Katherine Kerr, since I first discovered her in 1987, is not only one of my favorite authors (one whom I've very happily and faithfully followed throughout the Deverry Series -- the last book, The Silver Mage, will release this November 2009, from DAW Books), but also one who through her work has influenced just about every corner of my life (that being said, it's merely a happy coincidence that we both like the Sisters of Mercy). I'm humbly honored that she's taken the time to answer some questions, and very happy to be able to share those responses with you. Now on to the interview!
The
favorite first question: What are you working on now?
I
have just finished a short "urban contemporary fantasy mystery satire on
secret agent stuff" a farrago of sorts. It needs revising, but I'd like to have a contract before I
continue with it. If that sells, I
can see writing a couple more with the same main characters.
I'm also revising a long mainstream novel, CATCH THE SHADOWS,
which I wrote in the early 1980s.
It didn't sell back then because one of the sympathetic characters is a
gay man, and editors told my agent they couldn't buy anything with a
sympathetic gay character in it.
Which was revolting. But
fortunately, the culture has changed enough that now his presence is considered
a selling point! Be that as it
may, I've also learned a lot about writing since then, and I'm hoping to
improve the structure and the prose of this story. It was my first finished novel, and that definitely shows in
the text.
When you first wrote Dagger Spell, did you envision
that the series would be as encompassing as it’s become?
Hah! I thought I was writing a short
story. That original idea is now
the end of Volume 6, where Carra walks into the inn and sees the two silver
daggers at table. As the story
expanded, I thought it would be a trilogy. As the backstory expanded, it just got longer and
longer. There are now 15 volumes.
Do you
truly think/feel that “The Silver Mage” will be the final word forever and
always on Deverry or do you think that someday, maybe, another story will come
out/about, either as a novel or a short?
I
honestly don't know. I can see
maybe writing a couple of short pieces, but the last time I tried to write a
short piece in the Deverry world -- see the question above. :-) So I'm afraid to try.
I need a couple of years off, though, before I do. I do have a Deverry short story coming
out in December in an anthology, "The Phanton Queen Awakes," from
Morrigan Press. This particular
story really should have been part of the revised DAGGERSPELL, as it sets up
the revised DARKSPELL, but alas, it didn't decide to be born until last year.
What
made you decide to group the different novels into a collection of “acts?”
Sheer
commercial thinking -- at first. I
heard so many readers announce that they never bought series books until
"they all are out" that I decided to make sure they bought some early
ones at least. What readers don't
realize is that by waiting, they may be ensuring that the last book in a series
won't come out. If the first books
don't sell, publishers are ruthless about axing a series before it's
finished.
But
as I continued writing, I realized that the series was naturally falling into
the "acts", so I kept it up. Books 5-8, all published with "Time
of -- " titles in the UK, are something of a natural set, for instance, as
are the Time of Troubles past lives books, 9-11
What
has been the hardest part of writing this series and how in the world do you
manage to keep track of so many characters/storylines/incarnations so well?
A.
Finishing it. The last couple of
books had so many loose ends to tie up that they were almost an exercise in
puzzle solving rather than fiction writing. B.Charts. Lots
of charts. And maps.
Speaking
of incarnations, while it’s a truism that every [main] character reflects the
author in some way (and of course, is a complete persona unto themselves
simultaneously), is there a specific character (or characters) that you think
reflect(s) your voice most? Who and why?
I
honestly can't think of a single character who does. Nevyn's views on social justice issues are mine, too. I agree with Salamander that luxury's
better than hard work, but also like Salamander, I wasn't born rich, so like
him, I have to perform in the marketplace. I certainly share Bellyra's intellectual interests in the
history of places and the stories attached to them.
What
were the most difficult things to write about?
The
big battles. I always planned
those out on paper, using wargaming paper 'tiles' and a battle map marked in
hexagons. I used to wargame a lot,
in my youth, so I had lots of old games lying around to cannibalize. Once I had the battle planned, then
came the job of deciding what the point of view character could see of it. The hardest bit was giving the reader
some idea of how the overall struggle went, because no one fighter in a battle
really knows what's happening overall, unless they're on dragonback (or in an
airplane or balloon etc.)....
Since
you began this series, what have you seen change (for better and for worse) in
the publishing world, especially for this genre? And as the world continues to
(hopefully) evolve, what would you like to see more (and less) of?
Everything's
changed, quite simply. I sold DAGGERSPELL late in 1985 to Doubleday, a single
publishing house at that time. The
terms were for a hardback and gave them the right to sell the mass market
version to another house (Del Rey eventually)and keep 50% of the proceeds; this
applied to DARKSPELL too. Then
came the Age of the Mergers, and the birth of the "hard/soft" deal,
and other big upheavals in the structure of publishing. The biggest change came when the tail,
Marketing, began to wag the dog, Editorial. Editors used to buy a book that they knew had quality, and
then it was Marketing's job to sell it.
Now Marketing actually sits in on editorial decisions, which produces,
in the worst cases, the equivalent of junk food for the mind.
The
Internet's arrival in the mid-90s caused all kinds of panic and changes. Keeping the series going became a major
effort for me as editors and publishers played musical chairs in a state of
hysteria. Thank heavens for DAW
Books! Without them the series
would have ended at Book 11, THE FIRE DRAGON, when new management at Bantam
decided that my books were old news and cut them.
Now
a days the big question is why haven't E-books "taken off"? At the
moment only about 7% of a novel's sales are in E-books, but no one seems to
look at the price of the readers -- you have to pay a couple of hundred bucks
for a reader, and then you have to buy the books on top of that. You can buy a
book and read it in the sunlight for free. Most people have enough intelligence to see the difference,
but not the techies, I guess.
What I'd like to see
more of is more respect for authors and editors. The essence of modern corporate capitalism is contempt for
the people who actually do the work while the managerial class snags the
rewards, as recent events in the American economy show so bitterly. Editors and authors both are underpaid
these days in the big corporate-owned houses.
Will the Internet
change this? Who knows? I have no idea how things will shake
out, whether the new form that publishing falls into after this hysteria-period
will be good or bad. We'll all have to wait and see.
If
you, knowing what you know now, could “go back” and change anything within your
body of work, what would it be and why?
The
portion of DARKSPELL that deals with Alastyr. The plot is all wrong, still.
What’s
a “typical” writing day like for you?
There
are 2 patterns. When the writing
is going badly, ie, when I'm stuck on some problem, I moan, groan, and play
dumb games on the computer, then finally manage to get in a hour or so of work. When it's going well, I'll write 6-8
hours a day. Generally, though, I
start by doing email, then by reading over and making small corrections to what
I wrote the day before.
What
do you yourself enjoy reading? What other writers would you say have been
influences on your writing, and who do you feel kinship with in the sci-fi/spec
fic writing community, if anyone, and why?
A.
These days it's almost all non-fiction, mostly history and archaeology. I used
to read a ton of fiction; now for some reason I only read new things by my
friends. B. Proust and Henry James
are, weirdly enough, the authors that have influenced me the most -- Proust for
his interweaving of past and present, James because of his metaphors for
mentation -- a real useful idea for writing magic. Both of these would probably be horrified to find out what
they've spawned in Deverry. :-)
C.
Kate Elliott and Judith Tarr would be authors I feel kinship with. They both have knowledge of and respect
for the past, rather than just writing modern characters in fancy dress. They both focus on the consequences of
the characters' actions, too, rather than blithely glossing over the effects of
say, war, violence, and sex without birth control.
How
did you develop your pen name? Do you think that future work will also be in
that same pen name, or—should you explore different genre—will you use another?
My
pen name is my legal married name, actually. I took my husband's last name when I married because I was
sick and tired of explaining how to spell my maiden name, which was Brahtin. Notice that it is -ht- not -th- ? Very few
people seemed to. It's a Latvian
version of a Germanic name -- my father was from a Latvian family. AS for future work, if I finish
revising this mainstream novel, I'll use a real penname for that. I haven't decided on one yet, but it
should say "lady novelist" somehow. :-)
And
finally, thank you. This series has meant a lot to many, many people over the
years, and will continue to, whether or no another word is added to it.
Thank
you! It's very gratifying to know
that people like something I worked on for -- ye gods! -- twenty-seven years.