Interview with Amie Rose Rotruck!
Amie Rose Rotruck is the assistant to R. D. Henham who penned Bronze Dragon Codex. She's a graduate of University of Pittsburgh and a double-graduate of the Hollins University Children's Literature program.
KF: Are you a musically-inspired writer or do you need silence? If you write to music, care to share any of your fave writing songs/singers/groups?
ARR: Scarily, I often watch TV while I write or I have nothing on at all. I enjoy music a lot, but for some reason I only ever listen when I'm in the car; when I'm home I usually have the TV on (much to my shame; I'm very much a couch potato!). I find that if I'm listening to music on my computer I end up fiddling with it too much and don't get writing done! So most of the time the TV's on as background noise and I don't pay attention, or I watch movies I love and have a similar atmosphere to what I like to write. I'll list those instead:
Brotherhood of the Wolf
Sleepy Hollow
The Illusionist
The Village
The Dark Crystal
Kingdom of Heaven
The 13th Warrior
Stardust
The Last Unicorn
As you can see, these are all historical fantasy, or historical, or fantasy. If I want the TV on just for background noise, I love horror movies and usually watch whatever's available on-demand from Fear.net. Over the past couple weeks, I’ve been watching "Pet Semetary," "Bram Stoker’s Dracula," and some true gems in the bad horror movie genre. I use "watch" as a loose term, though, because if it isn't something I've seen before, I won't be able to tell you a plot point other than "stupid people get killed in ridiculous ways."
KF: Is there any writing advice you wish you’d never heard?
ARR: No prologues. We just talked about this on your blog and quite honestly I find it the most puzzling pieces of advice I've ever heard! I've NEVER skipped a prologue in my entire life and I am confounded by people who don't read them. Why wouldn't you read them, it's part of the story!
Two of the best pieces of advice I ever heard came from a recent interviewee of yours, Alexandria LaFaye. (ETA: Interview here.) First is that "writing every day" doesn't give your brain a chance to rest and the subconscious to work. Second best was "don't compare your writing to other people's work. Compare your writing now to your writing a year, two years, a decade ago."
KF: Come clean: Out of all your characters, which one is your favorite? No fair saying all of them, but if you'd rather turn it around and say your least favorite, I suppose I'll forgive you.
ARR: After thinking about this question, I realized I like my animals more than the people! I really enjoyed writing Simle from Bronze Dragon Codex, she was probably the most fun to write. I also really like White Rose, the greyhound in Tapestry Threads, and also Nocte from The Stone Chain (she’s a large cat). White Rose is the only one who doesn't talk, but my critique group has said that they find her more realistic and likable than some of the humans (hm, that's probably not a good thing!).
KF: What was the most fun thing about writing your book, Bronze Dragon Codex?
ARR: Having a chance to play in the Dragonlance world and throw little Easter Eggs in for people who know the books. I loved being able to reference favorite characters and even have a brief scene with one of them. It was also neat to realize that all the books I bought years ago just for fun came in handy. I was told by slwhitman to hang on to my Dragonlance atlas, as it's a hard to find item, and I remembered one wonderful story about how the evil dragons were created by metal dragons tarnishing that I found in a general D&D guide to the Dragonlance world. It was also somewhat fun (and sometimes downright scary) to realize how much I already KNEW about the world and didn't have to look up. I'd read and re-read many of the books since 8th grade, so there was a lot of trivia rattling around in my brain. I think that proves that eventually you do find a use for every useless talent.
KF: You've written in shared worlds and you write your own worlds- is research easier for one over the other?
ARR: I'm going to say shared worlds just because there's always someone else I can ask if I can't find an answer to a question. I had pretty much every book available for research on Bronze Dragon Codex, but I could not find anywhere what color a bronze dragon's eyes were! I asked slwhitman [editor], and she couldn't find it either, so I was able to invent that. You do have to make sure that what you're doing gels with the rest of the world's history and geography, but I didn't find that too difficult; more of a fun challenge.
Creating your own world, though, is much harder. The creating in and of itself isn't that hard, it's making sure there aren't any inconsistencies! My critique group is always finding them. Also, now that I'm working more in historical fantasy there's the question of just how accurate to make things. Tapestry Threads was set in a generic medieval world so that wasn't so bad, but I'm currently battling the setting for the sequel, The White Doe. That may be set in Roanoke colony, or may be set in a fictitious colony similar to Roanoke. Not sure yet.
KF: Can you tell us anything about the book you’re querying now, Tapestry Threads?
ARR: It was my MFA thesis for Hollins and I think is probably my best work to date. I’ve wanted to write something about the unicorn tapestries for years and started writing "The Unicorn Diaries" in 2002. It's evolved a lot since then; no longer in diary form, plus I changed my protagonist from a lady to a commoner who became a lady's maid; mainly because it offered her more freedom of movement both physically and socially.
In the story, Elaine goes to live with her aunt and serve Lady Catherine following Elaine's mother's death. When they journey to Lady Catherine's fiancé's homeland, Elaine falls ill and is healed by a unicorn. She becomes obsessed with finding it again, and later must figure out a way to save it from the hunt that must take place as part of Lady Catherine's marriage ceremony.
I wanted to show unicorns as a darker fantasy force, an object of obsession. Most of the books about unicorns tend to be cute and fuzzy. Kathleen Duey has an amazing series out, but it's for younger readers. I also wanted to delve a bit into the Christian myths surrounding unicorns; I ended up blending some true mythology with some stories of my own invention. I kept the setting generic Medieval because I was looking for general atmosphere. I did a lot of Medieval research though, as well as visiting the Cloisters in New York City (combined that with a trip to see melissajoyadams) to see the Unicorn Tapestries there.
KF: Since I take any and every opportunity to gush about Hollins, I'm asking any Hollins-affiliated interviewees to do the same. So what's your favorite thing about the Hollins Children's Literature program?
ARR: Oh boy, where do I start? I guess it's mainly the people and the general attitude towards each other and their writing. It's a very nurturing program and I love how wonderful the professors are. I also adore the campus and the general student environment. It's been my vacation from 2001 on and I'm at a bit of a loss this year not being there! At least I live close enough to drive down for a visit; just got back, actually, and had a WONDERFUL time!
For me personally, it was SUCH a change from my undergraduate experience: I went from a city campus at University of Pittsburgh majoring in Engineering with mostly male classmates (I also have an undergrad self-designed degree in Writing for Children, but as I only took 1 or 2 classes for that per term, I didn't get to know many of my classmates there) to a rural campus with mostly females. Talk about culture shock!
Hollins opened so many doors for me. Through Hollins, I found out about the International Association of the Fantastic in the Arts (www.iafa.org), which is where I first met slwhitman (she wasn't an editor at the time, but we stayed in touch via Livejournal) who became my editor on Bronze Dragon Codex. I've had a chance to work with some amazing scholars such as C.W. Sullivan, Brian Attebery, and J.D. Stahl, as well as some amazing writers like Alexandria LaFaye, Han Nolan, Susan Campbell Bartoletti, and Hillary Homzie. They all have contributed so much to my writing and I'm honored to have had the chance to study with them, as well as my fellow students. Like you. :)
KF: Here's a question from Travis M.: "How do you schedule your writing time? Do you have any specific techniques for motivating yourself to write?"
ARR: If I'm involved in a project of my own, I try to get a page a day out. If I'm working on a deadline, I actually make up a spreadsheet schedule with a page or word count and figure out what I need to do on each day to get it done in time. Whenever I'm stuck for words, I do a word or page count and enter it on my spreadsheet. So, can you tell I like math and organization?
I tend to write later in the day. The thought of getting up at 5AM to write (which so many writers seem to do) makes me ill to my stomach. I've always been a night owl and it takes me a while to get going in the morning. If I have an entire day to write, I usually start around 11AM. If it's a work day, I usually quit work (I work from home for my day job) around 5, step away from the computer for half an hour or so, then come back and write for an hour or two in the evening.
I wish I had a specific motivation technique. If I'm stuck, usually the only thing that works is staring at the screen and making myself not get up until I've written at least something. I try to go by Stephen King’s advice "never a day without a line." As long as I have at least one sentence put down, I feel like I've accomplished something. Also, I try to end my writing in the middle of a sentence. That way I am either thinking about what comes next when I return to the writing, or if I'm still stumped, I have a good place to start when I resume.
KF: And two from Megan: When did you start writing seriously?
ARR: I've been writing for a very long time. I think the first story I wrote and finished was a sequel to the movie "The Dark Crystal" which I worked on with my friend Meghan in the second grade. I started The Stone Chain around fifth grade, based on games that I'd play with my friend Amy (it was finally completed in 2005, so it literally was almost 20 years to complete!).
I never thought about writing as an actual profession, though, until I went to the Pennsylvania Governor's School for the Arts in 1992 (between Junior and Senior year of high school). I literally ended up there because I couldn't find the right door; I'd gone to an information session about the different Governor's Schools; went to the one about sciences and then wanted to check out health care but couldn't find the right room. Time for the next session to start was getting close and I noticed the sign for the arts. I was very involved in music, so I thought I'd check it out. I was very surprised to find out that writing was included; I just never thought of it as an art for some reason. My English teacher that year, Lawrence Connolly, was VERY encouraging of my writing, so I was feeling confident. I applied, got in, and had an amazing 6 weeks of writing and discussing literature with like-minded people (sound like another place you know???). I came home from that summer and changed my plans from going to medical school to becoming an engineer (because I thought that would offer more free time) and writer. So I'd say my serious writing and thinking of myself as a writer started summer of 1992.
KF:...and- Where do you find inspiration for your stories? (KF: In particular, I want to know about Tapestry Threads!)
ARR: I mostly find inspiration in history. I love making connections; I love the little click my brain does when something falls into place (such as tying unicorns to the legend of the White Doe in Roanoke). I read and watch a lot of historical fiction and non-fiction. I dabbled in creating an entirely new world in The Stone Chain and I've found that I prefer to find the fantasy in this world, just in the past. I enjoy exploring the "what might have been" aspects and seeing history through different lenses.
I also adore fantasy artwork. The walls of my office are covered with artwork (mostly purchased at Renaissance faires) and my desk has a glass sheet covering a map of the Dragonlance world as well as many postcards of fantasy artwork. I don't often come up with stories directly relating to the art, but I do find it keeps me in the fantasy world (not that I need any help with that usually!).
Thank you, Amie!
KF: Are you a musically-inspired writer or do you need silence? If you write to music, care to share any of your fave writing songs/singers/groups?
ARR: Scarily, I often watch TV while I write or I have nothing on at all. I enjoy music a lot, but for some reason I only ever listen when I'm in the car; when I'm home I usually have the TV on (much to my shame; I'm very much a couch potato!). I find that if I'm listening to music on my computer I end up fiddling with it too much and don't get writing done! So most of the time the TV's on as background noise and I don't pay attention, or I watch movies I love and have a similar atmosphere to what I like to write. I'll list those instead:
Brotherhood of the Wolf
Sleepy Hollow
The Illusionist
The Village
The Dark Crystal
Kingdom of Heaven
The 13th Warrior
Stardust
The Last Unicorn
As you can see, these are all historical fantasy, or historical, or fantasy. If I want the TV on just for background noise, I love horror movies and usually watch whatever's available on-demand from Fear.net. Over the past couple weeks, I’ve been watching "Pet Semetary," "Bram Stoker’s Dracula," and some true gems in the bad horror movie genre. I use "watch" as a loose term, though, because if it isn't something I've seen before, I won't be able to tell you a plot point other than "stupid people get killed in ridiculous ways."
KF: Is there any writing advice you wish you’d never heard?
ARR: No prologues. We just talked about this on your blog and quite honestly I find it the most puzzling pieces of advice I've ever heard! I've NEVER skipped a prologue in my entire life and I am confounded by people who don't read them. Why wouldn't you read them, it's part of the story!
Two of the best pieces of advice I ever heard came from a recent interviewee of yours, Alexandria LaFaye. (ETA: Interview here.) First is that "writing every day" doesn't give your brain a chance to rest and the subconscious to work. Second best was "don't compare your writing to other people's work. Compare your writing now to your writing a year, two years, a decade ago."
KF: Come clean: Out of all your characters, which one is your favorite? No fair saying all of them, but if you'd rather turn it around and say your least favorite, I suppose I'll forgive you.
ARR: After thinking about this question, I realized I like my animals more than the people! I really enjoyed writing Simle from Bronze Dragon Codex, she was probably the most fun to write. I also really like White Rose, the greyhound in Tapestry Threads, and also Nocte from The Stone Chain (she’s a large cat). White Rose is the only one who doesn't talk, but my critique group has said that they find her more realistic and likable than some of the humans (hm, that's probably not a good thing!).
KF: What was the most fun thing about writing your book, Bronze Dragon Codex?
ARR: Having a chance to play in the Dragonlance world and throw little Easter Eggs in for people who know the books. I loved being able to reference favorite characters and even have a brief scene with one of them. It was also neat to realize that all the books I bought years ago just for fun came in handy. I was told by slwhitman to hang on to my Dragonlance atlas, as it's a hard to find item, and I remembered one wonderful story about how the evil dragons were created by metal dragons tarnishing that I found in a general D&D guide to the Dragonlance world. It was also somewhat fun (and sometimes downright scary) to realize how much I already KNEW about the world and didn't have to look up. I'd read and re-read many of the books since 8th grade, so there was a lot of trivia rattling around in my brain. I think that proves that eventually you do find a use for every useless talent.
KF: You've written in shared worlds and you write your own worlds- is research easier for one over the other?
ARR: I'm going to say shared worlds just because there's always someone else I can ask if I can't find an answer to a question. I had pretty much every book available for research on Bronze Dragon Codex, but I could not find anywhere what color a bronze dragon's eyes were! I asked slwhitman [editor], and she couldn't find it either, so I was able to invent that. You do have to make sure that what you're doing gels with the rest of the world's history and geography, but I didn't find that too difficult; more of a fun challenge.
Creating your own world, though, is much harder. The creating in and of itself isn't that hard, it's making sure there aren't any inconsistencies! My critique group is always finding them. Also, now that I'm working more in historical fantasy there's the question of just how accurate to make things. Tapestry Threads was set in a generic medieval world so that wasn't so bad, but I'm currently battling the setting for the sequel, The White Doe. That may be set in Roanoke colony, or may be set in a fictitious colony similar to Roanoke. Not sure yet.
KF: Can you tell us anything about the book you’re querying now, Tapestry Threads?
ARR: It was my MFA thesis for Hollins and I think is probably my best work to date. I’ve wanted to write something about the unicorn tapestries for years and started writing "The Unicorn Diaries" in 2002. It's evolved a lot since then; no longer in diary form, plus I changed my protagonist from a lady to a commoner who became a lady's maid; mainly because it offered her more freedom of movement both physically and socially.
In the story, Elaine goes to live with her aunt and serve Lady Catherine following Elaine's mother's death. When they journey to Lady Catherine's fiancé's homeland, Elaine falls ill and is healed by a unicorn. She becomes obsessed with finding it again, and later must figure out a way to save it from the hunt that must take place as part of Lady Catherine's marriage ceremony.
I wanted to show unicorns as a darker fantasy force, an object of obsession. Most of the books about unicorns tend to be cute and fuzzy. Kathleen Duey has an amazing series out, but it's for younger readers. I also wanted to delve a bit into the Christian myths surrounding unicorns; I ended up blending some true mythology with some stories of my own invention. I kept the setting generic Medieval because I was looking for general atmosphere. I did a lot of Medieval research though, as well as visiting the Cloisters in New York City (combined that with a trip to see melissajoyadams) to see the Unicorn Tapestries there.
KF: Since I take any and every opportunity to gush about Hollins, I'm asking any Hollins-affiliated interviewees to do the same. So what's your favorite thing about the Hollins Children's Literature program?
ARR: Oh boy, where do I start? I guess it's mainly the people and the general attitude towards each other and their writing. It's a very nurturing program and I love how wonderful the professors are. I also adore the campus and the general student environment. It's been my vacation from 2001 on and I'm at a bit of a loss this year not being there! At least I live close enough to drive down for a visit; just got back, actually, and had a WONDERFUL time!
For me personally, it was SUCH a change from my undergraduate experience: I went from a city campus at University of Pittsburgh majoring in Engineering with mostly male classmates (I also have an undergrad self-designed degree in Writing for Children, but as I only took 1 or 2 classes for that per term, I didn't get to know many of my classmates there) to a rural campus with mostly females. Talk about culture shock!
Hollins opened so many doors for me. Through Hollins, I found out about the International Association of the Fantastic in the Arts (www.iafa.org), which is where I first met slwhitman (she wasn't an editor at the time, but we stayed in touch via Livejournal) who became my editor on Bronze Dragon Codex. I've had a chance to work with some amazing scholars such as C.W. Sullivan, Brian Attebery, and J.D. Stahl, as well as some amazing writers like Alexandria LaFaye, Han Nolan, Susan Campbell Bartoletti, and Hillary Homzie. They all have contributed so much to my writing and I'm honored to have had the chance to study with them, as well as my fellow students. Like you. :)
KF: Here's a question from Travis M.: "How do you schedule your writing time? Do you have any specific techniques for motivating yourself to write?"
ARR: If I'm involved in a project of my own, I try to get a page a day out. If I'm working on a deadline, I actually make up a spreadsheet schedule with a page or word count and figure out what I need to do on each day to get it done in time. Whenever I'm stuck for words, I do a word or page count and enter it on my spreadsheet. So, can you tell I like math and organization?
I tend to write later in the day. The thought of getting up at 5AM to write (which so many writers seem to do) makes me ill to my stomach. I've always been a night owl and it takes me a while to get going in the morning. If I have an entire day to write, I usually start around 11AM. If it's a work day, I usually quit work (I work from home for my day job) around 5, step away from the computer for half an hour or so, then come back and write for an hour or two in the evening.
I wish I had a specific motivation technique. If I'm stuck, usually the only thing that works is staring at the screen and making myself not get up until I've written at least something. I try to go by Stephen King’s advice "never a day without a line." As long as I have at least one sentence put down, I feel like I've accomplished something. Also, I try to end my writing in the middle of a sentence. That way I am either thinking about what comes next when I return to the writing, or if I'm still stumped, I have a good place to start when I resume.
KF: And two from Megan: When did you start writing seriously?
ARR: I've been writing for a very long time. I think the first story I wrote and finished was a sequel to the movie "The Dark Crystal" which I worked on with my friend Meghan in the second grade. I started The Stone Chain around fifth grade, based on games that I'd play with my friend Amy (it was finally completed in 2005, so it literally was almost 20 years to complete!).
I never thought about writing as an actual profession, though, until I went to the Pennsylvania Governor's School for the Arts in 1992 (between Junior and Senior year of high school). I literally ended up there because I couldn't find the right door; I'd gone to an information session about the different Governor's Schools; went to the one about sciences and then wanted to check out health care but couldn't find the right room. Time for the next session to start was getting close and I noticed the sign for the arts. I was very involved in music, so I thought I'd check it out. I was very surprised to find out that writing was included; I just never thought of it as an art for some reason. My English teacher that year, Lawrence Connolly, was VERY encouraging of my writing, so I was feeling confident. I applied, got in, and had an amazing 6 weeks of writing and discussing literature with like-minded people (sound like another place you know???). I came home from that summer and changed my plans from going to medical school to becoming an engineer (because I thought that would offer more free time) and writer. So I'd say my serious writing and thinking of myself as a writer started summer of 1992.
KF:...and- Where do you find inspiration for your stories? (KF: In particular, I want to know about Tapestry Threads!)
ARR: I mostly find inspiration in history. I love making connections; I love the little click my brain does when something falls into place (such as tying unicorns to the legend of the White Doe in Roanoke). I read and watch a lot of historical fiction and non-fiction. I dabbled in creating an entirely new world in The Stone Chain and I've found that I prefer to find the fantasy in this world, just in the past. I enjoy exploring the "what might have been" aspects and seeing history through different lenses.
I also adore fantasy artwork. The walls of my office are covered with artwork (mostly purchased at Renaissance faires) and my desk has a glass sheet covering a map of the Dragonlance world as well as many postcards of fantasy artwork. I don't often come up with stories directly relating to the art, but I do find it keeps me in the fantasy world (not that I need any help with that usually!).
Thank you, Amie!