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Interview

COFFEE: HOT Interview

CoffeeHot

As you may or may not know, I have a story in an anthology of SFF coffeehouse erotica from Circlet Press called COFFEE: HOT. We’ve got each of the authors in the book to interview another, and now it’s my turn to ask questions of R. Ann Sawyer. (Here’s the interview of me by Kristin Noone.)

Let’s get started!

How did you get involved with this anthology? “SFF erotica set in coffeehouses” is an awfully specific topic – how did this story come to be?

I love Circlet, and have been published by them before, so I was watching their anthology offerings when I saw this story prompt post. I have two small children, so coffee is an absolutely necessary part of my life, and I thought it would be fun to play with erotica that had the bitter sweet bite of coffee.

For the scene itself, I was a little stuck. I asked a good friend what she was in the mood to read, and she requested some hot smuggler/lawperson action. I couldn’t figure out why someone would be smuggling coffee in the modern world, though, so I decided to play around in a sci-fi world–and the rest happened so fast it shocked me. I wrote the first draft of the story in about four hours.

Your story is definitely science fiction – is that your genre of choice? Is there anything in SF that you particularly like for erotica?

This is actually my first foray into any kind of sci-fi; I’m much more comfortable in the worlds of dark fantasy or urban fantasy. I loved sci-fi when I was a kid, but fell out of touch with the community as I got older. I’ve been slowly worming my way back in, finding progressive sci-fi that includes a broader sort of fan than some of what I read when I was a kid.

Do you do both erotica and non-erotica writing? If so, is it hard to transition between the two?

My day job is as a content and copywriter for a variety of clients. I’ve tried to write fiction without any kind of erotic element, but I love writing about relationships and people, and I also really love writing about sex. Even when I try to behave myself, someone ends up touching someone else. I lead a hard life (not really).

And of course: how do you like your coffee?

Way too much sugar and milk. I’m ashamed of myself. I managed a coffee shop within a bookstore for several years, and I know all the reasons why coffee should be served black, but I just can’t.

I have a deep love of cold brew, and rarely drink my coffee hot unless it’s the depths of winter. I have been known to curl up with my laptop, fingerless mitts keeping my hands warm, blanket around my shoulders, and still I’m drinking iced coffee.

Author Chat, Round Two

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Excited to bring you the second round of Author Chat with ML Brennan, Leigh Bardugo, Teresa Frohock, and myself! The first round, along with ML’s explanation of her inspiration, are over on her site, take a look.

UPDATE: Round Three is up on Teresa’s blog!

Round Four is up on Leigh’s Tumblr!

Q: Is there an element you put in your books not because it was necessary to the plot or characters, but just because it was awesome?

Django Wexler: I’m a big fan of history and using historical details, especially in fantasy. In my adult series, that’s more or less the focus of the books, so it doesn’t really qualify for this question, but there’s some fun stuff in my kid’s book, The Forbidden Library. It takes place in 1931, but the majority of it happens in various magical domains, so the real world isn’t mentioned that often. I did my best to sneak in various accurate details (events in the newspapers, buildings in the cities, new inventions, and so on); they probably won’t stick out to most readers, but having them in there makes me happy. I’m working on the second book now, and there’s a flashback that takes place in Central Park, so I had to go and look up some histories to see what that was like at the time. (A dump, it turns out. LaGuardia’s big cleanup of the park didn’t start till 1934.)

the_little_shop_of_horrors

Teresa Frohock: Definitely the Rosa. The whole concept of a sentient plant was my little nod to Roger Corman’s 1960 movie The Little Shop of Horrors. The black comedy had me totally unprepared for the ending when the flowers on Audrey Junior bloom into the faces of all the people Seymour had murdered. I don’t know why those final images horrified me so much. By today’s standards, the special effects were cheap and silly, but my young mind filled in all the blanks. To this day, I can remember that final scene when Audrey Junior blooms and I got a chill that made me shudder.

I wanted to twist on Audrey Junior and give the plant a purpose, hence the Rosa. I think the Rosa and the Wasteland were some of my favorite parts of world building for Woerld. A lot of fantasy novels have people engage in working magic with no repercussions. I wanted a nuclear holocaust of a magic war. I imaged that the residual effect of the spells would long outlast the war.

Leigh Bardugo: I like imagining Teresa setting fire to the world. In Siege and Storm, Alina discovers that Mal has been spending his nights brawling in what started out as an ordinary fight club scene because, well, I wanted to write about a fight club. But my friend Sarah called me out on it. She basically said, “What is this Far and Away shiz?” And I knew she was right, but I also knew there was a reason beyond bare-knuckle shenans for why I felt so attached to the scene. It was only on the rewrite that I realized the change I needed to make to give the moment significance: Mal is an ordinary soldier and he needed to be challenging Grisha, the members of the magical elite. He’s doing it to prove he isn’t helpless, to get a bit of his own back—and it ended up having an impact not only on his character, but on the rest of the trilogy.

I desperately, desperately wanted Sturmhond to have a sky fortress in Siege and Storm. I had this whole vision of how it would plummet to the earth in this big battle. But with the rules I’d created for the magical system, it was impossible. In theory, a group of Squallers could have kept a floating fortress aloft and stable, but in the context of my world it would have been an absurd expenditure of resources, completely pointless. So that was the end of the sky fortress. But I still think of it fondly.

ML Brennan: The first rule of Grisha Fight Club is – don’t talk about Grisha Fight Club. (because if you do, Teresa will totally set off magical nukes)

I usually start every book with a stack of post-it notes with ideas that I’ve come up with that I’m in love with, and the challenge is to try to figure out how to find a place to put them that actually works with the plot.

Kitsune

I think my favorite one in Generation V was about body disposal. When I was researching the kitsune mythos for the book I read a number of very fun stories and legends that referenced the ability of kitsune to trick the humans around them by changing their perceptions of situations and sometimes outright forcing hallucinations. I wrote in some limits, and popped it in. I honestly wasn’t expecting to use it that often – until I wrote my first fight scene. It ends with a body on the ground – the body of a very non-human individual that is also covered in fox bite-marks, bullet holes, and some brick smashing. (oh, it was a fun fight) And my first thought was, “Wait a second – this guy is going to end up on some medical examiner’s slab. This vampire secret is going to get out fast.” That was a problem – except that I had the kitsune’s ability to alter perception under controlled conditions. So suddenly I got to not only discover a whole new application for the kitsune magic, but I also appeased my inner anal-retentive nitpicker for why the hell the average Providence detective didn’t call the FBI crime lab about this strange and inhuman body. And it becomes this huge multiple-page explanation and layout, for really such a minor issue (I mean, I guess I could’ve left the body in a trash bin and bothered no one but myself), but I became absolutely wrapped up in the execution and limitations – and mostly because I thought it was pretty cool.

I’d wanted the kitsune to have a very special and specific kind of magic, but I’ve actually found it coming up handy in multiple places over the books. So something that at the time I thought I was kind of indulging myself in turned out to be extremely useful.

Q: How do you go about your world-building – is there a particular process? Characters and plot first, or world first?

Clicky for giant classic painting!
Clicky for giant classic painting!

Django Wexler: I am definitely a “plot and characters first” person most of the time; at least, that’s my most successful strategy. I tend to have a character with an arc and a vague idea of what that character should do, and then I start thinking about the world and what would make that possible. In The Thousand Names, I knew I wanted a general who could do clever things with Napoleonic-style combat – that implies both a certain tech level and a magic system that’s not so overwhelming and omnipresent that it changes the way warfare works, and I built up the rest of the world from those fixed points.

The Forbidden Library was also built around the characters. I knew the basic relationship was going to be a heroine and her Merlin/Gandalf/Dumbledore figure, who tells her she’s the Chosen One, with the point of the story being whether or not she can trust what he says. I also had this idea of a magical, infinite library (this is a pretty common fantasy for people like me, I think, we all want to live in one) so I constructed a magic system based around printed words. And THAT restricted where I could be, time-wise, because a magic system based on the printed word is going to get very strange when you introduce it to photocopying and the internet!

In my Idea File there are a few proto-novels that are basically just a setting, without a plot or characters. That’s usually an indication that they’re not quite “baked”, and need some more work before I can really get started on them.

Teresa Frohock: If this were a con, I’d just point at Django and say, what he said. I do the same thing.

My stories always begin with a character. Lucian came from this cool dream that I had. I dreamt of a tall, Slavic man with long dark hair; he walked with a limp and a cane through this fantastical city. He was dressed in medieval clothing, and he was talking to a young boy dressed in 20th century clothing. Then the dream shifted, as dreams often do, and I saw a forest. Nailed to a tree was a sign that read: JESUS SAVES. Across a small path was the bumper of an older model car that had a bumper sticker on it that read: NOBODY SAVES YOU MORE THAN WINN DIXIE.

Believe it or not, Miserere and Woerld kind of grew out of that.

The Garden grew around Guillermo’s character and his past (and past lives). [Why, yes, that was a pun. You’re welcome.] Whenever I’m writing a scene and realize that I need an explanation for something, I create that aspect of the world.

I keep it all straight by using a series sheet along with my synopsis. My synopsis shows me the trajectory of my protagonist’s story, and my series sheet helps me keep up with names and spelling, in addition to details about the world. I think Miserere’s series sheet was around seven pages long. That’s not counting all of the really cool articles and maps that I collected while working on it. The world building for Miserere takes up three 3″ binders and another file that holds oversized materials such a maps.

The world building for Garden was just as intense, and it never feels like work. I love about reading history, philosophy, folk and fairy tales, and religion. I really enjoy twisting these elements into my worlds, but the world building, for me, always begins with a character, then I build their world around them.

Leigh Bardugo: Seriously, can’t we make someone put us all on a panel? I’m not above bribery.

I don’t have much to add to what Teresa and Django said. When I talk about worldbuilding I like to break it down into sense of order (how power functions in the world—political, personal, magical), and sense of place (the texture of the world—food, clothing, architecture). But these get tangled up pretty quickly and they should.

Shadow and Bone began with the question, “What if darkness was a place?” I wanted to take something that usually functions as a metaphor in fantasy and make it literal. That idea became the Unsea and everything else grew out of that—the Darkling’s power, Alina’s power, the idea of a country kept in an economic stranglehold by a geographical aberration. But when I got into research (cultural histories, recipes, textiles, folklore), it had a huge impact not just on the feel of the world, but also on the plot and characters. For example, Alina and Mal had parents in my first draft. But by the time I started the second draft, they were orphans, and that was the direct result of reading I’d done on the Napoleonic Wars and the roots of the Decembrist Revolt. I’ve learned to just accept that I have no idea what I’ll use or where inspiration may come from, and to try to stay flexible.

ML Brennan: Well, I could host a con in my living room and put all of us on a panel, but I don’t think I’d be able to issue more than a dozen badges, and it might have to be a potluck.

I start with world first – Generation V began as a kind of thought-experiment about how I could create vampires that functioned as a species (and that also solved that pesky population explosion issue). It wasn’t until I’d completely built the vampires (much research was done into parasites!) that I started actually thinking about characters. But I actually agree with Django’s comment about a world not being “baked” yet at that phase. I’d constructed a perfectly interesting idea, but it wasn’t until I started working on characters and developed my protagonist, Fortitude, that the world started getting interesting. The moment you have a real character, they start pushing around the world and having desires and motivations and conflict – and things take off.

And then you have to design more world because all of a sudden things are getting pushed around. So I’d say that characters are kind of my midpoint in construction. I have to build enough world to feel comfortable and confident – and then I introduce the characters and everything gets exciting. I think the characters also show where weak parts in the world construction are, so then you can bring in more elements and finish things off.

That’s all for now, but stay tuned for more chat next week!

Guest Blogging, Interview, News, Reviews

The Thousand Names, Week Two

For all the fun stuff from week one, including my prequel short story, excerpts, The Big Idea, blogs and reviews, see my first wrap-up post.

This week, the fun continues!

If you’re in the Seattle area, I’m doing a reading and signing at the University Book Store on Thursday at 7 PM. Come and say hi!

Monday

Blog tour continues! Reconnaissance: Point of View as a Precious Resource

A great review at A Bitter Draft.

Tuesday

March!: Maintaining Forward Momentum, Or, Things Should Happen In Books

An excellent, thoughtful review, also from Booksmugglers.

Wednesday

Excellent review, including my short story The Penitent Damned, from Fantasy Book Critic.

The Day of Battle: Writing Battle Scenes

Thursday

The Pursuit: Planning a Series

Excellent, on-target review by another reviewer at SF Signal.

Friday

The Butcher’s Bill: Kill Your Darlings, featuring an exclusive excerpt!

An interview with me at Wilder’s Book Review.



The Thousand Names Blog Tour
Launching The Shadow Campaigns

  • Recruitment: Introducing the cast of The Thousand Names, featuring excerpts! (at I Smell Sheep, 7/3/13)
  • Training: Using History to Build a Fantasy Society (at SF Signal, 7/4/13)
  • Deployment: We’ve Come a Long Way (at The Qwillery, 7/5/13)
  • Reconnaissance: Point of View as a Precious Resource (at Anne Lyle, 7/8/13)
  • March!: Maintaining Forward Momentum, Or, Things Should Happen In Books (at The Book Smugglers, 7/9/13)
  • The Day of Battle: Writing Battle Scenes (at Suvudu, 7/10/13)
  • The Pursuit: Planning a Series (at Fantasy Book Critic, 7/11/13)
  • The Butcher’s Bill: Kill Your Darlings, featuring an exclusive excerpt! (at SciFiChick.com, 7/12/13)




More to come! (Updated 8:29 AM PST, 7/12/13)

Guest Blogging, Interview, News, Reviews

Thousand Names Release Week Post

Rather than try to put up a separate post for everything that’s going on this week, I’m just going to collect it all here. I’ll update as things go up, so you can always check back for the latest. (Or you can follow me on Twitter or on Facebook to get the updates as they come out.)

The book is released! You can track it down at your local indie bookstore or order it from Amazon. More buying options on the book info page.



Stuff that’s already up

Previously
My prequel short story, The Penitent Damned, is free at io9.

An excerpt (the first chapter and a half) is available at Tor.com. You can also read an excerpt (slightly different, including the prologue) here on my site.

There’s an interview with me at SF Signal, and you can also check out their review.

Monday
The Thousand Names is one of Amazon’s Best of SFF for July!

There’s an interview with me at Fantasy-Faction.

A nice review at Bookworm Blues.

The giveaway for five hardcovers is still ongoing at Tor.com.

A new giveaway for two signed ARCs, open worldwide, at Fantasy Book Critic.

Another review at Speculative Book Review.

Tuesday

The book is released!

I explain The Big Idea behind The Thousand Names at John Scalzi’s Whatever.

A great review at The Book Plank.

Wednesday

Recruitment: Introducing the cast of The Thousand Names, featuring excerpts and a giveaway!

A short Q&A with me over at Penguin.

A nicely detailed review at Tor.com.

Thursday

Happy Fourth of July! Today the book is released in the UK.

I’ve taken over the Del Rey UK website to talk about worldbuilding.

Training: “How important is it that fantasy be ‘historically accurate?’”

Friday

Deployment: We’ve Come a Long Way, on the many versions of The Thousand Names that came before the final one.

A nice review from FantasyLiterature.com.



Coming Soon

The Thousand Names blog tour, starting Wednesday!
Launching The Shadow Campaigns

  • Recruitment: Introducing the cast of The Thousand Names, featuring excerpts! (at I Smell Sheep, 7/3/13)
  • Training: Using History to Build a Fantasy Society (at SF Signal, 7/4/13)
  • Deployment: We’ve Come a Long Way (at The Qwillery, 7/5/13)
  • Reconnaissance: Point of View as a Precious Resource (at Anne Lyle, 7/8/13)
  • March!: Maintaining Forward Momentum, Or, Things Should Happen In Books (at The Book Smugglers, 7/9/13)
  • The Day of Battle: Writing Battle Scenes (at Suvudu, 7/10/13)
  • The Pursuit: Planning a Series (at Fantasy Book Critic, 7/11/13)
  • The Butcher’s Bill: Kill Your Darlings, featuring an exclusive excerpt! (at SciFiChick.com, 7/12/13)



More to come! (Updated 10:08 AM PST. 7/5/13)