Gail says:
What absolutely fantastic replies! Thanks to everyone for reading and for all the suggestions! Goes to prove that characters do become real to us, and live on in our imaginations long after we’re done reading the book.
One winner is too difficult…so I’ll pick two–Sean and Cecilia. I’ve got an autographed copy of The Sworn for you Just please email me at
gail (at) chroniclesofthenecromancer (dot) com
with your addresses and I’ll get those out to you!
Filed under Book Giveaway, Fantasy books, Female Fantasy Authors, Fun Stuff
As the next of my series featuring fantastic female fantasy authors (see disclaimer) I’ve invited the talented Gail Z Martin to drop by.
Watch out for the give-away question at the end of the interview.
Q: When someone has a middle name starting with Z I have to ask. What does it stand for? (Blame my obsession with words). Is it Zillah? Oh no, I just found your full name on wikipedia. It’s Zehner. OK, where does Zehner come from? Is it Dutch and an old family name?
Zehner is actually my maiden name. It’s German. I found that there are a million Gail Martins, so the Z makes it a little more identifiable.
Q: I see you are an SF fan from way back. I discovered fandom when I was 18. (Yay, people who don’t think I’m crazy). When did you discover Fandom and was it a great relief?
I discovered SF/Fantasywhen I was about 12, and got involved with fandom when I was about 17. Yes, it was a great relief. I enjoyed getting together with other people who liked the same kinds of movies and books, and it was so great to be able to talk about the things I liked without being “weird.”
Q: I see you are an Adjunct Professor at the University of North Carolina. (I’m an Associate Lecturer in Narrative, Storyboards and Animatics). What is an Adjunct Professor?
Actually, the Adjunct Professor gig went away with budget cuts in 2008, but I guess the Internet hasn’t caught up! It’s probably very similar to your “associate lecturer” role in that as an adjunct, I wasn’t tenured faculty. I was tapped for my expertise in a particular subject, but I only taught a couple of classes and didn’t have any advisory responsibilities.
Q: With a background in marketing (25 years in fact) you run Dreamspinner Communications. You’ve written two books on the topic 30 Days to Social Media Success and Launching your Book Without Losing your Mind. I guess with your passion for fantasy, reaching out to readers was the next natural step. Do you have any 
tips for writers who are just starting out?
Being present on the Internet and on social media is really crucial for connecting with readers. It’s a great way for new writers to spread the word about their books and to begin to build a loyal readership.
Q: In amongst all the other things you do, you’ve had a book out every year (2 in 2009 and none in 2010 so it averages to a book a year) since 2007. You must have a strong work ethic. How do you juggle all your other commitments and your writing?
Actually, the second book in 2009 came out on Dec. 31, so it might as well have been 2010! I’ll have three new books out this year—one fantasy and two non-fiction. I just love writing, so it doesn’t feel like work. I own my own business, so making time for the writing is a lot easier than when I worked in corporate. And I make a lot of “to-do” lists!
Q: Your Chronicles of the Necromancer had some gorgeous covers. How much input do you get with our covers?
I’ve been very fortunate to have had some amazing cover artists. A good cover really goes a long way toward selling a book! From The Blood King onward, I had the opportunity to supply a paragraph or two of description for the character on the cover. I love all my covers, but I think Dark Haven is especially spot on!
Q: In Chronicles of Necromancer your main character has the power over the dead (not surprising since he’s necromancer). You don’t often see the exploration of ghosts and vampires in the traditional fantasy books. Was this something that you’d been wanting to write for a long time and it just bubbled up out of you?
I love ghosts and vampires, so if I was going to write a series, those had to be in there somewhere! Historically, ghosts and vampires were very much a part of medieval folklore, so to me it doesn’t seem strange. And I just wasn’t in to writing about elves and dwarves!
Q: You set four books in the Necromancer Chronicles, The Summoner, The Blood King, Dark Haven and The Dark Lady’s Chosen. By Book four Tris has become king. Does The Fallen Kings Cycle pick up right after the end of book four with The Sworn The Sworn and then The Dread which is due out next year?
Yes. There’s about six months of elapsed time in the book universe between the end of Dark Lady’s Chosen and the beginning of The Sworn. Then The Dread picks up immediately after the end of The Sworn. All six books cover just a little less than three years in the characters’ lives.
Q: You interviewed me for a podcast. (See here). When did you first start doing podcasts and what attracted you to this form of communication?
I’ve been doing podcasts now for almost four years. I stumbled upon other people doing podcasts through the conventions I attended and thought it would be a lot of fun, plus a great way to introduce my readers to the interesting people I meet. I really do have a wonderful time doing the interviews, and it’s been a terrific way to continue the conversation with many of the fabulous folks I’ve met at conventions.
Q: I was prompted to start this series of interviews because there seems to be a perception in the US and the UK that fantasy is a bit of a boy’s club. Do you think there’s a difference in the way males and females write fantasy?
I see less of a difference in fantasy than with other genres. In general (and it is a very broad generalization with no doubt many exceptions), male writers often focus more on the action, weapons and military tactics and give short shrift to the relationships and character growth. I’m as interested in what’s going on inside of the characters and to their interactions with the people around them as I am in the action. That’s what I like to read, so that’s what I write.
Q: Following on from that, does the gender of the writer change your expectations when you pick up their book?
It’s usually the story synopsis on the back of a book that makes me pick it up, especially if it’s from a writer I’m not familiar with. For male writers, I probably gravitate toward books by those writers who are the exceptions to the generalization I stated and who do include character growth and invest some time exploring their friendships, romances and other interpersonal relationships.
Q: And here’s the fun question. If you could book a trip on a time machine, where and when would you go, and why?
While there are a lot of time periods I think might be fun to visit as a tourist, I’m too fond of air conditioning and modern sanitation to want to live in any other time except our own!
Give-away Question: If you could go out to dinner with two fictional characters, who would they be?
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As the next of my series featuring fantastic female fantasy authors (see disclaimer) I’ve invited the talented Erica Hayes to drop by.
Watch out for the give-away question at the end of the interview.
Q: Book one of The Shadowfae Chronicles came out in 2009. This series is set in Melbourne. Did you ever consider it might be too risky? Were you tempted to set it in a generic US or British city? (Read the first chapter here).
No, not for this one. I really wanted to set the series in a city I knew. And the idea for the warring demon factions in the Shadowfae underworld came from the real-life gang shenanigans in Melbourne, so it seemed only right to leave it there. Neither my agent nor my editor ever asked me to change it, and to my knowledge no one who passed on it did so because of the non-American setting (plenty of other reasons, but setting wasn’t it!)
I wouldn’t say it’s a complete myth that American contemporary fantasy publishers don’t want exotic settings – it’s clear from the evidence of what’s on the shelves that they’re more comfortable with places they believe their readership will find familiar. And hey, most of their writers are American, and they’re writing what they know, same as I am, so American settings are to be expected. But I think if you can make the setting fresh and exciting, and so integral to the story that changing it would lose the flavour, it really doesn’t matter where the action takes place.
In my books, the scene-setting is extra important, because there’s so much sensory detail. I want readers to feel like they’re there, immersed in the sounds and smells and tastes. And I think that’s what you’ve got to do, no matter if it’s America or Australia or darkest Africa.
Q: The second book of the series, Shadowglass came out in March 2010. (Read the first chapter here). You describe your main character, Ice, as ‘a geeky little fairy girl who wants to be someone else. Anyone else. She doesn’t really care who, so long as it isn’t her own clumsy, tongue-tied self. Sure, she’s got a career, sort of, if you count ‘diamond thief’ as a job. She’s got a pair of crazy fairy friends who’d do anything for her. Life’s not so bad, even if it’s a nasty fairy-hating world out there.’ Do you find your characters spring into your mind fully formed or do you consciously build them?
Usually they spring to mind in cartoon form, if you like – kind of a line-drawing caricature of themselves, with a few defining characteristics. But I do a lot of work after that, to build their backstory and make sure they’re believable.
Ice, for instance, I immediately knew was a geeky fairy girl who steals for a living. But the wanting to be someone else came later. Thing was, I’d never anticipated writing about a main character who was a fairy, and I’d spent the first book in the series showing fairies as these wild party creatures who live fast, die young and never have a plan beyond whatever feels good at the time. Not a good motivation for a main character!
But I couldn’t contradict myself by making her a driven career girl or something. So petty thief Ice is wild and fun-loving and careless, yes, but she has this secret longing for something more, and she’s desperately in love-at-a-distance with her idol, Indigo, who’s a big-time thief and everything she both wants and wants to be. Of course, it’s that yearning that gets her into trouble. With demons, and possessed magic mirrors, and lovesick serial killers. Oyy.
Q: And six months later book three, Poison Kissed, came out. (Read the first chapter here). Were you madly scrambling to write these books to deadlines or had you written several before the first one was accepted?
I’d written two when I sold SHADOWFAE in a two-book contract. But that second manuscript still hasn’t been published – I wrote them a whole new book 2, SHADOWGLASS. That was an interesting experience. I’d never written to a deadline before, and when I told them, ‘sure, six months is no problem!’ I had no idea who or what SHADOWGLASS would be about. I had to ignore my already-written book 2 and reconsider how the series would proceed. But the editor said ‘fairies, please!’ so I said, ‘sure’, and thrashed it about until I came up with something.
Luckily, I discovered that six months is a comfortable timeline for me. The books are around 100K (except book 1, which is very short, though no one seems to have noticed!) so I spend around six weeks outlining and getting the story right, three months or so writing, and the rest of the time doing a few quick revisions before I submit.
My agent isn’t the kind who asks for revisions from the get-go, so we typically send the MS straight to the editor when I’m done. My own revisions are mostly tweaking the character arcs so the romantic development is just right. And trimming: the manuscripts are invariably too long, and because I’ve outlined them until my eyes bleed, I can’t usually cut anything substantial. So I have to lose words by trimming the writing. That gets harder as I get more experienced and my first drafts get tighter, and because these books are intended to be written in a lush and textured style. But I find I can still lose 5% to 10% pretty comfortably. It’s just a matter of ruthlessness!
Oh, and that not-published ex-book 2? Genie meets zombie cat-burglar. That’s all I’m saying…
Q: And book four, Blood Cursed, is being released in August 2011. (Read first chapter here). Have you found that releasing the books 6 months apart has created momentum for the series?
I don’t know. I hope so! But six months is pretty standard for paranormal romance. These days some series are doing back-to-back releases, with books released every month – now that’s momentum!
Still, if books aren’t working for readers, I don’t think a quick release schedule can save them – and if readers love a series, history shows they’re willing to wait. The danger used to be that if you waited too long to publish again, readers would have forgotten about the earlier books, with no chance of a recap because the paperbacks had already disappeared from bookstore shelves. But now, with e-books, the earlier books are ‘in print’ – and visible to readers – for a lot longer, maybe forever. So I’m not sure that release schedules are going to be such a factor in the future.
Q: Each of these books revolves around a mystery. Are you a closet mystery fan?
I never really looked at it that way 🙂 I suppose they are mysteries of a sort! Jade in SHADOWFAE has to hunt down four damned souls, and Mina in POISON KISSED is searching for her mother’s murderer. But it’s basically just to give the characters something to panic about while the romance happens! And the solution to the mystery is always a kick in the face for the heroine as far as the romance is concerned. The plot serves the romance, not the other way around.
I do like mysteries on TV – the gritty British police procedural kind, usually, like Wire in the Blood or Cracker or the new reboot of Sherlock. I love Doctor Who, and he solves mysteries. But I’m not sure I could ever write a procedural – they’re too clever!
Q: Is your next book going to be number five of The Shadowfae Chronicles or are you branching out? Tell us what’s in store.
I’ve got a Shadowfae short story, CHERRY KISSES, coming out in an anthology called HEX SYMBOLS from St Martin’s Press at some stage soon. It’s about a new character, a witchy con artist called Lena. But at the moment, I’m working on other things. I’ve written a space opera, and a dark paranormal romance set in a world that’s not the Shadowfae world, so I’m looking at publishing options for those. And I’m toying with some urban fantasy ideas. A surfeit of new ideas, in fact!
Q: I was prompted to start this series of interviews because there seems to be a perception in the US and the UK that fantasy is a bit of a boy’s club. Do you think there’s a difference in the way males and females write fantasy?
Yeah. That’s the short answer.
What, you want the long answer? So glad you asked 🙂 The ‘big thing’ in fantasy books in America at the moment is obviously urban fantasy and paranormal romance. Not too hard to guess which side of that fence most male authors fall. Female authors – at least the published ones – seem to be willing to include a lot more romance in their books, and to focus on relationships over action. Is it because they have to in order to get published and gain a large readership, seeing as the romance genre is so dominant and it’s what publishers want – or because female writers naturally lean that way and male writers don’t?
I don’t know for sure, but it sure is interesting to note that the biggest thing in fantasy television right now is the old-fashioned antithesis of lone-wolf, kick-ass-chick urban fantasy: Game of Thrones, based on books written by a man, with male screenwriters and a heavily male-dominated cast – except for the most powerful villain, who’s a woman.
I don’t mean these are bad things – I adore Game of Thrones, both the show and the books! And the show does have other strong and important female characters, which is impressive, considering it’s set in a fantasy society that’s dominated by men. But it’s interesting to see what’s required – or what the networks think is required, and in the case of Game of Thrones at least, it worked big-time – for a fantasy show to gain large mainstream popularity. Part of which, apparently, is that the male cast I mentioned is populated with some of the sexiest actors on the planet 🙂
I mean, it’s TV Land, so everyone’s hot, right? And sex always sells, no matter the genre. But part of me suspects that someone at HBO thinks female viewers only watch fantasy for the hot guys – and that’s kind of borne out by the popularity of paranormal romance, right?
Exhibit B: True Blood, another HBO show that I also love, in a surreptitious, guilty-pleasure fashion… A female-written fantasy (Charlaine Harris) seen through the thoroughly male lenses of the show’s creator, Alan Ball. The result: soft porn, or as I saw it described on a comic book website, ‘a show that’s almost entirely about Rogue’s tits’ 🙂 HBO thought they’d get more viewers if the show was more about sex and violence than about fantasy. Which supports the theory that writers put romance in their fantasy books because it’s what the publishers want. What it doesn’t explain is why more male authors don’t do it. So perhaps some innate difference in the way the genders write fantasy is a real factor – it makes sense that we’d all write what we want to read, after all.
Another example is Supernatural, which began as a monster-of-the-week action series (remember season 1?) until, IMO, the network figured out pretty quickly who the majority of their viewers were (women and teenage girls) and turned it into a bromance, because “hell, women want stories about relationships, right? Look at all those romances they read!” As a result, Sam and Dean Winchester are maybe the hottest on-again, off-again couple on TV. Whether this is ‘what women really want’ or not, would Supernatural would be the hit it is today if Sam and Dean weren’t such handsome young things, and if they weren’t so desperately ‘in love’?
Anyway. I’m speculating. I don’t have any facts here. And anything that gets fantasy and/or romance onto the screen is golden with me! But I’d love to know the gender breakdown of viewers for Game of Thrones and True Blood, compared to that of the books’ readership. And how many straight boys watch Supernatural 🙂
Q: Following on from that, does the gender of the writer change your expectations when you pick up their book?
Umm. Maybe. I know I’m always interested when I see a new urban fantasy book written by a man, just because they’re so rare. I suppose I’d be surprised if I discovered that such a book had a strong romance plot, as opposed to little love-interest subplots. And I think for some reason, I expect more humour and less angst from a male UF writer. This is probably Harry Dresden’s fault.
So is that a yes? I guess it is! Remembering that I’m coming at it from the paranormal romance/urban fantasy corner. If you’re talking about the more epic-style fantasy, probably not so much.
Q: And here’s the fun question. If you could book a trip on a time machine, where and when would you go, and why?
Ooh, that’s a toughie. Backwards or forwards? If backwards, I’ll cling to my desperately romantic view of history and ignore the fact that my feeble 21st century immune system would probably swiftly succumb to smallpox or some horrible rotting fever and I’d die screaming… maybe Imperial Rome? I’d love to see if it’s the way we imagine it.
Or forwards? Yeah, that’d be cool. I want to ride on an interstellar spaceship at faster than the speed of light 🙂 And see the future Galactic Empire, complete with fake gravity and Death Stars.
Give-away Question: Erica likes the idea of a time machine, so where-when would you go and why?
Follow Erica on Twitter: @ericahayes
Catch up with Erica on GoodReads.
Marilyn (MK Hume) says she’s been flat strap doing the final technical edit on the second Merlin book, but she’s had time to look at the comments and she says:
The winner is Melissa who seems to have a way with words – I like her style!
Melissa, if you email me, I’ll put you in touch with Marilyn. rowena(at)corydaniells(dot)com
Filed under Australian Writers, Book Giveaway, Fantasy books, Female Fantasy Authors
Juliet writes:
What a great set of recommendations! In fact I’ve already read and enjoyed many of these: Neil Gaiman’s Stardust, Marion Zimmer Bradley’s The Mists of Avalon, Margo Lanagan’s Tender Morsels, Lian Hearn’s Otori series, and most of Terry Pratchett. There are also a few authors among the recommendations whose work I already know I don’t like, though others do.
So what’s going on my ‘to read’ list? Anne Bishop for a start, since so many people tell me I would like her work. Lynn Flewelling’s The Bone Doll’s Twin. Naomi Novik, whose books I feel I should have tried. Lois McMaster Bujold, ditto. Maybe Brandon Sanderson or Brent Weeks, so nobody can accuse me of choosing 100% female authors! If I get through all those, I’ll start on the rest.
But there can only be one winner. The signed book goes to Lexie for recommending the Secret Country trilogy by Pamela Dean. Lexie can’t have known that Dean’s Tam Lin is one of my favourite books of all time. I was thrilled to be reminded that this author wrote other titles and will hunt them down – seems only one book of her trilogy is still in print.
Lexie, contact me on juliet(at)julietmarillier(dot)com and we can discuss getting the book to you.
(Note: This is just one of Juliet’s book covers as I don’t know which one Lexie will choose).
As the next of my series featuring fantastic female fantasy authors (see disclaimer) I’ve invited the talented and prolific Juliet Marillier to drop by.
Watch out for the give-away question at the end of the interview.
Q: You started out writing for adults, but I see your recent books, Wildwood Dancing and Cybele’s Secret are Young Adult. (Cybele’s Secret won the 2008 Sir Julius Vogel Award for Best YA Novel). What led you to veer into Young Adult books?
I was persuaded in that direction by a publisher. I already had a good cross-over audience for some of my adult novels, the Sevenwaters series in particular. I’m sure that is partly because they have youngish protagonists, though I didn’t make it so in order to attract YA readers – in the early medieval period, people led shorter lives and were mothers, craftspeople, farmers or fighters during their teenage years. Those who didn’t die in childbirth or get killed in a fight or a nasty accident might then live into their forties, fifties or even older. That makes it realistic for the protagonists to be in the 15-25 age group. My readership for those adult books starts at about age 13 and goes up to folk in their nineties, including one visually impaired friend to whom I’ve read most of my novels aloud! I currently have both a YA series (Shadowfell) and an adult series on the go.
Q: I see you were a music teacher. What was your instrument? I know some writers who make up a ‘play list’ specific to each book they write. Do you write, while listening to music?
Violin, oboe, voice, in that order, with singing being my main area of performance. Generally I don’t listen to music when I write, especially not anything with lyrics, as I find that too distracting. For certain books I did listen to particular styles of music. I’m very keen on folk music these days, especially Celtic and Galician music. My favourite group is the Scottish band Runrig. When I was in the Highlands doing my research for the Bridei Chronicles I would play their music very loudly in the car as I drove along those wee one-way roads. For Wildwood Dancing, set in Transylvania, I listened to Australian gypsy band Doch.
Q: You were born in New Zealand and grew up there, but your family are from Scotland and Ireland and you grew up hearing Celtic music and stories. Have you travelled back to Europe to research your roots?
I have travelled back there for general research, but I haven’t done specific research into my family history – I have more of a passion for the physical landscape and the stories of my ancestral culture (mostly Scots, a bit of Irish) than the urge to seek out the specific details of my own family. I do know a fair amount about the last few generations. And thanks to a comprehensive book about the Pringle family, on my mother’s side, I know I have a wrong-side-of-the-blanket connection with Bonnie Prince Charlie.
Q: The Sevenwaters Trilogy (which seems to contain five books LOL) has a big gap of eight years between books three and four. When you came back to writing in this world was it like visiting old friends?
Yes, and that surprised me. There was an eight year writing gap between Child of the Prophecy, final book of the original trilogy, and Heir to Sevenwaters, the first of the follow-ups. It’s not really a trilogy of five books (with a sixth to come) but a trilogy plus three later stand-alone novels with the same settings and some of the same characters. Again, this was something I was encouraged to do by a publisher, because the first three books were so well-loved. I had some misgivings because I had not intended to write any more in that series or in that style. I would never write a book solely because it was likely to be commercially successful. So I had to make the new project into something I could feel passionately about. That turned out not to be difficult, as I realised there was a heap more I could do with the Sevenwaters characters.
Q: I’m a big fan of the Pre-Raphaelites. I notice that some of your covers feature artwork which has a strong pre-Raphaelite look. (Heart’s Blood and the Australian editions of the Sevenwaters books.) Did you have any say in the covers?
For the Australian editions, yes. I asked if Pan Macmillan would commission a cover for Heir to Sevenwaters from Australian painter Kim Nelson, whose work I really love. At the same time as producing that cover art, Kim designed the covers for the new editions of the Sevenwaters trilogy, using paintings by Pre-Raphaelite artist J W Waterhouse. A painting by Waterhouse was also used for Heart’s Blood. I was consulted extensively right through the design process, which was wonderful. It’s not so with many of the overseas publishers. Often something extremely weird and inappropriate will go on the cover and I won’t get to see it until it’s finalised. But I have been very lucky, with wonderful artists like Kinuko Y Craft, Jon Sullivan and John Jude Palencar commissioned to do covers for US and UK editions.
Q: The Saga of the Light Isles is about a Viking farm boy, Eyvind who dreams of becoming one of the Jarl’s elite warriors. Were you always interested in Norse mythology?
I’ve always been interested in all kinds of mythology, legends, fairy tales and folklore. It comes of being brought up on Andrew Lang’s Fairy Books and by parents who loved storytelling. My particular interest in Norse history and mythology came about when I read a book on Viking warfare and started thinking about what kind of men berserk warriors would have to be – on one hand, crazy killing machines dedicated to a god of war; on the other hand, dutiful sons who went home to help Mum on the farm in between raiding voyages. The Icelandic sagas actually describe this dichotomy. That fascinated me, hence Wolfskin, my book about the making (and unmaking) of a berserker.
Q: The Bridei Chronicles is based loosely on real history. We were on a panel together at World Con in Melbourne 2010, where you said (I’m paraphrasing) that when not a lot is known about a time, the writer is able to extrapolate and invent. Do you find your general knowledge has helped you fill in the gaps about what is known of the Picts?
Definitely. It’s certainly not a case of, if you don’t know it, make it up! The writer needs to research pretty thoroughly and be familiar with what is known, even if that isn’t much. And when you do venture into informed guesswork, what you create should at least be possible within what is known of that culture. It helps to look at other, similar cultures of the time that may have more contemporary documents.
I used my general education all the time – for instance, I invented place names for many locations in the Highlands whose current names couldn’t be used because they belong to a later (Scots) period and language. To do so, I had to put together names derived from the bits and pieces of other languages that were thought to belong to the same family as the lost Pictish language of Bridei’s time. I’m sure most people who read the novels didn’t give a hoot if the names were historically probable or not, but it mattered to me! I have in the past made historical errors in my books, before I realised such things were important in fantasy, and these days I try to get things right. Being a nit-picker of this kind does sometimes spoil my enjoyment of other people’s fantasy – I can’t bear it when writers mix up ‘real world’ cultures holus bolus to create their secondary world. But I love it when writers get it right. Jacqueline Carey is a great example, with her intricately detailed alternative Renaissance Europe.
Q: I was prompted to start this series of interviews because there seems to be a perception in the US and the UK that fantasy is a bit of a boy’s club. Do you think there’s a difference in the way males and females write fantasy?
I think that would be too much of a generalisation. I do see a trend in the UK towards a style of fantasy that reflects a somewhat pessimistic or jaded world view and is often extremely violent and gruesome. The names that spring to mind are all male: Jesse Bullington, Joe Abercrombie, and literary writer Glen Duncan’s recent venture into fantasy, The Last Werewolf. I found Bullington’s first novel too sickening to read, but Joe Abercombie is one of my favourite writers, and the Glen Duncan novel is a striking piece of storytelling, though the subject matter is often challenging. But I don’t think this is the answer to the question. Really, fantasy writing is about individual writers, not men vs women or Americans vs Brits or redheads vs blondes. All sorts of factors influence the way a person writes; gender is only one of them. Perhaps the recent tendency to undervalue women fantasy writers is based on the massive rise in the number of paranormal romances we see in the bookshops, most of them by women – some people may be assuming that’s what we all write!
Q: Following on from that, does the gender of the writer change your expectations when you pick up their book?
Difficult to answer, as the interview is based on fantasy writing, and I’m not a great fantasy reader. Within that genre I tend to stick to a few favourite writers, both male and female, and my expectations are based on their previous work. With an unknown fantasy author, I don’t think gender would change my expectations much, because there’s such a huge variety of approach within the genre. I would be influenced by the cover, the blurb, and the first few pages – perhaps also by the author bio and who published the book. The qualities I want in any novel, regardless of genre, are skilled craftsmanship and great storytelling. And originality.
Q: And here’s the fun question. If you could book a trip on a time machine, where and when would you go, and why?
I’ll go to sixth century Britain, eastern end of the Great Glen (where Inverness is now) so I can find out the answers to all those questions about the Picts and perhaps drop in at King Bridei’s court. Can I take my thermal underwear?
Give-away Question: (win a signed copy of a JM novel of your choice)
Juliet says:
I’ve confessed that I don’t read a lot of fantasy. Recommend a fantasy novel for my reading list, and tell us why you chose it.
Catch up with Juliet on GoodReads
Catch up with Juliet on Facebook.
Catch up with Juliet on Writer Unboxed.
Pamela is sick in bed with the ‘flu, but she dragged herself out of bed to look at the comments and choose the Owl as the winner!
‘I think I’d want to be an owl. I’m a nocturnal person by nature and I’ve been fascinated by owls since I was a child and saw that Tootsie Roll commercial. Fiercely protective, intelligent hunters and just this shade of arrogant…yeah I think I could do well as an owl.’
So, Lexie, email Pamela on pamela(at)pamelafreemanbooks(dot)com to organise the posting or your book.
Filed under Australian Writers, Book Giveaway, Female Fantasy Authors
As the next of my series featuring fantastic female fantasy authors (see disclaimer) I’ve invited the talented Kim Westwood to drop by.
Watch out for the give-away question at the end of the interview.
Q: I notice that you were ‘a weedy, asthmatic kid who devoured books like dinner.’ Kate Forsyth had a speech impediment and lost herself in books. I was a fat kid who no one would play with, so I lost myself in books. Do you think this ability to be totally immersed in an invented world, then go on to create invented worlds of our own arises from loneliness in childhood?
I’d lay bets on it.
Q: You’ve lived rough, close to the land: ‘For a while I lived on a farm by a river where I learnt to crutch sheep with hand shears, raise poddy calves and hypnotize chooks.’ Does this inspire your writing?
Yes. It’s the things that live at the bottom of the garden of my psyche that I inevitably plunder in my fiction.
Q: I see you did a Bachelor of Music. My daughter did a BA at the Con in Jazz voice. By the time she finished she’d lost her love of music (fortunately, it came back). Have you gone back to music? Are you one of these writers who create a play-list for your current work-in-progress and use it to get into the right frame of mind?
I won’t ever go back to playing classical music. It’s not that I don’t love it; it’s that I’ve loved it too much. The pressure of performance and desire for perfection nearly killed me. I don’t tend to write with music, but I am one of those people who play music REALLY loud in their car. Bach, Gesualdo, Pärt, Snow Patrol, Lamb, Adele: all loud.
Q: You wrote a theatre pieces for ‘dancer, light and shadow’. My uncle danced with QLD Ballet Theatre. Did you have a background in dance? Was that what drew you to write this piece? Do you have a recording of it or has it been lost in time?
My background was in gymnastics and physical theatre, so you could say I was used to choreographing movement. The aesthetic of dance fitted the vision I had for The City of Midnight: a numinous space where sound and solo performer folded in and out of light and dark. And yes, it’s recorded for posterity…just not on YouTube.
Q: Your short stories have been well received, with an Aurealis win and several final listings, as well as Stella’s Transformation appearing in Year’s Best Fantasy 2005 and several stories appearing in Australia’s Year’s Best SF and Fantasy. Just as some stories have a natural length do you think some writers have a length that suits them best?
Before The Daughters of Moab, I didn’t know whether I could write to novel length—I thought I was more suited to haiku. But the story led the way. Now, whenever I return to writing short fiction, I’m reminded of how much I enjoy the challenge of a compact story arc. I like creating a world that fits perfectly in a teacup.
Q: Your first book The Daughters of Moab was forged in the fires of Varuna Writers Retreat. But seriously, you did work on it at the writers retreat. Can you tell us a little about this experience? I’ve always thought it was be heaven.
The Varuna Retreat Fellowship struck the perfect balance for me: the solitude and calm of writing all day (and yes, I did!) followed by the companionship and sociability of other writers in the evening. This suited me better than the routine of ClarionSouth, which I went to in 2004. The Clarionettes, as I like to call them, would be the first to tell you that I was uncomfortable group critiquing early-stage and unfinished stories. For me, letting a story out into the world before it’s ready tends to oxidise and spoil it like a piece of fruit.
Q: There seems to be a playing with gender in The Daughters of Moab, is this something you like to explore?
Yes, there is. And yes, I do.
Q: Your next book The Courier’s New Bicycle is due out in 2011. Is it also a ‘poetic apocalyptic’ book?
Upfront, I should say that The Courier’s New Bicycle is neither fantasy nor apocalyptic—even the poetic has been swapped for pacy. This is a very fast ride compared to The Daughters of Moab. Salisbury Forth is a courier of contraband in an atmospheric but ailing Melbourne at a time of major socio-political change. The first review (Australian Bookseller & Publisher, July) described it as “a disturbingly credible and darkly noir post-cyberpunk tale.” That makes me happy!
Q: I read your description of how the short story Nightship came to be, and found it riveting. When will we see the book?
It’s in gestation. Think an elephant’s gestation.
Q: I was prompted to start this series of interviews because there seems to be a perception in the US and the UK that fantasy is a bit of a boy’s club. Do you think there’s a difference in the way males and females write fantasy?
The UK/US perception is news to me, but being in a club is not what makes a writer special. An individual’s prose style is moulded by such a complex array of things, one of which may or may not be their experience of maleness and/or femaleness. In other words, I don’t want to help reify that rather spurious divide.
Q: Following on from that, does the gender of the writer change your expectations when you pick up their book?
No. The gender of the writer is an irrelevancy to me. Their imagination—and what they do with it—is all that matters.
Q: And here’s the fun question. If you could book a trip on a time machine, where and when would you go, and why?
I’d go back to Britain at the time of the Picts, who painted themselves with woad. Love that blue.
Give-away Question:
Imagine a parcel that you are posting today to receive in ten years’ time. What would you put in it?
For a podcast of Nightship see here (skim down).
As the next of my series featuring fantastic female fantasy authors (see disclaimer) I’ve invited the talented Pamela Freeman to drop by.
Watch out for the give-away question at the end of the interview.
Q: You say you became a children’s writer while working as a scriptwriter for ABC TV. What were you working on at the ABC? Was it a children’s show? Do you miss scriptwriting?
I was working as a researcher and scriptwriter for the Children’s and Education Department. I worked on a lot of shows – Powerhouse, Living in the Law, Watch! Your Language, For the Juniors, Swap Shop. I was a reporter on Behind the News (now BTN). I even did some research for Playschool!
The thing I miss about scriptwriting is the collegial nature of television making. Writing is great but you do it alone. Television is a collaboration, where everyone’s contribution makes the piece better. On the other hand, now I don’t have directors telling me to cut crucial scenes because ‘We can’t get the outside broadcast van because it’s going to the cricket’!
Q: Your children’s books have been shortlisted for the Children Book Council Book of the Year Awards, the NSW Premier’s Awards and the Koala Awards. Plus Scum of the Earth won the Environment Prize in 2004 and your fictional biography of Australian pioneer Mary McKillop won the NSW History Prize for Young People in 2006. (For a full list of Pamela’s Children’s books see here). You seem to have a mix of nonfiction, contemporary and fantasy books. Do you think the fantasy element is more readily accepted in children’s books?
Fantasy is mainstream in kids’ writing. This is merely a return to the status quo – it’s only in the last 200 years that realistic storytelling has been privileged in Western society. Prior to that fantasy/hero myths and comedic stories were the mainstream.
And yes, I do think it’s easier for a fantasy book to get on a literature awards list if it’s for kids. Unless the publisher can reclassify it as ‘magical realism’ (snort). There is a lot of snobbery about fantasy writing in particular. Even science fiction has more credibility with the critics.
Q: Leading on from there you have three adult/grownup fantasy books published with Orbit books, The Castings Trilogy, and a new stand-alone novel, Ember and Ash. Was this a big break away from your children’s writing, or did it feel inevitable, like something you were always going to do?
It was a bit of both, really. I write for a lot of age groups in my kids’ books – from 3-year-olds to young adult. My approach has always been to write the story and then figure out how old the reader is likely to be.
I found I was thinking about stories where the reader was clearly not a kid, and that set me thinking about writing for adults. My agent encouraged me and so did my husband.
Q: I see you wrote book one of The Castings Trilogy as part of your Doctorate. In what way is this different from writing on your own?
It was fantastically helpful in all sorts of ways. I was supervised by Debra Adelaide, one of our best authors and editors. She helped me make the transition from children’s writing to writing for adults. This was far more difficult than I had thought it would be, and I was grateful for her support and guidance – and for her pushing me when I needed it. I’m a much better writer for having worked with her.
As well, they paid me a scholarship to write a book I would have written anyway! I was at home with a toddler and it meant I didn’t have to go back to the consulting work I’d been doing prior to that, so it allowed me to be a full time writer for the first time. A doctorate is a great deal for a writer!
Q: In an interview with John Marsh on Grasping for the Wind, you mention that one of the themes you explore in this trilogy is racism. This strikes a chord for me because it was the core of my Masters thesis and book. You say anger drove you and kept you interested through the 450,000 words of the trilogy. Are you still angry?
Of course I am. Look at the difference in life expectancy between Anglo Australians and Indigenous Australians – up to 17 years less if you’re an Aboriginal man! That’s enough to make anyone angry, and it’s merely the most obvious sign of the racism inherent in this society. I’ll stop being angry when we have equality.
Q: I was prompted to start this series of interviews because there seems to be a perception in the US and the UK that fantasy is a bit of a boy’s club. Do you think there’s a difference in the way males and females write fantasy?
I think there used to be a big difference, but the differences are getting smaller. It used to be that only women had women protagonists – but I’ve just read Dave Freer’s Dragon Rising which is beautifully balanced between a human woman and a dragon perspective. I don’t think that’s unusual. Charles Stross’s The Family Business series has a great woman protagonist and engages with sexism on almost every page. As women’s and men’s lives have become more alike, I think it has freed both to write more confidently from the other’s perspective.
There are still male writers out there whose women are busty, simpering blondes, and who concentrate mostly on killing things – but there are also women writers out there whose male characters are thinly disguised wish fulfilments, and who concentrate mostly on romantic relationships! The middle ground is where the interesting and sometimes challenging stuff is happening.
Q: Following on from that, does the gender of the writer change your expectations when you pick up their book?
I’d like to say no, but I have to admit I’m probably more ready to criticise the female characters in a book which has been written by a man. On the other hand, I’m also ready to be very critical of women writers who portray men as always cruel, stupid or insensitive. So maybe the difference is in what I’m alert for. Hmm. We exercise our prejudices all the time, don’t we? I haven’t learnt much from James Tiptree, after all.
Q: And here’s the fun question. If you could book a trip on a time machine, where and when would you go, and why?
1599, the Globe, the first night of Hamlet! Because I am a total Shakespeare nut, and have seen every Hamlet production I possibly could (up to around 25 now). To see Richard Burbage, for whom the part was written, play the melancholy Dane would be fantastic! It’s also considered likely that Shakespeare played Claudius. (And if I could slip around to the stage door to meet Will himself….oh, be still, my beating heart!)
Give-away Question:
Ember and Ash features shapechangers. What animal would you like to be able to turn into and why?
Catch up with Pamela on Facebook.
Listen to a Podcast with Pamela Freeman here.
Visit Pamels’a websites: www.castingstrilogy.com (adults)
Deborah says:
Oh dear, somehow I managed to ignore the fact that hosting a giveaway meant picking a winner. Last time I hosted a giveaway, I gave books to everyone who left a comment, because I couldn’t choose between them. Thanks to everyone who left a comment, with a special thanks to Pete and Belinda, whose comments have given me new books for my TBR pile.
Since I sadly don’t have books enough to give a copy to everyone, I had to resort to pulling a name out of a hat, which means the winner is …
Richard! Congratulations!
Please email Deborah on
damselfly(at)deborahkalin(dot)com
Filed under Australian Writers, Book Giveaway, Fantasy books, Female Fantasy Authors, Fun Stuff
