Of Gods and Kings and the World of Fantasy
Thank you for visiting my blog James. Let's talk epic fantasy...
Which
fantasies have you most enjoyed reading, as a child and as an adult? Do you
think they influenced you in writing the God King?
First let me say how much I
appreciate you setting up this interview and the opportunity it provides me to
talk about what I consider my real
work! Thank you!
Now to the nitty-gritty. The first
book I ever read that even smacked of the fantastical was the Talisman, by Stephen King and Peter
Straub. The first traditional fantasy I ever read was The Eye of the World, by Robert Jordan. Although I have since read
quite a few fantasy-type novels, these two rank high on my list of favorites.
To make it an even three, I will add George R.R. Martin’s, A Game of Thrones. As far as influence goes, Stephen King will
always hold a special place in my heart. For me, he is one of those few authors
who can write about something that means absolutely nothing to me, yet still draw
me into the story, compel me to keep reading, and leave me feeling satisfied.
That is the kind of writer I aspire to become.
I have the same aspirations, and I'd say the God King did indeed compel me to keep reading. Is fantasy
your favorite genre to read? To write?
I love writing fantasy. It has so
much potential, and is so full of what if
ideas, that I never get tired of it. As far as reading, there is so much to
read across so many genres that I only get around to one or two fantasy titles
in a given year.
You invent
some fascinating civilizations in your novel. Are they modeled on any
particular people or places? Where would you say they were most like?
As I mentioned, the cool thing about
fantasy is that it’s a genre that allows authors and readers the unfettered
exploration of the idea of what if.
When I began setting up the world in which The
God King would take place, I was looking at ancient cultures of the Middle
East, the Greeks and Romans, and the Germanic tribes. I wondered what would
happen if I smashed all those separate epochs and peoples together. In short, I
suppose my civilizations are modeled after real peoples and eras. But as a
fantasy writer, I let my imagination mix together and render down all the
information I had absorbed in research, and what came out were cultures that
are familiar in some respects, but wholly fictional in others. That said, there
is no question that I set the story of The
God King in a realm flavored by the ancient Middle East.
When you
create your characters’ names, do you base them on a real-world language? Do
you hear the sound of the name before you work out how to write them? Does it
worry you that readers might not pronounce the names “right?”
When I first started writing
fantasy—2002-2003—I knew I wanted to tell stories that took a step away from
European settings, and knew I would need to come up with different/appropriate
sounding names and places. With that in mind, I discovered a great and
invaluable resource in online name generators. I made a list of literally
thousands of names, all based on real world languages. Taking it a step
further, when I look back over that list, I pick a name that sounds
interesting, then add or subtract a few letters, and maybe toss in some
apostrophes and hyphens for visual effect. Generally I like to make a name
sound just like it looks. As far as worrying over a reader mispronouncing those
names, it never crosses my mind. I know for myself that I have read a lot of
truly outlandish names in various books, and I find that my brain automatically
retranslates the tongue-twister/brain-teaser name into something that works for
my reading pleasure.
There are
some visually spectacular scenes throughout this book. If it was being made
into a movie, which scenes would you want to be most sure were replayed
correctly?
That is a tough one, because I would
want all of them done right :) Some of my favorite scenes follow: when Varis
first encounters Peropis in the Thousand Hells; when Ellonlef sees and
experiences the aftermath of the release of the powers of creation; the entire
scene when Kian, Azuri, and Hazad encounter Lord Marshal Bresado under the
Black Keep; when Varis discovers that his army is not what he thought they
were, and the steps he takes to rectify that situation…. I could go on, but I
do not want to bore everyone, or give too much away!
Reading your answer brings those scenes back to mind for me. I think I'd like this movie. Meanwhile, are the
marshes based on somewhere you’ve been? What about the cities?
My family moved around a lot when I
was growing up, so I spent time in Northern California and all over Oregon. I
lived in Southeast Alaska for a time, as well as North and South Carolina, and
Florida. When in the Army I was stationed in Hawaii—I was in the infantry, so I
spent a lot more time sweating in the jungle than on the beach—which also took
me to Australia and Haiti. For a year after the Army, my wife and I decided to
earn some extra college money by driving eighteen-wheelers. Logging close to a 1,000
miles a day as a team, we literally drove over nearly every mile of interstate
America has to offer. After college we spent a year in New Mexico, before
finally coming back to Montana. With all that in mind, I would say the closest
thing to a swamp/marsh experience for me was a month spent in Fort Polk
Louisiana, and the countless times I drove back and forth across the deep
south. As far as cities, I would say they come from research and
imagination.
You use the
number three a lot—three gods, three moons, three men marching together… and,
of course, people often talk of stories having three parts—beginning, middle
and end. Did you use the number three as a deliberate symbol or do you think
there’s something in us that naturally gravitates towards that number?
Until I read that question, I had
not considered that the number three showed up so many times. If there is any
symbolism there, it was not intentional. I have to admit, I am curious as to
where and how I will use that number in the future. Of course, for me that
uncertainty, constantly wondering what if,
is one of the most alluring things about writing fiction. I cannot tell you how
many times I intended the story to go one way, only to have it take off on its
own, leaving me to hang on for the ride. That is where things can get tricky,
because I want to see where it will go, but I also know I have to stay on
task.
I really
enjoyed the dialog between Kian, Azuri and Hazad. Did you model them on real
people?
The best short answer I can give is
to say yes and no. The more accurate answer is that when I am writing it all
becomes real to me—people, places, and situation—so much so that when I am
really steaming along, what I see outside my window becomes the fake world. I
have gotten used to that, but when I first began writing I found it rather
unnerving to head out to the grocery store after a few hours of writing. I
would get the strong impression that the people picking over the fruit and
vegetables were not people at all, but some strange, alien race … of course,
writers are not the only people who believe aliens are everywhere :)
The long and short of it is this:
When I am writing, I immerse myself in the story to the point that I begin to
believe the story and its people exist in a real time and place. They live out
their lives on a world that is a shadow of our own, spinning around a distant
star in some fantastic parallel universe.
The God King
flows very naturally from one location to the next. Did you plot the whole
story before writing it or did it shape itself that way?
I usually do a rough outline, with
bullet points serving as guideposts. But as I touched on earlier, the story always
ends up taking over. Experience has taught me to keep a light but steady hand
on the reins. If I give the story its head it will gallop off, and those
separate bullet points have the potential of turning an otherwise tight story
into a rambling series of events that fail to drive the plot. If I am too firm,
my writing loses vitality, color, becomes formulaic. The cool thing is that if
I end up somewhere really interesting, I can cut it from the current project,
then explore it in depth in another. In that, I do a lot of recycling :)
Do you see
any analogies between human creativity and the creative forces wielded by Varis
and Kian?
I am not sure I can reasonably
answer that, but I’ll give it a shot. Ultimately I intended to introduce a
power into their world that, left to itself, is neither good nor evil. As the
series continues, the underlying conflict is: What will humankind do with that
much unbridled power? Can good prevail over the evil that will surely come? Or
will that godlike power, coupled with the imagination and aspirations of the
heart, corrupt and ultimately destroy humanity?
Now I really want to read more. What a great theme for the series. So, my final question: Is there something I’ve forgotten to ask that you’d really like to answer?
I’d love to share a bit of my new
work with you.
Here is a short blurb about my
upcoming book! If anyone wants to read the first chapter for free, they can
visit my blog at http://jamesawest.blogspot.com/2012/02/crown-of-setting-sun.html
The Crown of the Setting Sun, the second novel in The Heirs of the Fallen series, is a story set almost two hundred
years after the Upheaval, the cataclysm that unfolded during The God King. An age of darkness cloaks
the world and the Faceless One risen to power, using legions of Alon’mahk’lar, the Sons of the Fallen,
to ensure absolute dominion over what little remains of humankind.
Among humans, the people of Izutar
are hunted and chained, and seem to have no other purpose than enslavement. All
that begins to change when an old man of mysterious origins sacrifices his life
to allow his grandson, Leitos, to escape the mines, the only home he has ever
known. Freedom from a life of subjugation, however, is not the blessing it
first seems.
Weak and alone in a world beset by
walking nightmares, in a world where he can trust no one, Leitos must abandon
his ingrained, timid nature and grow strong and cruel in order to survive.
Charged by his grandfather to seek a fabled order of warriors, Leitos fears the
existence of the Brothers of the Shadow Blade is but a dying man’s blind hope …
a hope frail as morning mist caught beneath the crushing heat of the desert
sun.
Thank you James. I shall look forward to reading Crown of the Setting Sun. And I've really enjoyed having you visit my blog.
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