A Q&A with Tanah Haney
Author of A Peculiar Symmetry
Being the 59th edition of Assorted Nonsense, the official newsletter of Donovan Street Press Inc.
I read recently that one of the jobs of a publisher is to make their authors famous. I highly doubt that author Tanah Haney wants to be famous—she is far too wise for such a superficial aspiration—but nonetheless she has graciously consented to a Q&A for this newsletter, which, although it probably won’t make her famous, is a thoughtful, revealing look at the thinking behind the creation of her first published novel:
Joe: What inspired you to write “A Peculiar Symmetry”?
Tanah: There were probably a hundred different moments that culminated in the book being born, but I’d say the original spark was the idea of an accidental signal, something that had been in the back of my mind for years. It spun out of my own experience with hypervigilant OCD, the kind where you’re constantly going back to make sure doors are locked, stoves turned off and so on. Some things require flicking a light on to double check, and at some point I wondered how that must look from the outside, this random light flicking on and off multiple times for no particular reason. Which immediately made me think of the X-Files, how Mulder used to signal his need to talk to the elusive Mr. X. What if someone just happened to set off the right sequence that indicated a specific signal to someone watching, without any conscious intent or foreknowledge of what might happen?
Joe: It’s an interesting title. How did you come up with it?
Tanah: The working title was originally “Fractal Theory” (which I felt summed up the essence of the book quite well), but it sounded a bit too much like a doctoral dissertation (which is what it ends up being in the book, where it’s referenced in connection to Aiden’s family). I went down a lot of rabbit holes looking for inspiration, from the history of cryptography to quantum physics to the classic Sherlock Holmes canon, but I kept coming back to the idea of symmetry and all its myriad meanings, from the colloquial to the mathematical. In particular though, I was drawn to the concept of supersymmetry in physics: the idea that, for every known particle, there exists a partner particle with different spin properties (to quote a simplified Wikipedia definition).
Joe: What would you consider the central themes of the book?
Tanah: I don’t generally write with themes in mind, I find those happen organically as the book is being written, and don’t fully emerge until the book is complete. But I’d say there are definite overarching themes of what it’s like to feel different, to feel like you’re not fully in control of your life, the challenges of wrestling with an imperfect memory, what happens when you find yourself in a situation you could never possibly have anticipated, and how you find your way through that, without losing yourself along the way. While that might feel like a solitary process at times, the people you encounter along the way can have a huge influence on the ultimate outcome, can make all the difference when it comes to finding light in dark times. And naturally there are a few little digs at some of the problems facing our modern Western society and the larger global society as a whole.
Joe: This is a book with plenty of spies. Do you have a favourite espionage writer?
Tanah: If I’m honest, my gateway to spies and intrigue was seeing the classic James Bond movies as a kid, fused with my love of detective stories and anything related to cryptography. I’ve never had a mind that’s particularly good at puzzle solving, but as a kid I was endlessly fascinated with tales from the era of Bletchley Park and the Enigma machine. Reading Cryptonomicon by Neal Stephenson in my 20’s kicked that into high gear. I wasn’t really a spy novel reader until I happened upon my first book by le Carre, can’t remember if it was The Spy Who Came in from the Cold, or Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy, but that introduced me to a whole new level of writing. The mastery of craft evidenced in those books just blows my mind every time. I also have a personal affection for the original Bourne trilogy by Ludlum, another series that features a character who wrestles with memory and identity, while trying to find true autonomy amidst a sea of chaos, manipulation and secrecy.
Joe: What is your writing process?
Tanah: I don’t have a specific process per se. It’s kind of random and spontaneous for the most part. It usually starts with something simple, a single scene, a mental image, a phrase. Nearly every beginning finds a character, against their will, in some unexpected, often uncomfortable situation. Then the story becomes a journey I take with the characters, the quest to figure out what the heck is going on, and why. It’s usually at the midway point that I start writing reams of copious notes and diving into research, once I have the shape of the story and have had a few shower revelations along the way. That’s when all the charts and spreadsheets come out.
Joe: What were some of the biggest challenges you faced while writing the book?
Tanah: Aside from the original book deal (with another publisher) falling through, I think it was mainly finding the right balance, the flow that could inform the overall trajectory of the book. Two things helped cinch it for me. I started breaking the novel into scenes with the help of an ancient copy of Scrivener. That let me move the scenes around like puzzle pieces if the flow didn’t feel right. What made the most difference though, was creating a soundtrack for the story (I still have the playlist on my mp3 player). Then it became a literal movie in my head, and I could see where the pace slowed down, or where things were getting stuck. It also helped me come to the most important realization of all, that Aiden and Minnie needed to be co-MC’s, both equally important, as opposed to one main character with a side-kick/companion. Hence starting the novel with two opening scenes, one from each point of view, showing that contrast between them before bringing them together.
Joe: Did you conduct any specific research for the book? If so, what was the most interesting or surprising?
Tanah: Wow yeah, metric tons of research for this one. Most of which never got used for the plot, but it helped inform the overall tone of the story. Everything from how lightning and fractals work, to the origins and functions of pi and the Fibonacci sequence, to the human computers of Bletchley Park. Countless hours on Google Maps working out Toronto locations and routes, then several days in the city itself driving or walking those routes, visiting the locations, making notes and taking photos. But I think the main unexpected takeaway was all the research I did into neurodiversity, to try to avoid any outdated stereotypes or misconceptions. That sparked a point-form list titled “What I have in common with neurodiverse folks”, which ultimately led to the realization of my own neurodivergence, and my eventual official diagnosis of ADHD. Which in turn led to quite a few interesting conversations with friends and family members, many of whom are also neurodivergent.
Joe: Your two protagonists are gay, but (if I may be so bold) you yourself are not gay. What was it like writing those characters?
Tanah: That's really a two in one, so I'll address the question first, then touch on the assumption at the end.
I've always been a romantic at heart. It honestly never mattered to me what gender the people involved were. What fascinates me are people and their relationships, and all the crazy hurdles, wonderful joys, terrifying risks, and downright maddening challenges that can result. How each and every human is a vast, unknowable universe on the inside, and what happens when those universes collide, or merge, or even gently bump up against each other, has always been profoundly interesting to me.
The two main protagonists, Aiden and Minnie, started off as Nicholas and Minnie, to the point where the first couple of pitch meetings for the finished novel still had Nicholas in them. But as I took a deeper dive into everything neurodivergent, I started to see how lopsided the public perception of neurodivergence is. That was never more starkly clear than during my first-ever novel pitch, to an editor at Can-Con. I could see his eyes light up as I described Minnie, but as soon as I alluded to Nicholas being a neurodivergent man with OCD, his face fell, and he seemed genuinely disappointed. I'm paraphrasing here, but the gist of his reply was, "An autistic man with OCD is a bit cliche, isn't it? I mean everyone's doing it these days." My first thought was, I doubt my family members and friends who fall into that category consider their lives cliche, but it did lead to some serious soul searching on my part. Part of me was rankling because I wanted to reply, well *I* have OCD, so I think I know how it feels. Then I considered how few representations of ND women exist, stereotyped or otherwise. My husband has said that I sometimes remind him of Dr. Brennan from Bones, but aside from that all I could think of were the female detective in The Bridge, and the Viking warrior woman in The Beforeigners TV series. Which then led to me wonder why so many of the protagonists in my stories over the years have been male. What it comes down to, is that they were often the characters I could relate to, not just in SF but across genres. I've always identified female, have always been proud and happy to be a girl, but I never presented as typically feminine. A lot of women in fiction just didn't feel like me.
So I thought, how can I make this character unassailable, how can I make them feel fully real? I can bring in more of my own experience. Go all in, rather than shying away from that. And what I ended up with is a story about not one, but two neurodivergent characters who happen to be women. Because Minnie is every bit as much of an outlier as Aiden, only in a different direction. I kind of think of them as what might happen if someone split me in two, then added a whack load of skills and abilities that I don't have, but kind of wish I did. So it ended up being a much more personal novel than it started out.
As to the assumption at the heart of that question, people assume I'm straight because I married a man and have never had a girlfriend. But back in my university days, there were people who assumed that I was gay, or possibly ace, because I didn't have a boyfriend. I hung out with boys, had some good solid male friends I didn't hesitate to show affection to, but I never hooked up with anyone. People were genuinely surprised when I started going out with my now-husband near the end of my final year. I’ve always personally viewed orientation as more of a sliding scale that a binary equation. At the end of the day, the only way to truly know someone’s orientation is to ask them, provided they feel like giving you an honest answer. Which I’d be happy to do, off the record, for anyone who may be curious.
Joe: Who are your favourite writers and why?
Tanah: I've always been drawn to outsider stories, where the protagonist has trouble meshing with the ordinary world: Ender's Game (problematic author, but still a key influence), Cadre One (written by my high school English teacher, Mr. O'Riordan), The Long Run (Daniel Keys Moran), Stranger in a Strange Land (Heinlein), The Bourne Identity, Emily of New Moon. Where the very differences that set them apart, the identity questions they wrestle with, are also a key part of how they survive and work through the difficult, even seemingly impossible situations they find themselves thrust into.
I've also always loved stories where the real and the otherworldly overlapped, where you could step from one to the other; that tantalizing idea that a gateway to some alternate universe might be hiding around any corner, that you might stumble across it at any moment. Susan Cooper, Charles de Lint, Peter S. Beagle, Guy Gavriel Kay, Steven R. Boyett (Ariel), Tad Williams, Barbara Hambly's Darwath Trilogy, all the Narnia (C.S. Lewis) books. Douglas Adams, for infusing everything with humour and a dose of the surreal and unexpected. A Wrinkle in Time by Madeline L'Engle in particular opened so many doors for me. It got me thinking about alternate dimensions, quantum physics, and non-linear time years before Doctor Who entered my life. It fused fantasy and sci-fi ideas so that they became indistinguishable from each other.
All those authors at some level show us, through story and metaphor, how everything is intertwined, how every life is important, how anybody has the potential for great things, if they're given the right opportunity. They teach us how to think sideways, invite us to imagine how things could change for the better. That's the power of speculative fiction, and why it's not just fluff and escapism, but the very stuff that fuels our dreams and leads to those great leaps forward, those grand discoveries that keep us going and exploring further.
Joe: What are you working on now?
Tanah: It’s on the back burner at the moment, but the next project will be an extensive edit, and to some extent re-write, of an already completed fantasy novel. It was initially written close to 20 years ago, and it’s taken me that long to figure out how I can tweak it to address some of the issues that have held it back from being easily publishable. I’m really looking forward to diving back into that world and revisiting those characters. After that I have a good strong core idea for how to continue the adventures of Aiden and Minnie, in a rather unexpected direction. Which will be a lot of fun when I can get around to that.
A Peculiar Symmetry
by Tanah Haney
Aiden and Minnie. Two of the least ordinary people you’re likely to meet.
Aiden’s missing the first eight years of her life, yet she can play Beethoven’s Concerto without ever having been taught. Minnie can see people’s emotions, in vivid colour, no less. That doesn’t help much when she meets Aiden, who doesn’t seem to have any.
When British Intelligence sweeps in, along with belligerent spies and a half-brother Aiden never knew existed, Minnie soon discovers that whatever Aiden might lack, she more than makes up for in intrigue. Getting to know one another will have to wait, though; when bullets start to fly, and the bodies begin to pile up, the two young women find themselves caught up in a clandestine war for control over the human psyche…and their own lives.
I really enjoyed this!! I think the total highlight of this book for me was the relationship/dynamic between Aiden and Minnie. It was so sweet and tender, ~ Heather White, Goodreads
About the Author:
When not writing, Tanah Haney divides her time between playing the Celtic harp, teaching music, gardening and cat wrangling. She is a published poet and is co-author of Where the World Bleeds Through with her husband, photographer and digital artist Mark A. Harrison.
The character of Aiden in Tanah’s debut novel, A Peculiar Symmetry, was inspired by Tanah’s own experience with neurodiversity. Late diagnosed with ADHD at age 50 but neurodivergent from day one, Tanah is determined to be a more vocal champion of everyone who has ever felt different, and for the free expression of same in a diverse, inclusive, and compassionate society.
Tanah lives in Peterborough, Ontario, with her husband Mark and a small but vocal menagerie.
Thanks for reading!
Follow Joe Mahoney and Donovan Street Press Inc. on: Goodreads, Bluesky, Threads, Mastadon, Facebook, and Instagram
This has been the 59th edition of Assorted Nonsense, the official newsletter of Donovan Street Press Inc.