Gradual Interview
(answers from October 2004, as of Jan 11 2026, 11:28:00 PM)
www.StephenRDonaldson.com
© 2004 by Stephen R.Donaldson

JP

I have a question about the nature of personal choice as it relates to Covenant's ring.  Covenant tells Linden that the reason that Foul hasn't simply possessed him with a Raver to obtain the ring is that it has to be given by choice in order for its power to be unlocked.  And when Hile Troy is about to use its power, it was given to him willingly by Covenant.  Yet:

1) Dead Elena is able to utilize it when it's forcibly swiped from Covenant in Power That Preserves, and

2) Linden is able to "possess" Covenant to use the ring at various times.  

Are there explanations that fit these instances into the theory of personal choice?  

<sigh>  All of this would be so-o-o much easier if I hadn't *forgotten* that Covenant gives his ring to Troy in "The Illearth War" and has it taken from him by Elena in "The Power that Preserves."  I tell ya, folks, internal consistency's a bitch.

The key points to keep in mind are "the necessity of freedom" and Mhoram's assertion to Covenant, "You are the white gold."  So, taking the questions that have come up from easiest to most difficult:

Troy is able to raise power from the ring because a) Covenant gave it to him, and b) Covenant's will, his volition, supports what Troy wants to do with the ring (save Elena from dead Kevin).

Elena, of course, doesn't actually raise power from the ring, but there are a couple of reasons why she might have been able to do so.  (In any case, she isn't bluffing when she threatens the Colossus.  She *believes* she can exert wild magic.  She has, after all, lost her mind.)  Volition is a complex thing:  there are unconscious as well as conscious choices.  And sometimes the unconscious choices subvert the conscious ones.  At that point in his struggle, Covenant must have been feeling a certain amount of "death wish" (why else would he even think about tackling Lord Foul when he believes he has no power?), and his unconscious volition might have enabled Elena to use the ring against him.  In addition--on a somewhat more conscious level--Covenant has known for a while that external forces can trigger a response from the ring; and he may have been hoping (volition again) that Elena's use of the Staff would trigger a reaction she didn't expect.

Linden's actions raise even more complex issues (not the least of which is my still fallible memory) (and let's not even mention my unwillingness to spend an hour or two researching each question in this interview).  She has an emotional bond with Covenant that goes far deeper than consciousness.  And on those occasions when she "possesses" him, she always seeks to control him in ways with which some part of him agrees.  He certainly doesn't *want* to destroy Starfare's Gem, and he isn't exactly eager to walk into the Banefire--just to pick two examples that happen to come to mind.  In other words, she taps into his unconscious volition (not always wisely, I might add).

It follows, naturally, that a Raver--or Lord Foul himself--could not make use of the ring as Linden does.  They don't love him; have no bond with him; share none of his impulses, conscious or otherwise.  And so they cannot win the cooperation (if you will), the volition, of any of his complex impulses.

All of these points, as I'm sure you can see, depend on the identification between Covenant and the ring.  Which raises interesting questions for "The Last Chronicles."  Now that Linden has the ring, is *she* the white gold?  Does it truly *belong* to her as it once did to Covenant?  As Spock might have said (deadpan, of course), "Fascinating."

(10/02/2004)

John McCann

Stephen, 

Are you ready for the onslaught of Runes specific questions, once the book is officially published?

How long after publication will you wait to answer such questions?  In order to protect the innocent, will you set up a seperate gradual interview for questions about Runes?

Thanks
John

Not a simple question.  After all, I don't want to create spoilers for readers who are waiting for the paperback--or who are waiting to begin until the whole story is in print.  At the moment, I don't have any answer for you.  I'll probably make decisions on a case by case basis--and try to provide spoiler warnings.

(10/02/2004)

Allen Parmenter

Mister Donaldson, you've stated a few times that you are trying to re-invent yourself as a writer and had been doing so since the Gap.  I was a bit puzzled.  One of the great joys of being one of your devotees is that you constantly re-invent yourself.  The Second Chronicles were practically an inversion of the First.  And I remember being shocked in my mid-teen when I read of fire burning wood to ash in "Mordant's Need" without anyone caring.  And then came the mighty Gap Cycle - most dear to my heart but quite a real shock to get accustomed to.  May I ask what you precisely mean when you speak of re-inventing yourself as a writer?  What greater curve do you wish to turn around?  Pull the Bard down from his lofty throne?

This is an example of what happens when you (by which I mean, I) use the same words in differing contexts, without clearly explaining how the contexts differ.  I see now (good ol' retrospect) that I've used the phrase "re-inventing myself" with more than one meaning.

Of course you're right:  within the context of *writing stories* I've always striven to invent myself anew for each story.  To create for that story not just a new "voice" (style and tone) and setting, but also a new author (one who is capable of doing different things than he has done previously).  But I usually use the phrase "re-inventing myself as a writer" in a different context:  within the context of "being a person who writes."  In *that* context, "re-inventing myself" refers to things like:  when and how I write; how important writing is when compared to other facets of my life; the role writing plays in my image of myself, my identity.  And *in* that context, I haven't needed to re-invent myself as often; but when I *do* need to do it, the process is excruciating, and requires long (sometimes very long) periods of time.

I don't want to get particularly personal about this; but I'll give you a quick gloss.  Back when I was young and life was simple (although I didn't consider it simple at the time), writing pretty much consumed my identity.  I never said, "I am a person who writes":  I said, "I am a writer."  But then I had children, and an extraordinarily messy and corrupt divorce; and I decided then that as long as they needed me my children would always come first.  So, arduously, I learned to say, "I am a father first and a writer second."  But (sparing you all the details) this didn't actually work (because being a father is not an "acitivity":  it's something you have to do with your heart), so eventually I learned to say, "I am a person who is primarily devoted to his children, and who also writes."  But that also caused problems because I didn't know *how* to write without letting writing take over my (new) identity.  So first writing became very difficult:  then it became impossible:  then it became very difficult again.  And now that my children hardly ever need me anymore, the time has come to re-invent myself *again*:  now it is appropriate for me to be able to say, "I am a person who writes, and who is also devoted to the people he loves."  Which is turn causes a whole new range of problems.

There.  A long answer to what could have been a fairly straight-forward question.

(10/03/2004)

Michael

Steve,
Forgive me if something along the same lines has been broached previously,and that this is fairly lengthy.

I'm intrigued by the fact that you got into Martial Arts at a relatively mature age, and I was wondering whether martial arts philosophy, such as the Japanese concept of *zanshin*, intrigues you as much as I?

You have said that you are aware of your obvious physical limitations that come with age, but that you make up for this by employing guile and cunning, particularly when sparring. In the past I’ve had to do much the same myself (and I’m 25 years younger than you), so how do you think you would cope if you had to give up altogether through injury? 

My (admittedly limited) experience with Shotokan is that it’s pretty conservative in implementing changes to some exercises that sports science has proven in recent times to be bad for practitioners. Has this been your view? 

Thanks very much

Michael

I've expressed my views on most of the issues you raise in my essay, "The Aging Student of the Martial Arts," which you can download from this site; so I won't repeat them here.  I'll just say that every style has some stupid teachers.  And accidents can happen anywhere.  But at its core, Shotokan is *good* for the human body.  (Some highly effective martial arts are not.)  It uses the muscles and the joints in ways that protect them from injury and prolong their usefulness.  So I make a point of supplying for myself the intelligence in training that my teachers sometimes lack; and of course I only train with teachers who allow me the latitude to make my own decisions.  (It helps that my current sensei is only half my age, has already suffered several life-altering injuries, and now knows how stupid he's been in his own training.)  I listen in horror to martial arts students who describe *with pride* how crippled their senseis are, or how many injuries they themselves have suffered.  I just wish they would all get out of the gene pool before they breed.  <grin>

(10/03/2004)

Sean Casey

Stephen, for me, the Gap series is far and away the best thing you've done, as well as my favourite series of books - and I usually prefer fantasy to SF. It's the intensity that makes it such a satisfying read - the characterisation, the writing, the plot.

It's plot I want to ask you about. Having recently reread the first Chronicles, I've been thinking about how different the plotting is between that and the Gap. (Quite a *gap*, in fact, ho ho.) Thomas is the lead character exploring a world he doesn't know, and quite often the plot twists take the form of convenient coincidences that neither he nor the reader could know about in advance. Eg, meeting Saltheart, being healed by the Unfettered One, being rescued by the Jheherrin. In the Gap series, being an ensemble piece, the plot threads are much more interwoven, one character's surprise is another's plan or accident. This was one of the most enjoyable things about the Gap.

The question (finally) is this: What are your opinions on these different styles of plot? Do you have a preference? I suppose the latter is much more difficult to create. And would it be fair to assume that the Last Chronicles will continue in the vein of the former?

Thanks.

Yes, "The Last Chronicles" will remain consistent with the paradigms of the previous "Covenant" stories.  And yes, the narrative structure of the GAP book is much more difficult to create (if you play fair with it, as many writers do not) than that of "Covenant".

I'm very proud of what I accomplished in the GAP books.  But the narrative approach of the "Covenant" books comes far more naturally to me.  And it is inherently more congenial to my long-term story-telling goals.  I always aspire to create for the reader the experience of actually being *in* the story; and this is more readily accomplished through immersion in a single POV.  (Which is why so much of "Forbidden Knowledge" is from Morn's POV.  She is the story's perceptual "anchor."  However, it's also true to a significant extent that being *in* the story of the GAP books means sharing the confusion and the struggle to understand of the characters.  Hence the narrative methodology of multiple POVs.)  After all, in life each of us is restricted to a single POV:  I (and you) can only experience the world and other people through my (and your) own unique sensorium.  Why should art not imitate life?  Especially when I have so many world-building issues to deal with (as discussed earlier in this interview).

(10/03/2004)

Donna Seagrave

First a comment.  At the the Bubonicon event you made light of comparisons to you and Tolkien. Just wanted you to know that I read you first, and if it hadn't been for your writings, I never would have read Tolkien.
Question: I know you have written many mysterys under another name and I would like to read them, but don't know that other name.  What is it?

Everything that I've ever published is listed in the "publications" section of this site.  Unless I've forgotten something.  <sigh>

(10/03/2004)

Joey

Any chance we can get more of your essays and speeches posted? Kind of to tide us over until Runes? :)

This site now has a substantial body of "structured interviews" and download-able essays.  And more will be added--especially when I'm allowed to use the *many* essays I've written for use in promoting "The Runes of the Earth".  (I hope I don't need to explain that I do *not* write "promotional essays."  I write essays on what I hope are "points of general interest," and these essays are then used by other people for promotional purposes.)

(10/03/2004)

John McCann

Thank you for taking the time to answer my previous questions.  In reading  today's answers.  I saw for the second time in this interview the second chronicles was supposed to be 4 books.

The titles of books, particularly those in a series, have always been fascinating to me.  Do you happen to remember original titles or working titles of the four books?

Thanks again, John

This question keeps coming up.  My webmaster and I are working on a way to organize the "gradual interview" so that readers can more easily find out if their questions have already been answered.  Until then:  sorry, no, I don't remember.  I *think* (but I could be wrong) they were all one word titles.  One definitely was "Sunbane."  Another may have been "Seaquest."  Other than that, I'm drawing a blank.

(10/03/2004)

Michelle

Are any of your books currently available in audio format?

If so, could you please let me know how to purchase.

Thank you very much

Michelle

"The Runes of the Earth" (on 22 CDs) is currently available for pre-order from Amazon.com.  None of my other books exist in an audio form at present.  "The Real Story" and "Forbidden Knowledge" were once available, viciously abridged, on audio cassetts (2 per book), but those disappeared from the market over a decade ago.

(10/07/2004)

Eric

Steve, 

Thank you for returning us, your readers, to The Land one more time.  I remember reading both series in college for the first time, and reading them every other year since then.  To get to my point, I was wondering what your thoughts are in regards to Thomas Covenants leprosy, in the sense that he almost needed that affliction, both in the physical and spiritual sense, to be able to deal with the evil that Lord Foul repesented.  Does that leprosy represent a sort of inner corruption within Covenant that he had to accept and overcome to be able to deal with Lord Foul?  Thank you sir, Eric

This is both simple and complicated.  On an external level, Covenant's leprosy is both the mechanism for and the symbol of his alienation from any sustaining form of human community (marriage, children, friends, etc.).  This brings his inner Despiser to the fore.  In a manner of speaking, it makes him a fertile field for what Lord Foul wants to plant.  (What saves him--to extend the metaphor--is that the Land and its people can also plant in that field.)  And as such, of course, it *is* something that he has to deal with in order to deal with Lord Foul.  But "accept and overcome"?  Ah, that's where it gets complicated.  Covenant is on a spiritual journey--and it ain't over yet.  To say that he "overcomes" his "inner corruption" in order to deal with Lord Foul would be accurate enough for the first trilogy.  But at that point he is still a long way from accepting that inner corruption.  Naturally he makes progress in the second trilogy.  There he discovers the power that can be found in ceasing to try to overcome.  (We're getting pretty Zen here, I admit.)  But if that were the whole story, I wouldn't need to write "The Last Chronicles."

(10/09/2004)

Peter B.

My apolgies if this question would be better aimed at the WebMaster but is there any chance that "Stephen R Donaldson's Chronicles of Thomas Covenant" by W.A. Senior and "Realms of Fantasy" by Malcolm Edwards/Robert Holdstock could be added to the list of publications on your website? As you are aware, the former is a scholarly exploration of your Covenant books including two author interviews while the latter devotes a section to your Chronicles novels, and also includes an interview with you. The artist renderings in Realms are wonderful.

I would just hate to have admirers of your work miss out on these titles.

Unfortunately, there are copyright problems.  I've already posted some portions of Senior's book (with his express permission, of course).  Permission to make use of material from "Realms of Fantasy" would be more difficult to obtain, since that is a "for profit" book while Senior's work is an academic publication for which profit was never an option.

(10/09/2004)

Kevin

Mr. Donaldson, 

I've been a big fan since 1981, when, during my freshman college year, I had to get to the bottom of the "Landwaster" thing I kept getting from people. I might have never discovered your books if you had gone with 'Andrew Landwaster' - for that, but much more as well - thank you.

I cannot help but notice that the Mordant's Need series is a bit more "spicey" than your other works that I have read. Poor Terisa seems to have frequent trouble with torn or missing clothing, her breasts are mentioned in almost every chapter, etc. 

Not that I didn't find it enjoyable! But this inquiring mind wants to know: what were the details behind this choice? 

"Mordant's Need" is more explicitly *about* gender roles and stereotypes than my other stories.  Terisa Morgan begins the story with such a frail sense of her own identity that she makes Linden Avery at the beginning of "The Wounded Land" look fully self-actualized.  And Mordant itself is gripped by rigid gender stereotypes:  the kind of male-dominated quasi-medieval society that we so often find in mediocre fantasy novel.  Well, the subsequent story describes how Terisa discovers her own reality as both a person and a woman *while* the culture of Mordant undergoes a profound redefinition of gender roles, predominently as that pertains to the permissable/available roles for women.  King Joyse (get it?) sets in motion events which eventually enable his daughters, his wife, and Terisa herself to assume unexpected roles which transform their society.

In other words, "Mordant's Need" is about sex.  Specifically it's about how the treatment of women as mere sexual objects breaks down in a society which is in danger of breaking down itself under pressures both external and internal; and about how the breaking down of the treatment of women as mere sexual objects actually enables their society to be both transformed and saved.  So naturally the evidence that women are being treated as mere sexual objects is fairly overt.

In addition, these issues also touch on the "rape" theme which is so prevalent in my writing.  But "Mordant's Need" is--as I intended it to be--a *gentler* story than my usual work; and so "the evidence that women are being treated as mere sexual objects," while overt, is seldom violent.  Hence your observation that the story is more "spicey" than others I've written

(10/10/2004)

Thomas Griffin

Mr. Donaldson,

I would like to thank you for the outstanding series of books you have written.  I may be in the minority here, but I actually enjoyed the Gap series more than the Covenant series.  I am shocked to hear that they did not sell well, but looking at what passes for entertainment these days, it isn't that surprising.

In reading "The Killing Stroke" I noticed a similarity (in spirit, at least) to a story by Harlan Ellison called "In Fear of K."  Have you read it, and if so, do you agree?  I consider you to be the two finest imaginative fiction writers ever.  

Sorry, I've never read "In Fear of K."

(10/10/2004)

Drew Bittner

Mr. Donaldson,
First off, THANK YOU!
At World Fantasy last November, I asked you if you'd consider writing more Covenant... and now I'm reviewing Runes for a website. This is so darn cool.
You may have answered this already, but: what led you to write mysteries? 
I've known several writers to cross from fantasy to sf to horror, but mysteries (like romances) seem like foreign territory in genre terms.
Thanks!
Drew

It is said of James Fennimore Cooper that he started writing novels because he was fed up with what he was reading and thought he could do better.  Where my mystery novels are concerned, the same could probably be said of me.

I read a lot of mystery novels during my "formative years" (because missionaries read a lot of mystery novels, so the books were readily available).  But the more I read them, the more dissatisfied I became.  It seemed to me that the writers either cheated (e.g. by withholding crucial information from the reader) or lied (e.g. by relying on the absurd assumption that every human being is equally capable of every crime).  I wanted something better.  Specifically, I wanted mysteries where the real mystery lay in the heart of the "detective":  I wanted mysteries where the "detective" was personally at risk in the attempt to "solve" the crime, and was personally changed by the "solution" to the crime.

Which is not, apparently, what mystery readers want.  Hence the consistently disappointing sales of "The Man Who..." books.

(10/10/2004)

Michael

Mr. Donaldson,

I've read and re-read The Man Who Fought Alone many times recently.  It has kindled a keen interest in the martial arts for me.  How does one discover which of the martial arts is a good fit?  There are so many.  You had mentioned soft and hard styles.  I have been a drug-free bodybuilder for many years and I am very disciplined; I would like to attempt one of the martial arts.  How do I discover if the local sensei knows his stuff?

At any rate, my wife and I are overjoyed with a return to The Land.  We'll do our level best and have all of our friends by copies of 'Runes' so your children can make it through college easily <grin>; and since you're going to live forever, you might as well have enough money to enjoy eternity.

Many thanks,
Michael Dalton

P.S.  I'd never thought about Angus's last name before--The three-hundred Greeks holding their own against the countless Persians at Thermopyle--Brilliant, sir.

This is complicated.  You don't just need an instructor who knows his/her stuff.  (And in any case that's difficult to know unless you already know the stuff yourself.)  You need a style that suits you--and that is taught in a style that suits you.

The first thing to keep in mind is that there are no good (or bad) martial arts:  there are only good (or bad) martial artists.  Then I think the place to start is by visiting schools and observing classes.  Do you like what you see in the instructor?  Do you like what you see in the comportment of the students?  Do you like the level of discipline and formality?  And while you're observing, ask yourself if the *method* of teaching appeals to you.  Some people learn best by seeing how it's done, some by hearing how it's done (explanation), some by feeling how it's done (hands-on adjustment of the student's body by the teacher).  Naturally, different instructors emphasize different methods.  Then ask yourself if what is being taught suits your body and personality.  Just as an example:  some styles are intensely gymnastic, and others involve lots of falling, neither of which my old joints can tolerate; while soft (circular) styles suit my personal needs less than hard (ballistic) styles.

Along the way, I think there are some danger signs to watch out for.  If the instructor won't *let* you observe, forget it.  If the school requires a long-term commitment (3 months or more) up front, forget it:  you should be allowed an inexpensive trial period.  If the school asserts (in any form) that its style is "best" and all others are inferior, forget it.

Does that help?

(10/12/2004)

Pierre Nunns

Firstly Stephen, many thanks for your work over the years. You would be well seated at my "Dinner table of notary people" along with Spielberg, Ghandi, Kennedy et al. My question goes to the discipline and passion of writing. You appear to take great care and craft to choose the exact phrase and wording. This is not work you can necessarily rush. Do you consider yourself a disciplined writer in the sense that you devote dedicated blocks of time to writing, or are you an inspiration-driven writer? If the latter, how do you maintain the momentum to get through such solid bodies of work? Make sure you get out to Melbourne Australia sometime. Can't guarantee you Spielberg, and Ghandi is otherwise occupied, but we are good for a home-cooked dinner! Best of luck enduring the book tour.

I believe I've answered this question before--and when my webmaster and I finally get this interview organized, you'll be able to find such things much more easily.  For now....

I'm definitely a disciplined, plug-away-at-it-every-day writer.  In fact, I'm that kind of person.  As far as I'm concerned, steady incremental progress, however small, always beats out the inspirational rush.  Indeed, steady incremental progress often summons inspiration:  the inspirational rush never summons steady progress.

(10/12/2004)

Nathan

Most of the questions you answer seem to be about the Covenant books, so I'll offer you a little variety.
When Nick Succorso died on the bridge of Gutbuster/Soar I was so disappointed that he never got his revenge on Sorus, his whole life had built up to that moment and he'd lost everything else. My question is: do you think Nick Succorso deserved to die without exacting revenge for the scarring (and the humiliation that went with it) that turned his life into a long, bitter struggle?
I'd probably agree that he deserved to die, but not the way he did.
By the way, thanks for some really great stories, especially The Gap, The Killing Stroke and By any other name.

I have a vivid memory of having already answered this exact question.  But if I did, I find no record of it.  Perhaps I dreamed it....

Your reactions are your own, of course; and inherently valid by definition.  Speaking purely for myself, however, I can't share your disappointment.  Here's how I look at it.  Sorus Chatelaine is a rather scuzzy character who toward the end of "Chaos and Order" discovers in herself the capacity, even the necessity, to care about something larger than herself; and then to take action in support of that larger "something."  Nick Succorso, on the other hand, reveals no such capacity, even though he has four books in which to do so (Sorus only gets two).  Indeed, he seems oblivious to the concept that ANYthing might be larger than himself.  So who would I root for?  Sorus, no question.

Or you might look at it this way:  Nick exacts his revenge on Sorus; therefore she never gets the chance to fight for Trumpet; therefore Trumpet can't escape the asteroids; therefore the whole story goes down in flames.  There is, I like to think, a profound--and profoundly necessary--inevitability to Nick's demise.

(10/12/2004)

Brian

Every reader, unless they regularly mind-meld, makes every story "his own." If it is a well-told tale, it becomes an integral part of a person's inner mythology with unspeakable value to that reader alone.
If anyone ever makes a Chronicles movie, I will refuse to see it. It would defile my own visualization of The Land and its peoples. Another's imagination is theirs alone and for that reason, does not suffice for me. The Land has touched me too deeply on a personal level, and to render it in another's vision would be a loss I choose not to bear.
I will cherish forever your gift to me.

That's sort of how I feel.  But nothing is ever simple.  I enjoyed the LOTR movies even though they left out or distorted much of what I treasure in the books.  Perhaps it's simply a case of not having unrealistic expectations.  Movies being movies, and Hollywood being Hollywood, I expected the LOTR movies to be far worse than they actually were.  Maybe that's why I was able to enjoy them.

(10/12/2004)

Paul Beachem

Mr. Donaldson,

First off, thank you for being so engaging with your reading public. I think I speak for everyone when I say that this Q&A is a blessing.

My question is about writing. I enjoy writing in a manner that is reciprocal to real life events. I have always enjoyed an allegorical approach as the key to creating an interesting plotline, a deep and emotionally engaging character, or a compelling tale because it speaks directly to our primal motivations. Allegory is about critical thinking and can be a helpful tool in showing the possibilities inherant within us.

As an example of what I would call a fantastic use of allegory, I offer up my viewpoint on 'Reave the Just' (please forgive me).

Reave is the good in men. He is strait forward and is iconographically filled with hope. He is honest. His decency is empowering and known throughout his land and beyond. Divestulata is the depairing counterpoint to Reave. He is manipulative, without honor, and believes in only the basest of man's possibilities. He supports the worst in society to the very end.

I find that these two characters are not the main characters, but the embodyment of society's possibilities. The focii of the tale are Jillet and Huchette. Jillet is the common and immature man without a real purpose in life. Huchette, though uncommonly beautiful, has no uncommon direction about her... she has resigned herself to fate. Jillet & Huchette have succumed to despair. They do not believe in themselves enough to even TRY and accomplish thier goals. It takes Reave (the embodyment of purpose) to show them what purpose is, but in the end Reave and Divestulata are no more than just men. Neither are endowed with anything more powerful than certainty in one case and doubt in the other.

Allegorically, this could be a tale about the nature of being human. We are Jillet and Huchette. The goods and the bads of the world are in fact Reave and Divestulata. The final outcome of this tale is really about overcoming a societal presure towards mediocrity. I find 'Reave the Just' to be about real men's motivations behind their real life hows & whys. What does a human being do when confronted with something they want or do not want? In what way does society's influences (Reave & Divestulata) affect that person?

So, I suppose my question is about intentions and goals. When the image of a story begins to solidify in your mind, do you bring to bare some sort of morality issue that has relevance to the everyday man... something identifiable metaphorically or allegorically? Is the telling of tales a simple joy? Something that is strictly about entertainment... or should writting have a NEED to incorporate a dose of 'lesson' and 'moral'? Should literature be about 'setting up' the reader for a lesson? Sometimes I believe that this would be too agenda-like and contrary to the creation of a legitamately classic tale. Is a moral agenda (cloked in allegory) a legitimate source for decent story telling or does it suffer from becoming period literature?

I acknowledge that Im looking for pointers and my hope is that you have the time for a little direction.

Thank you for your time and thank you for the new chronicles.

Paul Beachem

You can read in any way that suits you.  Your approach--being yours--is inherently valid for you.  And I certainly wouldn't argue with your interpretation of "Reave the Just."  As I like to say, any good story is about "what it means to be human."

But in technical literary terms, "allegory" is not "about critical thinking".  It is about polemics, and as such it discourages critical thinking.  In allegory, x equals y, x *only* equals y, and x has no real value except for the fact that it equals y.  Bunyan's "Pilgrim's Progress" is the quintessential exemplar, but Spenser's "Faerie Queene" also fits, as do Lewis' "Narnia" books.  At the opposite extreme, in symbolism x equals both y and z, but also a, c, e, and several other letters, depending on a whole host of factors, including the context of the story and the perspective of the reader.  And in symbolism, all of those other letters are entirely dependent for their meaning on the concrete, separate, and valuable reality of x.  Therefore symbolism encourages critical thinking, while allegory rejects it.

Well, as I've said often in this interview, I am NOT a polemicist.  I'm a story-teller.  And for a story-teller, if the proposition that "x equals x AND ONLY x" isn't good enough, then the story isn't worth telling.

Now, as it happens, I believe that the numinous possibilities of symbolism can only by achieved by working from the proposition that "x equals x and only x."  But I don't concern myself with y, z, a, c, e, or any other possibilities:  I concern myself with x and let everything else take care of itself.  Before I wrote "Reave the Just," I didn't give a moment's thought to how the story might be interpreted.  Instead I thought about:  Are Jillet, Reave, the widow Huchette, and Kelven real to me?  Is what's happening to them important to them?  Do they need these events to happen to them?  And, Do they care about what's happening to them so urgently that they all engage my empathy?

You're the reader:  interpretation is your job, not mine.

Of course--and I hope this goes without saying--every writer is different.  What works for one fails miserably for another.  But speaking purely for myself, the more allegorical and polemical a story is, the less it interests me.

(10/12/2004)

Mel S. Hutson

Thanks for utilizing this forum. I’m a 35 YO attorney in Atlanta. I read almost all of your books in my teens – the Covenant series several times – but, alas, all but one of my copies of your books were destroyed in May 1995 (my last day of law school) in New Orleans due to a flood. (Cue the mocking laughter of Lord Foul!)

I thought I’d “outgrown” scifi/fantasy but I recently pulled my last copy of Lord Foul’s Bane off the shelf and, courtesy of the local library, reread the entire series in two weeks. Terrific stuff! Can’t wait for your new book! Guess I haven't "outgrown" the genre after all.

To the point: Do you worry that what happened to the music industry will happen to the book industry? That is, anyone can steal any song off Kazaa for free. Anyone can copy a book and turn it into a PDF file and “share” it with the rest of the world. Will people in the near future stop buying books and read free digital copies instead? Is that more likely to happen for fantasy books since their readers tend to be computer-savvy?

No, I don't worry about it.  The extent to which something is made available illegally is a direct reflection of its commercial popularity.  Think drugs--no, wait a minute, think popular music.  All of those songs wouldn't be stolen if the same songs weren't already generating pots of money for their performers and recording companies.  And certainly the only books of mine which have ever been "bootlegged" on the web are the six "Covenant" books--which just happen to be my only books that ever generated pots of money.  In my professional guise as a published author, I frown disapprovingly.  But as a private person who has to live off the income from his books, I don't worry for a second.

I mean, come on!  Who would BOTHER to scan and post the entire "Wheel of Time" just for the thrill of making those books even more widely available?  (After all, copying and posting a song off a CD is a hell of a lot easier than scanning and prepping a book.)  And at the opposite end of the spectrum, I suspect that Patricia A. McKillip's readers respect her too much to steal from her.

(10/12/2004)

Martin Douglas (Revan of KW) 

Alathea... You never mention her after the first Reed Novels... What happens to her? does she recover? 

Personally, I believe that she recovered well.  She was loved.  And she obviously had considerable courage and strength of character.  But I pity the poor fool who got in her way when she became an adult.  <grin>

(10/12/2004)

Drew Bittner

Mr D- second question of the month...
Can you describe how you developed the <i>Haruchai</i>? I pictured them as vaguely Polynesian or perhaps Southeast Asian, and wondered if you had any specific image or concept before creating the Bloodguard and their ancestral people.
thanks!!
Drew

PS, I finished reading Runes last night and wrote the review this morning. I give it my highest recommendation.

I imagine it's obvious that I had a vaguely Southeast Asian "type" in mind.  As I think I explained much earlier in this interview, when I planned the first "Covenant" trilogy I concentrated on "roles" rather than on "characters":  I knew what, say, Giants or Bloodguard or Ramen were going to do, but I didn't necessarily know what they were like; I discovered their character(s) as I wrote.  (Incidentally, as I've also explained, I no longer work that way.)  Well, when all you have is a "role," sometimes you need more to help you discover the "character."  And at that time (the early 70's), I had the vague--if false--idea that martial arts existed as a Southeast Asian phenomenon.  So I started there.

I'm glad you liked "Runes"!

(10/12/2004)

Ash Quadir

Steven,

Why did you make the relationship between Elena more than a “father-and-daughter” relationship?  Elena kissed Covenant on the lips several times (the first time in Glimmermere); this felt “icky”.  I know somebody who was turned off by this and did not finish the book.  What kind of reactions did you get from this unorthodox relationship?  (And I know Elena explained that she felt Triock was her father, but still…)

Another question, have you ever been offered to do a short story for Legends the very successful Fantasy anthology edited by Robert Silverberg?  If so, would you do a Thomas Covenant story? (Perhaps a story about Kevin, Berek, Dameleon, etc?   Or even a prequel?)

Finally, you wrote that you excised several hundred pages from the Illearth war by removing the chapter about Korik, Shetra, Hyrim’s mission to Seareach and putting it in Gildenfire and that you pared down your prose.  You said that the original version of the Illearth War was over 900 manuscript pages, but the final book in paperback is a little over 500 pages.  That’s a lot of cutting.  Is a “manuscript page” equivalent to a “book page”?  Did you remove other chapters or “chunks” of story besides the Gildenfire chapter and prose paring?  Will we ever see a full and complete version of the Illearth War?

Thanks for writing such great books!

- Ash Quadir

Briefly:

Yes, Elena's incestuous feelings for Covenant were deliberate on my part.  I thought when I wrote "The Illearth War", and still believe, that such ill-conceived attraction/hero worship both dramatized her essential imbalance and foreshadowed her tragic misunderstanding of Kevin.  Strangely, readers haven't busted my chops about this very often.  But Lester del Rey hated it.  I had to tone it down quite a bit before he would publish the book.  In retrospect, I think he was right:  I did overdo it originally.

Silverberg approached me for a "Legends" story.  I turned him down.

"Gilden-Fire" is the only coherent chunk of story that I've ever cut out of a book completely.  All of my other cuts have been "pruning" or "re-envisioning" or "rephrasing."  And I don't regret any of them, so there's no chance that they will ever be retrieved from my wastebasket.

A manuscript page is probably never equivalent to a book page.  Publishers use smaller type and put more lines on a page.

(10/12/2004)

Cat Palmer

I wake up in dreams of Orison. 
Would you consider letting me make it into a film?
This demon of desire will not let me go.

Cat

Sure, you can make a film out of "Mordant's Need."  All you need is mountains of money, thousands of contacts, a lot of know-how--and the movie rights.  If you want to acquire the rights, the contact information for my agent is posted on this site

(10/12/2004)

Mark Shaw

You once signed one of your books for a pal of mine whilst on tour in England, and made a joke.

' I'm your biggest fan ' he said

' I've seen taller ' you replied....which I found quite funny.

Is this a standard author/booksigning joke you use often, just waiting for the feeder line ? Do you have any others you can share ? I imagine touring a book must be the worst aspect of your work  - how do you cope with it ?

Boy, I must have been tired that day.  I usually try not to tease people who are being very earnest, and who might take a little humor the wrong way.

No, I don't have any standard jokes for booksignings.  That one was definitely "off the cuff."  I'm afraid I don't cope with book tours very well.  I usually go into what I call "survival mode":  a state of emotional lockdown in which I function like a machine.  Which is reasonable, I suppose, since the entire process treats me like a piece of equipment instead of a person.

(10/13/2004)

Patrick

   Thank you so much for bringing Thomas to us, then,and now. If a movie is ever made of the series, I hope Tom Cruise would get the starring role, I think he would be perfect for it,but,thats another topic in itself. At any rate, my question is, will any part of your Book-signing tour be in Pennsylvania ? I looked through the listed dates,and there was nothing listed there,and, how do you feel now that you have "returned to the land" again ?

 Thank You again,I can hardly wait for Runes... :)

                                     Patrick

How do I feel now that I've returned to the Land?  At the moment, beleaguered.  The book tours are about to start; I think I've made it pretty obvious that I dread such experiences; and this whole year has been filled with trying to meet other people's demands instead of doing my own writing (which is, after all, the reason those other demands exist).

In other ways, writing is always a teeter-totter between anxiety and excitement for me.  So far "The Last Chronicles" has been no different.

Incidentally, authors don't choose where they go on book tours (although their suggestions are occasionally solicited, and if they get pushy they are occasionally accomodated).  Publishers make those decisions based on a number of factors, the largest of which is probably "budget":  how many places can we send so-and-so with the amount of money we have available?  (Remember that cheap plane fares are rarely available for such hither-and-yon trips.)

(10/13/2004)

Stuart Gandy

First of all, thank you for vastly expanding my vocabulary, and thank you for having such an open dialogue with your readers (Shakespeare hasn't answered ANY of his fan mail...). I have been salivating since I first heard about Runes, ten years is going to be a helluva wait to see how it ends, but I know it'll be worth it.

My question is, how much do you like to leave up to the reader's imagination? I've noticed that the visual descriptions tend to be allegorical rather than describing physical detail. 

Cheers for your time, keep up the good work and be good.

Well, I wouldn't have used the word "allegorical" (for reasons explained in my answer to a recent question).  I would say that my visual descriptions tend to be "emotional" rather than physically specific.  Although there are of course plenty of exceptions, especially in regard to terrain.  I'm not a particularly visual person to begin with, while I am an intensely emotional person.  So I often care more about what a character, place, thing, or scene *feels* like than what it *looks* like.

The hard part, naturally, is to offer a description which inspires both a visual and an emotional image for the reader.  That takes some doing, and I wish I succeeded at it more often.

(10/13/2004)

KE8

In response to a question about why Seadreamer was unable to write down the information he possessed, you wrote:

"Is there anything in the "Covenant" books to suggest that the Giants possess a written language? Surely one of the long-term side-effects of writing things down is that people then talk less; tell stories aloud less. But I see no evidence that the Giants talk less than they once did. So why would they *need* a written language?"

I would answer that yes there is: maps. I find it difficult to picture an effective map that does not employ some form of written language. Nor can the maps have been written by someone else - since the Giants are said to be explorers, they would have to be cartographers of some kind, which suggests a written language.

And on the subject of Giants, I have a second question, and it’s one that I have often wondered about: why were the Unhomed unable to find their way home? Putting aside the various mythological allusions inherent in a group of lost wanderers, why should it be so difficult for this sea-faring people to find Home? They had literally thousands of years to locate it before the events in the First Chronicles. They must know the general direction in which it is to be found. Is the Earth so huge that such a problem is possible? Was there some kind of curse put on them, unmentioned in the story? Or does this fall under the category of a question for which there is no answer, or no relevance? 

We're wandering outside the text here, so this is dangerous ground.  But I'm willing to hazard a few observations.

First, there is nothing about being a seafaring people that requires either maps or written language.  Polynesian sailors a very long time ago found their way east as far as Pitcairn Island and north as far as Hawaii (vast stretches of ocean)--and returned home--and there is no record that they possessed anything like maps.  As far as I've been able to learn, they navigated by an extremely close observation of their surroundings, by expanding their reach in small increments--and by telling the story (sharing knowledge orally).

As for how the Giants could become lost:  well, history doesn't record how many Polynesian sailors--or Vikings, for that matter--were lost on their journeys; but the distances they covered successfully, while vast, were small compared to the overall size of the planet and its oceans.  And they didn't have to cope with navigational hazards like the Soulbiter.  (Even in our mundane world, the Bermuda Triangle demonstrates that "getting lost" can have a wide variety of meanings.)  Sure, I know that in the original "Chronicles" references are made to visits to such place as the lands of the Elohim and Bhrathair:  places which the later Giants clearly know how to find in "The Second Chronicles."  But you might want to consider how completely disorienting it could be to get caught in the Soulbiter, only to emerge a continent or two and several oceans away from familiar seas.  Especially keeping in mind that the Unhomed admit how reckless their explorations were.  (And we won't even mention how notoriously fickle even mundane oceans and weather can be.)

(10/14/2004)

Joel

I know the giants did not have need for a written language and as a result Seadreamer could not communicate his vision in that way, however Covenant and Linden did. The giants did have the gift of language, so why didn’t Covenant and Linden attempt to teach him how to read and write English (they had a lot of time on the sea)? Or draw pictures on the deck of the boat? Even charades might have worked, “sounds like… I’m going to die”. Of course I understand that if he had been able to communicate his visions the outcome of the quest would have been changed and most likely it would not have been for the better. Anyway, just curious.

Once again, we're *way* outside the text.  If I had written a different story, naturally it would have been, well, different.  But remember that Covenant and Linden have a great many other things on their minds.  And remember also that they think they already know what the essential content of Seadreamer's visions is.  How can they plan a means to discover the answers to questions when they don't know they need to ask those questions?  (Reminds me of an ex-wife who used to say, "You should have asked," in situations where I could not possibly have known there was something I needed to ask about.)

(10/14/2004)

John Duff

Will there be a signed limited editon of Runes of the Earth? If so, who will be publishing it and what is their address or web site.

Thanks
John Duff

Hill House plans a "collector's" edition of "Runes," but they have no publication date that I'm aware of.  As for how to get in touch with them, your guess is as good as mine.  Perhaps one of the "contacts" posted on this site can help.  Or try Google.

(10/14/2004)

Michael Barkowski

Dear Sir,

As you said, the musicality of your character names and how they describe the essence of the characters really makes a difference, esp. Marc Vestabule, Milos Taverner, Warden Dios, Liette with her wind metaphors, and others you mentioned.  It makes for a deeper, more abstract, even more suspenseful reading, almost as if parts of my subconscious are summoned by the names to act out the scenes.  I was amazed to hear that you used a dream of words, not images, as the basis of a chapter.  I didn't even know it was possible to have a dream of words.  Must be a writer thing.

Can you offer any recommendation, even non-fiction, for further exploration of musicality of words as opposed to the imagery of them?  By the way, what are some of your favourite character or place names from other authors, or even names of real people?

Your powerful works are a great emotional, spiritual and intellectual blessing, laudable in so many facets, particularly the Gap sequence and the Reave The Just compilation.  Keep wrestling!

I'm sorry, but I have no idea how any of this "works."  I certainly didn't *learn* it anywhere (except perhaps--pure speculation--by listening to operas, music that tells stories, and being moved by them).  And I have no idea where or how you could learn more about it.

If you're particularly interested, however, you might want to take a look at some of the names in M. John Harrison's work.  But most writers seem to use names simply as placeholders for particular characters.  (Not that there's anything wrong with doing so.)

(10/14/2004)

Robert Watson

Dear Mr. Donaldson,

First of all, thank you for sharing your unique gift with us.  It is not hyperbole when I say that you are one of the most gifted storytellers of our time.  

I have a litany of questions I could ask you about the “Covenant” books, but I think many of those you have answered in previous questions, and others I could answer myself if I gave it enough thought.  I do have one question that has puzzled me for quite a while.  I have a copy of “White Gold Wielder” that sits dog-eared on my nightstand.  On the cover of this book is a half-handed man with a white-gold ring clutching a wooden staff in one hand, and his arm around a rather resolute looking woman as they gaze out over a vista.  Clearly, this is Thomas Covenant and Linden Avery.  Also as clear is the fact that this *never* happens in the book.  So my question is this:  Does the artist who creates the book cover read the book?  Who instructs the artist on what to create?  Why is this so misleading?  Do you, as the author, have any say in what image appears on your work?

Okay, I know in the grand scheme of life, this is pretty trivial, but it has bothered me on a subconscious level for quite some time, and now I have the ability to get the answer from the highest authority.

A general rule of thumb:  the author had nothing whatever to with any aspect of the physical design of the book, especially the cover art.  9 times out of 10--or more--the art director for the publisher plans the cover in discussion with the selected artist; and the art director has not read the book.  (There's more variety among artists.  Some--e.g. Michael Whelan--insist on reading the whole book.  Others are happy to simply work with a "concept" provided by the art director.  And there have been publishers who do not *allow* the artist to read the book--doubtless because that might raise the cost of the art.)

Exceptions occur--although art directors hate them.  When I was at the peak of my career after the publication of "White Gold Wielder," my agent was able to get "cover consultation" written into my contracts for "Daughter of Regals and Other Tales" and "Mordant's Need."  Nevertheless "Daughter of Regals" was the only book where I actually got to help choose the cover art.  For the two "Mordant's Need" books, the art director shamelessly sabotaged the process (I'll spare you the gory details), leaving me with no effective input at all.  And since then I haven't had enough clout to get any real "cover consultation" (although Putnams did *ask* me if I would object to a Whelan cover:  I have no idea what they would have done if I had actually objected).

The cool thing about that "White Gold Wielder" cover is that when all of those "Covenant" books are placed side by side, they form a single painting.

(10/14/2004)

Clyde C Rowland

Will you ever return to Mordant's Need? I have read all the Thomas Covenant novels several times. I'm happy the last Chronicles is finally coming out. 

The future is full of uncertainty.  At present, however, I have no plans to return to "Mordant's Need."  I think the story is finished.

(10/14/2004)

James Reeves

Hello Mr. Donaldson, 

I'm in the process of reading your books (I have almost finished the first chronicles). In reading such a wonderful series, I wondered if you had any tips for my literary exploits? I am and have been working on a fantasy novel. I am no where near publishing time, but wondered if you had any suggestions? Being a first time author, the writing journey is new. . .we will see how it turns out. . .thanks for writing these excellent, inspiring, and imaginitive novels.

JCR   

I do have a few generic tips, but I can never remember all of them at the same time.  Here are a few.

1)  "Anyone who *can* be discouraged from being a writer *should* be discouraged."  (Not original; but true nonetheless.)

2)  "More things are wrought by stubbornness than this world dreams of."  (A shameless paraphrase of Alfred, Lord Tennyson.)

3)  "There is only one right way to write--or to become a writer--and that is by figuring it out for yourself."  (OK, I made that one up.)  Nothing that applies to any other writer is necessarily germane to you.

4)  "If you don't apply the seat of your pants to the seat of the chair and actually write, you aren't a writer."  (Again, not original:  I just rephrased it.)

(10/14/2004)

Theodore Martin

Stephen,

Your book tour is under way, and this web site states you will be in Portland, OR on October 20th (less than a week away), but not when and where.  Would you please update the site with the time and place of your tour on the 20th?  I am a fan of your work, I will be in Portland on the 20th, and I would really like to meet you.

Thanks, Theodore Martin

As it happens, the 20th will be a "vacation day," which by then I will badly need.

(10/14/2004)

Darran Handshaw

Dr. Donaldson,

I have been a great fan of yours for several years now, having started off by reading the Gap Sequence.  I realize that you are currently working on the Last Chronicles of Thomas Covenant, which I am eagerly awaiting.  As much as I liked Mordant's Need and the Covenant series though, I always find myself thinking back to the Gap universe even though I read it about three years ago.

Have you had any ideas in mind for any future novels in the Gap universe?  I realize that it would be implausible to create a story of the magnitude of the original series, but have you ever considered doing a followup book or two?  Or maybe even a prequel about a character or two?  If not, maybe it could be a thought.  

I for one would be interested in seeing the entire story between Sorus and Nick followed by how he gained Captain's Fancy.  Or maybe what happened to  Angus after the last book.. or even Morn Hyland?  Just a few thoughts.. thanks.

-Darran

As I just said about "Mordant's Need," the future is full of uncertainty.  However, I have no plans to write anything more in the GAP "universe."  I'm aware that the present books are full of potential material for subsequent books.  But I have no ideas; and without ideas I can't write.

To that let me just add that I'll never do anything that might be called a "prequel."  If you wonder why, just look at Lucas' three prequel films to the original "Star Wars" trilogy.  The prequels are, inevitably, boring because (among other reasons) we already know how the story is going to turn out.

(10/14/2004)

Alan

Hello Stephen,
I was disappointed in the LOTR filems because they have to miss so much out from the book. If a set of movies is made of TC I fear too that much will be left out. Will you have any direct say in what should or should not be in a movie.

cheers

Alan  :-)

I've said this before, but I'll say it again.  If a "Covenant" film ever appears, I will have had no influence at all on any aspect of the process or the finished product.  Nor would I want any.  I write books:  what do I know about making movies?  And life is too short to spend it worrying about anything other than my own life and writing.

(10/14/2004)

Drew Bittner

Mr. Donaldson,
Question: I'm reading Erikson's "Gardens of the Moon" and am wondering if you've read any of the other Malazan titles yet? From an Amazon search, it seems there are at least seven in the series to date, though only the first seems to have been released through a US publisher.
thanks!
Drew

I've read all of the Malazan books which have been released in the UK.  (One of the advantages of knowing both the author and his editor.)  Erikson is an amazing writer.

(10/14/2004)

Debbie

How can I get an autographed copy of the book when it is released?  My husband is a HUGE fan and I would love to give it to him as a gift.

There are several ways to go about this.  1) Find a bookstore that has autographed books in stock (there will be a *lot* of them out there).  2) Attend one of my (admittedly sparse) book tour signings.  3) Contact me through my agent (on the "contacts" page of this site) with your s-mail address and how you want the autograph done (e.g. what's your husband's name?), and I'll send you a self-sticking autographed bookplate which you can then place in the book of your choice.

(10/14/2004)

Steve

Mr Donaldson
I was very pleasantly surprised to find the 'Gradual Interview'. As has been remarked on elsewhere, it's very unusual to find an author willing to make such an on-going commitment.
At the risk of upsetting a few people, it might be better if anyone wanting to post a question had a quick read through the archives.....
Anyway, the subject of book jacket artwork seems to crop up regularly. I personally loved the more 'abstract' approach taken by Peter Goodfellow on the early UK editions as compared to the more 'literal' or 'figurative' treatments from Sweet and  Whelan (although I'm a big fan of the latters work). Any views on this?
On the subject of short stories...'Unworthy of the Angel', doesn't seem to elicit the same level of discussion as some of your other stories - no comment, just loved it and re-read it regularly.
Thanks.
by the way, with the certain knowledge that you have a number of years of hard work ahead of you if we are to reach the end of the 'Chronicles', take care when crossing roads.......

I also loved what I would call Goodfellow's "symbolic" cover art for the original UK paperbacks.  Whelan--a terrific artist--also does "symbolic" cover art, but his paintings come closer to being "literal" than Goodfellow's did.  Entirely as a matter of personal taste, I prefer the symbolic approach--and the more symbolic the better.  Thus I'm particularly pleased with the Orion/Gollancz cover for "The Runes of the Earth."  And I'm also very happy with what Tor/Forge has done for my mystery novels.  At the opposite end of the spectrum, I hated Sweet's Ballantine/DEL REY covers.  Indeed, his "The One Tree" nearly reduced me to tears of pain and frustration.

(10/14/2004)

Dennis Hawthorne

Hello Mr. Donaldson,

Thank you for granting your readers this interview, and even more so for your literary contribution to the sci-fi/fantasy genre.

I fudged up a half-dozen or so mock questions to ask that would give me an excuse for dumping some praise on you (stopping short of whether Covenant was a Levi's or a Wrangler man).  But then I remembered I already had a little one that comes up every time I re-read the Second Chronicles:

Is there someone else to whom you can attribute (paraphrasing here) ["How do you hurt a man who has lost everything?  Give him back something broken"]?  This smacks of a *great* quote - one that you'd imagine someone would've already come up with during a few thousand years of written history and would have had the presence of mind to jot down somewhere.  When I Google some permutations of it, however, all I find are "Donaldson", "Covenant", and uncredited uses of it.  Is this truly original?  If so, please feel free to add "way cool quote-master" to your already-impressive resume!

Sincerely,
Dennis Hawthorne

P.S., you might like this: whenever I read a terrible book, your short stories are among those I sometimes read afterward to get the "bad taste out of my brain" - so thanks doubly for Reave the Just, which I've happily added to my collection of Bad Fiction Balms.

Well, if it's such a great quote, then I must have stolen it.  <grin>  In fact, I actually thought that I made it up (an extension of the very familiar idea that there's no way to hurt someone who has already lost everything).  If I *did* (unconsciously) steal it, I hope that the original author will accept both my regrets and my respect.

(10/14/2004)

Mike White

Hi Mr Donaldson,

Just finished reading the "Gap" series of books again. I'm afraid I just don't get it (relating to poor sales, that is ). I feel like camping in Waterstones booksellers and forcing anyone that comes near to buy all five at once! 

This series of books is quite simply the best you've ever written. Period. How in the name of God you can "get your head around" such a series of well-rounded characters is simply beyond me - it must have surely nearly driven you completely to despir! (Perhaps the redemption of certain characters helped you  out there!) 

I'd go as far to say it's the best work of fiction I've ever read. Quite  superb. 

I appreciate that at thie moment of time you're probably feeeling, shall we say, a little less "sane" than usual - pre major book launch  - and the anxiety that must produce - and your keeness to "get on" with the next book - despite everyone else (publishers etc) seeming to get in the way!

So - and here's the question <phew> how in the name of God DO you stay calm??

PS you referred once to ensuring your characters retained their dignity -as you were the only "God" they had. For the same reason I'm not in the slightest concerned about the success of the "The Last Chronicles". In the words of a true Liverpudlian - they are "gonna be mega mate"!

PPS Which, is apparently a VERY good thing! 

I think I've answered this already; but I no longer trust my memory.  So the short answer is:  I *don't* stay calm.  (Do any of my books look to you like they were written by a man who knows how to stay calm?)  Even written interviews and (comparatively) short promotional essays make me climb the walls.  But when they actually happen, I cope with things like in-person interviews and book tours by going into what I call "survival mode":  I shut down my emotional life and become the moral equivalent of a machine.  This has the *huge* short-term benefit of making me *appear* calm in public.  But the long-term costs are high.  In effect, I have to experience all of the emotional impacts of interviews or tour events after the fact.  And the longer I've been in survival mode, the more intense those impacts are.

(10/14/2004)

KE8

I’m rather curious about Covenants decision to make a new Staff of Law. While in the abstract it sounds like a good idea (as the destruction of the first staff was the cause of the Sunbane) I don’t see how it could ever have been made to work, practically speaking. For one thing, who could wield it? There are no more Lords (Covenant doesn’t count) and there is no one left in the land at the time of the Second Chronicles who has the Lore required to actually make use of the Staff, barring Foul himself. Linden would not be able to make use of a Staff akin to the old one simply by health sense alone. Sunder (possibly) might be able to use it, but only after years of study, which they clearly didn’t have. It cannot be doubted that it would take a huge amount of knowledge and power to use it - it is said in “Lord Foul’s Bane” that Drool can only wield it because Foul taught him some of its uses. And yet Covenant not only wants to make one, he believes it can be used for things such as sending Linden back to our world, surely a very complex spell. 
And second, how was one to be made? The Staff wasn’t just some piece of wood hacked off the One Tree, I presume. Almost certainly it had to be fashioned in the proper manner, and the old staff had runes on it that I imagine meant something, of which nobody alive in the SC knew what they were. Again, with the dearth of Lore in the Land at this time, who would have had the skill to create a New Staff? It seems to me that asking some questions along these lines of the Elohim would have been appropriate, since they would be in a position to know, but it doesn’t seem to occur to anyone. Its a bit like a nuke - even if you found a glop of uranium somewhere, you aren’t going to be able to make a bomb out of it, and if all the scientists that could make one are dead, you are pretty much out of luck

It appears to me that you're making a number of assumptions that don't sit well with me.  Of course, there is no earthly reason why your view of what you read should agree with mine.  But just for the sake of discussion....

1) In the Land, there is always an inherent relationship between the instrument of power and the wielder of that instrument.  Mhoram tells Covenant, "You are the white gold."  Foamfollower himself powers his boat to Revelstone, even though the boat has a Gildenlode keel.

2) On that point, it is worth observing that there is a difference between "having lore" and "having power."  Lore may give access to power, but it isn't power:  it's knowledge that tells you what you can do with your power; or how to accomplish your goals.

3) As the creator of the new Staff of Law, Linden definitely has an inherent relationship with it; so she would certainly be able to use it.

4) I see no reason to believe that "health sense alone" wouldn't be an adequate guide to the power of the Staff.  After all, Linden (who has no inherent relationship with Covenant's ring) is able to access wild magic by possessing him by means of her health-sense.  Sunder could surely discern the *potential* of the new Staff by health-sense alone.  And he has become full of Earthpower himself.  Why wouldn't health-sense and a little concentration be enough to let him use the Staff?

5) Indeed, the whole notion of "spells" fits awkwardly within the "Chronicles."  Sure, some expressions of power require elaborate rituals.  But if you look closely, you'll see that virtually all of *those* expressions are violations of Law:  they rupture the natural order.  When the Lords raise significant power, their methods are comparatively simple:  those methods depend primarily on learned lore guiding inherent power rather than on "spells."

6) Drool naturally needs guidance in order to use the original Staff because he wants to use it in ways which violate its essential nature.  Putting it crudely, he wants to "break the Law," and the Staff is all *about* Law.

7) How much of the lore of the Old Lords do you suppose that Berek himself possessed when he first set out to fashion a Staff of Law?  Your argument seems to be that he must have known everything that Damelon, Loric, and Kevin (not to mention Berek himself) later discoverd or developed.  So who taught Berek?  I think the truth must be the other way around:  creating the Staff enabled Berek to begin the process of discovering and developing the lore of the Old Lords.

8) Are you certain that the Staff's runes were an original and necessary part of its creation?  If so, perhaps you would care to tell me where you find that information.  I can't find any reason to believe that the runes could not have been added later, as Berek acquired more and more lore.  Even the iron heels of the Staff could have been added later.  I grant that the wood from the One Tree would have to be fashioned in some way.  But Berek (over-simplifying here) has been granted a relationship with/knowledge of Earthpower.  That and a little health-sense may have been all he needed.

9) What it is about the Elohim that makes you think they would *answer* the kinds of questions that you consider appropriate?

In short, your "glop of uranium" analogy doesn't seem particularly apt to me.

(10/15/2004)

steve cook

Hello stephen, As i'm sure you must hear on a VERY regular basis,i've been a huge fan of your work for longer than i care to remember. I was blown away when i found this site, and when you actually replied to one of my more inane questions...i was happily amazed that my all-time favourite author took the time communicate with me. (And to the point....) So i really wanted to come to the book signing on Nov. 9th and,at the risk of coming across as a gushy starstruck stalker, actually meet you.
Now having heard how much of an ordeal you find the whole process, i'm wondering if you'd prefer it if i stayed away?
 Knowing that your answer is going to be " i couldn't possibly decide for you"i'll ask a 2nd question. If i do decide to come can i bring my own copy to be signed(i don't want to wait another 3 weeks before i get it?)

Please come to the signing.  That's what signings are *for*.  If I didn't accept that, I wouldn't agree to do them.

And please do bring your own books to be signed.  If I'm going to go to all the trouble of doing a signing, I am *not* going to let some bookstore restrict what can or cannot be signed.

(10/15/2004)

Meaghan Carr

Mr. Donaldson,
I am reading the gap series for a school project (it is amazing, Hashi is my favorite character)and am going to have to write a report in the form of a diary.  For this i have to write about two events of your childhood and how you felt about them, two events about your teenagerhood and how you felt about them, and two events about your adult hood and how you felt about them.  I was wondering if you could please tell me some events in your life that were significant to you.  It would be greatly appreciated if you could and completely understood if you cannot. Thank you sir.

As a matter of both policy and preference, I try to keep my personal life as private as I can.  (Too many "p" words, if you ask me; but I don't have the energy to rephrase.)  There is a certain amount of information available on this site--for example, in the essays you can download from my "publications" page.  But other than that....

Please accept my regrets.

(10/15/2004)

kevinswatch.com says Runes will not be out until October 21st; however, both Amazon.com and Barnes&Noble.com say October 14th.  Which is correct?

Both and neither.  There is considerable variety in when books actually arrive in specific stores; and publishers have next to no control over that variety.  Most books are actually sent to stores by independent distributers; and those corporate entities make their own decisions in some unfathomably arcane manner.  And the schedules of the shipping agencies--e.g. UPS--often play a part.  HowEVer:  since the official publication date is October 14 (US), books really should be in the stores by October 21.

(10/15/2004)

Mark Sanges

Dear Mr. Donaldson,
Please allow me to add my thanks to you for creating this forum in which your readers can interact with you on such a direct level. I know it's been said about a thousand times in this interview, but it bears repeating. What a treat to get to ask our favorite author a quest and actually have the potential to have it answered directly!

I have about a thousand questions and have hesitated to submit any since many of them have already been asked and answered, so my thanks go out to everyone who has submitted some of my questions as well.

One thing I haven't seen anyone mention yet (yes, I've read and re-read this entire interview) is electronic text (eText, eBooks, etc.). May I ask what your feelings are toward this slowing growing publishing medium? I notice none of your works (with the exception of 2 of your The Man Who... novels) are legitimately available as electronic books. What are your personal feelings toward electronic publishing? I am an avid reader though I love the feel of a book in my hands, at the rate I read and with my voracious appetite for fantasy fiction, I find I enjoy eBooks as I can carry several around in my pocket on a PDA, complete with an electronic dictionary to look up words within a text that I may not know (side note here, you are just about the only author who consistently uses words with which I am not readily familiar and must look up). As far as I can find, none of the Covenant or Gap books are available electronically (at least not legitimately). Are there any plans to publish the Last Chronicles in electronic formats as well as paper and audio? Also, I know Runes will be released on CD. Are you familiar with Audible.com? They are the largest distributor of electronic audio books for use with devices such as MP3 players. Will Runes be released in an electronic audio format or only on CD? I know, these are probably questions better asked of your publisher, however, they haven't yet decided to open so direct a forum for questioning their intentions and motives so I ask you in the hopes that they may have communicated some of these plans to you.

Thanks again for answering our questions.

Sincerely,
Mark Sanges

Actually, I had no idea that *any* of my books were available in legitimate e-formats.  Would you mind telling me where you found those two "The Man Who..." mysteries as electronic books?  I like to know about these things.

The steady growth of e-publishing seems to me inevitable.  And good:  how else can anyone hope to break the demeaning stranglehold which greed-driven mega-corporations currently have on book publishing?  In our history, there has probably never been a worse time to be a respected author.  Those mega-corporations don't want respected authors, they want fungible bestsellers.  If a author can't produce bestsellers, he/she is often history.  E-publishing offers a low-cost alternative to the ugly reality of the mega-corporations.

And yet....  <sigh>  I don't think I'll ever be able to make the transition myself.  I need physical books:  I can't read novels, or even short stories, off a digital screen.  No, the trend *I'm* hoping for is "on-demand" publishing.  (Doubtless a variation on e-publishing.)  Books would be printed because they've been bought by readers, rather than being bought by readers because they've been printed.  That would be another way to take the power out of the hands of the mega-corporations.

Incidentally, I've never heard of Audible.com before.  Certainly I know of no plans to make any of my books available in that format.

(10/16/2004)

Russ

The weather was bad the other day so I was walking the mall. For no apparent reason I started thinking about Foul. I realized that even after having read the Covenant books several times I had never gotten clear on the cause of Foul's predicament. It has been quite a while but I don't remember catching any echoes of Paradise Lost. Am I remembering correctly that Foul's presence in the Land wasn't the result of a casting out?

I'm not in a position to check my facts at the moment.  But I've always thought of it as "being trapped inadvertently" rather than as "being cast out."  After all, what sort of Creator actually *wants* a being like Lord Foul messing up his creation?

Of course, the existence of "a being who creates" sort of necessitates the existence of "a being who destroys."  Can't have light without darkness:  that sort of thing.  But the state of the relationship between such beings pre-Creation lies a long way outside the text, and I'm not particularly interested in speculating about it.  The point, as far as I'm concerned, is that LF has what he considers a legitimate grievance.  He didn't trap *himself* in Time; he isn't *supposed* to be trapped in Time; and as far as he can see the destruction of Time is a small price to pay for the freedom that belongs to him.

(10/16/2004)

Ur-Brett

I am sure you have been "told" but, birds' knees don't bend backward, like Nom's.  Anatomically it is actually their ankle, with their 'knee' being higher up.
I love the series, and with great anticipation (AND PATIENCE!) await my further trips to The Land.  Do you have a projected timeline for each book's release?

Thanks for the tip.  I didn't know.

As I've said before in this interview, my contract for "The Last Chronicles" gives me three years for each book.  At one time, I didn't actually expect to need that much time:  I just write better when my deadline is self-imposed instead of demanded by a publisher.  However, my US and UK publishers have already burned the first 7 months of my 36 month countdown (and naturally they'll never give me that time back); so suddenly 36 months no longer sounds as generous as it once did.  These are *very* complex books; they're going to become *more* complex as they go along; and I write *very* slowly.

Sorry about that.

(10/16/2004)

Vince Reilly

I just found out about "Runes of the Earth" and I have been reduced to thetic rubble. I remember when my wife and I, newly married and trying to keep spending low, nevertheless went into NYC to buy "The  Wounded Land" in full-price hardcover on the first day it was available. Thanks for an absorbing fantasy world, even though occasionally excruciating. 

"Thetic rubble," huh?  You clearly have a gift for a phrase.  <grin>  Maybe all that occasional excruciation was good for you.  <big grin>

(10/04/2004)

Ash Quadir

Steven,

1. When Covenant meets Hile Troy/Caer-Caveral in Andelain in The Wounded Land, he is in the form of “Hile Troy” but at the end of The Illearth War he was transformed into a tree.  How is this change explained?

2. If Covenant wasn’t able to get a branch off of the One Tree because of the Worm and sinking of the Isle, how was Berek able to create the Staff of Law?  Didn’t he journey to the Isle of the One Tree?

3. If Cable Sea Dreamer wasn’t able to speak, why wasn’t he able to convey his thoughts by writing them down?  Don’t the Giant’s have a written language?  For that matter, does the Land have a written language?

Thanks in advance!

- Ash

1) Well, if you wanted to be a Forestal, don't you suppose that part of your "initiation" would be to spend some time as a tree?  If nothing else, Troy was transformed into a tree in "The Illearth War" to imprison him until Wildwood's music had time to work a deeper transformation.

2) Perhaps I never made it clear that over long spans of time the One Tree, well, moves around.  Such archetypal creations don't cease to exist:  the sinking of the Isle didn't unmake the One Tree, but simply took it out of reach.  I've always assumed that when Berek found the One Tree it was somewhere else entirely, and that the challenges of approaching it and obtaining wood from it were (apart from the Guardian, another archetypal creation) entirely different than those faced by Covenant et al.

Incidentally, I've also assumed that the "affront" (to the One Tree) of Berek's actions was in part responsible for the, well, "sensitivity" which caused Covenant and Linden to fail.

3) I've discussed this elsewhere in this interview.

(09/10/2004)

Peter Purcell

Do you have creative control over announcements for Runes?

A review on Amazon.com (edited to remove spoilers--SRD) concludes, Filled with splendid inventions (occasionally described to the point of prolixity), this book promises extremely well for the future of the end of the Covenant chronicles. Expect readers to swarm. Roland Green"

Gives away a number of spoilers.

HOW DARE THEY!!  Those who've read the ARCs have chosen to.  Those who haven't don't want reviewers spoiling plot lines WITHOUT signally such spoilers well in advance so a reader can skip the review!

BTW, I've read an ARC version - wonderful, but stylistically very different from the prior two (have you read any of the Runes threads at the Watch?)  I can't wait to ask you "open" questions on Runes!!

Sadly, I have no control at all over such things.  And reviewers are notorious for spoilers.  Gives them a feeling of power, I suppose.

I feel constrained to point out, however, that this isn't really Amazon.com's problem.  They're just a store:  they don't write any reviews.  Part of their service, however, is to make reviews available so that buyers can make "informed" decisions.  It's a good idea that only turns out badly when the reviewers have no scruples.

(10/17/2004)

Peter B.

Do you think that fantasy is looked at as a more respected genre today as opposed to when you first started writing? It's certainly more popular. Personally, I think it's a shame that genre classification often slights works that are classified as non-literary, whatever that means. Your Chronicle books are certainly literary to me (as well as epic). More importantly, they resonate INSIDE me. Maybe that's an important distinction, with any literary or merit distinctions being imposed on the OUTSIDE. Still, it seems fantasy is often seen stereotypically, with even the truly imaginative books lumped in with the cardboard-cut-outs. 

Thanks again for all your wonderful work and insights! Although the Covenant series is dearest to my heart one of the favorite things you did in any of your stories was transport a science-fiction character/hero (Darsint) into a fanatsy/medieval setting (Mordant).

My personal experience is that fantasy is no more respected today than it was 20 or 40 years ago.  Indeed, I happen to know of a reviewer for the New York Times Book Review who lost her job because she wrote a favorable review of "The Mirror of Her Dreams."  And of course genre stereotyping--what I think of as "category publishing"--perpetuates this problem.  Just to pick one random example, Patricia A. McKillip (OK, I'm kidding, that's not random at all) will never get the recognition her literary merit deserves as long as she is categorized as "fantasy" or "young adult."

And yet, when we apply the "test of time," the only test that seems to reliably separate wheat from chaff, we can all see that the oldest and most enduring form of literature in ALL LANGUAGES on the planet is fantasy.  This cannot be an accident.  Obviously fantasy (the form of communication which is only made possible through the use of "magic" and "monsters" as metaphors) speaks of something both profound and universal in the human psyche.  When we as a culture sneer at our literary roots (by, for instance, thinking of fantasy as "adolescent wish-fulfillment"), we sneer at ourselves.

(10/18/2004)

Hi Stephen, thank you so much for replying to these questions. You are amazing. :) 

I wanted to ask what you think of Book burning... I've read reports that books like yours, Rowlings, Tolkiens books have been burnt; because people think you, she Tolkein, are "Pro-war" and "Pro-rape". And Rowling promotes the Black Arts. Very stupid in my opinion. Naturally it seems to be Americans. "Free-Speech" - yeah right. 

What do you think of this? Surely it's as silly to you as to me.  

It isn't just silly:  it's dangerous.  Book burning is the act of a society dedicated to self-destruction.  History is full of examples of societies that fall from civilization into barbarism; and book-burning always seems to be part of the process.  I know the US is still the most materialistically wealthy country on the planet; but I think (just my opinion) that the signs of approaching collapse are all around us.  Eventually we'll turn ourselves into a third-world country.  I just hope that my children are able to live out their lives before it happens.

(10/18/2004)

Bradakas

I was just wondering; I had looked over your touring schedule and noticed a complete lack of midwest destinations.  It was my sincere hope that you might be coming to the Iowa/Nebraska area.  Is there any hope for we midwesterners?

-B

There have been *many* questions generally like this one posted recently.  I think I've said this before, but it bears repeating:  authors don't plan or organize tours, publishers do.  There's virtually nothing *I* can do about it.

Of course, I could plan and organize my *own* tour(s)--if I were willing to give up writing as a way of life, and if I were willing to spend the money (no publisher would agree to pay for a tour they didn't control).  But why would I do such a thing?  I didn't become a writer because I want to tour:  I became a writer because I want to write stories.  My present tour is only three days old, and I'm already dying to be at home working on "Fatal Revenant."

So *please*:  if you're dissatisfied by my tour schedule, address your concerns to my publisher, not to me.  I'm in enough trouble as it is.

(10/18/2004)

Peter B.

Stephen,

Just a quick note to say that I hope you're surviving the book tour and will soon be back surrounded by family and friends, writing again.

I read in a review on the Web (sorry, don't rememeber where) that your publisher plans to release the Last Chronicles as a trilogy rather than a tetralogy. Any truth to that?

Gosh, what a bizarre rumor!  No, there's no truth to it at all.  As I've explained elsewhere in this interview, "The Second Chronicles" was planned as a tetralogy and published as a trilogy.  But that's ancient history.

(10/20/2004)

Mike G

Enthused by this gradual interview, and armed with all of your insights, I reread The Gap Cycle, which I realized I had not read the last book of....I really enjoyed it a lot more this time- TDAGD was as breathless a finale as I have ever read....it all pulled together wonderfully, especially considering all the pov and storylines that had to be finished...
One question though-  What happened to poor Victor?  With all of his talk about dying, being a savior, not being brave, etc....all of the sudden he was just dead- like we missed a page or two....Did he jump in front of Angus to save him, or did he just get in the way?  I (lol) feel bad for him,that his death didn't get more print...
Does it annoy you at all that readers pick apart your work or look for chinks in the logic, or do yoy just take it with a grain of salt, glad that they care?  It must give you a chuckle or two wondering if we must have better things to do...

I (and I know this carries a lot of weight!) look for the new books to vindicate you to the naysayers who think fantasy should be mindless questfests...There isn't much thought provoking fantasy out there, it's mostly just escapism (which is certainly ok).  But it is the depth of your writing that makes your books waht they are...

Enough ramblings from Another Reader Who Talks To You Like He Knows You.

Well, you've read the GAP books more recently than I have.  And I don't have them with me.  But I could have sworn that I gave Vector's demise/self-sacrifice more narrative space than you found.  He was important to me, and I certainly didn't *intend* to scant his fate.  However, events were pretty hectic at that point in the story.  Maybe I made the familiar mistake (the curse of my writing life) of leaving out things that were obvious to me, although they could not have been obvious to anyone else.

I do occasionally get annoyed at the way some readers pick apart my work.  (Just look at the way I OD'ed on "Creator" questions.)  But from time to time I also profit from the information.  And there are times when the sheer generosity of the things my readers share with me leaves me feeling humbled.

(10/20/2004)

Matthew Orgel

Imagine my surprise to learn that you are a comic book geek! I was just wondering if you were at all familiar with the 2 capstones of the genre, "The Watchmen" and "The Sandman". The Watchmen (soon to be a movie by Aronofsky!!!) seems to be a source of anti-heroes to daunt even your own prodigious supply of them. 

Also, no fantasy will ever enlighten and delight me to the degree Gaiman's Sandman has. Perhaps if you haven't heard of The Sandman you have heard of some of Niel Gaiman's novels? Neverwhere, American Gods, or Good Omens are admittadly inferior within their genre to the Sandman, but are still good fantasy.

It seems to me you are more of a Marval man... DC really grabbed the torch and thwacked Marval across the head with it in the late 80s. Maybe looking into these titles would rejuvenate your interest in comic books.

Yes, I've read both "The Watchmen" and (much more extensively) "The Sandman."  In particular, Gaiman's work on "The Sandman" seems extraordinary to me, and I re-read the whole set every few years just for the pleasure of it.

But in other ways I no longer feel drawn to comics.  I can't say why:  it just happened.

(10/20/2004)

Stephanie 

Hello Mr. Donaldson.  

A few month's ago in this forum my dad posted a question and in it mentioned that years ago his young daughter (yours truly) loved your books and that I was fascinated by Hile Troy.  In your reply you mentioned (and have in other replies to other posts) that you felt these particular works were certainly not meant for young girls.  

With this introduction I have a comment and a question...

I was around twelve or so when I first picked up Lord Foul's Bane and began reading.  I was fascinated with your writing style and almost immediately began reading up on leprosy just so I could better understand your character.  At that age the chapter devoted to Lena's rape turned me so much against your main character that I put down the book.  A week or so later, out of some sort of morbid fascination, I picked the book up again and, with the exception of some homework that intefered a bit I never it or the other books down until I made it through both trilogies.  

I'm twenty now, and I suppose as wise and 'grown-up' as a twenty year old can be who has been raised UMC in the states with limited travel outside our protected borders.  I can also understand and perhaps agree with you when you say you feel your books were not intended for twelve-year-old girls.  

On behalf of this former twelve year old I would like to offer you a slightly different view.  It's true that when I re-read your books my first year in college I certainly experienced them differently than I had during my younger years. But I must add my first pass through those books filled me with wonder, awe and a lust for more.  They led me on and on through the years to new books and new stories.  To this day whenever rare free time permits I put down my history or biology textbooks to devote at least a little time for escaping into worlds of fiction created by others.

So, on behalf of the twelve year old girl who fell in love with Foamfollower, Mhoram, Elena, Linden and Bannor....and yes Hile Troy...thank you so much.  

And now for my question....in either trilogy did you ever take off in one major direction with a character and then back off and dramatically change your approach?  Perhaps a change of heart as you grew into or away from a character, or perhaps at the direction of an editor.  I'm not even sure why I'm asking the question, but I thought the answer could be interesting.  

I am primarily posting your question--and an answer--as an antidote to my own fear of what could happen when young (by which I mean unprepared) readers encounter my books.  Thank you for your reassurance.  It helps.

Did I "ever take off in one major direction with a  character and then back off and dramatically change [my] approach"?  Yes, once.  The Germans have a proverb:  All beginnings are hard.  This is always true for me; but it was especially true with the character of Linden Avery.  She went through a number of "false starts" (most of them before I ever started writing "The Wounded Land") before I finally began to get a useful handle on who she was.  The Linden Avery who appears in "The Second Chronicles" is indeed *dramatically* different than my first conception of her.  In a pure world (which of course doesn't exist) I probably would have written "Mordant's Need" *before* "The Second Chronicles."  Putting it crudely, I needed practice with female protagonists.  (On the other hand, "Mordant's Need" is definitely *better* because I got my practice writing "The Second Chronicles"--so I suppose I can't have it both ways.  <grin>)

I don't like to embarrass myself this way; but for your sake I'll just mention that in one of my "false starts" Linden Avery was not a doctor:  she was a graduate student studying the novels of Thomas Covenant.  <sigh>  What can I tell you?  I was young.

(10/20/2004)

Tony Powell

Do you realize that with your guidelines for determining point of view (an answer to a previous question), you taught me more than all the "writing" books in my bookcase?

I wonder if I can get a refund....

Shucks, that was nothing.  Wait until I get around to writing my "Incredibly Wise Things I've Learned about Life" <grin>.  Then you'll be able to ask your *parents* for a refund....  (OK, now I'm laughing out loud.)

(10/21/2004)

Tom Bracken

(As have many others, I first thank you for the inspiration of the Chronicles. No other work has inspired me as much in my work as a physician and as a caring human being!)

My question regards your portrayal of evil and of evil deeds. You have generated some horrific images of evil in your works: Pietten enjoying licking the blood of the dead, ,the giants submitting to the Ravers,the "entertainers" in the Gap series that disemboweled themselves. Perhaps the most disturbing images were those of Linden at the deaths of her father and suicide by suicide and "matricide".

Can portraying such degree of evil become evil itself? I have felt revulsion in reading of Steven King's work; he seems to delight in creating more and even more disgusting and revolting images in his work. Does the description of the evil ultimately lead to a better portrayal of good, even if good doesn't always prevail? Are you yourself ever disturbed that you can create such scenes?

And ultimately, could the 1st and 2nd Chronicles have been "succesful" if Lord Foul hadn't been defeated to any degree at all? Such is the way of the world upon occasion -we feel we do what is right to fight evil but our efforts are not always successful.

I realize some of the answer to this question may require careful reading of the upcoming third Chronicles!

Your question prompts a number of reactions.  But after being on the road so long--with so much more to go--I'm very tired; so I can't promise you a coherent response.

However....

Sure, portraying evil can itself be an evil thing to do--if the portrayal is gratuitous.  I've read books where it seems clear that the writer simply delights in inflicting pain on the characters--and on the reader; where inflicting pain seems to be the only real purpose of the book.  I don't hesitate to call such books obscene.  But we need to be very careful here.  We need to be sure that what we're talking about is indeed gratuitous.  And there are a number of issues to keep in mind (although I won't be able to remember all the ones I know of right now).  First, I want to mention the importance of telling the truth.  Evil and horror really do exist in the world, as well as in people; and to pretend that they do not is a lie.  Second, the whole notion of "good" has very little meaning if it doesn't imply the notion of "evil".  What is "light," after all, if there is no "darkness"?  Third, I wonder what concepts such as "redemption" can possibly mean if they don't entail walking through "hell" to get to the other side.  Fourth, we live in a cynical and nihilistic age, and if our literature does not face that fact squarely it cannot offer us any substantive alternatives.  "When you look into the abyss, the abyss looks into you."  How else can we find out if we have anything in us except emptiness?  One of the *many* functions of story-telling as I practice it is that it teaches me how to believe in myself.

In life, of course, good doesn't always triumph.  Maybe it seldom does.  Maybe it never does.  But literature isn't about life:  it's about living; it's about human beings *going through* the necessary struggles of living; it's about human beings defining the meaning of their own lives as they go through the necessary struggles of living.

I'm sure the "Covenant" books would have been FAR less successful if they had ended in victory for the Despiser.  But I also know that I would not have considered them worth writing that way.  I already know everything I'll ever need to know about how the Despiser wins; and I suspect that the same is true for most of my fellow human beings.  What my characters and I desperately need to know is some valid means for achieving a different outcome.

Well, I did warn you that this would be rather incoherent....  <rueful smile>

(10/21/2004)

Steve Cohen

Stephen,

Discovering this forum has finally caused me to accept an inescapable truth:  I’m a Donaldson Groupie.  I’ve certainly read the books enough, but reading through this forum almost makes me feel like I’m attending a 12-step program… "Hi, my name is Steve and I’ve read both Chronicles of Thomas Covenant cover to cover more times than should be legal."… 

Okay here are my questions.  Assuming that it won’t spoil "What Will Come After" would you mind shedding some light onto 1) How Dead Saltheart Foamfollower actually acquired Vain from the Ur-viles?  2) How did Covenant’s Dead (and good ‘ol Mr. Troy) formulate a solution to save the Land? 3) How/why Covenant’s dead would have answer to the Land’s need different than would be conceived by the Elohim. (Beyond the reason that Elohim through Findail didn’t want to bear this particular burden and had that shadow business thanks to Foul weighing them down.) 

Final question:  when Covenant was about to enter the Banefire, Findail says something along the lines that "he will not leave Covenant and doesn’t know how he’ll prove worthy of him."  Is Findail just referring to what’s happening in White Gold Wielder or is he referring to “What Will Come After” in the 3rd Chronicles?  

Enough with the questions.  I’m hoping that the song and tale of the Search is wondrously told and retold amongst the Giants of Home.  I could write more and ask more, but this email is too long as it is!  Thanks…

Steve

1) Covenant's Dead in Andelain acquired Vain very simply:  the ur-viles gave him to them.

2) The Dead--being dead and all--exist on a different plane of knowledge than the living.  Just to pick one obvious example:  they have a different relationship with Time.  Covenant's Dead don't reveal everything they know because, like the Old Lords, they understand the dangers of unearned knowledge.  But they clearly have access to some pretty wide bodies of knowledge.

3) Covenant's Dead are just a bit less selfish, and a whole lot less self-absorbed, than the Elohim.  Fundamentally different beings think in fundamentally different ways.  (And I won't even mention the special relationship between the Elohim and the Worm of the World's End.)

4) Findail's statement refers to events in "The Second Chronicles."  After all, he does *know* what he was Appointed to do:  he just doesn't like it.  (And yet even he is forced to respect Covenant.)

(10/21/2004)

Hilary Reynolds

Dear Mr Donaldson,

Thank you so much for this interview which I have dubbed in my own mind "The Desultory." I find it to be an almost unparalleled insight into the creative mind. And a creative mind may I say, without the least sycophancy, I consider to be one of the best of it's age. I have found the desultory no less compelling than the First and Second Chronicles of TC. I have also read the Gap books which while I admired the work itself, I found too bleak and the characters too irredeemable for me to truly enjoy. I have so many questions to ask which range from the facile to the somewhat less facile. Let me start by asking two.

1) Was Hile Troy from the "Real World"? Covenant's telpehone calls seem to indicate that he did not exist, though given the nature of agency he was phoning, this may have been a cover up.

2) In some of your responses there seems to be a contradiction when talking about your writing processes. In one place in the desultory you were asked about Nom and you replied "I, of course, knew what was going to happen years before I actually wrote it." Elsewhere when asked about the Last Chronicles you say "but I couldn't tell you the story:  it still contains vast unspecified areas which I will discover as I tell the story." The first implies a good deal plotting before hand whereas the second connotes less complete plotting. Which of these is true, do you plot a great deal beforehand or sketchily and fill put the details as you write?

1) I've always assumed that Hile Troy was indeed from Covenant's "real world."

2) All of my statements about how I plot are true.  As a general rule, I now do less detailed *conscious* plotting than I did when I was younger:  I trust the unconscious part of my creative impulse more.  But there are enormous variations, not only from book to book, but from year to year in my life, and from detail to detail within a story.  When I said that "The Last Chronicles" "still contains vast unspecified areas," I did *not* mean to suggest that it doesn't also contain vast *specified* areas.  For example, there are specific characters whose complete stories I *could* tell you right now; but I couldn't necessarily tell you how those stories interact with and catalyze *all* of the stories of specific other characters.  Whereas when I wrote the first "Covenant" trilogy, and much of the second, and large parts of "Mordant's Need," I did have more of the details planned in advance.

(10/21/2004)

Allen

Mr. Donaldson, I just had the pleasure to read the interview with you in Locus.  I would not worry about whether or not you are as good a writer now as you were when you wrote the original trilogies.  I still believe the Gap is your greatest work and I have no fear that the Last Chronicles will surpass the Gap.  The first chapter of the Prologue you include on your site tells me you are entering onto a transcendent plane at this point in your career.
My question concerns "Mordant's Need".  For some time now I have regarded it as the most minor of your larger works.  I am wondering how you view "Mordant's Need" now, looking back at it after so many years.          wishes, Allen

I've very proud of "Mordant's Need."  It is deliberately "more gentle" than my other large works.  But does that make it "minor"?  I certainly hope not.

Beyond question I could not have written the GAP books if I had not first written "Mordant's Need."  (And I could not have written "Mordant's Need" if I had not first started writing mystery novels; so there you are.)

(10/21/2004)

John Thorpe

With hindsight, do you think "The <blank> Chronicles of Thomas Covenant" is an appropriate title for each series or just a marketing necessity?  That is, is the whole work primarily about Thomas Covenant?  It seems like he passed the torch in the Second Chronicles and became something that is difficult to develop further as a character, being dead and the Arch of Time and all.

On a more trivial note, what was Anchorage Farm?  An actual farm or just the name of the place where you lived?  Where in New Jersey was it?  Maybe I’ll make a pilgrimage.  (kidding, of course)

Yes, I do consider "The Last Chronicles of Thomas Covenant" to be an appropriate title.  You'll see why eventually.

Anchorage Farm was a real place in south Jersey.  But it was plowed under to make room for a housing development 7-8 years ago.  The nearest town was Sewell.

(10/21/2004)

Joseph McSheffrey

Mr. Stephen R. Donaldson,

This is quite an arduous read!  I think I'm actually overdosing on Donaldson!   Perhaps your editor should have a look at this?   That aside, I will not only continue to read this Brobdingnagian interview, as the weeks pass, I will heap more on the pile!

I've only waded through half of this interview but the topic of music has only come up once so far and I must say I'm a bit surprised.   Rather than inquire how you pronounce Haruchai or debate the reality of the Land in a purely fictional sense, I would like to know what kind of music you listened to in your youth.   I understand you are ninety-five percent Classical now, but surely that has not always been the case.   What were you getting down to at your prom?  Did they have proms then?  *duck*   As for now you've got Beethoven written all over you, if your work (hence your imagination) is any indication, but everybody and I mean everybody needs a little Albert King now and then.

Sincerely,
Mr. Joseph McSheffrey

As I keep mentioning, I grew up in India as the son of medical missionaries.  The missionaries sing hymns, (white) gospel tunes--and old Broadway show tunes.  So through high school that's all I knew.

In college in the 60's, of course, I was exposed to a bit more variety.  My personal taste was toward folk music (e.g. Peter, Paul, and Mary; the Limeliters); but I acquired a few other interests as well:  Creedence Clearwater Revival, Three Dog Night, and (to a lesser extent) Blood, Sweat, and Tears.  So such music now constitutes maybe 1/10th of 1% of my music-listening.  But I'm still (surprise, surprise) drawn to Broadway show tunes:  "Rent," "Aida," "Les Miserables."

(10/22/2004)

Rick Monroe

Mr. Donaldson,

   I am curious about what drives your desire to refuse rights to anyone wishing to use your created worlds for the setting of other stories.  Is it a desire to protect the integrity of your creations from a creative viewpoint, or a feeling that others shouldn't profit from your efforts by building on top of your framework?  Or, more likely, some combination of these and other personal beliefs regarding the creative process?

I should say, I don't think I'd care to read stories based on your worlds that were crafted by anyone other than yourself.   I look forward to the remaining "Chronicles", as well as all the other books you will write in your never ending life.  And I wish you'd come to the East Coast on your book tour.

I must not be communicating clearly.  *I* don't refuse rights to people who want to write spin-off stories:  I don't own those rights.  However, you understand correctly that I *would* refuse (unless the spin-off was strictly not-for-money, and full credit was given).  Would I give someone else permission to be the father of my children?  Would I give someone else permission to sweep away the woman I love?  So why on earth would I give someone else permission to dilute/change/revise/distort my work?

In addition, I believe that using other people's ideas (instead of coming up with your own) is bad for the people who do the using.  But that's a secondary issue.

(10/22/2004)

Tom Newton

Firstly, I would like to thank you for sharing
your gift of storytelling with us all. Also,
...it's pretty cool that you respond to all these posts. 

My question is, have you ever read "Foucault's
Pendulum" by Umberto Eco. Taxing at times by 
preponderance of names and places but brilliant
nonetheless.

Thanks for increasing my perspicacity.

Sorry, I've never had that experience.  I'm a very slow reader, so I don't get to read all the books I might wish.

(10/22/2004)

Paul S.

A while back you mentioned:

"At the same time, my US and UK publishers want me to undertake a project which I'm not supposed to talk about, but which will be so back-breakingly burdensome and vastly time-consuming that I'll have no choice except to simply cease living until the project is done. (Sorry, I can't tell you more than that.)"

Can you tell us more, yet?

Autographed books are already appearing on eBay.  And I'm being inundated with questions like, Why aren't you coming to X city on your tour?  So I guess the time has come to reveal the secret.

This summer Putnam's had me autograph 7500 (!!!) copies of "Runes."  The single most brutal thing I've ever been asked to do for a publisher.  (Orion/Gollancz had me sign another 1000, but those were for a collector's limited edition.)  Apparently those 7500 books are being distributed in parts of the US where I'm *not* touring.  So readers who want signed editions don't have to pay eBay prices.  There are a LOT of signed books already out there.  And of course I've already posted instructions on how to get a signed bookplate from me directly.

(10/24/2004)

Rick Monroe

Mr. Donaldson,

   I am eagerly looking forward to the new books.  I hope that an oversight in your travel plans will be corrected, as your publishers seem to be neglecting the eastern half of the US.  I hope you will be adding dates to come east.

   I have a few questions about your writing process.  You have written that stories choose you.  Do stories come to you with a beginning and ending (points A and Z), and the middle fleshes out as you write?  Or do you have a more holistic view of the story from the start?

   I recall reading (not sure where) that you once said that you had a plan for the third chronicles, but would not write them if people kept requesting them.  To what degree was this an empty threat?  Given your description of the process by which a story chooses you, do you think you could have chosen to not write this story?

Stories seem to come to me from a wide variety of starting points.  With all of the "Covenant" installments, the starting points were for the endings of the stories; and I had to plan them backward in order to find a place where I could begin.  But "Mordant's Need" started with a few lines of poetry; the GAP books began with the names Angus Thermopyle, Morn Hyland, and Nick Succorso; and some of my short stories began with the first sentence (or an early sentence).  Several things remain constant, however.  I can't write at all until I know what the ending (my reason for telling the story) is going to be; so I always know where I'm going.  (But figuring out where or how to begin can be intensely difficult.)  I need to have a fairly clear sense of the shape or structure or architecture of the story (although sometimes this "sense" might reasonably be called "holistic").  And I absolutely have to have control over setting.  (Even the most "realistic" of my stories, "The Man Who Fought Alone," takes place in an invented city.)  Why any of these things should be true, I have no idea.  That's just the way my mind works.

Clearly my threat that I would *not* write "The Last Chronicles" if people kept asking me about it must have been "empty."  But I recall that I meant it half seriously at the time.  It is very frustrating to have worked so hard to write so many books, and to be treated as if so little of what I've done actually counts.

(10/24/2004)

Martin Bennett

Hi Steve - really can't wait for 'Runes' - I must have been asleep at the wheel to believe that Covenant would stay dead forever!

Speaking as somebody who is writing their own little stab at immortality (as is everybody else who poses a question here it seems!) my question is this - which do you value higher: (a) constructing fantasy i.e. lands, people, magics or (b) the human aspect.  I have heard it said many times that fantasy precludes characterisation - I guess you were skiving that day (sorry - not sure if 'skiving' is a UK colloquialism or not).

In my opinion you managed to bond these two like venom and wild magic in the Banefire (i.e. successfully).  I find it difficult to bring in the human aspect without using a 'real-world' protagonist - I then get bogged down with details such as the difference in language between primary and secondary worlds.  Unbelief answers this question, but you've already used that one!

Looking forward to your UK tour, whenever that may be.

Are a) and b) my only choices?  What I value most is telling a story that will excite, move, and (ultimately) change me.  But years of experience (not to mention simple common sense) have made it clear to me that telling such stories is utterly dependent on "the human aspect," and that "constructing fantasy" only has value to the extent that it both enables and sheds light on "the human aspect."  The notion that fantasy (or sf, or mysteries, or westerns, or horror, or historical drama) "precludes characterisation" is plain bullshit.

But then we might need to discuss what we mean by "characterisation."  In my personal lexicon, "characterisation" is what writers do when they can't actually create characters:  "characterisation" is a series of techniques for creating the *illusion* of character.  By that definition, nothing on the planet "precludes characterisation."  But I would argue that fantasy also does not preclude "character":  indeed, I believe that of all forms of fiction fantasy is the most dependent on character for its credibility and content.

(10/24/2004)

Mr. Donaldson,

You mentioned you sometimes write with the ending in mind.. Do you have an ending already in mind for the  Final Chronicles, are you likely to change your mind.

Thanks,

Mike

I don't "sometimes" write with the ending in mind:  I *always* write with the ending in mind.  I can't write without that.  So naturally (well, at least it seems natural to me) that never changes.  The ending  I have in mind for "The Last Chronicles" hasn't changed since I first came up with the ideas in the late '70s, it hasn't changed while writing the first volume, and I cannot imagine that it will change between now and when I finish the project.

(10/24/2004)

Michael from Santa Fe

I just read your answer about what "influence" you may have had on culture, the field, or other authors.  I thought you may be interested (or perhaps not :-)) to know that you have influenced other people to become writers.  A new author I like very much, David B. Coe, states this on his website: 
http://www.sff.net/people/DavidBCoe/Authorpage.htm:

"If Tolkien's books made me want to read as much fantasy as I could get my hands on, Stephen Donaldson's Thomas Covenant books (both the first and second Chronicles) made me want to write in this genre. The Covenant books are strange and dark and disturbing. They're also brilliant and, in my opinion, among the most original fantasy sets ever written. They taught me that there was no limit to what fantasy tales could explore — any facet of the human condition, no matter how strange or difficult, could be plumbed by the creative mind. All one had to do was find the right approach, the right character. Donaldson found both."

So, while you might not be aware of it, I'm sure this is only one example.  I believe you have had a great impact and continue to do so.

Michael

It's very kind of David Coe to say such things.  I haven't yet had a chance to read any of his books (because I am a VERY slow reader); but I'm looking forward to them.

(10/24/2004)

Ross Edwards

Stephe,
You've said before that you naturally tend to write fantasy novels-- that you have an epic mind (paraphrasing, of course). But now that you've written a lot of fantasy, sci-fi, and mystery novels, what's next? You've dabbled in other genres in your short stories, but is there one other type of story you've always wanted to try?

I've responded to such questions earlier in the interview.  It is my devout hope that our new organizational structure for the Gradual Interview will make it easier for readers to find the information they want.

The short answer is this:  I don't choose my stories; my stories choose me.  And I make no attempt to control that process.  I'll go wherever my ideas go.  However, I have a one-track mind; so while I'm working on "The Last Chronicles" I won't make any plans beyond it.

(10/27/2004)

Michael From Santa Fe

I just finished the Gap series.  I really enjoyed it and I don't understand why they didn't sell as well as your other works.  C'est la vie.  My question:  you stated on some answers to previous questions that you thought Hashi was your favorite character and that Davies needed a better writer.  Why?  While I liked Hashi he didn't strike me as a "better" or "better written" character than Davies (I thought you took on an incredibly difficult task in that you put Morn's mind into another character and how do you differntiate the two without making them so different that we don't buy that's it's Morn's mind without making them so much the same that we don't buy them as seperate characters - I thought you pulled it off).  My favorite character was Angus and I thought the "best" written character was Nick (A better written asshole you may never find).  Is this all just personnal preference?  Or does the fact that I am not a writer mean that I am missing something?

Yes, it's all "just personal preference."  I don't think you're "missing something."  I hope I never said that I thought Hashi was my best-written character:  he's just one of my personal favorites.  And I'm very glad that you feel I did well with Davies--although that doesn't change my (entirely personal) sense of having fallen short of his needs.  At its best, story-telling is an interactive process between writer and reader; and your participation in the process is inherently valid.  If there is a lesson in here anywhere, it is probably that sometimes the impulses which drive a writer to write are so proFOUNDly personal that no one else can actually understand them.  But that doesn't matter.  As long as you get something of value out of what's written, the writer is essentially irrelevant.

(10/27/2004)

Phillip Dodson

I just finished reading all of the gradual interview questions and answers, and I don't know if there were specific rules for questions.  If there were, and this one is out of bounds or intrusive I apologize.  I was just curious, could you describe the experience of doing this gradual interview Q and A, and maybe what, if anything, you've gotten out of it for yourself?  If that's getting too personal, once again, I apologize.
Your works have deeply affected me, and came at a time when I was pretty young (14-15) and so having this opportunity to communicate with you in any way is actually pretty daunting, and I keep second guessing myself out of questions (this is the billionth I've come up with and the first I've submitted). 

The most frustrating aspect of this interview, for me, is the way that questions I've already answered keep reappearing.  This, of course, is a natural result of how long and unwieldy the interview has become.  Perhaps the new organization which my incredibly diligent webmaster has designed will help alleviate this difficulty.

In spite of the frustration, however, I keep plugging away at this because I get two very significant benefits.  First, your questions often force me to *think*--which is always good for me, even on those occasions when I would really prefer to be indolent.  And second, the interest that this interview has generated reminds me constantly that the real importance of story-telling lies in its power to create bonds between people--people who usually could not be aware of each other's existence in any other way.  Under normal circumstances, you can't know--and I can't know--that your response to what I've written connects you to literally thousands of other people around the planet (me included).  But a forum like this one allows both you and I to discover that those bonds exist, and that they have substance.

(10/27/2004)

Tracie (Furls Fire)

Hail Mr. Donaldson!!

I just wanted to say that I think your poetry is awesome.  I especailly like "Rock Poem", which reminds me of how a dear friend felt when I first met him.  He was so lost to himself.

And "The Unholy" is fantastic.  They are all wonderful!

You said: "The fact that I could only scrounge up eleven poems to post here demonstrates that I don't write much poetry. And the unevenness of the work demonstrates that I'm no poet. Still, I like the idea that visitors to my web site may occasionally read these verses. And I'm confident that no one will actually hold them against me."

My response to this:  You are full of hooey.  Hold them against you??  Good Lord, man!!  These and all the ones I've read in your books, are music!  Poetry speaks to the soul and heart of a person.  And all of your works, whether it be prose, poetry, or essays, have spoken to both my heart and soul.  

I'm a simple reader, and I don't hold to the old myth that poetry has to rhyme, or follow some rigid meter.  It's the words and the music that make it a poem.  It's the emotion and meaning it conjures it up that makes it a poem.  And, being the simple reader that I am, I would love to see more of your poetry.  "I'm no poet."  Bah!  I'm here to tell you, that is just not true.

Have a nice day. <big smile>

Peace,

Tracie 

I'm posting this, although I have no actual answer to it, because:  a) it's good for my ego <grin>; and b) I need a chance to say "Thank You!" to Tracie, who has been *very* supportive ever since I started this site.

(10/27/2004)

Art Griffin

Stephen,I always wondered what the effect of Thomas's polar opposite being drawn to the land by Foul would have upon the land. A strong individual young and vibrant who longs to be the hero,expects to be the hero. Any thoughts along this line?

I think I've already done this.  Hile Troy is as close as I'm ever likely to get to presenting the Land with Covenant's polar opposite.  Except for the part about "being drawn to the Land by Foul," he fits your criteria.

(10/28/2004)

Darrin Cole

I noticed the comment about russel crowe turning down the role of Thomas Covenant(not sure if it was serious) and Just wondered whether you or the people who might make the movie have considered asking viggo mortenson for the role, when I saw him as aragorn in Lord of the rings My first thought was they should make a thomas covenant movie with viggo as covenant he could be perfectly made up to resemble the character I and I imagine many others visualised as Thomas Covenant.

I'm not posting this information under "News" because, well, it doesn't qualify.  But one plus of my current book tour is that I had a chance to meet with the movie people who bought the "Covenant" option.  They turned out to be both very serious movie people and very serious "Covenant" fans:  people who could easily be doing other things to make money, but who want to make "Covenant" films because they love the books, and because they see a window of opportunity which didn't exist before the success of the LOTR films.  We had a rather wide-ranging discussion, during which they said that they feel they need an "A-list" director but not "A-list" actors.  In other words, they want to use much the same approach to casting that Peter Jackson used for LOTR:  good actors, but not necessarily "bankable" ones (because "stars" are too expensive).  Well, thanks to LOTR, Viggo has probably become too expensive.  But I can't see him as Covenant anyway:  he doesn't seem to have the emotional range--or the emotional extremes--to play Covenant.

(10/28/2004)

drew in nova scotia

Mr. Donaldson. Your use of language in all that I have read is amazing. I was wondering if when translated to other languages, if it loses the original flare? Some of the terms you create, like Revelstone, gravelingas, or Delsec would not mean as much to someone not familier with English. -In French, is it Saltheart, or Cour de'sel? 

Sorry, I'm not equipped to comment on any translations of my books.  I don't speak or read any language except English.

(10/28/2004)

JSmartt

Thank you for your writing. Your work is the best I have read at combining exciting, 'escapist' (in the best sense) fiction with thought-provoking, personally challenging and helpful ideas.
Is it part of your conscious intent to write material that helps your readers to think and grow as people, or is that simply something that comes from the way you personally view the world and from the stories that come to you?

This goes back to my oft-repeated assertion that I'm not a polemicist.  My conscious intent is to write the best stories I possibly can--the ones that would give me the most excitement, satisfaction, and even joy to read.  To give my stories the best possible author.  *If* what I write "helps [my] readers to think and grow as people," that is a side-effect of my attempts to serve my stories well.

As it happens, however, I believe that pretty much *all* conscientious, imaginative, and honest story-telling creates (admittedly unconscious) bonds of empathy and understanding between people.  In that sense, such story-telling by its very nature "helps ... readers to think and grow."  Therefore there is simply no *need* for the writer to consciously "challenge" or "help" the reader.  The benefits (for both writer and reader) are inherent to the system.

(10/28/2004)

Ross Edwards

Dear Mr. Donaldson,
I just finished rereading the 1st and 2nd Chronicles for the 35-40th time (maybe I'm an inattentive reader, but I always find something new, so I don't consider rereading that many times a waste), and I'm completely eager for Runes to get to Chicago! As a writer who reads, are there any books that you've reread an insane number of times? Or do you generally just move from book to book?

Also, a few months ago I offered to do free copyediting for your next books, just so I could get my greedy hands on an advance copy. Now that I've learned from the Video Interview on the site how much you despise copyeditors, thank God you turned me down!

Thanks, and take care!

Because I'm such a SLOW reader (being an English major in college and grad school trained that into me, and I can't get rid of it--although I don't actually want to), I've never re-read anything on the scale you describe.  My 5 times through LOTR is the most re-reading I've ever done.  Except possibly for Conrad's "Heart of Darkness."

(10/28/2004)

Ken Thompson

As with many, I have thoroughly enjoyed the Covenant series.  The only negative being, having first read Lord Foul's Bane when I was in High School, I was effectively ruined as far as the fantasy genre goes.  Everything else out there seemed so shallow, except maybe Dune.  Nothing I've ever picked up since has managed to hold my interest.  Your so-called "overwriting" makes for very good story telling.  It's hard to hold back when you first read through, but it's worth every minute.  I am eagerly anticipating the new books as I may for the first time in many years have book that I can really sink my teeth into.

Questions:

1.  I know you've probably call "out of bounds, I haven't gone there...," but I must ask.  What on earth gave the inspiration for the Ur-viles and Waynhim?  It was fascinatingly open ended...Demondim...Viles, who were those guys.  You'll probably never ever write about that era again.  The story of the Ur-viles and Waynhim and their Würd provokes some thinking.  They are by nature perverse, in a very loose sense they remind me of good and bad laywers.  They typically aren't held in high regard, and neither are the demondim spawn!

2.  You've often spoken of your childhood in India with much discomfort, but is there anything that you've taken from there that you would characterize as positive?

Thank you!

1) I wouldn't really call your question "out of bounds."  But it does make me squirm.  In part because it may or may not imply spoilers.  And in part because there are certain kinds of subjects about which I prefer not to get too specific:  the Creator, creation myths, the Worm of the World's End, and so on.  In purely practical terms, however, I simply don't remember where the original inspiration came from.  All I remember is that the ideas started with the Waynhim and expanded from there to include ur-viles, Demondim, and Viles.

2) Well, my childhood in India played an ENORMOUS role in making me who I am today.  Is that positive?  I hope so.  Certainly I had an exotic and exciting childhood.  And very often life-threatening:  so often that as a parent I shudder to remember it.

(10/29/2004)

TOM C

Mr. Donaldson, thank you for answering my first question regarding your thoughts on the matter of fan fiction. Since receiving your response I wrote a short piece, that I shared with Kevinswatch, to illustrate my opinion on the subject of Lord Foul’s tenure on the Council of Lords. (Per your advice I made certain to include the proper disclaimers.) Though I certainly enjoyed writing the story as a fan, I felt far more satisfaction in making my point in the discussion. The concept of the Land’s most hated enemy having infiltrated the Council and befriending Kevin himself is fascinating to me and I would like to ask you about the nature of Foul’s participation. I have proposed that LF may have at times deliberately created scenarios for which he would be given the opportunity to demonstrate his loyalty and bravery to Kevin and the Council while at the same time furthering his clandestine and far reaching plans. In the scenario I created, Foul (whom I name Lord Jeroth for the sake of a less obvious label) hatches a fairly complex plot in order to do away with a certain young Lord who has drawn his ire. I liken it to using a sledgehammer to crush a cockroach. However the argument has been made that Foul may not have risked meddling or influencing events so that his deception would remain iron clad until he felt the time was ripe to spring his trap. I personally don’t believe LF could resist stirring the stew while he waited for it to cook. I realize this debate concerns subject matter that you have only hinted at in the course of telling your story and my question likely asks for a great deal of speculation on your part but I would appreciate any thoughts you may have on the subject. 

Thanks,

Tom Cummins

As I've just said, one problem here is that the subject may or may not contain spoilers.  In some cases, I don't want to discuss certain things because I have specific plans.  In others, I avoid discussion because I simply want to keep my options open.

But remember that Lord Foul has a long history of working through misdirection, subordinates, and proxies.  And remember that, in spite of his obvious delight in petty malice, there is no evidence that he has ever risked his larger plans for the sake of some smaller goal.  No, even when he appears to be at his most overt and petty, his intent is to manipulate a response which will serve his larger purposes.

(10/29/2004)

Bryan J. Flynn

Thanks for taking us back to the Land. Thanks also for this gradual interview; I find it enlightening while re-reading the series in prep for "Runes of the Earth."

I have one question:

Have you ever considered a point of view from Lord Foul and if so what would he say to the reader? I found Holt Fasner's POV well worth the wait in the Gap Series, and was curious if Lord Foul had anything to say beyond what we know.

I'm reluctant to rule anything out; but I consider it unlikely that I'll ever write anything from Lord Foul's POV.  As a character, he exists on a different order of magnitude than his opponents in the Land--or than Holt Fasner, who for all of his narcissism was as mortal as anyone else.  I suspect that I couldn't write from Lord Foul's POV without diminishing him in some way.

(10/29/2004)

David

Mr. Donaldson - Would you discuss the business aspects of being a writer? I assume each writer negotiates specific terms for each book(s) that gets published. What role does an agent play in the process? Generally, how are you compensated for writing (i.e., a royalty per book sold? does the publisher bear the cost of publishing/promoting the book, and then subtract the costs from the royalties?, etc.) My second question. In addition to the scheduled book tour for "Runes", do you expect any additional magazine and/or television coverage? I still have a copy of the "People" magazine article that came out in the early 80's/late 70’s about the “Covenant” series. 

I look forward to meeting you at the “Tattered Cover” in Denver. Thank you!

Strangely, this question didn't come up at the "Tattered Cover"....

The world has changed since I got my publishing break by sending in an unsolicited manuscript.  Nowaday editors never read unsolicited material; so an agent is a necessity.  And in the real world, the most practical way to get an agent is to first establish a track-record of some kind, for example by getting some short stories published (no agent can help you with short stories anyway).  Also referrals are good:  you want an agent whom you know to have a good reputation.

For novels, there are two main forms of publishing:  "work for hire" (where the publisher pays the author a flat fee, and--usually--owns all the rights forever) and royalty.  In both, the publisher bears all of the costs of producing, distributing, and promoting the book.  In royalty publishing, the author is paid a (negotiable) percentage of the cover price of each book sold.  However, a (negotiable) amount is paid up front as an "advance on royalties"; then the author receives no more money until the publisher has paid itself back for the advance out of the author's royalties.  The publisher's costs are *never* subtracted from the author's royalties.

Unless you're dealing with what we call a "vanity press":  a publisher that uses *your* money to produce books.  This is almost always a disaster for the author because such publishers actually have no means of distributing or promoting the book:  they make their profit directly off the author.

(10/30/2004)

Phillip Dodson

Hello Mr. Donaldson,
I used to read a lot of fantasy, but after a while (I think in part to a lack of exposure to fantasy that appealed to my intellectual side) I lost interest, and started in on some fiction.  Specifically, Conrad and Faulkner, and also JD Salinger.  However, the Covenant series always remained a part of my read and re-read selection, and I kept finding myself buying cheap second hand book copies of the first and second chronicles, whenever I am in one of those establishments.
At any rate, can you think of any ways, either broad or specific, that Faulkner's style dealing with characterization, mood or setting that you carried with you into your writing?

If you look closely, I think you'll see significant echoes of Faulkner in the way Covenant talks when he gets worked up enough to make a speech about something.  And of course the echoes of Conrad in the prose sytle of the "Covenant" books are hard to miss.

(10/30/2004)

James Kiernan

   First of all, thank you.  Your Covenant Chronicles are definitely a gift to me.  I live in New York state.  Are you coming east for any book tours?  Now a Covenant question.  It seems as if The Worm of the World's end is real.  Does this negate the creation story told by Mhoram?  I don't think so, for all cultures have different creation myths.  I also do not understand how Berek got the limb from the one tree?  How did he not wake the worm?

As I've discussed before, I see no conflict at all between the various "creation cosmologies" which are presented in the "Covenant" books.  Nor do I have any difficulty with the idea that they are all "real":  since they don't conflict with each other, they can all be true simultaneously.

But that does not imply that the world, or anything in it, is static.  I've suggested elsewhere that just because Covenant and Linden found the One Tree in an island doesn't necessarily mean that Berek also found it there.  And the fact that the Worm was "restive" when Covenant--and his white gold ring--approached doesn't necessarily mean that Berek faced similar difficulties.  Indeed, it may well be that Berek's actions *caused* the restiveness that troubled Covenant and Linden.

(10/30/2004)

Alan

why a third series?
all the way through the 1st series people died to give covenant a chance against foul and I can understand why foul came back. In the 2nd chronicles however TC is raised to the stature of pure wild magic between foul and the arch. Linden then creates a new staff of law. this staff is created by the pinicle of the urvile law (vain whose purpose is greatly to be desired) and the elohim, beings of pure earth power. I fail to see how foul can come back. could you please explain.

puzzled of UK

I'm tempted to say, Read the book and find out.  But that might miss the point of your question.  How is it possible for Lord Foul to recover his vitality?  My attitude is, How is it possible for him *not* to recover his vitality?  Of course, there are some practical points covered in "The Runes of the Earth" that I don't want to mention here.  But the story of the "Covenant" books so far describes a couple of (I believe) temporary solutions to what we might call "the problem of evil."  And as long as those solutions ("power" in the first trilogy, "surrender" in the second) are temporary, Lord Foul *must* return.  In "The Last Chronicles" my characters will be looking for a more enduring solution.  (I, of course, already know what that solution is.)

(10/30/2004)

Jerry 

Not really a question but a comment. Just bought Runes and slowly read the prolog. WOW! Thank you again. Though long, the wait has been worth it if only for the beginning.

Thanks!  That's good to hear.

(10/30/2004)

David

Dear Sir; Do you ever plan on anything good happening to Mick. He is a good guy by nature but it seems that he's always just P.O'd somebody off. He is just doing his job and wants the good guys to win but always ends up the sacrificial lamb. Give him a break for crying out loud.

I guess I disagree with some of your underlying assumptions.  It appears to me that good things happen to (and for) Brew in every book.  Of course, some--perhaps many--of those things are painful; even terribly painful.  But life is like that.  Certainly mine is; and I suspect I'm not alone.  If the journeys we all go through weren't painful, they wouldn't give us the opportunities to learn and grow that we all urgently need.

In any case, I cling to the central principle on which my stories are based:  the stories happen to those people who most desperately need them.  Through his pain, Brew has come a very long way since the beginning of "Brother."  I don't feel sorry for him, I'm proud of him.

(10/30/2004)

Peter J Purcell

I deeply appreciate your dedication to answering our questions.  It is especially impressive as you are burdened with your book tour [and we all know how much you like touring! ;-)] Thank you.

Now my question; do you angst and rewrite and proof your answer to our questions anywhere near as much as you angst and rewrite when you're writing your fiction?  If so you deserve several orders of magnitude MORE appreciation than we have given you to-date!!

Well, *angst* might be too strong a word.  But I'm a compulsive self-editor, rewriting and revising constantly.  Which is why these questions get answered so slowly (well, that, and the fact that I have so little time)--and why I carry on virtually no "ordinary" correspondence.

(10/30/2004)

Michael from Santa Fe

I've never been to an author's book tour event.  What will happen if I go to yours?  Do I have to purchase the book there, or can I bring a copy I've purchased before and have you sign it?  Will you sign copies of your other books? Do you plan to speak, or will you be sitting and signing?  Thanks for any info.

I'm sorry this hasn't been made clear.  No, you don't need to buy a book.  Yes, you can bring your own books to be signed.  Yes, I usually talk for a while before I sign.  But no matter how long it takes, I don't turn anyone away.

(10/30/2004)