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Interview
Q:
If you had to pick one author who has most influenced your
writing, who would it be and why?
A:
That would definitely be Tolkien, first and foremost
because he basically created my genre, at least in its modern
incarnation. We all owe quite a lot to him. Besides his
revolution of fantasy, I also find his characters inspiring,
especially Sam for his loyalty and Aragorn for his everlasting
hope…so key in both Tolkien’s and my stories. He’s
influenced me in a thousand other ways as well, many of which
I’m probably not even conscious of…but a key element of
fantasy of which Tolkien is the master is the development of a
world that has depth and rich detail, generations of back
history, lore, rare songs, tales of the heroes of old. You
can’t have a fantasy without a few ruins to stumble across,
without a few kingdoms past to think about.
Q: What is it about fantasy fiction that interests you?
A: There is very little about it that does not interest me. Everything from the entertainment value and the
fun - which for me the genre offers more fun than most anything in the
world - but also its ability to communicate higher truths many times more vividly than examples in a more realistic setting.
Q: How long did it take you to write
The Dragonheroes?
A: Seven years...yes it's been quite the journey. Though to be fair that's technically the time it took me to write two books, not just
The Dragonheroes, as what readers now appreciate as the first book is in fact the first half of my original manuscript, which grew to proportions so epic there was nothing to do but cut it into two novels. Subsequent novels I'm sure will come faster as I've learned a lot about the process.
Q: Did you put yourself into any of the characters in your story?
A: Oh yes. Chronical is perhaps the easiest match. Chronical's physical appearance is identical to mine save for his gray-blue eyes. His personality is also very close to mine. But while generally I link people in real life to one character, I've stowed significant pieces of myself in three. Feldan's the next. His style of humor closely resembles mine, as does his high regard for honor and justice which draw him to serving Princess
Ledrelyen and in a future novel, God. Ardriel is the third. While I definitely do not have Ardriel's rather heroic dose of dexterity, I do have a bit of his heart. The idea of utterly defiant good has always captivated me, the concept of hero who through sheer force of will shall never choose between evils and will always force a good.
Q: Who is your favorite character in the book?
A: Ardriel. Enough said.
Q: Who was the most fun to write about?
A: Ardriel, hehe...especially when he's in a room with Dare. The two of them make one of the best character combos in my entire story. They're about evenly matched as long as Ardriel can keep Dare on his toes. If Dare ever had a spare 6 seconds he could fry Ardriel, but hehe...good luck getting half that much time in a fight with my favorite drow. And then their verbal sparring...oh, that's even better.
Q:
The Dragonheroes is subtitled Book One of The Birth of
Terralax, have you done any work on the next one?
A: The Dragonheroes is the first half of my original manuscript. The rough draft of the second half, now Book Two currently entitled
Five, is already complete. Revising and editing that is the next step.
Q: Do you have a plan for the rest of the series?
A: Well, there is more than one series so, that's a yes. The Birth of Terralax will be a trilogy
chronicling the establishment of the nation of Terralax. Following this trilogy I have plans for a second series of seven books. With so much history developing I probably have enough material for two prequels set hundreds of years before The Dragonheroes, and I'm also getting ideas for another series after the seven books.
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