TJ
Feral
Posts: 29
|
Post by TJ on Mar 21, 2009 14:59:53 GMT
I'm late! Kevin, Rebecca, genuinely excited to be able to talk to you both. Many thanks again to you marianne for settings this up!
I have a couple of questions.
- When you were starting out your career, even even to this day. Do you find it a struggle to create truly unique characters to fit into your science fiction worlds while still drawing from your inspirations or is it simply a fluid process for you in which you write what your mind creates without thoughts of plagiarism?
- Regarding your Saga of the Seven Suns. Was your original intention to have seven volumes in the series or did you evolve and change the structure as you went along? Do you have a general thought process for structuring a story, or any rules you adhere to?
Thanks again for coming along, i'm a huge fan or your Seven Suns series ;D
|
|
kja
Feral
Posts: 10
|
Post by kja on Mar 22, 2009 2:55:57 GMT
>>What did the pair of you set out to do when you started writing? Was it for the money, the fame or some other derranged desire? Also, Did you expect to get as far in the industry as you did when you started writing?
I always *knew* I wanted to be a writer. My head is filled with stories and characters, and they keep coming as fast as I can write them. I was hoping to make a living at it, just because I thought it would be the coolest job in the world (it is!). When I look at my credits list and when I think of the people I know now...nah, when I was younger and just starting out, I would never have believed it!
|
|
kja
Feral
Posts: 10
|
Post by kja on Mar 22, 2009 3:02:23 GMT
from MDP: >>Kevin, you are one of the most productive writers I know. Would you mind sharing a typical year for you in terms of books published, words written - as a way of showing people what you can achieve when you are self-disciplined.
I write every day, seven days a week. I love it. I enjoy the creative, plotting, writing, editing process. I make up stuff for a living. I think my most ever was 14 books published in one year. Last year I had nine (to be fair, that includes some reprints and omnibus editions, but even so the publisher expect me to promote them, which takes a huge amount of time). I think my most ever is 600,000 words finished and published in one year -- and I don't get sloppy and publish first or early drafts either; each manuscript goes through 5-10 edits before I let an editor see it. I generally write 10-15 pages a day, then edit for several more hours. My max ever was 45 pages in a single day.
>>And for me ... what would you like to do (in the writing sense) that you haven't - yet.
I'd sure like to see film versions of some of my books, but I have to confess that writing the lyrics for and co-producing the new Roswell Six rock CD was a very big dream come true for me.
|
|
kja
Feral
Posts: 10
|
Post by kja on Mar 22, 2009 3:06:55 GMT
To Shey>>Do you have a favourite character/s? Why them in particular?
Wow, that's very tough to pick, because I've written so many books...and I like both the good guys and the bad guys. in THE EDGE OF THE WORLD, Prester Hannes is one of the most evil characters I've ever done...and he's so passionate, so devoted, so convinced he's improving the world. I also really loved Captain Nemo (from CAPTAIN NEMO)--I had a blast developing his whole life story.
>>Is one of your characters 'you', or which one would you like to be if the world they exist in is real?
They all are some aspect of me, or very close to a person I know well. I simply dig through my multiple personalities and find one that fits.
>>And the inevitable - which genres/ authors do you read for fun?
I read a lot for research, and some for enjoyment. I like well done thrillers or historical novels. At the moment I am particularly enjoying the swashbuckling historical adventures of Wilbur Smith.
|
|
kja
Feral
Posts: 10
|
Post by kja on Mar 22, 2009 3:10:35 GMT
>>- When you were starting out your career, even even to this day. Do you find it a struggle to create truly unique characters to fit into your science fiction worlds while still drawing from your inspirations or is it simply a fluid process for you in which you write what your mind creates without thoughts of plagiarism?
The characters and story and world all gel together as a unified process as I develop the novel. As I get to know the world and the plot, then I get to know the characters who are doing the things, and as I know them, then I know how they would react, and then that drives the next stage of the plot.
>>Regarding your Saga of the Seven Suns. Was your original intention to have seven volumes in the series or did you evolve and change the structure as you went along? Do you have a general thought process for structuring a story, or any rules you adhere to?
I had the whole thing mapped out from the start, I knew the overall plot, most of the characters (though many more appeared during the writing process), and I knew it would be seven volumes -- and then it would stop. I did not want to keep it dragging on and on and on...and I made a promise that each book came out on time, so the fans wouldn't think I was not doing my job!
|
|
|
Post by marianne on Mar 22, 2009 22:14:31 GMT
Hi Kevin,
one last one from me. What are your thoughts on the future of the book. Will it stay in its current form?
best MDP
|
|
TJ
Feral
Posts: 29
|
Post by TJ on Mar 22, 2009 23:54:52 GMT
If its okay i'd like to add onto mariannes question as its something related, but i'd love to hear your opinion.
- With the growing popularity of the Kindle and other such portable eReaders, do see a future where the print format begins to fade out in favour of the digital alternative. Also, if this happens, does it concern you that the novel may have to deal with the same brutal level of piracy that other mediums such as Film currently suffer from?
|
|
kja
Feral
Posts: 10
|
Post by kja on Mar 23, 2009 1:51:28 GMT
from MDP>>one last one from me. What are your thoughts on the future of the book. Will it stay in its current form?
I got a Kindle last year, and I really do love it -- it's an electronic book reader that also has the "feel" of a book, the right page size, easy to flip from page to page, etc. I would not mind reading most TEXT books that way (novels, etc.) I also have some beautiful coffee-table books, illustrated historical nonfiction, etc., that I would never want to read in anything but bound-paper format.
I think the publishing *industry* and book distribution channels are archaic and clumsy; searching and ordering online (amazon and its ilk) has made trips to the bricks-and-mortar bookstore almost nonessential for me.
There will be other forms of "books" (interactive, including animation, game spinoffs, etc) but I don't think the standard format will ever go completely away.
|
|
kja
Feral
Posts: 10
|
Post by kja on Mar 23, 2009 2:01:15 GMT
>>- With the growing popularity of the Kindle and other such portable eReaders, do see a future where the print format begins to fade out in favour of the digital alternative. Also, if this happens, does it concern you that the novel may have to deal with the same brutal level of piracy that other mediums such as Film currently suffer from?
I worry about it, but I don't grok the e-book market very well; Baen has shown that the more e-books they give away, the more books they sell. Makes no sense to me. Problem is that if we train the readership to *expect* to get them free, how exactly do you convince them they should start paying?
It's been quite a learning experience for me to work on the Terra Incognita rock CD and interact with a lot of music-industry people. In fact, as sort of a big deal, we have a guy named Martin Orford playing flute on the album. Orford became rather well-known in the progressive rock scene in the 1990s with his band IQ and Jadis, but two years ago he very publicly turned his back on the music industry and walked away, claiming he would never record again. Why? Because he calculated/claimed that well over half of his CDs out in the marketplace were illegal bootlegs. Why should he put in all that work and have people steal 50% of what he did? This is a very big issue in the music industry. (Martin liked our project so much that he came out of retirement and played on a CD for the first time in years.)
But then, i-tunes has shaped it up, made it cheap and easy for people to buy tracks legally. Maybe if it's inexpensive enough (like the Kindle) people will do the right thing.
That's it for my stint here. Thanks everybody for the great questions. Reb and I are planning to come to Aus for Worldcon next year (if we can), so we hope to see some of you there.
KJA (and Rebecca waves from the bed...with her hand, not her cast)
|
|
|
Post by marianne on Mar 23, 2009 4:16:06 GMT
Hi Kevin,
many thanks for taking time to visit us here. We look forward to seeing you on your next trip to Oz.
bests Marianne
<waves back at Reb>
|
|