance, what happens in a world where promises can’t be broken? It creates tension and requires some hard thinking when you have written yourself into a corner.

These influences inspire me but also set me a map of where I can be innovative.

The not being nice to my characters came about with the Dragon Wine series—it’s a very nasty story. Both these books have SF fantasy leanings as well.