June 04, 2009 John Ottinger III, TOR interview

[D Pope]

http://www.tor.com/blogs/2009/06/interv ... j-anderson

Interview: Kevin J. Anderson
John Ottinger III
Kevin J. Anderson is the author of a multitude of spin-off novels for shared world
universes, the co-author with Brian Herbert of the sequels to Frank Herbert’s
original Dune novels, the author of the Nebula-award nominated Assemblers of
Infinity, and more recently of a new epic fantasy series from Orbit entitled Terra
Incognita.




John Ottinger III: What led you to begin writing traditional fantasy after so
many years of writing SF?

Kevin J. Anderson: I have always been a fan of both genres, interchangeably
in fact. I have a degree in physics and astronomy, with a minor in Russian
History. I love big epic stories with lots of characters and lots of drama;
whether it’s a fantasy setting or a science fiction setting is, to me, secondary
to the big saga itself. Dune is an SF novel, but it feels structurally like a big
epic fantasy, with Dukes and Barons and Counts and an Emperor, with politics
and intrigue set on various planets rather than in separate fiefs or kingdoms.
My Saga of Seven Suns is science fiction, but it is modeled on ambitious fantasy
series. Terra Incognita looks more traditionally like a fantasy, with Kings and
castles, sailing ships and sea monsters (it’s even got maps at the beginning!),
but I don’t approach the story any differently.
It’s about the plot and the characters, not the stage dressing.




JOIII: You recently wrote Enemies & Allies, a novel about the first meeting
of Batman and Superman in the 1950s. How did you translate graphic/comic
book fiction which relies so heavily on artwork and succinct dialogue into the
long form of a novel?

KJA: The previous year I also wrote The Last Days of Krypton, the story of
the destruction of Superman’s planet, and I treated it as a big epic SF novel
along the lines of Last Days of Pompeii. That novel was definitely along the
lines of my usual epic storytelling. Enemies & Allies, though, is a much more
intimate story about heroes that are well known to everyone. The challenge
was to make icons (that you see on a comic page) into real characters. And
that’s the advantage of a novel over the comics page, because you can really
get into the thoughts, emotions, and backstory of Bruce Wayne, Clark Kent,
Lois Lane, and even the villain Lex Luthor. I have more freedom with dialog,
and I had to downplay the superpowers and fight scenes to flesh out the real
drama and character interaction. The trick is to make it FEEL like the heroes
and stories the reader expects, while also delivering something more—
an adult in-depth novel about characters familiar from the comics page.




JOIII: One of the things you are known for besides writing is your
community-mindedness. You send both a print and email newsletter to fans,
maintain forums, do YouTube style videos, and generally make yourself
available to your readers. Where does this focus on community building
come from, and what added benefit has it had for your career, if any?

KJA: A writer is nothing without readers, and I try to pay attention to—and
show my appreciation for—the many fans who have made me a successful
author and who have allowed me to pursue this career that I love. One of my
biggest advantages as a writer is that I am prolific and I write several
different types of books; therefore, it is worthwhile for me to encourage the
fans of, say, my Star Wars novels to check out The Saga of Seven Suns, or for
the Dune readers to look at Terra Incognita. Some of the Dune fans might not
be interested in Batman and Superman, but they may have friends who would
like to pick up Enemies and Allies. I want to make sure they know about the
things I’m working on. I have three MySpace pages and nearly 35,000 friends
signed up there; I have a Facebook page, a Twitter account, an official Fan
Club with about 5500 members in more than 20 countries, and there are fan
groups on various social networking sites. I answer all my fan mail; Rebecca
and I do numerous convention appearances, book signings, library talks,
school talks. Last year we donated over 2000 signed hardcovers to charity
auctions, libraries, and community organizations. You can’t just hide in a
hole and write books; I believe you need to give something back.




JOIII: Your Dune novels have often been vilified by Frank Herbert purists.
As a result, I’m sure you have had a number of irate emails, letters, or blog
comments. How do you handle such negative reactions, and what advice do
you have for writers who encounter the same?

KJA: Frank Herbert was a genius, one of the most brilliant writers ever to
work in science fiction, and Dune is (in my opinion) the greatest SF novel
ever. Those are awfully big shoes to fill, and even though Brian and I are
putting forth all of our effort to make our novels worthy of the label, it’s
not surprising that we can’t meet every reader’s expectations. A bit of a
reality check is in order, however. Don’t misconstrue a lot of negative
postings to mean there are hordes of angry purists. For example, for Paul of
Dune, one guy posted attacking comments to 40 out of 42 five-star reviews
on amazon, the same guy attacked 24 out of 24 four-star reviews, the same
guy runs a hate site, and the *same guy* maintains a Twitter feed devoted
solely to bashing our stuff. And when somebody posts with great vehemence
how much they hated book after book after book, how can you take them
seriously? Anyone who keeps reading the novels for the sole purpose of
attacking them just has an axe to grind and is clearly biased.

In reality, our Dune books have garnered a great deal of critical acclaim,
nominated or won many awards, received starred reviews in Publisher’s
Weekly, were included on numerous Best of the Year lists, one was named
as a New York Times notable book, another was picked as the Favorite Book
of the Year by the members of the Science Fiction Book Club by the largest
margin in the history of the award. We have received thousands of fan letters
since we’ve begun writing them, and we get 24 positive letters for every
negative one—I can live with a 96% approval rating.

My advice to other writers who face similar situations (and many of them
have spoken to me) is not to let a couple of sour notes detract from the
vast majority of satisfied readers.




JOIII: You are a prolific writer who has been writing for many years.
What tips would you give to up-and-comers within the genre?

KJA: It’s awfully hard to break in as a writer at any time. When I broke in
during the late 1980s, early 1990s, pundits were moaning that it was the
end of publishing and the death of science fiction. Hasn’t happened. At any
period, persistence and determination are a requirement. I am prolific
because I love to write. I work on my novels seven days a week, 365 days a
year. Each manuscript goes through 6-12 edits, and I don’t send it off until
I am satisfied it’s as polished as it can possibly be. Writing, and promoting,
is a long-term effort. Don’t expect to publish one book and be a star.




JOIII: Author Rebecca Moesta and you are husband and wife, and have
collaborated on several novels. How has that worked? How have you been
able to keep the husband and wife team separate from the professional team?
Do you have an advice for writer who are married or in committed relationships
that might be thinking about collaborating together?

KJA: We’ve been married almost nineteen years, and we’ve done close to
30 novels together. Even when Rebecca isn’t specifically collaborating on a
book with me, she is still working on it, brainstorming with me, serving as
one of my first test readers and doing the final copy edit. Since she’s a writer,
too, we love to talk about our projects, work out plot problems, brainstorming,
and she’s also the business manager. We are together more than most couples,
because we spend all day together, we travel together, we appear together at
conventions and workshops. We know how to listen to each other and accept
each other’s ideas. It’s a matter of how personalities mesh (and there’s always
a guest room if we need to decompress!)




JOIII: What are the distinctive elements of the Terra Incognita series?
What do you think makes it stand out from other “secondary world” fiction?

KJA: For one thing, in a fantasy, you won’t find bearded wizards with
pyrotechnic spells, or dragons, or elves or dwarves. You won’t find any
enchanted swords, or a monolithic evil force that threatens to destroy all
Good in the world. Though my novels take place in a world of my own imagining,
Terra Incognita is more mainstream than outright fantasy, with only a hint
of magic. Yes, I have sea serpents and mysterious unexplored lands, amazing
legends that may or may not be true. At its core, these books are about sailing
ships and brave explorers, along with a terrible religious war like our Crusades.
And while I may have a sea monster or two, they are natural creatures,
not magical monsters.

Some parts of The Edge of the World are very dark and tragic, as well as
very passionate. I’m dealing with clashes of civilizations, intolerance, and
fanaticism—as well as genuine faith. The story is certainly something that
occurs all too often in real history: a series of stupid actions on both sides
that have grave consequences, ratcheting up the violence and hatred beyond
any possibility of a peaceful resolution. But the story also parallels our Age of
Discovery, a time of hope and wonder, when people had a sense that there
were marvelous things Out There just waiting to be found if only a sea captain
sailed far enough and survived enough perils.




JOIII: How did the CD/Novel collaboration come about for the
Terra Incognita series?

KJA: Since I began writing my first stories, I have always been influenced by
music, especially the genre known as “progressive rock” (Rush, Kansas,
Styx, the Alan Parsons Project, Pink Floyd, Dream Theater, Tool, A Perfect
Circle, Lana Lane, Asia).

However, not only were many of my stories inspired by music, but a lot of
the music I enjoyed was inspired by science fiction and fantasy. Clearly, the
audiences have a lot in common.

I had become friends with Shawn Gordon, who owns the record label
ProgRock Records, and we discussed the possibility of tying together a novel
and CD as a sort of synergistic, crossover project. In 2007, as I began work
on Terra Incognita, I suggested to Shawn that this might be the perfect
subject for such a creative endeavor—an epic novel and an epic CD, written
by the same author. Shawn immediately saw the potential, and brought
aboard accomplished keyboardist/composer Erik Norlander (Rocket
Scientists) to write the music and produce the recordings (he was also our
keyboardist). I had enjoyed Erik’s solo work, and I particularly loved the
music and vocals of his wife Lana Lane (“the Queen of Symphonic Rock”).

For our crossover album, I adapted a storyline that I thought could best be
enhanced in music format. I worked with Rebecca to write the lyrics to all
the songs. Erik wrote the music, Lana sang the demos, and the whole thing
started to come together.

It turns out that a lot of the singers and musicians I had admired for years
were indeed fans of SF/F and often fans of my novels. We put together a
“supergroup” of some of the top names in the business, creating a band
called Roswell Six. Vocals by James LaBrie (Dream Theater), Michael Sadler
(ex-Saga), John Payne (Asia feat. John Payne) and Lana Lane. David Ragsdale
(the violinist from Kansas) came aboard, along with Martin Orford (from IQ,
who came out of retirement to perform on our CD), Gary Wehrkamp
(guitarist, Shadow Gallery), Kurt Barabas (bassist, Under the Sun), Chris
Brown (guitarist, Ghost Circus), Chris Quirarte (drummer, Prymary), and
Mike Alvarez (cello).




JOIII: What has been your favorite part about working in this new medium
of music and lyrics?

KJA: It’s not so much the new medium, but the synergy of having the music
and words, the enormous talent we brought together in this supergroup, and
how much energy and creativity that everybody poured into the CD to make
the universe come alive. Writing lyrics is very different from doing a
600-page novel, like a brief slide show instead of a ten-hour miniseries.
Every line, every word has to pack a specific punch, BUT you also rely on the
power of the vocalist and the melody and the various musical performances.
It’s a fully three-dimensional experience. We’ve got sample tracks of the
songs up at http://www.myspace.com/roswellsix.




JTOIII: You have worked in several different universes, Star Wars, the DC
Comics’ universe, Dune, and your own original worlds. Are there any you
have preferred over the others? Why?

KJA: Dune has always had a special place in my heart and in my imagination,
and I love working with Brian. Those novels have been ambitious and
exhilarating, and I continue to find them challenging. Star Wars really launched
my career and it was my first experience working in an established universe;
it taught me how to deliver something the fans would love, and it gave me a
chance to make a living as a die-hard fan. And as a life-long comics fan,
getting to work with DC and bring alive the story of the destruction of Krypton,
or the first meeting of Batman and Superman in the 1950s...how cool is that?
Of course, being the person in charge of an original universe, writing books
of my own creation and watching the fans of Dune, Star Wars, comics, Star
Trek, etc. pick up my original books is quite a thrill.

So, the answer is—fortunately, I am prolific so I don’t have to choose one
over the others. I can write them all and love every minute of it.




JOIII: Your works are widely varied in content, but are there any themes
you find yourself coming back to you repeatedly? Why do you think these
themes crop up in your work?

KJA: I have never had patience for writers who hammer the reader over
the head with an overpowering Theme. Frank Herbert described the same
thing when he was writing Dune, that he had gotten so engrossed in the
message that the story had taken a back seat; then he rewrote the novel to
put things in the proper perspective. The themes come out of my own innate
beliefs, but I try to make them subtle and in the background. Over the course
of the Saga of Seven Suns, I added some rather clear views on Bush policies
and the war in Iraq; the Terra Incognita novels have a strong underlying
message of how people use the mantle of religion as an excuse to commit
inhuman acts. But the theme comes as a natural consequence of the story;
I don’t consider myself a didactic writer or a proselytizer.




JOIII: When you take time to read for yourself, what are you reading?
And which of those would your recommend to the readers who are your fans?

KJA: In science fiction, I also like to read big epic space operas and big
epic fantasies—I like Peter F.Hamilton, George R. R. Martin, Orson Scott
Card, Dan Simmons, Greg Bear, and Frank Herbert of course. I also read a
lot outside the genre, from Larry McMurtry, Mario Puzo, James Clavell, Dean
Koontz, Martin Cruz Smith, and Stephen King.



...

[Serkanner]

Talking about the Chigger in this interview always gets me LMAO

[D Pope]

I came close to posting 'comments' on a lot of these, you better believe the Chig didn't leave so obvious a challenge unmet.

Everyone please let me know if i've failed to provide a link!

[SandChigger]

Ottinger is a complete, butt-sucking shill.

[TheDukester]

In reality, our Dune books have garnered a great deal of critical acclaim, nominated or won many awards, received starred reviews in Publisher’s Weekly, were included on numerous Best of the Year lists, one was named as a New York Times notable book, another was picked as the Favorite Book of the Year by the members of the Science Fiction Book Club by the largest margin in the history of the award. We have received thousands of fan letters since we’ve begun writing them, and we get 24 positive letters for every negative one—I can live with a 96% approval rating.

Amazingly, everything in this passage is a flat-out lie. Especially the parts about the awards and the letters.