Posts by Juliet Marillier
Please note: This interview was conducted by fantasy author, and WU contributor, Juliet Marillier. If you missed parts one and two, click HERE and HERE.
In the final part of our interview, British fantasy author Joe Abercombie talks about battles, fantasy names, the art of juggling three separate story lines, and what’s in store for him now his trilogy, The First Law, is complete.
Q: Before They Are Hanged, the second book in The First Law, is structured around three sets of characters – one set on an epic journey, another in a besieged city, a third waging war out in the countryside. They don’t all converge even at the end (I didn’t mind because I had the third book all ready to read.) Did you write Before They are Hanged in chapter by chapter sequence or did you work on each separate strand on its own? What was your planning process for the book – deciding where to cut between threads, keeping the timing correct and so on?
JA: I tend to mix and match approaches as it seems appropriate, and to try and keep myself as interested as possible. In the case of that second book, which as you say is split into three separate strands, I wrote each strand separately, then intercut the different chapters, later perhaps introduced some links between them. I tried to vary the rhythm to keep things interesting for the reader as much as possible, so as the three stories all come to a climax half way through the book, they cut faster and faster between with shorter and shorter chapters. Kind of a trick applied from film editing, I guess.
Q: Names of people and places in epic fantasy are all too often a mish-mash of different cultures and times, or inventions full of x’s, z’s and apostrophes. I was convinced by the names in The First Law, which are loosely based on various real language groups, such as Dutch, Spanish and perhaps Arabic. How did you decide on your names? Is your world loosely based on the Mediterranean region?
Read MorePlease note: This three-part interview was conducted by fantasy author, and WU contributor, Juliet Marillier. If you missed part one, click HERE.
In his epic fantasy trilogy, The First Law, British author Joe Abercrombie takes a bold and irreverent approach to the conventions of the genre. Even more remarkable than his unconventional storytelling is the way he draws the reader right into the minds and hearts of his damaged, troubled, less-than-admirable central characters. This week, Joe talks about his approach to characterization and voice.
Q: Of the six POV characters in The First Law trilogy, five are men, and within your tight third person narrative each has a very distinct voice. How did you go about developing those voices? Was the process, initially at least, more conscious or instinctive? What writing techniques did you employ?
JA: It always seemed the right way to go to give the different point of view characters their own tone of voice, to let the feel of the prose hopefully communicate something about that character. That’s the kind of prose I like myself, so that’s the kind I try to write. It also allowed me to get some variety of style in there, which hopefully is good for both reader and writer in such lengthy books. I had a few basic approaches I wanted to try, some of them major – Glokta’s thoughts are in italics, Logen has his repeated catchphrases, the Dogman thinks in his earthy Northern dialect, and some more subtle – Ferro’s chapters tend to be in short, staccato sentences, with long paragraphs then emphasized single lines, and as she’s colour-blind, there are never any colours used in her descriptive paragraphs, which I felt worked well with her emotional flatness.
Largely the development of the voices was trial and error and, to begin with at least, an awful lot of revision, feeling out what worked and then applying it to other sections from the same point of view. Generally when the books had been drafted I’d go over all the chapters or pieces from a given point of view and revise them together for a few days, try and get as much of the feel of that character’s individual voice as possible into my head and onto the page.
Q: Over the course of your epic story, your protagonists journey, suffer and struggle. They fight and flee, they torture, maim and kill, they plot and scheme, they form lasting bonds and deliver wounding betrayals. This is a story about men and the relationships between men (leader / follower; brothers / comrades; mentor / protégé) As a female reader I found the insight into male psychology in your books fascinating. On the other hand there are very few female characters, and the only one who has POV scenes is as atypical a female as you could find. Is this imbalance purely because of the nature of the story, with its focus on war? Are you equally comfortable writing male and female POV?
Read MorePlease note: This interview was conducted by fantasy author, and WU contributor, Juliet Marillier.
British author Joe Abercrombie kicked off his remarkable fantasy trilogy, The First Law, with The Blade Itself, published by Gollancz UK in 2006. Readers loved the book, and the critical reception was overwhelmingly positive. A five star review in Starburst included this:
You’d never guess that The Blade Itself is Joe Abercrombie’s debut novel. He writes like a natural. There are great characters, sparky dialogue, an action-packed plot, and from the very first words (‘The End’) and an opening scene that is literally a cliffhanger, you know you are in for a cheeky, vivid, exhilarating ride.
The second and third books, Before They Are Hanged and Last Argument of Kings, proved that The Blade Itself was no flash in the pan – the three novels are equally strong. This series takes the conventions of epic fantasy, pounds them to a pulp, wrings them out and hangs them up to flap in a chill wind. It’s a twisted, funny, absorbing journey. With Last Argument of Kings due for its American release this month, I was delighted when Joe agreed to an interview with Writer Unboxed.
Here’s the first part of our Q&A.
Q: Firstly, congratulations on The First Law trilogy. I wish I’d written it myself! Your books contain all the qualities I love in a novel – excellent writing technique, depth of character, originality and ‘heart’. I picked up The Blade Itself when it first came out on the basis of a well-written cover blurb, including this:
Logen Ninefingers, infamous barbarian, has finally run out of luck. Caught in one feud too many, he’s on the verge of becoming a dead barbarian – leaving nothing behind but bad songs, and dead friends.
I liked the cover description of the book as ‘noir fantasy with a real cutting edge.’ Now that I’ve read all three books, I realise the trilogy is a lot more than this. It’s a dark and gritty story in which the graphic violence is tempered by subtle humour. But the winning factor for me is your compassion for a cast of complex, flawed characters. I hope we can explore the issue of characterization in more depth later. But firstly, could you talk a bit about using the tropes of epic fantasy to create a story that breaks the stereotypes?
JA: Firstly, thank you very much, especially about the compassion, I don’t get accused of that too often.
As a reader I like nothing more than to be surprised. So I like a lot the notion of writing within a well-established form, partly because there will be an established audience for it and an audience is always nice, but also because readers will come with a whole range of expectations about the types of characters and situations they’ll encounter, and how those characters will behave or those situations play out. Give them what they expect a couple of times and they’ll be sure they’re on firm and familiar ground, which hopefully will make it doubly shocking when you pull the rug out from under them.
Q: I was surprised to […]
Read MoreI’m due to deliver my novel Heart’s Blood to the publishers (one Australian, one English, one American) at the end of November. Over my next three monthly posts to WU, I’ll be sharing the countdown to that deadline.
Ideally, by now I’d have finished the manuscript. I’d be setting it aside for a few weeks before coming back to it with fresh eyes for a final revision. But this has been a tricky book to write, and I still have a way to go. However, failing some cataclysmic event, I will have the ms finished to my satisfaction by November 30 and submit it on time.
This is my second book for Roc (Penguin) in the US – my first novel for this publisher is Heir to Sevenwaters, coming out in November. Prior to this 2-book contract I’d never been given a maximum word count for an adult novel. My editor at Roc requires the ms to be between 140-160,000 words, significantly shorter than any of my previous adult books. Heart’s Blood has quite a complex story in which the protagonist, a scribe, unravels a mystery via a collection of old papers. The narrative is in first person, but relies considerably on the device of documents such as letters, journals, botanical notebooks etc to tell a past story that runs parallel with the present one. The plot involves a family curse that has shadowed four generations. Telling the story in 160,000 words is a challenge.
So where am I currently? At 137,000 words, with two or three chapters to go – just entering the race-to-the-climax, tie-up-the-loose-ends stage of the book. My chapters come in at around 10,000 words. I’m on Chapter 13.
Read MoreIn July I travelled to the Baltic countries (Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania) and I’ve returned with my head full of fresh story ideas. I also paid a flying visit to Portugal, home of my most loyal and enthusiastic readership. Fans queued patiently at some length to have books signed during my public appearance at a Lisbon bookstore.
The following day, with members of online fan forum Mundo Marillier, I visited an eccentric palace and garden in Sintra, near Lisbon. Quinta da Regaleira is an extraordinary mélange of architectural traditions, crammed with mythological and esoteric references in which freemasonry plays a major part. Where else would you find a deep, damp initiation well, a library with a perilous trick floor – get too close to the books, break your leg – and a kangaroo gargoyle?
I returned from Europe with dozens of photos, mostly taken to aid my memory for future writing projects. There were many wonderful things to see, from the stunning architecture of Riga’s Art Nouveau buildings to the magical birch forests near the Baltic coast of Estonia. But the key was emotion: the feelings encapsulated in certain experiences, running the gamut from complete joy to profound sorrow. As a writer, I observe and take notes, I process and analyse intellectually, but above all I feel. It’s the emotional responses, rather than the intellectual ones, that form the seeds for stories to be written some time in the future.
Read MoreBy the time this is posted I’ll be in Estonia, about as far away from home as I can get. Preparations for the trip were disrupted by a new arrival – an old, blind dog who needed to be gently eased into my existing menagerie. Life is full of surprises.
Part two of Therese’s interview with Michael Gruber, author of The Forgery of Venus, brought up the old issue of genre writing versus ‘literature’. I’m past being upset by prejudices against genre writing, but I found this statement from Mr Gruber provocative:
True genre fiction can’t exceed expectation or it is not, by definition, genre. Genre is based on expectation … Gene Wolfe and Ursula Le Guin are two of the best writers in America, but no one gives their work serious attention because they’re both in the SF genre ghetto.
There’s an implication there that as Wolfe and Le Guin are in the SF genre ghetto, their work conforms to expectation. According to Mr Gruber’s definition, either it does so or it isn’t SF. Of course, both writers are SF luminaries, and neither is conformist. So why aren’t their books put in the same basket as, say, Margaret Atwood’s Oryx and Crake or Cloud Atlas by David Mitchell? Is it a case of ‘once tainted by the genre title, forever beyond the literary pale’?
Read MoreThese days I’m generally able to sell a novel on the basis of a proposal, which means I’ve got into a nice steady pattern of putting forward an idea for a new project, signing a contract, and writing a book. But I remain aware that it only takes one book to fail commercially and the future becomes a whole lot less secure.
What if I get a great idea, something I feel passionate about writing, and my agent and publishers don’t believe it will be successful? Can I tweak my project to make it more saleable without compromising my artistic vision? These questions go to the heart of what we do as novelists. Are we telling the stories we deeply believe in, or are we creating a product to satisfy a particular market? If we’re lucky, it may be possible to do both within one project. Or we may be blessed with a particularly understanding publisher, whose faith in us means we get a fair degree of creative freedom.
I was jolted into thinking about all this when reading Cynthia Ward’s regular Market Report column in a recent issue of the quarterly Bulletin of SFWA. Cynthia Ward also produces the Market Maven newsletter, available on subscription. In both forums Cynthia quoted submission requirements from some editors of fantasy and fantasy-romance. Here are two examples:
“Liz Scheier acquires contemporary and urban fantasy, paranormal romance, and some SF/F for Del Rey Books. She would like to see more ‘genuinely funny books’, especially funny urban fantasy. She also likes dark paranormal stories. She’s not interested in vampires or werewolves and doesn’t want ‘dying priests writing in blood, and no characters I hate from the beginning of the book.’ She works primarily with agented authors.”
“[Editor Heather Osborn from Tor Romance] is a huge fan of paranormal romance in general. She likes ‘kick-butt’ heroines – intelligent heroines. She doesn’t want heroines put in jeopardy solely for the convenience of the plot. Heroines should be capable of rescuing themselves … She’s looking for plot-heavy, action driven romantic suspense. Heather would like to see urban fantasy with a lot of romance in it. She is open to time travel stories, but there needs to be an ongoing paranormal theme within the time travel, if the characters are travelling into the past. Time travel alone is not enough. However, if the characters are travelling into the future, they would be interested in that as a futuristic. Heather likes humour, but she’s very picky about it. She prefers snark and sarcasm over slapstick or anything campy.”
Am I alone in thinking these requirements might stifle creativity just a little? And is anyone still writing heroines who can’t solve their own problems? Trawling around further, I found these guidelines for LUNA (note, these are the general guidelines from their website rather than the preferences of one particular editor, so inevitably they’re broader than those quoted above):
Read MoreI’ve just been in Melbourne for the Children’s Book Council of Australia conference – three days jam-packed with discussion about writing and illustration for young readers.
The program for CBCA conferences is aimed principally at teachers and librarians, and panel topics ranged from ‘The challenge of “reading” graphic novels’ to ‘How teenage writers get published.’ The first morning delivered something of a shock. Jack Zipes, professor of German at the University of Minnesota, scholarly writer on folklore and storyteller, used his keynote address to slam consumer culture and what he called the ‘endumbment’ and ‘commodification’ of children through the commercialization and standardization of children’s books. He was especially damning in his criticism of publishers for giving in to commercial interests by producing books principally for entertainment – his example was a certain series aimed at girls, with various tie-in products available – rather than books that reflect community values and standards. Professor Zipes made a number of valid points, and I can’t summarise his complex speech in a single blog post. It did concern me to hear him express this view so vehemently to an audience that included representatives of Australian publishing houses, since most of these continue to produce high quality books for young readers alongside more commercial titles. I’d have preferred to see the conference begin on a more positive note. The attendees at CBCA are people who spend a major part of their time and energy doing good things with kids and books.
Read MoreI head off to Melbourne later today for the Children’s Book Council of Australia Conference, which I’ll post about on return. It’s a three and a half hour flight, and I will get there at almost midnight. Must get up early enough to imbibe a strong coffee before tomorrow’s first session – at least I only have to listen, not talk! A highlight of the trip will be a puppet theatre version of Shaun Tan’s wordless graphic novel, The Arrival.
It’s been a chaotic week for me. My car number plates were stolen at the weekend which meant a lot of running around to get replacements. At the same time the car stereo finally died, and I needed to replace that in time for transporting the kids – they get sad in the car without the Wiggles. Yesterday included explaining the complex animal wrangling regimen to the friend who is looking after my house and its occupants while I’m away. (The two dogs have three different medications each, with varying doses. One dog is severely epileptic, the other feeling his age.) Today I look after my grandchildren until just before I need to hop on the plane. With the need to switch my brain rapidly from one mode to another, the book I’m working on has been suffering not only from lack of attention, but also from continuity issues.
Apparently there are some freelance editors who specialize in continuity checking for novelists. I assume this is like the continuity person who works in movies, making sure all the details are consistent within the many takes that may make up one scene. Some authors, especially those who write epic fantasy, employ one of these editors to read the ms before it goes to the publisher. Such an editor can pick up places where there are two full moons in one month, or where a river suddenly starts flowing in the opposite direction. It’s quite easy to make this kind of error, and the publisher’s editor doesn’t always pick it up. One well known fantasy author lopped off a character’s arm in one book, then let him reappear with it miraculously reattached in the sequel. I made an astronomy error in my most recent book, related to the possible position of a sickle moon, which nobody picked up for the first edition.
I’ve just finished reading right through my completed chapters (approximately half a book) to get a sense of how well the story is flowing along, to pick up errors of this kind, and to find out whether the dynamic between the two main characters is working in the way I want it to. There’s a developing relationship between two quite guarded people, and it needs to have a gradual escalation in intensity.
There was good news and bad news.
Read MoreEaster weekend saw me in attendance at Swancon, a speculative fiction convention held annually here in Perth, Western Australia. While Writers’ Festivals are attended mostly by readers, conventions like Swancon attract readers, gamers and fans, and most of the readers are also aspiring writers. Readers of speculative fiction (think science fiction, fantasy, horror and a plethora of related sub-genres) love to write.
I’ve lived in Perth since long before I became a serious writer, but this was only the second time I’d been to Swancon. Why? Well, in some respects my life is that of a hermit. I live alone, apart from animals, and as a full time writer I work from home. My kids are all grown up. I’m accustomed to quiet. I don’t like crowds. I find it almost impossible to work in a noisy environment or to switch on my creativity in short spurts as the opportunity offers. I was most impressed when fantasy novelist Glenda Larke, a guest of honour at Swancon, spoke of her ability to snatch brief writing opportunities while on ornithological expeditions. She had the photos to prove it (‘Now here I am in the mangrove swamps using up the last of the laptop battery …’) Yes, she writes wonderful fantasy novels AND has an adventurous day job. I’m equally admiring of people with small children who manage to fit writing into their demanding days and/or nights.
Some writers tackle events like Swancon with enthusiasm and verve. Others, like me, have to flick some kind of internal switch to go into the mode that allows lively interaction with strangers and the ability to perform with confidence in public. There are two issues for me.
Read MoreAnyone who’s been following my occasional references to the work in progress may recall that last year I had the challenging experience of needing to change horses mid-race. The situation was complicated, but in a nutshell I had a two book contract with my Australian and UK publishers, and I had written four chapters of the first book, Heart’s Blood. At that point the North American rights were sold to Penguin, a new publisher for me, and my editor there wanted to publish the other book first. They were stand-alone novels, but the second one was related to my Sevenwaters Trilogy, which sold well in the USA. It made good commercial sense for my new editor to want that one as my first novel for Penguin.
So I wrote Heir to Sevenwaters, which is all edited and ready to go. Now it’s back to those four chapters of Heart’s Blood, written nearly a year ago, and I remember how much I loathe major revision! It hurts to delete pages of serviceable work that took hours to write. It pains me to have to take these chapters apart when the clock is ticking away and all I really want to do is get on with the new bit. I felt severe envy reading that Ann Aguirre had written Grimspace in three months – if I worked as fast as she does I’d be finished by now!
Of course, I could have simply picked up the ms at Chapter Five, couldn’t I? Well, no.
Read MoreI promised to post about what inspires me as a writer. The Shorter Oxford gives several definitions of inspiration, starting with ‘Divine prompting or guidance.’ I’m unsure if there are any deities, major or minor, whispering in my ear, so I’ll go for definition 2: ‘The prompting of the mind to exalted thoughts, to creative activity etc.’ This one neatly sidesteps the issue of who or what is doing the prompting.
Writers have a tendency to talk about ‘the muse’, and sometimes to endow said muse with a personality of his or her own. In the Greek tradition there were nine muses. Calliope (epic poetry), Clio (history), Melpomene (tragedy) and Thalia (comedy) are all relevant to the craft of writing. If I had a personal ‘muse of writing’ she would probably take the form of an owl. She’d be self-contained, clever, and not particularly tolerant of lazy thinking. I’d have a dog as my ‘muse of play’, essential as a balance to the serious, working muse.
Not being of a scientific bent, I won’t attempt a discussion of how inspiration relates to brain function. The fact that some people end up as writers, composers, artists or choreographers, while others become accountants, plumbers or truck drivers is probably as much a matter of nurture as it is nature. And where does creativity start and end, anyway?
Read MoreWelcome to 2008. I don’t believe in New Year resolutions, but I do have a few suggestions for writers wanting to start this year with energy and enthusiasm.
We often talk about technical challenges on WU – plotting, character development, style, language and so on. We don’t deal so much with the health and wellbeing issues associated with a career as a writer. These can range from mild RSI to the state of mind people refer to as writer’s block. I just re-read the wonderful book I Capture the Castle by Dodie Smith, in which the protagonist’s father, author of one celebrated literary novel, suffers from excruciating writer’s block affecting his whole family. The solution to his problem is as quirky and pleasing as the rest of this novel..
I’ve recently had several reasons to consider health issues. The news that wildly inventive fantasy author Terry Pratchett has early onset Alzheimer’s disease made me consider my own mortality; Pratchett and I were born in the same year. Then there were my two cataract operations in December. Thanks to modern medical science, I now have artificial lenses in both eyes and as a result, better vision than I was born with. Having undergone the procedures while conscious, I vow that I will never again write an eye-gouging scene! It’s amazing to be able to see in focus without glasses for the first time ever. This has made me particularly aware of the value of good health.
I spent a lot of 2007 sitting in front of my laptop, and while there I drank a lot of caffeinated beverages and ate a lot of energy-boosting snacks. As a result, I ended the year heavier, less fit and generally feeling blah. I decided I’d better take things in hand, and read The Ultimate Holistic Health Book by Dr Deborah McManners. This is a useful, non-faddish guide to becoming healthier, with information on diet, activity and posture as well as issues like rest and peace of mind.
I know the main problems for me are unhealthy weight gain and poor posture, and I’m taking steps to address those. For writers in general, other likely problems include neck or back pain, inappropriate diet, lack of exercise and stress. All these things could contribute to a feeling of being creatively blocked.
We’re educated people, of course, and the solutions are obvious. But when we’re engrossed in our work it’s easy to forget to sit correctly or take stretch breaks. We may not even know we have a problem. As McManners explains, physical, biochemical and psychological health are interrelated. A postural problem may manifest in headaches. Unresolved emotional issues may affect the digestive system. And, I strongly suspect, writer’s block may arise from a combination of factors unrelated to the job of writing.
I know that’s over-simplification. But I’m sure you can identify at least one aspect of the way you work that could do with improvement for health reasons. So here’s a challenge. In 2008, work on one or more of the areas listed below and see if it improves your health and your writing:
Read MoreOne of the things I like about Writer Unboxed is that it takes genre writing seriously – we respect each other as writers and don’t make any assumptions about just where mystery, fantasy, romance, horror or whatever fits in the total spectrum of fiction writing. People who don’t know me well often take it for granted that I must read a lot of fantasy. But genre writers don’t necessarily read mostly genre fiction, let alone mostly their own genre.
I was recently invited to contribute to a fascinating blog called Writers Read, in which a wide range of writers talk about what books are currently on their bedside tables. From Writers Read you can get to a bunch of related reading blogs owned by the creative Marshal Zeringue. These are well worth a visit. Writers, check out your own work against The Page 69 Test.
I always advise aspiring fantasy writers to read as widely as they can, certainly well beyond their own preferred genre. It’s interesting what perceptions we can develop about genres we don’t read. I noted Eric’s recent comment on WU that he hasn’t read any fantasy since he was 13. I’m taking this opportunity to provide a brief reading list for anyone like him who overdosed on bad Tolkien imitations as a teenager, then gave up reading fantasy in the belief that all it offered was derivative epics full of elves, wizards and magic rings. I wouldn’t want to force anyone into reading fantasy, but I do think you may be missing out on some great books.
Try these:
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