Fantasy author Jacqueline Carey stopped by University Bookstore in Seattle today to promote her new book Kushiel’s Mercy, the third and final book in the Imrial Trilogy. Fans were sad to hear that this is the last book, but Ms. Carey said “I’m a believer in graceful exits, and I want to let them pass carefully into legend.” At the book signing one of the attendees showed off her full-back tattoo of Phadre’s rose. Now that’s devotion. Someday I hope to have fans as rabid as Ms. Carey’s. I know I won’t have made it until my fans tattoo my book art on their bodies. Where is Patricia Briggs’ gallery of fans tattooed like Mercy Thompson?
I admit I was intimidated by the rabid fans, having only read Kushiel’s Dart (book 1). I talked about books with the girl next to me before Ms. Carey arrived, and made the mistake of asking if she read romance novels. Why is a simple “no” never enough? Oh no, one needs the eye roll and moue of distaste, as if I had asked “do you eat dog poop?” I thought to myself, “You’re obsessed with a BDSM fantasy novel, for goodness sakes. Where do you get off criticizing an entire genre?” But I didn’t say it. Sigh. My skin is too thin.
The Kushiel’s Legacy series is divided into two trilogies, the first that follows Phedre no Delauny and the second that follows her adopted son Imrial. Click here for a complete book list.
The Reading
Anticipating the rabid fans, many of whom had already read Kushiel’s Mercy, Ms. Carey surprised us with a sneak peek of her Work-In-Progress, tentatively entitled Naamah’s Gift. The book is set in the world of Kushiel’s Legacy, but on the island of Alba, which corresponds to Scotland. The heroine, Moirin, is a member of a dark-skinned native race close in approximation to the Picts. She grows up with only her mother, and her mother teaches her to mask her presence in the shadows with magic and to hunt. She never knew her father, a pale-skinned stranger with bright green eyes whom her mother slept with at the direction of her goddess (Naamah, I presume).
Question and Answer Session
Q: How long does it take you to think up these books?
A: The gestation period varies, but for Kushiel’s Dart it was a few years. I finish all my research before I begin the writing process. I am an edit-as-you-go writer, and can only move on once the previous scenes have been perfected.
Q: One man thanked her for leading him to a very interesting lover and entertaining previous lovers and asked if Ms. Carey was aware of any communities built around her world.
A: No, though the BDSM life style is close enough and is exceedingly well built up.
Q: Do you get writer’s block?
A: I have the architecture of the plot set very clearly before I begin writing, so don’t get writers block in a plot “what happens next” way. But I do get stumped by very simple things, such as clothing. “I cannot write the fete if I cannot see the gown!” Sometimes people look closely at the dresses on the covers and ask “where would the stays be?” My answer is that I cannot guarentee that what I describe obeys the laws of physics. A lot of writing has to do with building solid foundations on which to build one’s plots.
Q: How much of the lyrical measure of your prose is intentional, and how much of it is a product of the rhythm in your head?
A: I write rhythmically because I like to. I’m conscious of it. The way I execute it is deliberate, but not premeditated.
Q: Which book is your favorite?
A: Someone always pulls out the Sophie’s Chose question. I don’t have a favorite. All of them have different challenges inherent to them. None will I get the shock of new as I did with Kushiel’s Dart. Kushiel’s Chosen has a mystery plot in the first half. Kushiel’s Scion is a classic coming of age story. I love the climax of Kushiel’s Justice so much. It tears me up every time I read it. Kushiel’s Mercy is probably one of the most fun boos to write. Super fun! It’s my crack book.
Q: Tell us about your language research. Do you have a favorite?
A: No favorite. I love words: The way they look, the way they sound, the way I think they sound. I like playing with them.
Q: How do you name your characters?
A: Sometimes I think “I want it to start with an R” and sometimes I have a meaning in my head. It’s usually a combination.
Q: Do you have any books set in other worlds?
A: Yes, The Sundering duology: Godslayer and Banewrecker. They are The Silmarillion to Tolkien’s Lord of the Rings. I need to do different things between massive projects. (Ms. Carey wrote them between the first trilogy of Kushiel’s Legacy and the second.) And I’m working on a “super secret” project to come out in May 2009 under the psudonym Madalon Easton. Santa Olivia is a post-punk novel set in a desert border town with boxing and two girls in love.
Q: Do characters create the world or does the world create the characters?
A: Neither. The creative process is a mystery with a capital M, and the characters are a part of that. World building is more deliberate.
Q: How much of the series plot architecture do you know in advance?
A: I wrote Kushiel’s Dart as a stand-alone book, leaving the door open for future books. I got an agent based on the manuscript and the first thing he asked was “Are you gonna write a sequel?” I know the overarching plot of the character romance, but the individual plot I work on book by book.
Q: Do you outline or is it all in your head?
A: My outline is in my head. I can pin point the moment it all came together in my head for Kushiel’s Dart: I was crossing a bridge at sunset. I got home and started jotting notes, then said “Screw this I gotta start writing the book!”
Q: Would you ever write short stories such as when Delany first met Melisande?
A: At this point I have no plans to do so, but I will never say never.
Q: Has anyone approached you about tole playing game rights? (asked by the man with the Kushiel-inspired lover)
A: Why does that question sound more loaded coming from you? (laughs) Nothing serious.
Q: Was fantasy always the genre you wanted to write?
A: The fantasy genre has been a long time love of mine, but I didn’t start out writing in it. One of my early manuscripts was a total coming of age story about seven college graduates in a cabin in the woods. It will never see the light of day, but it taught me to write smooth dialog.
Q: Who do you read?
A: Guy Gavriel Kay, but I’m too busy researching to do much pleasure reading. On the way here I read Steinbeck’s Travels with Charley.
Q: What has been your writer’s journey?
A: I started writing when I was really bored in high school english class. I kept a journal in the back of my notebook, and I wrote all through high school and college. When I graduated from college I took a year off to do a work exchange program and I worked in a bookstore in London, where I realized that the only thing I really like to do is writ. When I got back I took a job that wanted a three year commitment, and I said, “well I can only give you one year, cuz see I have this book I’m writing…” I worked there for ten years. The first thing I wrote was derivitive. I knew it, but I had to do it.
Luck is only part of getting published. Persistence is the most important.
Q: Is it difficult to switch between male and female perspectives?
A: Phedre (narrator of 1st Kushiel Trilogy) and Imrial (narrator of 2nd Kushiel Trilogy) are so different that switching between between female and male was only a small part of the difficulties involved in switching perspectives. I read a lot from the male perspective to prepare for Imreal, because I didn’t want to write a woman in drag.
Q: Where did the idea for Kushiel’s Dart come from?
A: From so many things. A trip to the south of France. A freaky dream I had. I was doing Angelology research and I mis-remembered an entry. When I started writing there was not much fantasy with sexuality in it. Sexuality is a big part of the human experience, and I thought it was missing in the genre.
Q: What’s your sign?
A: Libra.
I’ve seen Jane Austen on film – does that count???
Children’s Books:
Middle Books:
