Durbin, Frederic S. 1966-

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Durbin, Frederic S. 1966-

PERSONAL:

Born 1966; father, a bookstore owner; mother, an elementary school librarian. Ethnicity: "American." Education: Concordia College, River Forest, IL, graduated (summa cum laude), 1988.

ADDRESSES:

Home—Japan. Office—Department of General Education, Niigata University, Niigata, Japan. E-mail—[email protected].

CAREER:

Volunteer Lutheran missionary and teacher in Japan, beginning 1988; Niigata University, Niigata, Japan, teacher of English and creative writing, 1995—.

WRITINGS:

Dragonfly (novel), illustrated by Jason von Hollander, Arkham House (Sauk City, WI), 1999.

Contributor of articles and short stories to periodicals, including Cricket, Fantasy and Science Fiction, Cicada, and Fate.

SIDELIGHTS:

Frederic S. Durbin told CA: "My primary motivation for writing is my own love of books and stories. I grew up in my parents' bookstore and spent my childhood reading, traveling in the imaginary worlds of J.R.R. Tolkien, Richard Adams, and H.P. Lovecraft. Other influences included Lord Dunsany, Ray Bradbury, Clark Ashton Smith, and Stephen King. My dream since childhood has been to take part in the grand human activity of storytelling, to pass along the joy of stories to other readers young and old. Author Paul Darcy Boles said ‘We are all storytellers sitting around the cave of the world.’ That is the belief I pass on to my writing students: that the telling of tales is an ancient and fundamental human activity; that it spans all of history, every culture, and links our entire human species.

"When I write, I listen to the voices of my own past: the whispers of woods and fields in Illinois, where I grew up; the classic fairy tales and snatches of folklore I heard from my parents and grandmother—particularly stories of monsters, mysteries, and hidden places. My writing is rooted in setting, from which all the rest flows—character, plot, and theme. I write on computers now, laptops and desktops, both in Illinois and in Niigata, Japan. I write slowly and revise a lot after I finish each complete draft. Usually I do two or three drafts before sending a piece out to an editor; then I frequently do another draft or two using the editor's suggestions. I am always grateful for the chance to work with a good editor; making the story the best it can be is much more important than doing everything completely my way.

"I write fantasy because in many ways it seems like the purest form of story; it's a chance to explore characters facing extreme challenges in settings where anything is possible. Fantasy lets you step outside time and known cultures to get right to the heart of human experience. It gives the writer a chance to build a world from the foundation up. In that way, it's also the hardest kind of writing there is—except for one: the ultimate challenge is writing well for children. Children live in a world of shadows and unicorns, shifting shapes, vivid terrors, and aching beauty. They won't put up with the indirectness and trivialities that most adults substitute for life. To speak to the hearts of children, you have to be at your absolute best; you have to be honest, aware, listening closely, and seeing with wide-open eyes. I also write horror because it's such a close cousin of fantasy—the line is often blurred. Look at how many horror elements there are in The Lord of the Rings! If the danger in a story is larger than life, darker than night, then the ultimate triumph and comfort are so much the greater."