Help me, Bio Wan. You’re my only hope.
I’ve been asked to write a longform bio for BayCon, where I will be Guest of Honor at the end of the month. (Please come!) Writing bios gives me a sad face. They’ve asked for something 300-500 words long. I’ve just carved a 390 out of granite with my bare fingers — not really. That would have been easier.
What would you like to know that isn’t included? What is boring?
Mary Robinette Kowal is a novelist and professional puppeteer. In 2008 she won the Campbell Award for Best New Writer. Her debut novel Shades of Milk and Honey (Tor 2010) was nominated for the 2010 Nebula Award for Best Novel. Two of her short fiction works have been nominated for the Hugo Award for Best Short Story: “Evil Robot Monkey” in 2009 and “For Want of a Nail” in 2011. Her stories have appeared inStrange Horizons, Asimov’s, and several Year’s Best anthologies as well as in her collection Scenting the Dark and Other Storiesfrom Subterranean Press.
Kowal began puppetry in high school as a hobby but didn’t think it was something that anyone could do for a living. While in college at East Carolina University, pursuing an art degree with a minor in theater and speech, she had the opportunity to perform Audrey II in Little Shop of Horrors. A professional puppeteer came to see the show. Kowal says, “It never occurred to me before that this was something you could get paid for.” She changed career choices and went on to intern at the Center for Puppetry Arts in Atlanta, GA. With twenty years of experience, she has performed for LazyTown (CBS), the Center for Puppetry Arts, Jim Henson Pictures and founded Other Hand Productions. Her designs have garnered two UNIMA-USA Citations of Excellence, the highest award an American puppeteer can achieve.
She also works as a voice actor recording fiction for authors such as Kage Baker, Cory Doctorow and John Scalzi. Kowal describes voice acting as, “Puppetry, without the pain.”
Although she wrote in high school and college, Kowal set it aside for over ten years putting her creative energy into her puppetry career. She began writing again when her brother moved to China with his children. As a way to stay connected to her niece and nephew, Kowal wrote a serial for them. Reminded of how much she enjoyed writing, she began submitting short stories and made her first sale in 2005 with her first professional sale in 2006 to Strange Horizons.
She is serving her second term as the Vice President of Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America. Mary lives in Portland, OR with her husband Rob and over a dozen manual typewriters. Sometimes she even writes on them. Visit maryrobinettekowal.com.
Edited to add: Thanks to all the helpful input I have sent a long-form bio off to the BayCon program book editors.
i will comment this here too (from twitter) and hope you do not mind (take this of course as an amateur offering what meagre advice they can to a professional)
hmm since you ask, you are good at characterization, did you try writing this as MRK the author writing a character sketch of this MRK, a puppeteer and writer, as if you are writing a book about her. what do you write when you do that for your books and stories. you have an interesting life, lead off with the story, not the facts. what makes you YOU 🙂
Yeah, but I just make stuff up for characters. Writing it for myself makes my brain hurt.
i suppose i mean work from your writer mindset. perhaps the issue is you are writing something very quotidian and your work is rarely that, turn it on its head and write in your style. add some glamour
You might want to spell out Oregon — otherwise the OR looks like a conditional. (grin)
And I’d combine these two sentences: “She began writing again when her brother moved to China with his children. As a way to stay connected to her niece and nephew, Kowal wrote a serial for them.” as… “As a way to stay connected to her niece and nephew when her brother moved to China, Kowal wrote a serial for them.”
But that’s just me. Otherwise, sounds like a fascinating person to have as GoH.
Dr. Phil
I think the voice acting paragraph needs to be expanded.
I also suggest reordering the paragraphs to be more cronological. You don’t have to put all your credentials first. A program bio is not a resume.
Other details you can include:
Living in Europe,
where/when you met Rob,
when “Glamour in Glass” is due to be released,
the story title of your “first professional sale in 2006 to Strange Horizons”
Hi Mary. I notice the paragraph with your writer credentials (and your credentials are excellent!) is very dry, almost like a power point presentation with no embellishment. Your puppetry paragraph is more alive, like that is your true love.
Even if puppetry is a greater love than writing, your GOH gig at BayCon is as a writer, isn’t it? Don’t be shy about your wonderful accomplishments, show some enthusiasm!
*g* This is why I wrote the bios for CDTL. We *just* finished doing this for Lynne’s GoH gig at CONvergence.
That bio sounds fine. 🙂
There’s something missing… I think it needs a white spandex bodysuit.
? I thought the number of cats you lived with was an obligatory part of a writer’s bio.
I have always loved your “How I Did This” videos and blog posts (especially when you used a Heavy Duty Blow Dryer to weld together poly-something-toxic packaging material into a fish). Maybe “Read Mary Robinett’s comments, announcements and how-to’s at maryrobinettekowal.com.”
Hmmm. No, that makes it sound like an add for “This Old House.” There must be some way to put in what a inspiring resource your blog is. I mean, I know very few people who can make a colon puppet or a pencil-necked weasel puppet at the drop of a hat; and it is so cool when you share things like, “Here’s how I made a papier-mâché face/mask.”
I agree with what Peter said about chronological order.
I think this is a great bio. How did you and your husband meet? You know, for the romantics out there.
Why not just make shit up? You are a fiction writer, after all.