Café de Nuit

Well, all, looks like this has run its course. You asked some great questions and it was really fun to revisit DANCE OF THE DEAD.

I'd love it if some of you might be willing to give my new series a try--in the end, writing my own stories was always what I wanted to do, and like any other business ...

Happy to retun in September. Do let me know when you're about to close the thread so I can convey my thanks and any last comments!

Heh, Joel, I think you'll like it!

I’ve finished reading it again this morning. I think you had Anton depicted as a very credible, evil but refined being. You make him say two things that are very clever and absolutely in character:

- Everyone is trapped—in one way or another. Some have prettier cages, that's all.

- Deep down ...

Generally I do five pages a day, which is a comfortable pace for me. You start getting into six or seven or eight a day and it gets tougher; when I did LORD OF THE CLANS on a six week deadline I was aiming for ten pages a day. I was exhausted and non-verbal at the end of each day. :)

It's very ...

Until very recently, I had found no fan fic on anything I've written. Sniff, I'm a failure! *sob* :) Then I ran across a Jander short story on the web that was very well written, even if, er, it had him being attracted to another male elf...

That's very AnnRicey :)

Moving from topic, but ...

I forgot to add another question:

do you ever read fan made material about the settings you write to? If you do, what do you think, in general, of its quality, and do you like, or do you not care, that so many people are willing to write about games they love and share it with others?
Were you to ...

Hi again,

The last posts have asked mostly around things I wanted to ask you. From what you said, can I assume that you always make a general plan before you write a book, I mean, you have a plot written and then just fill the holes? Do you make a story arc for each character before writing, I ...

VAMPIRE was a real baptism by fire and one I'm very grateful for. I was 27, had never sold any fiction before, and had just started a new job when word came they had selected my proposal. I had three months to write it. The bad news is that writing that book and DANCE while working a full-time job ...

I have no idea where I get my ideas. The mirror idea is obviously nothing new, but now that you mention it, "being trapped" does seem to be a major theme in the book doesn't it? The creatures on the showboat, the woman in the bone decoration, Aradnia in the mirror...hmmm....

Oh, one thing I wanted to be sure I mentioned...I was VERY proud of the "minxes." I liked the pun. A "minx" is a mischeivous, somewhat playful and irresponsible but charming little girl; my "minx" were basically were-minks who became beautiful young women with thick, luxurious brown hair. I always ...

In Dance of the Dead , I like how the paternalistic and well trusted figure of Larissa's uncle quickly becomes distorted and devious (and I note that Larissa later has to face another paternalistic controling caracter when she met Anton). Ever discussed that with Mr Freud? ;)

How did you plan the ...

As an occasionaly reader of novels, I find they are invaluable to get a good grip on the setting. For example, I read Vampire of the mists when I was planning the Barovian part of my campaign. I loved it, and I liked Sasha's relation with Trina. I put some elements from it in my campaign, obviously ...

Hi Ms. Golden! Let me first thank you for being here. Although it's been years since I've last read them, your three Ravenloft novels are some of my all time favorite parts of the setting, and Vampire especially is a favorite novel of mine in general. (I've also dropped Larissa into a cameo in my ...

Haha! Yes, I was once told by a frustrated gamer that he couldn't "play' VAMPIRE out as a game. I told him that novels and games are very different. They both take skills to write, but the goal is very different. One is designed to be experienced passively, the other needs to be open ended so the ...

I read this book a long while ago, but I liked it very much, and especially Larissa Snowmane. So much that I'm using her in my campaign.
But what I wanted to know here is, what kind of life did Larissa take after the book ended ? Do you think she would ever go back willingly to Souragne ? If I ...