{"id":23874,"date":"2012-05-30T18:16:46","date_gmt":"2012-05-30T17:16:46","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.scifinow.co.uk\/?p=23874"},"modified":"2012-05-31T09:13:20","modified_gmt":"2012-05-31T08:13:20","slug":"interview-author-robin-hobb-a-k-a-megan-lindholm","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.scifinow.co.uk\/interviews\/interview-author-robin-hobb-a-k-a-megan-lindholm\/","title":{"rendered":"Author Robin Hobb talks Megan Lindholm and epic fantasy"},"content":{"rendered":"

Is there a book in your backlog that you\u2019re particularly proud of, and any that stand out as being a particular challenge?<\/strong><\/p>\n

Every book I\u2019ve ever written is a milepost for me in my life.\u00a0 From my first book as Megan Lindholm (Harpy\u2019s Flight)<\/strong> to my most recently completed book, Blood of Dragons<\/strong>, each book represents who I was at that time and what I was thinking about.\u00a0 Wizard of the Pigeons<\/strong> for example, was my first venture into urban fantasy.\u00a0 I wrote Cloven Hooves<\/strong> entirely in First Person, Present Tense (something I will NEVER attempt again!)\u00a0 In Assassin\u2019s Apprentice<\/strong>, I came to know Fitz and the Fool for the first time.\u00a0 The Liveship Traders trilogy<\/strong> took me to Bingtown and the Pirate Isles, both magical places for me.\u00a0 And in The Chronicles of the Rain Wilds<\/strong>, I\u2019ve returned to a setting that I love.\u00a0 Each one of my books has a special place with me.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 <\/strong>When I leaf through an older book, I\u2019m often surprised at what I wrote, until I think about who I was and where I was in my life at that time.<\/p>\n

Did you deliberately choose the name Robin for its androgynous quality, and why?<\/strong><\/p>\n

Absolutely, yes, I did.\u00a0\u00a0 It was the pseudonym that was first used on The Farseer Trilogy, a tale written from the first person perspective of a young man.\u00a0 I liked the idea of a deliberately androgynous name that let readers assume whatever made them feel comfortable about the author\u2019s gender.\u00a0 It was one way of lowering the \u2018threshold of disbelief\u2019 that we all step over when we enter a fantasy world.<\/p>\n

What inspired you to take on the realms of dragons and spiralling universes?<\/strong><\/p>\n

I became caught up in a current of Story, and that was where it swept me.\u00a0 That statement can sound affected and cutesy, but that\u2019s not how it\u2019s intended.\u00a0 I feel that when a writer has characters and a world, and follows those characters and lets events unfold, the story will grow in the strongest direction.\u00a0\u00a0 In the Realm of the Elderlings, I wanted the sense that we had entered a world that had a tremendous amount of history, much of it obscured by a cataclysm in the past.\u00a0 I wanted it to unfold slowly, and I wanted it to be a world of ancient wonders and magic.\u00a0 Somehow, that led to the dragons.\u00a0 Both kinds.<\/p>\n

Do you use maps and charts to help write the books?<\/strong><\/p>\n

The geography exists in my mind as I\u2019m writing, but the actual maps come mostly after the writing is done.\u00a0 There has to be logic to geography, of course.\u00a0 So sometimes, after the story is written and I\u2019m considering where the characters have been and what they\u2019ve done, other geographic\u00a0 features fall into place.\u00a0\u00a0 Rivers must have a source and flow down hill.\u00a0 If there is a desert, there is a reason why that desert exists.\u00a0\u00a0 In some cases, when I\u2019ve wanted a particular feature, such as Key and Keyhole Island, I went looking for actual incidents in our world of that type of place. Then\u00a0 I looked at the features surrounding it, so it would make sense and have a context.\u00a0 So, for that particular bit, as a writer I had a chart\/map of that island.\u00a0 If I recall correctly, I sent it in with the manuscript but the editor decided not to use it.\u00a0 It was, however, very helpful to me as a writer.<\/p>\n

What is your favourite kind of character or creature that you enjoy writing for, and why?<\/strong><\/p>\n

Let\u2019s see, I think that I most enjoy writing for humans, though cats seem to enjoy napping on my manuscripts as well.\u00a0 Okay, I know that wasn\u2019t what you meant by that question!\u00a0 When I\u2019m writing from the point of view of a person, or a dragon, or a cat, at that moment I\u2019m in that creature\u2019s skin.\u00a0 I do my best to see the world through that character\u2019s eyes, and react to what is going on from that character\u2019s self interest.\u00a0 In our own lives, none of us are minor characters. Each of us has a particular set of priorities that determine how we view every situation. My dog\u00a0 sees life from his own immediate point of view, and will care far less about what is on television as opposed to how much butter is on the popcorn.\u00a0 So if I\u2019m writing from the dog\u2019s point of view, I\u2019m going to be writing from his sensory input as he smells the butter and popcorn and gauges the human\u2019s attitude toward sharing it.\u00a0 While the human on the couch watching the television may\u00a0 not even be thinking of those things.\u00a0 As long as the character has an interesting perspective, be it feline or draconian or human, I enjoy writing.\u00a0 Villains are just as engaging as heroes.<\/p>\n

You seem to favour the trilogy format of writing, why is that?<\/strong><\/p>\n

Actually, I just like really long and complex stories.\u00a0 I think that readers do, also.\u00a0 Often the decision of whether to publish those stories as one part or two or three parts comes from the editor.\u00a0 The first book I wrote that was too long was The Reindeer People<\/strong> by Megan Lindholm.\u00a0 That was my first experience of having one story split into two volumes.\u00a0 More recently, Dragon Keeper<\/strong> and Dragon Haven<\/strong> were written as a single manuscript.\u00a0 But the manuscript was way over length and I turned it in late as well, so it wound up being two separate books.\u00a0 And when it came to City of Dragons<\/strong> and Blood of Dragons<\/strong>, again, I wrote that as a single tale.\u00a0 And it was very long, so an editorial decision was made to divide it into two volumes.\u00a0 As Lindholm, all my books were written as stand alone stories.\u00a0 Even when I\u2019m writing a story in three parts, like the Liveships or The Tawny Man, I try to make each volume stand alone, with a beginning, a middle and an end.<\/p>\n

The rate at which you publish novels is impressive; is it out of an obligation to your readers to work at this pace or something else?<\/strong><\/p>\n

I sign a contract for each book, and I try to keep my word.\u00a0 It\u2019s a balancing act between being creative and keeping my word\u00a0 to my editor.\u00a0 I know that when I\u2019m late, I throw a monkey wrench into a lot of peoples\u2019 lives and work days, so I try not to do that.\u00a0 Sometimes I\u2019ve been late, however, and sometimes I\u2019ve been VERY late.\u00a0 And often it had been Herculean editorial effort that has concealed that from the readership.\u00a0\u00a0 I appreciate that, and I try not to abuse it.\u00a0 I do know this about myself.\u00a0 If I dismissed deadlines as optional,\u00a0 I\u2019d never finish a book.\u00a0 I always want to do one more re-write, to add one more scene or tack just a few more chapters onto the end of the tale.\u00a0 I would happily revise forever and never turn the book in.\u00a0 So by telling myself that I must make that deadline and focusing on it, I actually manage to finish the book.<\/p>\n

How do you strike the balance between high concepts and characterisation without falling into the trap of one being overshadowed by the other?<\/strong><\/p>\n

I think they go hand in hand, actually, if we are using \u2018high concept\u2019 in the same way.\u00a0 To me, a story in which there is a high concept is one in which there is something significant going on.\u00a0 There may be humour in such a story, and it may even be light hearted, but I don\u2019t think you can have characters that readers will love and care about in a trivial or slap-stick story.\u00a0 Nor do I think you can build characters in a void.\u00a0 If the whole story is about waiting in a room while a clock ticks, it would be very difficult for me to make you care about my character, unless I were doing extensive flashbacks and making the reader believe that perhaps that ticking clock is a bomb.<\/p>\n

What\u2019s been the biggest challenge you\u2019ve come across in all your years of writing?<\/strong><\/p>\n

Self discipline.\u00a0 I still have problems with it.\u00a0 There you are, alone at home.\u00a0 You know you need to be getting at least 2000 good words a day.\u00a0 So you sit down at the desk.\u00a0 And then get up and start a load of laundry.\u00a0 Why not?\u00a0 It can be sloshing while you get your writing done.\u00a0 But before you go back to the desk, you get a cup of coffee.\u00a0 And while you are in the kitchen, might as well make a sandwich as it\u2019s nearly lunch time anyway.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 You get the idea.\u00a0 It can be really hard to make myself go sit in front of that keyboard and get started.\u00a0 Once I\u2019m in the story and with the character, then it\u2019s a different situation.\u00a0 I\u2019m happy to skip a meal or two, and let the laundry mildew in the washer if something particularly compelling is going on in the story.\u00a0\u00a0 But that sitting down and letting go of my \u2018real life\u2019 to take the plunge into story can be very hard sometimes.<\/p>\n

The Inheritance sees stories from both of your pseudonyms; is it easy to slip into the different voices?<\/strong><\/p>\n

Oh, very easy.\u00a0 To me, Lindholm writes very differently from Hobb.\u00a0 And one voice or the other will always be better for telling that particular story.\u00a0 I think that if I took a Lindholm story and rewrote it in the Hobb voice, it would seem like a completely different sort of story.<\/p>\n

What do you think of the current state of science fiction and fantasy? Is there anything you would like to see more\/less of?<\/strong><\/p>\n

SF and Fantasy seem to ebb and flow with the times.\u00a0 I think that SF was more optimistic when I first began reading it, but maybe that was simply what I was choosing to read.\u00a0 I miss the tales of generational ships and planetary colonies and space stations.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 I also wish that there were more fiction magazines.\u00a0 So many of the old magazines have fallen by the wayside, and each used to offer a different slice of the genre.\u00a0 I\u2019m always surprised when I meet readers who are unaware that magazines of short fantasy and SF even exist.\u00a0 I think my two long time favourites are Asimov\u2019s and The Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction.\u00a0\u00a0 I still miss Amazing and Fantastic, however.\u00a0 I feel that some of the best work done in the genres is done in the short forms.\u00a0 I know there are on-line magazines, but I like putting those digest sized magazines up on the shelf after I\u2019ve finished reading them.<\/p>\n

\u00a0City Of Dragons is out now, and Blood Of Dragons is due in 2013.<\/strong>
\n<\/em><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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