Interview mit Carol Berg
vom 14. Januar 2004

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As you started writing the Rai-Kirah-Books - did you already have the most part of your story in your head or did it develop itself in the process of writing?

Seyonne and Aleksander’s story developed as I wrote.  Transformation started out to be a standalone novel about an arrogant, obnoxious prince who had a great destiny, told by a man who would observe him, but have no reason to like him.  I did not really know about the demons or the Ezzarian hierarchy or even about the shapeshifting as yet.

And only after I completed the book and realized that it had become the story of a profound friendship did I start thinking about the demons and how I had not delved into their history very deeply. That got me thinking about the question of their origin, and how the Ezzarians themselves might not know their history.  Those thoughts, of course, became Revelation and Restoration.

To me, your characters in "The Books of the Rai-Kirah" were very vivid and carefully created. Many of them are the type of characters which stay in your head (e.g. Seyonne, Aleksander, Fiona and Lydia). Was it hard for you to know that you have to part with them as you finished the last book of the triology - or do you even have plans to meet with them again? 

Yes, very difficult to leave them behind. Yet, I know that I have told their story completely and that it is time to move on to another story. As of right now, the only way I would come back to their world is in a collection of short stories filling bits of the backstory. And I have no current plan to do that.

Which of your characters do you like most? One of the "old ones" or one of your new triology?

That is a very difficult question, very much like asking a mother which of her children is her favorite!  Seyonne and Aleksander sit at equal rank atop my pantheon of characters.  But believe it or not, there are characters in the new series that I love as well as these two.  Seri is perhaps my most complete female character - strong, passionate, hasty, intelligent, ferocious in her loyalties and beliefs, quick-tempered and prone to forge ahead without thinking. Poor Karon ranks right up there with my other tragic heroes and is more romantic than any of them.  D’Natheil is violent and angry, but has charm enough that I think he will grow on my readers as I got to  know him better (when I started writing this mysterious young man, I  wasn’t sure exactly what he would turn out to be either).

But from the new series, I think the two who sit beside my dear Derzhi and Ezzarian are Gerick and Paulo.  Gerick, who will appear in Guardians of the Keep and The Soul Weaver, is a complex, tragic young man whom we meet first as a ten-year-old.  And everyone who has read these books has fallen in love with Paulo, especially in Guardians.  We meet Paulo in Son of Avonar – an illiterate peasant boy with a twisted leg, who has a special fondness for horses and jack (strips of dried meat).

The world and people you created in "The Books of the Rai-Kirah" - did you let yourself be inspired by any real archetypes or are they totally the product of your own fantasy?

Every character and setting that I write has some basis in people and places that I have seen or read about.  When I write the Derzhi, I think of the Cossacks of central Asia, of the Mongols, of the Bedouin and other desert peoples of the world. 

When I write Gerick or Paulo, I think of my own teenage sons and all the other young boys I’ve known and read about.  But no character, race, or locale in my books is more than a composite of these bits and pieces I’ve gathered over the years.  I don’t set out to reproduce anyone or anyplace in particular. (Well I suppose in Son of Avonar you will see a bit of Zion Canyon National Park, a gloriously beautiful piece of canyon land in the state of Utah.)

Do you have any plans concerning novels after the third book of your new series "The Bridge of D'Arnath"?

I have several ideas in the works.  I sent off The Soul Weaver to my editor this week. I plan to take a week off, and then decide which project to work on next. I have part of a fourth D’Arnath book written, and I might finish that.  It is a standalone follow-up to the trilogy.  But I think I want to work on something new for a while. One of my ideas is set in a Renaissance-type of world where science and magic are in competition.  One is set in a post Arthurian decline. Both have central characters that appeal to me greatly.

The US-Market is very rich of fantasy novels (unfortunately the german market isn't and fantasy is not as highly regarded here as in your country...). Wasn't it difficult to become noticed as an author if there is such a great variety of authors writing in the same genre? How did you become noticed by a publisher?

Yes, it is tough to break through.  I am overwhelmed when I see the numbers of people that want to write fantasy.  I wrote for almost eight years without thinking of publication as a possibility, and I believe this stood me in good stead.  Besides being at a more mature stage of life, which I believe affects my writing A great deal, I also had time to learn a great deal about the craft of writing.

In 1999, I was very fortunate to attend a writers’ conference where the fantasy editor for Roc Books was doing a “read-and-critique” session. Eight to ten conference attendees signed up to read the first few pages of their novel for her in a group setting, and she critiqued the pages right there. Laura Anne claims to have loved Transformation from the first time she heard it.  By the end of the weekend she has asked to see it.  Three days after I send her the book, she bought it. Again, keep in mind that before I wrote Transformation, I had been writing novels for about eight years just for fun.

Covers are considered marketing decisions, and therefore, most authors at big publishers have very little input on their covers.  For me, that is probably a good thing, as visual arts are not my strength.  I can tell you whether I like something or not, and that’s about the extent of it. Sometimes my editor will ask me for suggested scenes to appear on the cover.  In the case of Song of the Beast, I was asked to comment on Aidan’s appearance in several sketches (so I made sure he was wearing approximately the right clothes.)

Can you still remember the moment when you realized that you are really an author - not only someone who likes writing but someone who could do this for a living? What was it like? Or was it not a moment, but a process which took some time?

This is a very good question.  I think it is definitely a process. But there was a moment at one of my first writers’ conferences in 1998, when I read the opening of Song of the Beast for an editor, when I knew in my heart as I read that this was better than anything I had written thus far, and that I might just have discovered what I wanted to be when I grew up! (I began writing Transformation right after this.)

In the process of writing your books - did you ever encounter a crisis, a kind of writer's block? And if you did - how did you overcome it?

I run into plot complications, such as at the end of Revelation when I had fourteen different groups all converging on the same place at the same time and I had to figure out how to work out the confrontations and the scenes that I wanted.  That was very difficult, but in such a case, I just have to sit down and make notes or lists or diagrams until I figure out where I want to go.  Then the writing comes easy.

Earlier this year I was working on a proposal for a particular publisher.  But I found that I couldn’t do it, because it just wasn’t the project I wanted to be working on at the moment.  I switched back to working on Guardians of the Keep and that was better.  So I haven’t ever been held up for very long.  I have enough projects going that I can switch to a different one if one isn’t going well.

What are the most important elements of a good fantasy novel to your opinion? Are there any authors you admire?

Characters, first of all.  Characters that are believably human, that can’t do everything, and that have enough nobility, vulnerability, and integrity that I care about them.  Good magic that works, that is not over-used, and that carries a realistic price.  A good story that pulls me along and is wholly believable in its own setting.  And I personally love beautiful language.

There are many authors I admire. Some excel at one of these elements; some excel at all of them. Mary Stewart, who wrote the Merlin books - The Crystal Cave, The Hollow Hills, The Last Enchantment - is one of my all time favorites, though she is considered mainstream or historical, rather than fantasy, as is Mary Renault, who wrote “historical” versions of the Theseus myths, as well as the Fire From Heaven and The Persian Boy, about Alexander the Great.  Roger Zelazny for his first Amber series.  Wonderful imagination.  Guy Gavriel Kaye, gorgeous writing.  Sheri Tepper for her True Game books.  JK Rowling, a master storyteller, though I want to edit her writing.

Next to your activities as an author and your family, do you have much time to read - and if the answer is yes, what are you reading at the moment?

I am dreadfully behind on my reading at the moment.  I never seem to have enough time to read all I want.  At the moment, I am reading “Bard”, one of Morgan Llewelynn’s books about Ireland.  It is wonderful.  I enjoy historical novels, mysteries, and classics in addition to fantasy and science fiction.

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