Souragne - interview on Dance of the Dead

[ChristieGolden]

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 in different form: the circle, references to Sasha and the Holy Symbol of Ravenkind (merely as hooks, as of yet), the history of the cult of the morninglord and general attitude of the population.

Having read the novel makes it all the more worthwhile when we now read in the Gazetteer that the Cult of the Morninglord defends compassion towards lycanthropes but does not explain why, and it feels even better when we as DM know that we can let the players know that and understand it is really ancestral and very rare knowledge. If they can appreciate that kind of information, digging novels set in the past is truly precious.

Ail

Fascinating that the Cult defends compassion to lycanthropes. And yep, I'm sure that's where they got it. Very very cool. Thanks for sharing that.

Heh, I loved Trina

[Joël of the FoS]

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 writing of this specific novel? Did you have a detailled story board, or just a general idea of the story? What did TSR knew of the story before you wrote it?

You said TSR wanted darker novels. What did they made you change or tweak in Dance of the Dead?

Joël

[ChristieGolden]

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 writing of this specific novel? Did you have a detailled story board, or just a general idea of the story? What did TSR knew of the story before you wrote it?

You said TSR wanted darker novels. What did they made you change or tweak in Dance of the Dead?

Joël

Haha! No, I never discussed it with the good doctor, but perhaps you might want to...though sometimes a cigar is just a cigar!

I sold this on an outline, I can't remember how detailed it was, but probably about fifteen or twenty pages or so. Generally when I write an outline I've got the beginning, end, and several of the "big" scenes planned out. This means that I don't end up writing myself into a corner 160 pages in and have to start all over again, and the publisher has a general sense of where I'm going and the overall feel of the book.

Lesse, for Dance...hm....well, like I said, I wasn't allowed to have any "good" animals on the boat, which was disappointing at first, but I had fun creating the ones I did have. I had to make the names more "fantasy" and less normal, like Tom or something. I was instructed to kill off a major figure, preferably Willen. I would have preferred to have him simply unable to leave the island, and therefore unable to be with Larissa--I thought that would be tragic enough--but it was made very clear to me that someone needed to die. Had I been a more experienced writer I would have challenged a lot of these instructions, but this was only my second novel so I went along with it. It's not really very usual for a publisher, even a publisher of tie-in novels like STAR TREK, to tell an author to kill a character. I think unfortunately decisions like these, instead of making the mood dark and sinister and threatening, only made it feel depressing and hopeless. We read horror and gothic stories to be scared and challenge the darkness, not to lose to it all the time. Sure you lose a few, and frankly I'm kind of "known" for killing of characters one comes to really love (read ON FIRE'S WINGS at your own peril). But there has to be a good internal reason for it. It's got to feel "right", not just done for shock value. You've got to win a few. There's got to be hope. The morning always comes, even in Ravenloft. So in hindsight, I wish I'd fought a little harder for a few things. On the plus side, they talked me into making Misroi a sexy, dashing villain instead of a zombie, which in the end was an excellent decision.

Rawr.

[ChristieGolden]

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 wanted to see their stats somewhere official, but I don't think that ever happened.

[Joël of the FoS]

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 wanted to see their stats somewhere official, but I don't think that ever happened.

I don't recall seeing these, indeed ...

I'm thinking of Gelaar's daughter kept in a mirror's mists. This is quite poignant when Gelaar makes her illusions of a forest to relive her of her fears ;(

Where did you get this (nasty!) great idea ?

Joël

[Gonzoron of the FoS]

Hi again Ms. Golden,

Since you haven't been reading the recent Ravenloft stuff, and seem to be interested in the Morninglord developments, here's some more info on where your creations have been lately:

- The Cult of the Morninglord is strong in Barovia, especially among the Gundarakite minority. (After Duke Gundar was killed, his domain was absorbed by Barovia and Invidia. Ethnic Barovians are in charge, and Gundarakites are oppressed.) There's a secret sect within the cult called the Dawnslayers, or Heralds of the Dawn, founded by Sasha and dedicated to fighting vampires. (which, as noted, preaches mercy for lycanthropes.) The cults dogma and practices have been fleshed out quite a bit. (If you find yourself in a game store and see RL Gazetteer volume 1, check out page 25 for a summary.) The Hands of the Dawn Healer, the mummified hands of an early priest of the Morninglord (strongly hinted to be Sasha), are a holy relic of the church, rumored to grant miracles, including curing lycanthropy.
- Jander himself showed up in Falkovnia, tangling with a group of vampyres (not vampires, living bloodsuckers). He was updated to 3rd edition rules and it was revealed that his hands are still blackened and painful from the contact with the Holy Symbol. Supposedly he found out somehow how he was saved and now wants to avenge himself on the Dark Powers themselves, at first by weakening them by slaying evil creatures. (most fans don't like the book he was updated in, and especially the way he was updated, so take that last part with a grain of salt.)
- Larissa is still travelling, now captain of La Demoiselle, renamed the River Dancer.
-The first time Anton saw print after Dance he was still said to look like a zombie. But 3 years later, that was corrected. He's still a zombie lord, and his natural form is zombie-like, but learned from the Maiden to control his appearance, and usually looks suave and dashing. His curse is that he craves human contact, but is surrounded by mindless slave zombies. He's also developed some power to "mind-travel" to other domains that's never been explained. Interestingly, it's said that Sourange would have been drawn into the Core and joined the continent, but Misroi's sheer force of will prevented it, since he "didn't like what he saw there."
- Malken's cat fetish has been incorporated into the canon, with the claws of sekhmaa in official history, and the plains cats roaming the land. The Horse theme has blossomed into an all-out obsession for Nova Vaasa. They even name their historical periods stuff like "The Saddling." Green for mourning is still there. Tristen's official history now is that his father was cursed to kill any woman he loved when he killed Tristen's mother in a rage. When Romir killed himself, the curse passed to Tristen. When Tristen killed his first love, he was drawn to Ravenloft and the curse was made into a full alter-ego: Malken. Tristen is retired from the constabulary. The Clever Grey Malken Inn was renamed by the owners to the Clever Grey Mouser to distance itself from Malken. Othmar is still in charge, having not released power in 28 years and flaunting the five-year cycle. The church of the Lawgiver (i.e. Bane) is the state religion, and other religions are outlawed.

Well, hope that's interesting you... Ended up being a lot longer than I thought it would be so if you get bored, feel free to stop reading. Just goes to show the huge influence you've had on Ravenloft. Thanks!

[Nathan of the FoS]

Here's a simple one--are there any books or characters in Ravenloft that you've noted and said, "Wow. I wish I'd written that story/created that character"?

[Joël of the FoS]

-The first time Anton saw print after Dance he was still said to look like a zombie. But 3 years later, that was corrected. He's still a zombie lord, and his natural form is zombie-like, but learned from the Maiden to control his appearance, and usually looks suave and dashing. His curse is that he craves human contact, but is surrounded by mindless slave zombies. He's also developed some power to "mind-travel" to other domains that's never been explained. Interestingly, it's said that Sourange would have been drawn into the Core and joined the continent, but Misroi's sheer force of will prevented it, since he "didn't like what he saw there."

FYI, the Anton in the FoS (soon to be released) Souragne project is made after the Dance of the dead version!

Joël

[ChristieGolden]

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....

[Drinnik Shoehorn]

I was just wondering, how long did it take to write both Vampire and Dance? Does it take as long writing your non-gaming books?

[ChristieGolden]

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 dang new killed me; I got sick quite a bit during that time frame. The good news is, I can pretty much always turn out a book now in three months, which has been a tempting thing to offer publishers.

Until very recently, all of my novels (27 at this point) have by and large been three months. The new series, starting with ON FIRE'S WINGS, has been comprised of longer books and 4-5 months is usually necessary simply because of the length and complexity (I am hoping for five books in the series, and have to make sure the groundwork is laid for all the surprises in the end!)

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.

[Ail]

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 mean, do you already know what is going to happen at the end of the book before you write the first page, and what is the purpose the character is trying to achieve?
Now that you are more experienced, do you still have to follow hints from the editor, or are you the sole responsible for the book?

Another question, please. When you write, do you worry about the style of language you're using? Do you look for rare and difficult words or quite on the contrary do you try that your text is easily readable? Or do you not even worry about that?

Lastly, do you revise often, or when you have written your pages for the day that is final work.

Thank you very much for your answers.

Ail

[Ail]

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 run a game, would you consider the fan made material as important to read and know as the canon material, or worth taking ideas from ?

Thank you once again.

Ail

[ChristieGolden]

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 mean, do you already know what is going to happen at the end of the book before you write the first page, and what is the purpose the character is trying to achieve?
Now that you are more experienced, do you still have to follow hints from the editor, or are you the sole responsible for the book?

Another question, please. When you write, do you worry about the style of language you're using? Do you look for rare and difficult words or quite on the contrary do you try that your text is easily readable? Or do you not even worry about that?

Lastly, do you revise often, or when you have written your pages for the day that is final work.

Thank you very much for your answers.

Ail

Once you've broken in, it's ideal to sell you novel based on an outline rather than "on spec," i.e., after you've written the whole thing. This lets the edtior know where you want to go with the story at a stage where he or she can give input and it's easily correctable. For the author, it means money before you have written something that perhaps it turns out you won't be able to find a market for. So I've become a master at writing outlines. And you know what? I hate doing them, but I love what they do for me. When something goes nowhere, I know it in a few sentences rather than after a hundred pages. So yes, I know absolutely where the book is heading. It's like a road map--a very detailed guide, but that doesn't mean I can't make changes as I hit those places in the book. I tend to follow fairly close to outline from a plot standpoint, but things do start taking on a life of their own with regards to character. And editors know this. I'd say I get more requests to change things with tie-in work rather than my original fiction, because of the nature of the beast. When I do something like a Ravenloft book, they are hiring me to write their book. Usuallyi t's their characters, certainly their world, and they own all rights to it. When I do my own work, the publisher is publishing MY book. Much less changes are requested, though I love working with a good editor. She or he can see things I can't and help me make the book better.

Each writer has his or her own "voice." But sometimes that 'voice" can change from project to project. For Star Trek, I like to use clean, easily readable language, because that fits in well with the feel of the show. For my DANCERS series, it's more lyrical. But word choices are often very definite--that's why we have such a rich vocabulary! Once I have the voice feel down for a book I don't worry about it, it just flows.

Each day I read what I've written the day before, tweak and polish it, then do that day's writing. I like to leave a week or two at the end to go over it all. But generally, the first draft I turn in to the editor is what goes through. I don't have the luxury often of having a second or third crack at a book before it goes to print.

[ChristieGolden]

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 run a game, would you consider the fan made material as important to read and know as the canon material, or worth taking ideas from ?

Thank you once again.

Ail

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....Not that there's anything wrong with that, as Seinfeld would say! But Jander definitely likes females. I was flattered and I enjoyed reading it.

If I were to run a game, I'd go to the source, just like I would do with a historical novel I'm researching. I'd want to make my own stories from the source material. Perhaps if I knew something from another novel that I liked, I 'd incorporate that, but I wouldn't take anything from another fan. That's their work. I'd want to do mine.