Matriarchy is a time-honored staple for any writer looking to invent an exotic society. - Marie Brennan
Utopias bore me. I'm interested in constructing messy, complicated societies that are full of flaws and then saying, ooh, this is interesting, let's see what happens if I poke it here. And concurrently with this and the previous point, I'm interested in making up cultures that are different - Marie Brennan