Good morning all, Starting my morning session now, coffee at elbow. Thanks for the invitation to join you here, and for (already!) a number of very good quesitons. I hope everyone will understand if I can't get to all of them (many overlap, as you'll have noticed, probably). I'll spend some time here today, though, and do the best I can. There may be scotch instead of coffee if I do an evening drop-in. You will decide if there's a difference! GGK flag * message 71: by Guy, Author of River of Stars 7 hours, 8 min ago Kenny, no, protagonists aren't 'me' in personality or worldview in any direct way. (I can swear like Crispin, though!). Part of the act and art of fiction is shaping people who are 'not us'. Certainly through the books ideas, themes, feelings that are important to me (and fit the setting) do come through - I really hope. Every book, without exception has surprised me in the writing. I don't outline, or nail down all motifs. Some, yes, but others emerge from the process. flag * message 72: by Guy, Author of River of Stars 7 hours, 6 min ago Robin, As I have often said, Hollywood people are better at foreplay than anyone I've ever encountered! There is constant back and forth between my agent there and various producers exploring possibilities regarding my wqork. Any concrete news will absolutely be shared (obviously?). Closest, as I type, is Under Heaven. flag * message 73: by Guy, Author of River of Stars 7 hours, 4 min ago Lila, will you let me pick just a couple, please, to be fair? I'm about three years for each book at this stage, about half and half research and writing, though the research continues when the writing starts. I do not outline, the books are a discovery process. I always feel it when a significant character dies (and often for minor ones, too). I think that is important if the reader is going to care, too. No one cares when James Bond shoots the 12th gunman to the right. flag * message 74: by Guy, Author of River of Stars 7 hours, 2 min ago Tyson, I have bibliographies at the back of each book, and really need to sit down and do the 'fuller' ones I've done for a few of the novels on brightweavings.com. The two novels are 400 years apart, so hard to name a book that sources both! Try Willis' 'Mountain of Fame'. Short bios of interesting figures right across Chinese history. Or the Cambridge or Oxford Illustrated Histories. flag * message 75: by Guy, Author of River of Stars 7 hours, 0 min ago Piers, Ginzberg's book is fascinating, isn't it? But I'm unlikely to repeat myself and go back there. Repetition is, indeed, a big element of chasing commercial success, but it is also damaging creatively I believe. flag * message 76: by Guy, Author of River of Stars 6 hours, 58 min ago Russell, Thanks for that. I can't, looking back, say which character was 'hardest' (writing is almost always hard). I'll say Dianora still feels to be, perhaps, the most tragic figure I ever created. (PS I'm hoping there's a way for you guys to thread these exchanges here, to link the question and my answers. I'm identifying the questioner and I'm going chronologically, to make it easier.) flag * message 77: by Guy, Author of River of Stars 6 hours, 56 min ago Mike, That's a very good question. Each book has a different dynamic for me in terms of the real/invented balance and so there is no formula or rule (this applies to a lot of questons I get asked!). I am happiest creatively these days when grounded securely in history. For example, the character of Lin Shan (female protagonist) in River of Stars felt possible to me (and not a cheat) because of what I learned about the wonderful Chinese songwriter/poet Li Qingzhao from the period that inspired my book. flag * message 78: by Guy, Author of River of Stars 6 hours, 54 min ago Daniel, I never know what the next book will be when I finish one. So far I've been lucky that quite random reading has tended to give me something that sparks my thinking and imaginatin. Very different things have led to this, for each novel. The Mosaic pair emerged when three reviews of Lions, all arriving on the same day (a clipping file from the publishers - it was a long time ago!), called it 'Byzantine' in its intrigue and character depth etc. I thought: that's a sign! And went off to buy some books on Byzantium... flag * message 79: by Guy, Author of River of Stars 6 hours, 53 min ago Christopher, thank you, first. Part of creating characters that resonate for readers is giving the characters ROOM to do that. The balancing act between narrative drive and developing figures is critical, and we all know so many books that tip too far one way or the other. I'm always conscious of wanting to offer the reader both. (Doesn't mean I succeed for all, by the way, because each reader has his or her own needs and preferences in this, as in so much else.) flag * message 80: by Guy, Author of River of Stars 6 hours, 51 min ago Niki, yes, absolutely. One reason I am slow is to let the language style and the characters and themes of a book fade a little before I start another. I don't want the last book to 'bleed' into the next one. Need to try to put it behind me, and that needs time. flag * message 81: by Guy, Author of River of Stars 6 hours, 49 min ago Thea, EVERY question you could think of has been asked? Wow! (Teasing.) Thanks, for the comment, though. Endings matter a lot to me (as a reader, too). I don't agree with those who say we can love a book even if the ending or the last section doesn't work. I'll love parts of that book and say it that way. At the same time, different novels of mine demand very different tones, different feelings at their close. That's a challenge, every time. flag * message 82: by Guy, Author of River of Stars 6 hours, 46 min ago Megan, that's the sort of wonderful topic that needs wine, you know. It is way, way too intricate for a fast answer here. Let me say that different periods and settings have had different approaches to the relationship of artists and state (or society as a whole). The topic does interest me, and so does the issue of 'permanence', what lasts, what story gets told and remembered. Whose story. How those stories are manipulated or used... how history can be unjust. For those who have read both books, one of my own favourite moments in Last Light of the Sun is when Aeldred remembers seeing the Varena mosaics as a boy, on a journey with his father ... and he values the 'wrong' one more! Except that for him, for where he lives, for the precarious state of monarchy there ... it isn't the wrong one. flag * message 83: by Guy, Author of River of Stars 6 hours, 43 min ago Hi Kimberly. I actually did do a full-on chart/graph partway through The Darkest Road, as I had so many elements to bring into place and on time. After that it is more a matter of scribbled notes, reminders, and frequent (very frequent!) pauses to re-read and take stock. I take notes in a very old fashioned way while I research. Moleskine notebook, good pen, good chair. If I wake in the night with an demandingly good idea these days I do use the iPad to type it, so I don't have to turn on a light and wake my wife. I do a lot of notes-of-notes as I proceed with my reading, a kind of Greatest Hits, since the first time through various books and articles I am recording much too much. Later, mid-book, at least twice I go back over my notes from the very earliest to remind myself of things I really wanted to work in and haven't yet ... remember, 2+ years can have gone by. flag * message 84: by Guy, Author of River of Stars 6 hours, 41 min ago Sebastián wrote: "Dear Guy Gavriel, ... How, on earth, is your name pronounced?" George Cloo-ney. Oh. Er. Guy is English not French. Gavriel has a soft 'a', as in mad, bad etc, not made or shade, and not love or Guv. Kay is ... well, really! flag * message 85: by Guy, Author of River of Stars 6 hours, 40 min ago Neil wrote: "... A Song For Arbonne made me cry. On the subway. ..." Neil, subway tears are a big deal. Thanks for sharing. I have also had people lament being visibly turned on, on a bus. Does that balance things? No idea what the next book will be right now. That's normal for me. flag * message 86: by Guy, Author of River of Stars 6 hours, 39 min ago Nikki wrote: "... as a Manitoban, I am curious if you have ever taken any inspiration from the landscape, culture ..." Hi Nikki. I have joked that the eternal winter in The Wandering Fire wasn't fantasy at all, it was realistic Winnipeg fiction! Some of my poetry (in Beyond This Dark House) has more directly taken its cues from the prairie, and people I knew. flag * message 87: by Guy, Author of River of Stars 6 hours, 36 min ago Roslyn, I'm not the one to be solid on this, but am pretty sure there have been historical works with fantastical elements invoking Biblical times and motifs. Maybe someone here knows and can share? I certainly worked with elements of the Jewish experience in medieval Spain in Lions of Al-Rassan, and the experience of tyranny that underpins Tigana echoes Jewish experience along with so many other cultures, from Korea to Wales to Poland to Provence. That, for me, was a strength of using a fantasy setting that I was asserting with that book, all the way back in 1990. People all around the world GOT that. Made me (and makes me) very happy. flag * message 88: by Guy, Author of River of Stars 6 hours, 33 min ago Hi, Carol. Interesting thought, and certainly there are works that function that symmetrical/equivalence way. The otherwise quite interesting new tv series 'The Americans' may be working that idea a bit too hard! But I've never been that schematic in my writing overall (I did it briefly, occurs to me, in Lions, with the parallel phrasing when issues of holy war enter the book, to the south and from the northeast.). Certainly the blurring of hard lines between good and bad is something I try to explore. Consider Alessan's actions with Erlein in Tigana. flag * message 89: by Guy, Author of River of Stars 6 hours, 32 min ago Suzy wrote: "I just wanted you to know how much I've enjoyed your work. In fact, I was reading the Fionavar Tapestry when I was pregnant with my second son and we decided to name him Darien ..." Suzy, it is a lovely name. There seem to be quite a few children named for various characters. That's one of the signal honours any author can get from a reader. Oh, and a number of proposals using the formula from Fionavar! Love that. flag * message 90: by Guy, Author of River of Stars 6 hours, 30 min ago All, I'm going to take a break for a bit, though not to rest fingers ... emails need dealing with on a working morning! I'll be back. And I mean it: these are a good slate of questions. I have always said I have smart readers, and it isn't flattery. I am aware I make some demands on readers, every book. I also do believe, almost a mantra, that the books that really stay with us, reach into us, are likely to be the ones that we can't glide through distractedly. Later... GGK I'm back. Picking up where I left off, trying to stay in sequence as much as possible. flag * message 95: by Guy, Author of River of Stars 4 hours, 36 min ago Peter wrote: "Hello, Guy. I want to thank you for a kindness from many years ago - maybe 20? It was in the old days of communicating by Canada Post..." Peter, wow, that is a story from the Dark Ages! Thanks for sharing. flag * message 96: by Guy, Author of River of Stars 4 hours, 34 min ago Daniel, thank you, first of all, and for another huge, complex question! The 'love' for the characters (and the feelings I want readers to have) are bundled with the narrative, really. I don't separate them out in my mind. I have talked about paying attention to both, but they have to be in harmony, we can't care for a figure in a novel in the absence of the arc of the story, in my view. So I don't see it as a separation. As I said to someone else here, I do very much feel it when a character must die -- or even not get what they want. That imaginative empathy is one key to fiction for me. (There are others.) flag * message 97: by Guy, Author of River of Stars 4 hours, 32 min ago Nigel, while I am doing my research for each book I have a slot in my notebooks for names I run across that might be or could evolve into period-appropriate names. flag * message 98: by Guy, Author of River of Stars 4 hours, 30 min ago Brooke, no outline, no set plot arc at the outset. Sometimes I have a good idea what the ending will be, just not the path to arrive there. Sometimes I think I know, and it changes on me. But wow, 'not going to make it' ... makes me sound bloodthirsty. Look left, look right, one of ya ain't gonna get through this! There's a long, long discussion for one day about character deaths, their use and abuse, reader responses to them, whether they are organic, glib, tossed off for easy effect... flag * message 99: by Guy, Author of River of Stars 4 hours, 27 min ago Vidya, think I answered some of this in other questions? Research lasts well over a year now, continues when the writing starts, but usually more specific. (How were houses built along the Yellow River? Where did the best horse in a quadriga go? That sort of thing.) In truth, I could happily research, reading and corresponding with smart people, all the time. That's just fun, and no 'responsibility' at that stage. At a given point the nagging whisper in my head gets louder and (not so gently) reminds me that there is a point to all of this, and it is a novel and, well, no one ELSE is going to write it for me... flag * message 100: by Guy, Author of River of Stars 4 hours, 23 min ago Phil, usually a 'next project' will take me a long way from the last one. But every book is in dialogue in certain ways with others as I look at some motifs from another angle. I mentioned above the idea of the 'best' mosaic in Varena, as seen from two very different points of view. Consider the mage-source in Fionavar and Alessan-Erlein in Tigana. Father-son in Arbonne and the same thing in River of Stars... Angela wrote: "Dear Guy Gavriel Kay, I liked "Ysabel" very much, and was pleasantly surprised when 2 characters from the Fionavar Tapestry showed up toward the end of the book. What made you decide to bring them on board..." Angela, I was shocked, shocked (as Claude Rains says in "Casablanca") when two characters started to suggest themselves as I was shaping Ysabel. I resisted like crazy, it raised MAJOR challenges, but they solved a real concern I had: which is that the link of my protagonist to the events he taps into not be ... random. I don't like that randomness. The genetic element of second sight reaching back to Fionavar through Kim offered an answer and then started to suggest a kind of 'squee' moment for some readers. I wrote it so that those who had never read Fionavar would actually have a 'purer' reading experience (!) in that they get hints of a family backstory, which parallels how Ned and family don't quite grasp the essence of the story they've encountered. The book is about family history and the history of a place, how the past lingers... And -- we shouldn't grasp the essence of a millennial story! Or 'relate' too easily to a reincarnated figure such as Ysabel herself! Someone like her needs to be elusive, not-quite-comprehended. This is important to me, even if it can be challenging. 'Daylight is the one thing that must not be let in on magic.' Walter Bagehot.) flag * message 102: by Guy, Author of River of Stars 4 hours, 16 min ago Uneasy wrote: "I wanted to ask about the undertones of loss and grief that I have always felt when I read your writings. ..." Uneasy, you have a great name here for that question! I do want to engage you both emotionally and intellectually. Take that as a starting point. Conflict, things 'at risk' will be central to doing that. Absence of losses in such a conflict means it wasn't so challenging after all. I have believed that since Fionavar ... the reader's cheated if the ending skates away from consequences. (I'm Canadian, I'll say 'skates'!) I'm also after, for better or worse, giving you a sense of nuance, complexity, the layers that go into lives and a story. This isn't to say that books that aim for something simpler, whether in terms of 'triumph' or in terms of the worldview they offer are wrong, they just aren't what I want to try to do in a book, and to you. flag * message 103: by Guy, Author of River of Stars 4 hours, 15 min ago Matthew, thanks, and good luck with your own work. The latter of your suggested options, for me. The setting and certain of the themes are where I start, then characters, then narrative unfolds, a discovery process, though with certain signposts known early (and sometimes they turn out to be wrong). flag * message 104: by Guy, Author of River of Stars 4 hours, 11 min ago Matthew #2 (in a row, yet), a good question. I want to break down the 'smugness' we often feel today reading about about beliefs of the past. I use elements of the fantastic to achieve this. In more recent work I am tyring to give value and validity to how my characters see the world: I will make the world BE as they understood it to be, to make it harder for modern readers to find their worldview 'quaint'. If research tells me they believed there were faeries in the Celtic forest, or ghosts haunting a house if they were not properly honoured in burial (or many other examples, you'll find them) I will give value to that in my novels, to shake that modern complacency. This is a short version of a long answer! flag * message 105: by Guy, Author of River of Stars 4 hours, 9 min ago Leo, it is hard. On one level, I remind myself that no one else will do it for me! (So far.) On another, of course I get down, flat, tired, think I am writing rubbish ... for me that moment often kicks in a little past the halfway point with each book, I have learned to push through it. Yeats: "Now nothing comes more easily to my hand/Than this accustomed toil." flag * message 106: by Guy, Author of River of Stars 4 hours, 7 min ago Hi, David. Never too daunting or boring yet. (Of course readers might feel both, alas!) I did think I was going to write a 'Silk Road book' when I first started notes for Under Heaven, but decided it was likely to be too close in narrative arc (west-to-east journey) to Sailing to Sarantium. So the novel evolved, because by then I was deeply hooked by the Tang Dynasty. flag * message 107: by Guy, Author of River of Stars 4 hours, 5 min ago Dear Maia, your English is just fine, thanks for the question, and for engaging in MY language - no apology remotely needed! It is a tricky issue you raise. I believe that elements of the world are ugly, violent, oppressive. That there are tyrants, greedy men and women, cruelty. I also believe there are alternatives to all of these. And that men and women seek comfort in many different ways including art, love, family, friendship, faith, courage, honour, laughter. I believe a great work of art needs to find and embody more than just either side of this. I think my 'inspiration' comes from believing this about the world and about the nature of writing. flag * message 108: by Guy, Author of River of Stars 4 hours, 2 min ago Vedrana, hello back to Croatia: four visits there on book tours by now. Never been asked that first question before! I don't have any face 'from life' in mind for any character. I am very conscious from readings and discussions that throughout history 'beauty' was often associated with rank ... a high-ranking woman or man was more 'beautiful' because of that status. (They also ate better, had better doctors, better clothing...) When a character in one of my books describes a higher ranking figure as handsome or thinks them beautiful, I am working with this idea, very often. No single favourite character, many I am happy to have created, to have had their voices in my head for a time. flag * message 109: by Guy, Author of River of Stars 3 hours, 57 min ago Zeke, I was just asked that question two nights ago at the Ottawa Author's Festival! I have used tense shifts for different purposes in different books. In the two Kitai books I use it for scenes described from a woman's point of view to underscore the need for women in that society to 'be here now!' (as my generaiton used to say). To be attuned, alert, focused, registering on all that is happening in a given setting - in order to have a chance (often indirect) to infuence their own life, or just possibly the wider world. Present tense can convey, to my mind, that sense of immediacy - when it is a SWITCH to present tense. By the way, many readers never notice these, but I truly believe that there's a subliminal impact for them. Watch for a single scene in River of Stars where I do something different with the idea. (I enjoyed shaping it a lot.) flag * message 110: by Guy, Author of River of Stars (new) 3 hours, 25 min ago A.F. Thanks for that comment. The periods I work with aren't always favourites when I start, but they always are, in varying ways, by the time I finish! As I said above, I 'went' to Byzantium, and the 6th century (eventually) only after reading some reviews of Lions of Al-Rassan. I knew very little when I began my reading. flag * message 111: by Guy, Author of River of Stars (last edited 3 hours, 20 min ago) (new) 3 hours, 20 min ago Fajrdrako wrote: "At what point in your life did you decide to become a writer? Were there any authors or books that were pivotal in your life? Hi, Elizabeth (Elizabeth is an old acquaintance and will destroy all comers at Dorothy Dunnett trivia - fair warning). I was always interested in writing, but also in criminal law (and - old joke - playing in the NHL or MLB, whichever took me first). The year near Oxford working on the Tolkien papers crystalised an awareness that I really did want to have writing in my life, but I never expected to be able to do so as a full time career. I honestly get up every morning feeling lucky that there are readers around the world waiting for a next novel, which allows me not only to do this, but - and it is a gift - to take my time with each book, do them as well as I can. flag * message 112: by Guy, Author of River of Stars (new) 3 hours, 17 min ago Meg wrote: "Do you think the popularity of the Game of Thrones miniseries will make a way for more Historical Fantasy on TV and in movie form?" Meg, it is already happening, I think, though not yet visible. Projects have been optioned, deals are being discussed, some will be made. Jonathan Strange and Mr Norrell was just optioned by BBC America, for example. Going a bit wider, I think the potential of longform tv on cable makes it possible that more books will be WELL done. It is insanely difficult to take a long, complex novel down to 2 hours and a bit. The excellence of shows like The Wire, Deadwood, Breaking Bad ... that's been transformative. flag * message 113: by Guy, Author of River of Stars (new) 3 hours, 10 min ago Melanie (backing up, this is 56, I jumped to 61!) About 12-18 months seems to be the norm the last few books, for straight research of different kinds. I also need some of that time to let the last novel 'recede' from me. I don't outline. Like Graham Greene's line about becoming bored writing his books if he knew exactly where they were going. (That is NOT to say outlining is 'wrong' I have dear friends who won't write word one until they have the whole thing outlined.) I cannot count the drafts! Honestly. That's because I am endlessly and constantly rewriting AS I GO. I go back in a chapter and polish en route. Stop every few chapters and go back to the very beginning of the book and rework to that point. Then the whole thing gets revised again several times when I am done. (Yes, I'm not that cagey, and this means they take longer. I know. Forgive.) flag * message 114: by Guy, Author of River of Stars (new) 3 hours, 5 min ago Kate I didn't expect to do another China-inspired book right away. The half-joke, half-true answer is that I didn't cut my ties with some very very smart and persuasive scholars who had been research sources. Independently, a few of them said variations of, 'Of COURSE you are doing the Song Dynasty now.' And I said, ''Humph. Don't assume ...' And they said, 'Read this. Read that. Read the poetry of Su Shi. Read the life of Su Shi.' There was also a really wonderful (very funny story, also) encounter with a large number of Chinese scholars of literature at Beijing Normal University, a symposium on my writing, between the two books, before I started shaping River of Stars, that had a major impact on me. Their response to my work was inspirational. flag * message 115: by Guy, Author of River of Stars (new) 3 hours, 3 min ago Another break now. Promised a bookstore here in Toronto I'd get out there and sign their stock and personalized book requests, so I'll do that (it is a gorgeous day, too) and be back later. Incidentally, anyone can have books personalized (the Canadian editions) by calling Book City and ordering from them. I get there regularly to sign. Here's the note on brightweavings.com about it: So, anyone wishing to purchase a signed copy of one of the in-print Canadian editions can call Book City at 416.469.9997 and give them either a VISA or Mastercard number to pay for the book and shipping costs to wherever you are. (They'll tell you the costs.) flag * message 116: by Vidya (new) 2 hours, 44 min ago Dear Mr. Kay, Thanks again for doing this! I understand if I've already had my question and can't ask another,but just in case you have time... What advice would you give aspiring authors to bring out the depth and emotion in their stories? flag * message 117: by Algernon (new) 2 hours, 24 min ago I joined the group in order to thank Mr. Kay for the wondrous journeys into our past histories. Having come late to the party, I've seen most of the questions I had already answered, but I would like to come back to the condition of the artist in an hostile world and the power of art to redeem our existence. This is the theme that made Sailing To Sarantium my favorite, and I was very happy to see it will be part of River of Stars (I just finished today the second chapter, with Shan and Lu Cen). My actual question: do you subscribe to the view that the more we talk about the distant past or the distant future in SF, the more we are actually talking about the problems of today? and in this context, how do you see the condition of the artist in the present day compared to Sarantium or Kitai? It's probably too soon to ask about the next project, but seeing as one of the recurrent themes in your books is the dissintegration of one high culture under pressure from more martial neighbours, does the fate of the Aztecs or the Incas hold your interest flag * message 118: by Alex (new) 2 hours, 15 min ago Mr Kay, I love your books and recently saw your interview here :http://take21.seattlechannel.org/201... I had a question about one of your comments You mentioned in adding fantasy elements to a story, you avoid a problem in historical fiction where the author and readers look down on the beliefs of the period. Yet in the Sarantine mosaic, you have characters regularly dismiss the prevailing medical wisdom of the day, blood letting. Do you believe that changing the facts of human physiology would be too jarring? flag * message 119: by Brice (new) 57 minutes ago First of all, thank you so much for the wonderful worlds and characters you create and share with us. I've found myself reading more and more on my various electronic devices (mostly iPad), to the point that paper books have actually started to feel kind of cumbersome. How do you do most of your reading? Do you see eBooks becoming more popular, and do you have any thoughts on what that means for the publishing industry in general, and authors in particular? I'm personally looking forward to the day I can purchase electronic books directly from my favorite authors. flag * message 120: by Guy, Author of River of Stars (new) 55 minutes ago Aria, I actually stay out of the Casting Couch games, except to smile or wince at choices or make Danny de Vito jokes. Because there ARE discussions going on, it makes sense for me to not get too emphatic about my own thoughts. There's a Pinterest page, 'The Worlds of GGK' where one board of it is all about people offering pictures of their casting choices in the various books. Have a look, go ahead and play! I know for a fact that some people in Hollywood have looked, to see what's out there as reader preferences. http://pinterest.com/theworldsofggk/ flag * message 121: by Guy, Author of River of Stars (new) 49 minutes ago Rob, first of all thank you for the subtle (yes) take on Arbonne. The response to Tigana from certain countries has been deeply rewarding to me, that the genre can be read in the way I hoped it could be. Remember this is a long time ago, when there was a tremendous prejudice against fantasy (there still is some, but far less). It isn't just Soviet bloc countries. Korea asked for an introduction with reference to their history during Japanese occupation. I am writing one for Portugal/Brazil (which will be very different, for many reasons) where the book is just coming out. Quebec has an intense response to that book. So does Croatia ... 'Were you writing about us?' comes up a lot. I don't make any 'deliberate structural choice' at all. I do retain an interest, as I described in another answer, in issues of honour, integrity, human decency, playing out against forces that cut against these, sometimes very hard. flag * message 122: by Guy, Author of River of Stars (new) 45 minutes ago Panagiota, Made me feel good with that post. Of course I want you torn between the desire to race ahead and the desire to go slow and savour. (Writers are sadists, yes. Are you surprised?) Yes, I think it is fair to say that Art, in the widest meaning of the word, is hugely important in my life. I'm a hard reader, listener, viewer, though. I believe that excellence is rare, and that that is why we celebrate it so much, but I don't like it when 'competence' or 'trendiness' is exalted as excellence. I think we need to reserve our language, try not to inflate the importance of 'the way things are right now' ... that's part, I suppose, of a life spent thinking about history. flag * message 123: by Guy, Author of River of Stars (new) 43 minutes ago That's a nice comment, Matthew. I don't like reading and don't want to write didactic, teach-a-lesson books. Having said that, I worry that we live in a profoundly a-historical society, and I do see important things to be seen (or remembered) from history, so I suppose I am working that vein. I appreciate your thoughts about compassion and the line spoken to Paul on the Tree. As it happens, I remember very well writing that line. Along with 'Rain, rain, rain, rain, rain.' flag * message 124: by Guy, Author of River of Stars (new) 36 minutes ago Silver Raindrops (nice name here!) I have spent much of my life disliking and resisting the tendency to over-categorize. Goes back to university days when I wrote an angry paper about the 'classification of Troilus and Cressida' where scholars were BLASTING each other over whether it was a tragedy or a comedy. So, yes, I write the books I want to write. I have often said we all write what we'd like to READ, if someone else wrote it. (Though that's only a half truth, as there's a lot I enjoy reading that wouldn't what I could or would want to write.) I am far happier creating a Valerius and Alixana, rather than pretending I have some clue, let alone deep insight, into what Justinian and Theodora were like together in bed, or chatting privately. I want to ground myself in history, including knowing formal details of some actual lives, but let my 'quarter turn to the fantastic' (as the writer Rob Wiersema once described what I do) give me both creative freedom AND a feeling of ethical legitimacy (since I am not getting a free ride on the fame of a real person, and I am respecting the integrity of their actual, unknown, inner life). flag * message 125: by Guy, Author of River of Stars (new) 32 minutes ago Brian, I commented on this here a couple of times. You're the very first reader to ever specifically ask about it. Good for you. No, I had no such idea about the mosaics, and the real point is that for a given person art has a given, personal function, their response to it will have elements the artist (living or dead) cannot anticipate. A young prince from a fragile, endangered, unsophisticated northern land will look at mosaics and prefer the ones where the monarchs are shown in majesty, not accurately. His NEED is for that. But the notion of doing this only emerged partway in the writing of Last Light of the Sun, it wasn't planned. This larger point, by the way, applies to every writer and his or her readers. Myself included. flag * message 126: by Guy, Author of River of Stars (new) 32 minutes ago Leigh, that's sweet and generous. Good luck with your work. flag * message 127: by Guy, Author of River of Stars (new) 28 minutes ago Vidya, I am a bad person to ask for how-to advice on writing. I believe so urgently in the individual process that I resist offering prescriptions of any kind. In the Guardian newspaper last year many writers offered their 'tips'. Margaret Atwood said 'have a thesaurus on your desk and use it'. Elmore Leonard said, 'Buy a thesaurus. Toss it in your garden shed. Lock the shed, throw away the key.' See what I mean? Character depth and intensity is a function of the author's sense of what that means and of allowing room and time to develop them, within the framework of a narrative. I know, that helps SO much! flag * message 128: by Guy, Author of River of Stars (new) 21 minutes ago Algernon, You probably know that's a bottle of wine conversation not a fast-typing answer here! Yes, of course you know it. I have noted earlier that I believe art is one of the redemptive routes we take in dealing with the often oppressive nature of life, in history, and in much of the world now. It is not only art. I named a few of the other avenues we take in another answer. The search for solace, inspiration, community takes many forms but it almost always happens. I think writers of fantasy and history need to be aware of it, bring it into their work, if they want to be more, aim for more, than trendsetters. Life has always been 'nasty, brush, and short' and we have always had - or aspired to - that which brings us love, and awe, and a sense of shared community. I have often spoken of finding themes in history I see as relevant to today, but I am not fetishistic about making one-to-one parallels, and I worry sometimes when I see that being done. The past can illuminate. It can also leave us 'fighting the last war again' ... which is a motif of River of Stars. The attempt to avoid what we judge as the previous errors leads us to a different, sometimes greater error. And we always interpret the past in the light of our needs. (Which is what makes history a battleground of its own.) flag * message 129: by Guy, Author of River of Stars (new) 16 minutes ago Neat question, Alex. It has sometimes been said that the status of doctors in society only begins to really rise when they start being able to DO something for the sick. Societies have had (and still have) real disputes over medical treatment. To show people of a given time being skeptical of the medical methods of the day is not the same (to my mind) as letting current readers encounter elements of the world as the characters do. I enjoy working with medicine as a theme. In Lions of Al-Rassan the urine flask as a diagnostic tool is prominent (and treated with respect). But I also enjoy clashes between physicians' world view. They happened, they give us conflict in a story, and I look for that. (I look for conflicts about how a mosaic setting bed should be laid, if you'll recall! That was real.) flag * message 130: by Guy, Author of River of Stars (new) 14 minutes ago Well, that ends my third session here, and I think I am going to wrap it up for the day. If I tell you I enjoyed this, I mean it. Smart, interesting questions, generous readers. Thank you. GGK