Author-approved description by me:
And now, without further ado, why don't we dive right into the interview . . . with all my dastardly, in-depth questions!
J.C. Fann, thanks for
letting me interview you about your book The
Queenschair!
A huge thanks to you, Julie, for interviewing me! As my
friend and critique partner, you’ve played a huge part in the development of The Queenschair from a rough draft in
2011 to the final product in 2014. I can’t thank you enough, but I’ll try to
the point of annoying you :)
Awesome. Now for the first question.
1. Let’s
say you’re about to pitch The Queenschair
to a movie producer. You have two sentences to describe the book. Go!
“First off, I’m a HUGE fan of your work, Mr. Nolan, and
your brother’s, and I know you’ve never done epic fantasy but my Queenschair books aren’t strictly epic
fantasy per se! Think a softer, brighter Game
of Thrones crossed with a less stodgy Downton
Abbey with the multiculturalism of Marco
Polo and the classical appeal of Arthurian legends, and I think you’ve got
a story that will appeal to all ages and genders, even people who wouldn’t
normally go for fantasy—BEEEEEP”
These voicemail limits are too short…
And they don't even give you an option to re-record? Shame on them! Talk faster!
2. Who do you think is the target audience
for this book? Any particular group? Any fans of any other particular works? If
so, can you elaborate on why?
As I was just telling Christopher, I think The Queenschair can appeal to lots of
people, and not just fantasy fans.
If I had to name a primary target audience, I’d
say it’s fans of sprawling sagas like A
Song of Ice and Fire and the Game of
Thrones TV adaptation who quietly wish there would be less of the naked
women, sexual violence, beheadings, mutilations, and hopelessness. Although I’m
a huge fan of Martin’s work and would be the first to tell you how much he’s
influenced my storytelling, I do long for a more positive and less “hardcore”
story. And so I’ve written exactly what I would want to read (which is a highly
recommended goal for all authors), and I hope it will appeal to others with
similar tastes and sensibilities. I have to believe there’s a fantasy audience
out there that wants its political intrigue and intricate saga without the part
where they’re beaten over the head with the horrors of medieval European life.
I think the Queenschair
series will be different things to different people. Those looking for
political fantasy will find that; readers more interested in romantic and
familial relationships will definitely find that, too. And I strongly believe
fans of one aspect but not the others can still enjoy my books, as long as they
feel drawn to the characters…and I think they will!
One of the first readers of Volume I was my co-worker’s
son, who’s only 11 – I was beyond thrilled to hear that he’d torn through the
book over a weekend. I think The
Queenschair is appropriate for young teens and up. There is violence,
though none of it is overly graphic and I’m not one to celebrate or stylize violence
at all. There are some sensual moments but nothing beyond PG-13 happens on
stage.
So hopefully readers looking for something between George
R.R. Martin and Disney (leaning slightly toward Martin) will give my series a
chance, and it could be just what they’re looking for.
UGH thank you for saying that about the need for similarly nuanced/complex plots with less sexual violence and violence in general! I am fully on board that train.
3. One of the reasons I love your book is its many diverse female characters. It’s so refreshing to see a fantasy book focusing so much on women as multifaceted, layered people with complicated motivations and very few stereotypes. Can you share some of your thoughts on writing complex, realistic female characters and why you think so few authors in your genre attempt it/succeed at it?
I really think this all boils down to the author’s
willingness and ability to treat his characters like they’re people: friends,
acquaintances, bitter rivals, anything. I’m not sure why many fantasy authors
have trouble with writing realistic female characters and I don’t want to draw
the conclusion that it’s male authors who struggle most at it. I would be
willing to bet those same authors have trouble writing realistic characters of any gender.
It’s about treating your characters like people rather
than using cookie-cutter archetypes or defining them by the roles they serve in
the story (or even worse, how they serve the hero/heroine). Can you imagine
them living their lives outside of what’s shown in your story? Can you put
yourself in their shoes and walk beyond the written pages? Can you close your
eyes and imagine your character in his or her childhood? I also think it’s
important to be able to imagine yourself sitting down with any one of your
characters and having a great conversation, complete with surprising things you
didn’t expect they would say.
All too often I feel like certain authors believe writing
a good female character means giving her power, whether it’s skill with a sword
or magic or the ability to use her feminine wiles to manipulate other people. I
think this is really misguided. Simply making a man a “badass” doesn’t make him
interesting or fully realized, so why should it work for a woman? In my
opinion, female characters should be considered in the same way male characters
are; women, like men, come in every shade and shape under the sun. You know
that sniveling, greedy merchant character who’s about to sell out the heroes?
There’s no reason it couldn’t be a female merchant with the same traits.
There’s no reason that champion knight or wily senator or brilliant alchemist
can’t be a woman. Anyone can be anything, and it’s so much more interesting
when they are.
Couldn't agree more. Being female should be part of a woman's identity, but it shouldn't be something authors use to limit their options--especially in fantasy worlds where many authors (especially male authors) are content to invent dragons and magic but refuse to make their worlds less sexist because "realism"! As they say, why create new worlds and then just give them the limits of the old ones?
4. Another aspect of the book I found fascinating is the clash of the ethnic factions and the fact that the focal character—the King of Yenmas, Ebreyon Marin—is of mixed-race ancestry himself. Can you give us a brief big-picture recitation of the past and present racial strife in Yenmas?
Brief? But I think this is perfect for a ginormous
infodump! (I love Question #5) Anyway, I’ll try to keep it short. Emphasis on try. (Sorry, Yoda) I’ve always had a
strong interest in ethnic relations and how immigrant populations assimilate in
communities; this was definitely born of my own experiences as a
first-generation immigrant to the United States. So this fascination
with the “clash of cultures” and “melting pots” inevitably permeates my
writing.
When the world of The
Queenschair came together in my mind, I imagined the Kingdom of Yenmas as a
melting-pot kingdom bordering on the western edge of a sprawling empire, maybe
something like a medieval eastern European nation during the heyday of the
Mongol Empire (I’m not the biggest Dark Ages history expert but I played the
Total War games a lot, which is practically the same thing).
For almost a thousand years Yenmas was the shining
example of cooperation between different races, namely the Jubain, who somewhat
resemble our world’s Scandinavians, and the Xadeians, who are loosely based on
our world’s East Asian races. The Jubain migrated into Yenmas from the south,
while the Xadeians arrived from the north and east; they came from that
sprawling empire I mentioned earlier, the Empire of Xades. Yenmas became a
successful melting pot for these two races and their various subsets and
sub-tribes, give or take a few small-scale conflicts or incidents over the
centuries.
And then the invaders came. The Empire of Xades, a sort
of cross between the Roman Empire and Three Kingdoms-period China, had been
slowly extending its reach from east to west across the Northland continent,
and finally set its sights on Yenmas. Peace negotiations broke down and the
invasion began. The Yenmarians fought valiantly but were vastly outnumbered by
the Imperial legions, resulting in their total defeat and the
near-extermination of the Marin Royal family. Thus began a brutal occupation
under which the two primary ethnic groups were treated very differently.
The ethnic Xadeians of Yenmas were culturally similar to
their conquerors, and under Imperial rule they were eligible for
“re-education”, after which they could swear allegiance to the Empire and
become Imperial citizens. Unsurprisingly, the affluent and influential
Xadeian-Yenmarians were quickest to get in line for this.
The Jubain population of Yenmas had no such citizenship
program and were instead brutalized and harshly taxed under the Imperial
conquerors. Some were even enslaved. Unsurprisingly, the foundations of the
Yenmarian independence movement were built by disenfranchised Jubain leaders.
And when the Empire began crumbling after about 20 years of ruling Yenmas, the
freedom fighters seized the momentum and overthrew the occupiers, led by the
only surviving Marin Prince, Ebreyon.
The Queenschair begins almost four years after the liberation of Yenmas,
but all is not well. The resentment between the Jubain and Xadeians has
continued to fester, not least because they were treated so differently by the
Imperials.
The most militant Jubain have formed the “Purelander”
movement, whose stated purpose is to expel all Xadeians from Yenmas. All of
them, whether or not they were “re-educated” by the Imperials or whether they
helped resist the occupiers. The rise of anti-Xadeian sentiment has
understandably worried the Xadeian people, and militant groups have formed
among them as well. All of this has created a toxic environment for the young
King Ebreyon to navigate…and he’s struggling.
To complicate things further, Ebreyon’s father was
half-Xadeian and while his mother is Jubain, she hails from the Prairiefolk
sub-tribe who are looked down upon by nearly everyone else. Ebreyon cannot be
easily placed into either of the main ethnic factions; he’s a bit of
both…which, to some, is about as good as being neither.
And that’s where we are when the story begins. That was
brief, wasn’t it…?
You and I have the same definition of brief, I'm afraid. I'm so sorry, but you're afflicted and there's no cure. . . .
5. Even though your book focuses on the characters, you’ve got a complex plot and what looks to be a rich, realistic-feeling history for your fantasy world. What would you say your worldbuilding and plotting process is like? How do you figure out the right balance for sharing the details and past of your world without resorting to infodumps?
This is one of many million-dollar questions you’ve
thrown at me, and I love thinking about it—avoiding infodumps and
unrealistically infodumpy dialogue is a huge aspect of The Holy Craft of Writing.
At least I think so. I really dislike infodumps, as most readers do, and I
especially hate it when a character spews it out in a giant paragraph (or more)
of dialogue. Who talks like that? Does she take a water break in the middle?
Why are the other people listening to this, and what are they doing—paying
their bills online while they half listen? Oh and don’t get me started on “As
you know, Bob” conversations where those bored listeners already know
everything they’re being told!
I once read a fantasy book where an angry man delivered a
full-page monologue (and if it wasn’t a full page, it was pretty darn close and
felt like 50 pages) against 2 men he’d just met, explaining why he was so
pissed off at the world and why he wanted them to [buzz] off. It took me right
out of the story to (fail to) imagine this guy barking out his grievances for a
good 10 minutes, with the 2 heroes standing there letting him do it. There are
much more graceful techniques for explaining his anger and letting the reader in
on it.
That said, there’s definitely not one magic technique for
naturally blending background information and worldbuilding into a story, so
I’m going to end up being pretty vague here. First of all, be really sensitive
about characters saying things that don’t fit them, the situation, or their
audience. A gravely serious workaholic blacksmith is unlikely to rattle off a
treatise on the fun of smithing to his wife of ten years. Sure, the author
might feel the reader should hear how cool it is to be a blacksmith, especially
the fabulous details freshly dug up from Wikipedia. But why would the
man-of-few-words blacksmith suddenly start talking about that…to his partner
who’s watched him at his work for a decade? This kind of thing can yank a
reader right out of the story, as he or she starts to smell the author’s
presence in the story. And like skittish deer in the forest, they’ll probably
run.
A second piece of advice I’d offer is to acknowledge that
not every piece of worldbuilding and backstory you jotted down in your notes is
going to make it into the story. Fantasy and sci-fi writers might have a
particular penchant for creating elaborate world histories, drawing intricate
maps, dreaming up new species and races, and constructing our own cultures and languages…but
that doesn’t mean all of it belongs in your book. Contriving ways for
characters to talk about it, or simply throwing it in there with a “you’ll read
it and you’ll like it!” attitude can be disastrous.
As for my own writing style, I definitely fall on the
softcore side of things when it comes to worldbuilding. I have pages of notes
about things like history, currency systems, political background, languages,
travel times, goods being traded between regions…but I’m pretty sure I focus a
lot less on it than most fantasy writers do. So for readers who enjoy heavy
doses of information about exotic cultures and amazing new races and creatures,
and want a travelogue type of story, The
Queenschair will probably fall short of your expectations.
I mostly keep the worldbuilding restricted to what I
need, what my characters need to talk about and use and learn about in their
lives. For example, the amount of time Ebreyon needs to get home to Trisala
from the Sagovian frontier has to make some semblance of sense; I keep track of
those details and do my best to maintain consistency. But I don’t spend my time
going beyond that; the focus is on the people and their stories, not on the
type of brick their houses are made of or the name of the famous weaver who
spun their clothes. I’m not saying there’s anything wrong with that level of
attention to detail; it’s just not for me, and I’m leery of books that go
overboard with it.
I think the right balance comes from being aware of the
story’s flow and sensing when you’re divulging too much or not enough; I
believe this is learned through experience. Reading can help you a lot,
too—you’ll find books that tell you too much or too little, and you can use
those examples to do it better yourself.
It is definitely a balance many overzealous fantasy writers fail to master, but it sounds to me like you've got the right idea.
6. Do you have a favorite character to write?
Oddly enough, I think Arsaya Amalor is my favorite
character to write (see Question #8). Don’t get me wrong, I love them all and
in later books of the series there are others who really grow on me. But Arsaya
has a certain edge that grabs my attention and doesn’t let go, even when she’s
being bratty and unpleasant. I feel like a doting parent watching a teenager
misbehave and monitoring her progress toward being a better human being…with
the knowledge that I could be fooling myself and she’s not progressing at all.
And because a lot of the story hinges on character
relationships and some of my favorite moments are the clashes between
protagonists, I find Arsaya to be the most fascinating to write. She has the
most conflicts with the other major characters; she dislikes nearly all of them
and that feeling is very mutual. Putting Arsaya in a room with just about
anyone else is an invitation to microwave some popcorn and enjoy the show. And
writing that show is a boatload of fun.
This didn't surprise me honestly. Every once in a while the narration sort of hints that it loves her too. ;) That and you picked her image to feature on your blog header.
7. Do you feel that any character(s) represented aspects of or were based on anyone you know, including yourself?
Absolutely, and I think this is an important facet of
writing people who are real to you and hopefully to the reader. I’ve always
thought I was drawn to writing because I liked taking aspects of real life and
reshaping them into my own stories, whether I was trying to come to terms with
my own feelings or exploring observations about other people.
In The Queenschair,
there are shades of me in every single character, and it varies widely.
Ebreyon’s feelings of betrayal by his former betrothed are based on my own
feelings of abandonment by people in my life; he’s working through those issues
in the same way I am. Arsaya’s favorite pastime is drawing and writing in her
journal; I go on mad drawing binges once in a while and I’ve even been known to
write stuff sometimes :) Chanyn begins the story
seeing the world in stark blacks and whites, rights and wrongs…and I was
totally like that when I was a teenager. (Ok, maybe until I was like 30. And
she’s 26 so she’s got a few more years to go.) Both Selana and Zeydric are
older siblings who are keen on protecting their younger ones; I’m an older
sibling myself and I know what that’s like (though maybe not when Little Bro is
a king and Little Sis wants to be queen).
As far as Queenschair
characters based on other people, the best example is Mayin Arbreth, Baroness
of Chadarun, who is based on my mother. I would also say she’s a sort of
idealized version of my mother, and her relationship with her daughter Chanyn
is basically the relationship I wished my sister and mother could have had. So
all in all, I’ve taken various things from my world and used them to bring
color to the world of The Queenschair.
Ooh, I like that some of their character traits are drawn from yourself when you were younger or from idealized versions of relationships you wished were real! That's really cool.
8. I want to talk about Arsaya Amalor, who spends a great deal of this book as the front-runner for becoming the King’s wife. Can you describe Arsaya’s personality and role in the book, and then share some thoughts on how you managed to make such a resoundingly unlikable character still be interesting and sometimes even sympathetic?
As I mentioned regarding Question #6, it’s no secret I
like writing Arsaya’s chapters…and as unlikable as she is to most people, I
have to admit I have a soft spot for her. Again I’ll compare it to a
parent-child relationship; I guess she’s got a personality only I could love.
And what a personality it is. Arsaya has spent her entire
life surrounded by wealth and privilege, and she’s been molded by the other 3
members of her immediate family. Her father, the powerful Baron of
Ishten-Hyrona, wasn’t around that often but made sure to spoil her when he was.
Her mother, the Baroness, is an overbearing noblewoman who always finds
something to criticize about her daughter, and they have an oftentimes
contentious relationship. Arsaya resents the fact that nothing she does ever
seems to please her mother, while the Baroness is always praising her son,
Zeydric. Arsaya’s older brother teased her a lot and played awful pranks on her
when she was a child, and she hasn’t forgotten it even though they’re now both
in their 20s.
So Arsaya grew up spoiled, resentful, and without hope
that she could ever please her mother or earn the respect of her parents or
older brother. She feels condescended and overlooked by her family much of the
time, and so she throws herself into her efforts to impress the King and
persuade him to choose her as his wife. She feels that is her path to getting
the recognition she deserves…even if she has to marry someone she doesn’t know
and doesn’t love. As she establishes herself as the leading candidate for the
Queenschair and gets to know the other major players, Arsaya often thinks nasty
thoughts about everyone around her, all the while smiling sweetly and trying to
curry favor with the people she needs.
None of that sounds very pleasant, of course, and it
isn’t meant to be. But I do think if Arsaya comes across as interesting and
occasionally sympathetic, it’s because she may be an extreme version of
ourselves. Whereas we sometimes think unkindly of certain people in our lives
(some of whom may very well deserve it), Arsaya takes it further and belittles
them, often with thinly-veiled insults. Maybe we all wish we could get away
with that, too. And if I’ve been able to successfully portray Arsaya the way I
see her, then I think readers will also see that much of her character is only
skin deep, whether it’s her fabulous hair and physical beauty…or her nasty
streak. The person underneath is hidden away…and she’s neither as beautiful nor
as horrid as she might appear. I’m hoping readers will find her sympathetic
because they see she’s not completely irredeemable, that she’s a potentially
better person just trying to dig herself out of a hole.
YES, I want to know more about her layers as I read. She's got like tons of crust and I'm ready for some apple pie.
9. And now let’s talk about Chanyn Arbreth, who’s sort of the underdog in the fight for the Queenschair for most of the book. I found her more appealing than Arsaya—and it’s no secret that I’m rooting for her—but she’s no saint either. Do you think you wrote her in such a way that most of your audience will be able to relate to her on more levels than they can to Arsaya? Did you make her more likable on purpose, or did it just turn out that way?
If Chanyn comes across as more likable and relatable, I
think that makes a lot of sense even though I didn’t consciously strive for
that. One reason she might garner more support among readers is something you
mentioned: most of us like rooting for the underdog! After Chanyn travels to
the capital and meets not only the King but also her chief rival, it’s clear
she has an uphill battle ahead. As we learn more about her, we find that she,
despite her noble lineage, wasn’t blessed with a privileged upbringing and was
even bullied by other girls to the extent that she still bears both physical
and emotional scars. She also says what she thinks, sometimes with disastrous
results. This is a stark contrast to the wealthy and spoiled Arsaya, who has
had everything served to her on a silver platter (apparently including the
Queenschair, as she becomes the people’s favorite candidate right from the
start) and is rarely sincere.
Another aspect of Chanyn’s character that might resonate
with readers is her sense of justice; she hates liars and traitors with a
passion and plans to deal harshly with those types of people when she’s
Baroness someday. She can be incredibly self-righteous (aren’t we all?), and
she will eventually gain the power to make something of it…something we
probably all daydream about at some point. And in Chanyn’s favor, it does
appear that she would like to use her power to do good, and so it’s easier to
trust her motives and sympathize with her endeavors.
Although a major focus of The Queenschair is the rivalry between Chanyn and Arsaya, and the
former is clearly the better person of the two and the underdog to boot, I’d
like to think readers will relate to both of them (albeit in very different
ways) and enjoy getting to know them as living, breathing, complicated human
beings.
I think you're right. We've all been petty and had irreconcilable desires and been judgmental to our own detriment. Arsaya's kind of a turned-up version of those nasty thoughts, but there's a real girl in there somewhere. Chanyn feels more centered with her less extreme emotions, and very few of us are universally worshiped porcelain dolls like Arsaya. So yes, go underdog.
10. Ebreyon Marin, the new King of Yenmas, reads like a complicated guy, even though we don’t spend that much time in his head. He deals with a broken heart in his past, being pushed to woo women in his present, and a potential marriage in his future. He deals with war in his past, inability to get a handle on being a peacetime King in his present, and possible life-threatening danger in his future. Given all that . . . what do you think Ebreyon’s dreams are like? How about his nightmares?
Wow, that’s quite a doozy of a question and ties nicely
to my answer to Question #3! How well do I know my male lead…and how accurately
could I speculate about his dreams, even if they’re never shown in the books?
I’ll go out on a limb and say that Ebreyon doesn’t often
have warm and fuzzy dreams. For about a decade beginning with his teenage
years, he was often thrown into dangerous situations including 2 separate wars,
and like many war veterans, he saw plenty of things he wishes he could forget.
His dreams are likely plagued by the faces of people he killed in battle,
enemies whose executions he approved, and companions whose deaths he witnessed.
And when he isn’t dreaming about that, he’s probably
having angry nightmares about Ramidiah, his former betrothed—he probably dreams
about hurting or even killing her, and killing the man she eventually did
marry. Before you go about assuming Ebreyon is some kind of murderous lunatic,
let me state that he would never do such things in real life. But I do believe
that his anger over Ramidiah’s betrayal would manifest themselves in violent
dreams; he’s haunted by the way she abandoned him and it’s highly questionable
whether he should be considering marriage to anyone now…
Oh dang. I wonder if those dreams of killing Ramie horrify him when he wakes up.
11. You have a ton of different POV perspectives in this book. I think I counted at least eight, but I probably don’t remember them all. However, even though it’s written in third person, the voices felt pretty distinct. Did you have to do anything consciously to make sure each character’s perspective came out authentically? Are there some that are more difficult for you to capture than others?
Well, let’s see: in Volume I, there are 7 characters who
narrate at least 1 full chapter, plus 2 more whose perspectives we see for part
of a chapter. In Volume II, there are 9 different perspectives: 7 returning
from the first book plus 2 new ones (characters already met previously but now
“graduated to the Main Cast”.) The addition of new points-of-view slows to a
trickle as the series goes on, so it doesn’t get too crazy. It definitely
doesn’t approach the Song of Ice and Fire
series, which is a much more expansive and ambitious saga with quadruple the
POV characters (and I may be selling it short). And most of my POV characters
are in the same place confronting each other and sharing storylines, as opposed
to a chapter here, the next chapter on another continent, and so on with a
multitude of storylines that only sometimes intersect.
Most of my variation in their voices didn’t come with any
conscious effort; I didn’t have too much trouble sliding into each set of
shoes, chapter by chapter. There were times, often in editing, when I adjusted
dialogue after realizing a character would have spoken more/less formally or
used different terminology. I even reconsidered things like whether they’d use
“who” or “whom” correctly. But as long as I maintained my awareness of whose
eyes I was occupying, those slip-ups were few and far between. I guess it also
helps that while the characters of The
Queenschair have a wide range of educational backgrounds and vocabulary,
they’re all speaking one language and none are pirates or Cockney street
urchins. No wildly different manners of speaking…until Volume II, anyway.
As far as some voices being more difficult, I’m fortunate
I never encountered that yet. I would have predicted trouble in writing Tibby Dorelvin,
who’s 9 years old, if only because I’d never written a child’s perspective
before. But she’s received glowing reviews so I guess I did all right!
TIBBYYYYYYYYYYYYY
I still need to produce fanart of this purple-haired child.
I still need to produce fanart of this purple-haired child.
12. Your series is racially diverse and female-friendly—a refreshing departure from the male-dominated, whitewashed landscapes of more traditional fantasy. However, as far as I could tell, all the featured characters are straight and cisgender. Without spoiling anything, do you plan to explore any queer perspectives in later books?
I absolutely do plan to explore queer perspectives,
although this most likely will not happen during the 5 books of The Queenschair series. It’s not that
there are no characters of different sexual orientations or transgender people
in their world; their perspectives just won’t be addressed in this particular
series. I can say that at least one character is homosexual, though this is
only vaguely hinted at and has no bearing on the plot. The world of The Queenschair may not be the harsh ye
olde medieval Europe, but its societies are still conservative and intolerant
in many ways.
Beyond this series, though, I have definite plans to
write about characters with queer perspectives. One of the projects I’m looking
forward to after my current series is about a young soldier who seeks to follow
in her hero’s footsteps. While thinking about her story, I realized she was not
heterosexual, and her pursuit of a military career and her relationships with
peers, rivals, and superiors were much more complicated than I’d previously
thought. In a different series I’ve been planning (which is more of a
traditional adventure fantasy) since before The
Queenschair, our traveling heroes will meet a pair of siblings forced into
opposite genders by family politics.
I’m looking forward to those and other future projects
which will expand on the diversity of The
Queenschair series, though it’ll be 2016 at the earliest before I get to
them.
Yeah, there's a big difference between "queer people just LOL don't exist in this world" and "it wasn't safe for them to come out or identify that way, and if they were queer, they might not even consciously accept it themselves."
13. I’ve read The Queenschair, which is the first volume of the series, but I know there are four more volumes coming. How did you go about planning such an ambitious series? What do your outlines look like and how do you translate that into a first draft? I’d love to see a little about your process.
For the first 2 years of its development process, The Queenschair was planned as a
trilogy, since all fantasy series have
to be trilogies (although this idea has become outdated, I think). But after I
wrote the 2nd volume, I realized how uneven it was to have a
500-page 1st book and then an 850-page 2nd one. So I
reorganized the series into Volume I, Volume II, and Volume III Part 1 and
Volume III Part 2.
Just kidding, this isn’t the Harry Potter, Twilight,
or Hunger Games movie series. The Queenschair series will span 5
volumes, and all were (or will be) written from extensive outlines. For
example, the outline for Volumes II and III (originally written together) was a
66-page Word file, full of lines like “Niwa is escorted home by guards after
Nesemay expresses concern about how she’d walked over by herself earlier in the
day” and “Selana refuses to be goaded, and instead reveals that she has begun
to remember the events of that terrible night”. As I mentioned regarding
Question #5, not every note makes it into the story; I’d estimate roughly 60%
of that outline was actually used. Large sections of it were scrapped or
completely revamped during the writing process, and then new material was added
when Volume II was reworked into Volumes II and III. So even though I tried to
be specific and detailed in my outline, I left a lot of leeway for the story to
deviate from it. And boy did it deviate…and that’s fine!
As Julie knows from working with me on The Queenschair, Volume I originally
ended on a significantly different note for 2 of the protagonists. Now I can’t
imagine it any other way, but there was another way—which survived the 2
earliest full drafts. I guess the point is not to be dogmatic and to approach
everything with an open mindset. A novel is a living thing that wants to grow
and evolve, and I think it’s important to leave room for it to do that. Don’t
treat it like machine code…unless you only want machines to read it.
Now as for the question about how my outline turns into a
first draft, my process may resemble most outliners/planners’. I start each
chapter in a separate Word file, copy/paste in the relevant parts of the
outline, and start writing. As each part of the outline gets covered in the
actual story text, I cut it and paste it at the end of the file in a section I
call “Remainder Notes” (just made it up, I’m sure there’s a better name for
it). If any part of that outline material was unused, I highlight it in yellow,
in case I someday want to come back and see what ideas I didn’t put in the
story and maybe reconsider.
Meanwhile, back in the story text, I keep writing and
writing until the outline is used up, adding plenty of things along the way
that were never pre-planned. And voila, I end up with a complete rough draft of
the chapter plus a couple of pages of “Remainder Notes”, some of it highlighted
in yellow. I then copy/paste that chapter text into the main book file and feel
mighty proud of myself that it’s now 14 pages longer.
Well, you confirmed my suspicion that I will never touch an outline with a ten-foot pole. As soon as I start writing something, it starts to actually turn into the thing rather than a plan for the thing, so I don't even bother. Pantser for lyfe.
14. What fantasy tropes do you think The Queenschair has in it? What fantasy tropes did it subvert? What fantasy tropes do you think need to die?
Oh boy, this list could probably go on and on but I’ll be
brief about it, and narrow it down to a dozen or so.
Spunky Princess – I would say The
Queenschair has this, if only because Selana Marin is pretty strong-willed
and her importance grows rapidly throughout the series. There’s good reason for
it—she’s protective of her younger brother and knows his weaknesses as a King,
and she strives to make up for his failings. Also, she is a good reader and a
capable administrator, and he’s neither of those things. Suffice to say I have
no problem with this trope at all.
Untouchable
Swordsman – There’s nothing like a
badass warrior the audience knows, KNOWS will never be actually hit or wounded.
As in, nothing like an invincible hero to lull me right to sleep. I appreciated
that in The Hobbit: The Desolation of
Smaug, Legolas gets cut and seems stunned. Or it could have been Orlando
Bloom realizing his character wasn’t even supposed to be in the movie. Anyway,
I’m not a fan of this trope and I subvert it quite a bit. The two most
celebrated warriors of Yenmas both take their lumps, and no one is
“untouchable”.
Wizened Wizard – We get it. Gandalf and Dumbledore are very cool. And
if it has to be an old-as-the-hills omniscient magic user, let’s have more of
them be women. And not the incoherent cackling witch type. Magic/sorcery plays
a very limited role in The Queenschair
so I don’t do anything with this trope. There’s no enigmatic old warlock or
whatever, that’s for sure.
Sexy Sorceress – No single character represents this trope quite as,
uh, vividly as the Sorceress from the video game Dragon’s Crown. Buxom, occasionally portrayed as promiscuous,
sometimes speaks in ridiculous or enigmatic fashion. I don’t have any sexy
sorceresses in my series, sorry! (hiss that 3 times fast)
Stoic Soldier – You know the type – he appears in every fighting anime
you’ve ever seen. Man of few words, gruff personality, his heart deadened by
the horrors of all the wars he’s been through. But when duty calls, he’s always
there without fail and his awesome fighting skills are at the hero’s disposal
(sometimes he’s also an Untouchable Swordsman). I’d like to say I turn this
trope on its head, at least in one instance.
Noble Rogue – I feel like this character archetype has become
especially prevalent in the last few years – the thief/mercenary/whore with the
heart of gold who’s very charismatic and often a skilled wisecracker, and
possesses a surprising (well, no longer surprising) sense of justice. I don’t
have this type of character in my series…and I don’t miss it for a second.
Born Bad – Not so much a character type as it is an idea that
someone born into evil (or at least non-goodness) is destined to remain so. I’m
thinking of Draco Malfoy when I mention this one; I would have liked to see
redemption from him, rather than have him be a malicious character for years
and then a cowardly one who refuses to take a stand. I think I try to subvert
this trope, with at least two characters who resist their negative nurture and
attempt to be better than their parents.
Evil, Snooty
Noble – Usually an obese male with a
high-pitched voice and foppish bowl-cut hair. May or may not be obsessed with perfumes
and exotic pets. This is closely related to Born Bad, as it’s the idea that
someone raised a certain way (in this case, with wealth) will just turn into a
cartoony villainous caricature. A recent fantasy novel I read had multiple
affluent characters who were all ridiculously awful people just because; they
were there simply for the book (via the protagonist) to point at them and yell
“Rich people bad! They kick puppies and eat babies, and vice versa on
weekends!” In The Queenschair series,
there are plenty of wealthy nobles who are unpleasant human beings, but I don’t
think I ever turn them into cardboard cutouts. And they all have their reasons
for doing what they do, and some seek redemption.
Named Weaponry – I happen to think named weapons are very cool, and I
have some in my books! In fact, Julie, you called me out on the one named
weapon in Volume I. There’s another that first appears in Volume III, and I
can’t promise that’s the last. And as for that future traditional adventure
fantasy mentioned in my answer to Question #12, there’s a whole boatload of
named weapons! It may be corny, but I think it also delivers an epic feel…and
for whatever reason I can identify with people who love their
swords/axes/rifles or whatever as if they were pets.
Giant Weaponry – Fantasy anime seems to get called out most often for
giant, physically preposterous weapons like a sword twice as a big as its
wielder or an axe that would have to weigh 150 pounds. I waver on this one;
sometimes I think it looks stupid and starts pulling me out of the story…and
sometimes I think it’s awesome. The aforementioned Named Weapon in Volume I of The Queenschair is definitely oversized,
and another major character in the series has a very long sword (and it’s a
she, so stop snickering).
Dragons – Watching The
Desolation of Smaug, I was shocked to find that the dragon in the title
didn’t do anything for me. I felt nothing, even if he was voiced by Benedict
Cumberbatch who’s just very, very cool. I thought about other recent fantasy
dragons, from Daenerys Targaryen’s trio of pets to the ones in the How to Train movies…and I realized I’m
dragoned out. And there are none in The Queenschair.
I think we should have a rule that for every sword that gets named, a character also has to name their buttcheeks.
And I'm gonna have to say . . . I was surprised not to see any tropes related to fantasy redheads. You gotta admit, Rahna is pretty . . . redhead fantasy babe, right? In my opinion, you can't avoid them ALL or you just look like you're using the tropes as a how-NOT-to guide just on principle. . . .
15. Okay, let’s have your link parade—where can we buy your book, follow you on social media, and learn more about the series?
To learn more about the epic fantasy series that includes
half of your favorite tropes and eschews the other half, check out these links!
Twitter: @JayeCF
And I think that just about wraps it up. Thanks to Julie
for the interview and to everybody who checked it out!
And to think I was wondering whether I should go to 20 questions instead of 15. . . . Yeah, I think we've got a decent amount of material!
I'd love to see some of my readers adding this to their to-read lists and diving in. J.C. Fann has been one of my favorite CPs over the years and I really think The Queenschair is incredible--not just because I know the author, who's also incredible. ;)
I'll be diving into the second book in the series after I get back from vacation, and I'm soooo looking forward to it! WOOHOOOOO!
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