Another treat for today - an interview with Lynn Flewelling
It's always a real pleasure to come across another author whose books you enjoy and who enjoys yours. I was privileged to 'meet' Lynn Flewelling last year and delighted she agreed to answer my questions.
What inspired you to start writing?
I was always a very imaginative kid. “Let’s pretend” was my favorite game. I
guess I never outgrew it, for which I am very thankful! I became a reader quite
young, and loved disappearing into other people’s worlds. By the time I was in
junior high, I was writing my own stories-bad ones, of course, but it’s the first
step into the process. I was very much inspired to become a writer by the work of
Ray Bradbury. Reading his stories and books, I thought “I want to do this, too.”
Do you have another job (paid or otherwise) apart from being an author? If so,
How do you juggle your time?
Writing is actually my full time job. I have a part time job as adjunct faculty at the
University of Redlands, here in Redlands, California. Not as a writing instructor,
as most people assume, but editing masters theses for the Geographic
Information Science program. It’s a nice change from fantasy. That work comes
in periodically, and I set aside time for it around my own writing. The advantage
of being self employed is that you structure your own time. The disadvantage of
being self employed is having no one else structuring your time for you. I’m not a
terribly organized person, but I manage.
Are you character or plot driven? What do you do if one of your characters starts
developing at a tangent?
I’m definitely character driven. Creating characters and seeing what they’ll do
in various situations is my favorite part of the job. I’m very sensory when I’m
working; it’s like watching a movie in my head and reporting on it. Getting inside
the skin of a given character and discovering how they tick is so much fun! I write
from multiple viewpoints most of the time, so it’s like being in a movie and getting
to play all the roles.
It’s interesting when a character seems to take on a life of their own. Of course,
it’s the creative subconscious playing a solo, but often very good things come of
it if you trust it. For instance, Thero, the gifted apprentice wizard in Luck in the
Shadows, was never meant to be more than a tertiary character, but he quickly
stepped to the fore, developed a detailed personality, and became an important
player in the troupe. He has quite a following now among the fans. And he’s the
only character in fantasy that I know of who’s been bitten on the scrotum by a
dragon.
I can only write stories set in places I know or can adapt to my needs - how do
you set about creating a whole world/mythology/culture?
Ah, that’s another of my favorite parts of the process. It’s a combination of
research into real cultures and sheer imagination. When I was first creating
the world, I read widely on history, culture, anthropology, religion, armor, war,
weaponry, etc. I got so interested in archery that I took it up myself. I can cook
you a medieval dinner, too, and fashion a wimple. Many of the colorful details
in the books are based on real things. I take all that information into the Great
Cosmic Compost Heap of the subconscious, where it bubbles and ferments, and
then draw on it as I work.
Is there anything you wish you'd done differently (in terms of world creation) for
the Nightrunner books?
Hmmm. That would have to be Aurënfaie nomenclature. I have four main
countries, and try to use distinctive naming conventions. With the Aurënfaie,
who are clannish non humans, I borrowed from Russia and created lengthy
patronymics and matronymics. That was all well and good when there were only
a few of them in the book, but when, in Traitor’s Moon, I set the story in Aurënen,
I was suddenly juggling dozens of them! It was very cumbersome and I had to
find ways of shortening them for daily use.
What's the best compliment you've had from a fan/fans of the books?
I’m not sure if it qualifies as a compliment, but the most moving feedback I’ve had
was recently when a reader wrote to tell me that reading my books kept them
from suicide. It doesn’t get much better than that.
I adore Seregil and Alec (especially Alec). If you were in a tight corner and had to
rely on one of them to save you, which would it be and why?
I’d have to go with Seregil for that one. Alec is very capable, and a good fighter,
but Seregil could probably sneak me out the back way disguised as a fishwife
and avoid any violence. Or the silver-tongued devil could talk our way out.
Is there a classic book you started and simply couldn't finish?
I’ve never finished anything by Jane Austen. I’ve tried! Really, I have. I want
to love Jane Austen, but she simply bores the socks off me. I like my period
romances darker, with more violence. Give me Jane Eyre or Dracula any day.
Or mysteries by authors like-oh what is the name I’m looking for?? Female, Brit,
writes about two dons in love at some major British University by some river?
Damn, it’s on the tip of my brain! ;-)
What's your next project?
I have several balls in the air right now. (Never mind your smirking; it’s a perfectly
innocent turn of phrase.)
At the moment, I’m finishing up the sixth Nightrunner (Alec and Seregil) book,
CASKET OF SOULS. I’m very excited about this one, as it marks a return to their
urban nightrunning in Rhíminee, after several books of adventuring elsewhere.
As usual there are dark doings afoot, some of which they literally stumble over.
It’s currently slated for a spring 2012 release from Spectra.
I’m also starting work on a second collection of Nightrunner short stories. The
first one, GLIMPSES, has been very successful and readers really seem to be
enjoying it! I certainly had fun exploring those “missing scenes” from various
characters’ lives and look forward to branching out to more. We hope to bring
this one out in October, 2011, as well.
October is going to be a really big month, actually. I’m also leading my second
Writing on the Waves writer workshop/cruise. Last May we went to the Caribbean
on Royal Caribbean’s Freedom of the Seas and had a marvelous time, both in
the workshops, and playing on land and sea. I ended up singing karaoke with
some of the students (alcohol was involved), playing shuffleboard in black tie and
gowns (alcohol was . . . hmmm), diving with sea turtles, riding jet skis (no alcohol
involved!). We even got some writing done! Actually, we got lots of writing done.
This year the 7-day cruise (Oct. 15-22, 2011) takes us to beautiful New England
and Maritime Canada. I’m celebrating the series’ 15th anniversary and there will
be a special teaching outing to a seaside locale in Maine’s Acadia National Park
that inspired the dramatic ending of STALKING DARKNESS. It will be amazing!
For more details, see here.
For the first twenty five people who sign up, there will be a drawing for a
complete, signed set of the Nightrunner Series.
I'd like to thank Lynn for her brilliant answers, especially the one about the dragon bitten scrotum. Still grinning at that!
Lynn's website. She's also otterdance; you may want to catch up with her there, too.
What inspired you to start writing?
I was always a very imaginative kid. “Let’s pretend” was my favorite game. I
guess I never outgrew it, for which I am very thankful! I became a reader quite
young, and loved disappearing into other people’s worlds. By the time I was in
junior high, I was writing my own stories-bad ones, of course, but it’s the first
step into the process. I was very much inspired to become a writer by the work of
Ray Bradbury. Reading his stories and books, I thought “I want to do this, too.”
Do you have another job (paid or otherwise) apart from being an author? If so,
How do you juggle your time?
Writing is actually my full time job. I have a part time job as adjunct faculty at the
University of Redlands, here in Redlands, California. Not as a writing instructor,
as most people assume, but editing masters theses for the Geographic
Information Science program. It’s a nice change from fantasy. That work comes
in periodically, and I set aside time for it around my own writing. The advantage
of being self employed is that you structure your own time. The disadvantage of
being self employed is having no one else structuring your time for you. I’m not a
terribly organized person, but I manage.
Are you character or plot driven? What do you do if one of your characters starts
developing at a tangent?
I’m definitely character driven. Creating characters and seeing what they’ll do
in various situations is my favorite part of the job. I’m very sensory when I’m
working; it’s like watching a movie in my head and reporting on it. Getting inside
the skin of a given character and discovering how they tick is so much fun! I write
from multiple viewpoints most of the time, so it’s like being in a movie and getting
to play all the roles.
It’s interesting when a character seems to take on a life of their own. Of course,
it’s the creative subconscious playing a solo, but often very good things come of
it if you trust it. For instance, Thero, the gifted apprentice wizard in Luck in the
Shadows, was never meant to be more than a tertiary character, but he quickly
stepped to the fore, developed a detailed personality, and became an important
player in the troupe. He has quite a following now among the fans. And he’s the
only character in fantasy that I know of who’s been bitten on the scrotum by a
dragon.
I can only write stories set in places I know or can adapt to my needs - how do
you set about creating a whole world/mythology/culture?
Ah, that’s another of my favorite parts of the process. It’s a combination of
research into real cultures and sheer imagination. When I was first creating
the world, I read widely on history, culture, anthropology, religion, armor, war,
weaponry, etc. I got so interested in archery that I took it up myself. I can cook
you a medieval dinner, too, and fashion a wimple. Many of the colorful details
in the books are based on real things. I take all that information into the Great
Cosmic Compost Heap of the subconscious, where it bubbles and ferments, and
then draw on it as I work.
Is there anything you wish you'd done differently (in terms of world creation) for
the Nightrunner books?
Hmmm. That would have to be Aurënfaie nomenclature. I have four main
countries, and try to use distinctive naming conventions. With the Aurënfaie,
who are clannish non humans, I borrowed from Russia and created lengthy
patronymics and matronymics. That was all well and good when there were only
a few of them in the book, but when, in Traitor’s Moon, I set the story in Aurënen,
I was suddenly juggling dozens of them! It was very cumbersome and I had to
find ways of shortening them for daily use.
What's the best compliment you've had from a fan/fans of the books?
I’m not sure if it qualifies as a compliment, but the most moving feedback I’ve had
was recently when a reader wrote to tell me that reading my books kept them
from suicide. It doesn’t get much better than that.
I adore Seregil and Alec (especially Alec). If you were in a tight corner and had to
rely on one of them to save you, which would it be and why?
I’d have to go with Seregil for that one. Alec is very capable, and a good fighter,
but Seregil could probably sneak me out the back way disguised as a fishwife
and avoid any violence. Or the silver-tongued devil could talk our way out.
Is there a classic book you started and simply couldn't finish?
I’ve never finished anything by Jane Austen. I’ve tried! Really, I have. I want
to love Jane Austen, but she simply bores the socks off me. I like my period
romances darker, with more violence. Give me Jane Eyre or Dracula any day.
Or mysteries by authors like-oh what is the name I’m looking for?? Female, Brit,
writes about two dons in love at some major British University by some river?
Damn, it’s on the tip of my brain! ;-)
What's your next project?
I have several balls in the air right now. (Never mind your smirking; it’s a perfectly
innocent turn of phrase.)
At the moment, I’m finishing up the sixth Nightrunner (Alec and Seregil) book,
CASKET OF SOULS. I’m very excited about this one, as it marks a return to their
urban nightrunning in Rhíminee, after several books of adventuring elsewhere.
As usual there are dark doings afoot, some of which they literally stumble over.
It’s currently slated for a spring 2012 release from Spectra.
I’m also starting work on a second collection of Nightrunner short stories. The
first one, GLIMPSES, has been very successful and readers really seem to be
enjoying it! I certainly had fun exploring those “missing scenes” from various
characters’ lives and look forward to branching out to more. We hope to bring
this one out in October, 2011, as well.
October is going to be a really big month, actually. I’m also leading my second
Writing on the Waves writer workshop/cruise. Last May we went to the Caribbean
on Royal Caribbean’s Freedom of the Seas and had a marvelous time, both in
the workshops, and playing on land and sea. I ended up singing karaoke with
some of the students (alcohol was involved), playing shuffleboard in black tie and
gowns (alcohol was . . . hmmm), diving with sea turtles, riding jet skis (no alcohol
involved!). We even got some writing done! Actually, we got lots of writing done.
This year the 7-day cruise (Oct. 15-22, 2011) takes us to beautiful New England
and Maritime Canada. I’m celebrating the series’ 15th anniversary and there will
be a special teaching outing to a seaside locale in Maine’s Acadia National Park
that inspired the dramatic ending of STALKING DARKNESS. It will be amazing!
For more details, see here.
For the first twenty five people who sign up, there will be a drawing for a
complete, signed set of the Nightrunner Series.
I'd like to thank Lynn for her brilliant answers, especially the one about the dragon bitten scrotum. Still grinning at that!
Lynn's website. She's also otterdance; you may want to catch up with her there, too.