Carole Stivers

Carole Stivers was born in East Cleveland, Ohio. She received her Ph.D. in Biochemistry at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. She went on to post-doctoral work at Stanford University before launching a career in medical diagnostics. She now lives in California, where she's combined her love of writing and her fascination with the possibilities of science to create her first novel, THE MOTHER CODE. While sheltering in place from COVID-19, she’s working on another near-future science fiction novel, this one set largely in Iceland—with gratitude for having visited that amazing country before the pandemic!

Facebook:  @CaroleStiversAuthor

What period of history do you wish you knew more about?

As a writer of near-future science fiction, I wish I knew more about the future!

Authors like Isaac Asimov and Ray Bradbury seemed to have possessed a crystal ball, their works conjuring future world events and technologies that often—in one form or another—later came to pass. But today, it seems as though we live in an era of true “future shock.” We no sooner imagine a future, than we are living in it. And before we know it, that “future” is fading in our collective rearview mirror. Technologies like artificial intelligence and genetic engineering, and natural forces like climate change, accelerate rapidly and in unforeseen ways—leaving even career futurists scratching their heads.

Have you ever experienced Imposter Syndrome?

Prior to becoming a writer, I was a scientist. But I had to work in industry for years before I could look myself in the mirror and call myself one. I needed to see the concrete evidence of it—in my case a product for sale on the shelf of my local Walgreens store.

Then when I was in the weeds as a fledgling writer, trying but failing to get short stories published and struggling with my first novel, I could never see my way clear to calling myself a writer either. Only now that I’m a published author do I find it personally acceptable to assume that title.

Every time I try on a new label, I find myself questioning my own bona fides, looking for evidence that I’ve met the criteria. So yes, I suppose you could say that I’m the definition of impostor syndrome!

Is there another profession you would like to try?

I would love to be a stand-up comedienne. To have the kind of confidence it takes to stand up in front of crowds of strangers, to wield that sort of control over their attention, and to cause those people to lose themselves in laughter—that would be such a heady experience! But I don’t expect to be taking improv classes soon…even the best comics have to deal with hecklers!

What’s the difference (at least for you!) between being a writer and an author? How do you shift gears between the two?

For me, writing is what I do when I’m alone with my thoughts at my keyboard, either researching/ideating or churning out new stories.

Being an author is the business end—working  with my agent and publisher, poring over contracts, and promoting my finished work. It’s what I’m doing right now, answering these questions! 

Manuscript revision, which seems to constitute the bulk of producing a novel, falls somewhere between these two, and for me forms the creative bridge between them.

What do you worry about?

As someone who started writing at age 50 and took 17 years to get her first novel published, I worry that I won’t live long enough to churn out all the stories I have floating around in my head. Or that if I do manage to churn them out, the molasses-slow publishing process will render them posthumous publications at best. I’ve come to cherish every moment I have to be creative.

Aside from these selfish concerns, I worry about the future of our planet. I worry about the future of my country. I worry about the COVID-19 pandemic, and about another toilet paper shortage, and that my local 7-Eleven will run out of Phish Food again…So much to worry about!

But, strangely for someone who has written a post-apocalyptic novel about robotic Mothers, I don’t worry about a robot apocalypse. We humans can create enough havoc on our own, thank you very much.