Souragne - interview on Dance of the Dead

[Joël of the FoS]

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 ... what do you think of her work about vampires?

What other books have you written do could inspire us RLers in our games, i.e. book about horror, great villains ?

Do you have trivia or other interesting details on the writing, editing, publishing, fan reactions to Dance of the dead?

Joël

[ChristieGolden]

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 ... what do you think of her work about vampires?

What other books have you written do could inspire us RLers in our games, i.e. book about horror, great villains ?

Do you have trivia or other interesting details on the writing, editing, publishing, fan reactions to Dance of the dead?

Joël

Anne Rice is indeed the Source, isn't she? I liked THE VAMPIRE LESTAT the best of the three I've read. It was very claer to me that TSR wanted a sort of INTERVIEW WITH THE VAMPIRE type of novel--older vampire teaching younger--but I wanted to make it as different as I could. Of course Strahd is no Louis, and Jander is no Lestat. Strahd was set up by that point as a villainous character and rather than have "bad vampire and badder vampire" I wanted a "good" vampire, at least as good as I could make him.

I have had a lot of people tell me they think the world I've set up for the Dancers series would make a great RPG. I'd love for someone to give it a shot and report to me about it. The books are not horror per se, but they have that Christie Golden trademark dark and dangerousness about them I think. First one's ON FIRE's WINGS, out now in trade paperback, coming out in August in mass market.

I did get asked about what I wanted to see in the cover art, something that doesn't always happen to authors, and I thought having Larissa dance with the snake and summoning the zombie would be a cool cover. I actually have the original art for the cover, it's great. Some people say that my face looks a lot like Larissa's...I have a picture on the Wizards of the Coast website and on my own. You be the judge!

[Ail]

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 interesting that you give these numbers. When I write the logs for my campaign, I make between 4 to 8 pages a session, and that takes me at least 3 to 4 hours to write. I strive to do it on one single day, but most times I need to make it in two.

The problem with this, of course, is lack of motivation sometimes, which reflects in the incoherent quality of the whole.

As an author, and since you said you don't revise intensively, do you ever feel that some day's work was not as good as it should have been, or is somehow inferior to the work of the other days? If so, how do you even that out? And if not, how do you do to always keep the same quality?

Is your text then reviewed by an editor or a proof-reader before it goes to press at last?

Thanks.
You have been so nice in answering all our questions that I do feel motivated to ask you more and more.... Hope that does not bother you

Ail

[ChristieGolden]

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 interesting that you give these numbers. When I write the logs for my campaign, I make between 4 to 8 pages a session, and that takes me at least 3 to 4 hours to write. I strive to do it on one single day, but most times I need to make it in two.

The problem with this, of course, is lack of motivation sometimes, which reflects in the incoherent quality of the whole.

As an author, and since you said you don't revise intensively, do you ever feel that some day's work was not as good as it should have been, or is somehow inferior to the work of the other days? If so, how do you even that out? And if not, how do you do to always keep the same quality?

Is your text then reviewed by an editor or a proof-reader before it goes to press at last?

Thanks.
You have been so nice in answering all our questions that I do feel motivated to ask you more and more.... Hope that does not bother you

Ail

Of course some days are better than others. Some days I really feel inspired and the pages fly. Other times it's like pulling teeth. The funny thing is, sometimes the pulling teeth days/scenes are better than the inspired days...that's where technique comes in. If I waited to be "inspired" I would never finish anything! I do believe that there's a "muse" of sorts, but sometimes she takes the day off--and the work still needs to get done. I do go over the previous day's work, as I said, and I also make sure to give myself a week or two to do an overall edit. I learn a lot as I go along and I have to make sure the first part is in line with the final part! Yes, I always have an editor and a proofreader. I do not always get the chance to revise the first draft, though. There's a saying out there, "You don't write, you rewrite." And while that's true to an extent for all writers, it is less true for me--I have to make sure my first crack at something is pretty damn good in case I don't get a second.

And do please keep the questions coming, I'm happy to answer them!

[Joël of the FoS]

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 inside all of us, there's a monster- Some spend their lives trying to fight it. They fail. Some coexist unhappily with their beast. They are miserable." He dragged her to her feet and grabbed her shoulders. "Larissa," he purred, "you and I celebrate it."

These descriptions of Anton (and others thing he say) are so cool When I wrote the expanded background story of Anton for our Souragne project, it was modeled after the novel (And he looks human too, don't worry!). In fact, we used it a lot in this project for inspiration and world building details.

Another comment (I do not have questions anymore), I loved the end scene with Willen going on the raft. It is very poignant, and brought me watery eyes again, which is unusual for me. Bravo! I think you made us like your heroine very much, so we became very empathic at her emotions. It was cute and cool.

Willen’s character would normally annoy me, in his all smile, over the top disneyesque gentleness, but I liked him a lot. His real nature had to do with it, but the way you had him described surely made him more palatable and credible

Lond! How can you be more evil then him? Next thing you know, he ate your baby! Run!

Joël

[ChristieGolden]

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 inside all of us, there's a monster- Some spend their lives trying to fight it. They fail. Some coexist unhappily with their beast. They are miserable." He dragged her to her feet and grabbed her shoulders. "Larissa," he purred, "you and I celebrate it."

These descriptions of Anton (and others thing he say) are so cool When I wrote the expanded background story of Anton for our Souragne project, it was modeled after the novel (And he looks human too, don't worry!). In fact, we used it a lot in this project for inspiration and world building details.

Another comment (I do not have questions anymore), I loved the end scene with Willen going on the raft. It is very poignant, and brought me watery eyes again, which is unusual for me. Bravo! I think you made us like your heroine very much, so we became very empathic at her emotions. It was cute and cool.

Willen’s character would normally annoy me, in his all smile, over the top disneyesque gentleness, but I liked him a lot. His real nature had to do with it, but the way you had him described surely made him more palatable and credible

Lond! How can you be more evil then him? Next thing you know, he ate your baby! Run!

Joël

Yeah, Anton is the sociopath poster boy, isn't he? Frankly, in real life, evil isn't very sexy. Criminals are a pretty stupid lot and often very...well...icky. In fiction, though, it's a lot of fun to play with.

I wrote a book that's very hard to find these days, but it's still out there, called A.D. 999, written under the pen name of Jadrien Bell. It won the Colorado Author's League Top Hand award, but unfortunately didn't sell very well. You want some fun and suave evil? Try Satan and Loki, together for the first time! I jokingly call it "Satan and Loki's Excellent Adventure." Satan takes the name Angelo and is advisor to King Ethelred the Unready, and Loki....well, he's the Antichrist. The basic idea is, Angelo has found a way to bring about the end of the world prematurely--a cosmic loophole that will let him reign forever. A crippled young monk and a pagan witch-wife are all that stand against him.

Angelo definitely owes a debt to Misroi.

What made Willen work was that he was genuine, I think. He wasn't cutsey or saccharine...he was just...NEW. Experiencing all this for the first time, a being really of light and purity making a choice out of a love that's so simple he can't understand why anyone wouldn't make that choice. He wasn't just an innocent person, he was "other," and his innocence wasn't naivety or ignorance it was because there was nothing that could prepare him for existence in a human body. I think that's why he wasn't eye-rolling. At least not too much I hope.

Heh...I loved that the band in Buffy was called "Dingos Ate My Baby"/

[Joël of the FoS]

Other questions and comments for Mrs Golden?

Looking at the number of questions posted (many on the first week, no so many in the second), I think this event will close this weekend as it seems we have exhausted the topic. Mrs Golden however, isn't, judging by her long answers (Maybe we could do it again with the rerelease of Vampire? )

A couple days more only!

Joël

[Joël of the FoS]

I wrote a book that's very hard to find these days, but it's still out there, called A.D. 999, written under the pen name of Jadrien Bell.

Just got this on ebay I will let you know when I read it!

Joël

[ChristieGolden]

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!

[ChristieGolden]

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, it's all about selling. The first book in the series is called ON FIRE'S WINGS, and it may be a bit hard to find for a period until the mass market paperback comes out in August. The second one is easier, it's called IN STONE'S CLASP. Give 'em a shot and drop me an email to let me know what you think.

Take care, and watch out for the mists!

Christie Golden

www.christiegolden.com

[Joël of the FoS]

Many thanks Christie for the opportunity to ask you these questions. It was very interesting.

As discussed, we'll summon you again in the mists for the rerelease of Vampire

Thank you again for your time and cheerfulness !

Joël