Question: Did you ever imagine that your series would run as long as it has?
Charlaine Harris: I was just glad to sell the first book. It took two years of my agent sending it out to get a bite. I never even dreamed that Sookie would be so popular?? that I would find so much to say about her and her world.
Laurell K. Hamilton: No. I had over two hundred rejections for the first Anita Blake novel. They were the nicest rejections?? with editors suggesting other publishing houses to send it to?? but they?? themselves?? couldn't figure out how to market it. When I got that first three book contract?? I remember thinking?? "east I'll get to write three of them." I actually did think I had at least ten books in Anita and her world?? but I don't think anyone can plan to write twenty-one novels in a series and still be excited about starting the twenty-second.
Did you ever dream paranormal would be this hot?
LKH: I remember being told that mixed genre didn't sell?? before the term paranormal became a genre. I was also told that no one wanted to read about vampires. More than one editor told me that particular monster was dead and gone. I thought there was life left in the old legends?? but I never saw this level of popularity coming.
CH: Yes?? even my agent didn't expect Dead Until Dark would be an easy sell?? maybe especially since my books contained a lot of humor. Vampires were pass??? and books that crossed genres (Except for yours: I think you had three or four books out when I wrote the first Sookie?? and I was so glad to discover them!) were called "vable. I could never have anticipated shelves and shelves of cross-genre books.
Does fan response play a part in your planning process?
CH: Not in the sense of changing plot direction in my novels. This is my story to tell and I have to write it the way I see it. But every now and then when reader response to a character is unexpectedly enthusiastic--or the opposite--I'll take a second look at that character to see why he/she is coming across in a way I didn't expect or anticipate.
LKH: I don't change plot direction for fan reaction either. My story my world my books my stuff my way. The only people who can change the direction of my novels are my characters. It's their life after all so if they're really insistent on a different plot then they win. I agree that reader response to a character can make me puzzle over them more but it doesn't usually change how often the character is on stage or how big their role is because weirdly if the fans are interested?? then I'm already intrigued. Best example is Edward who started out as this cold blooded assassin?? almost a bad guy?? and now he's one of Anita's best friends?? and he's a U. S. Marshal. So?? not what I had planned for him.
Have you ever had a character totally surprise you with their choices?
LKH: A lot of my characters have minds of their own. Edward went away on his own and got himself engaged to a woman with two children from her first marriage. Edward-- assassin?? ex-military?? current police officer?? taking a six-year-old to ballet lessons with all the other moms both amuses and hurts my head. Anita's love life went into a completely different direction than I'd ever anticipated. I so didn't see Anita dating this many men?? or being in love with more than one man?? and having everyone she loved okay with that.
CH: I've discovered some surprising things about my characters as I wrote them. I know that their minds are really my mind?? but sometimes it doesn't feel that way. It's like knowing a character has a secret (I'm thinking of Bill)?? and then suddenly realizing what that secret is. I was genuinely aghast. Sometimes my creative brain thinks a lot faster than my conscious brain. And it's certainly a lot more devious.
How do you keep a world with paranormal elements credible?
CH: I anchored my skewed world with real-life elements. Sookie has to pay her bills she has to do her laundry and she has family obligations. My vampires buy their clothes at the mall. My werewolf runs a surveying business. One of my fairies works in customer service at a department store. Readers seem to enjoy the fact that no matter what creature you may be there's a process of surviving that has to be gone through; but there's all these other elements that make that process so different.
LKH: I make sure any real life facts are as real and well-researched as possible. Because I'm asking people to believe in vampires wereanimals and zombies I need to make sure the guns cars and real crime are as realistic as possible. Once a reader catches me wrong in an area where they are expert they won't believe my monsters are real. But I have found if I'm right on the hard facts even experts will let me fudge or take that next fantastic leap because I've proven myself by laying the foundation of reality to make my leap into the unknown.
Do people ever expect you to be your characters?
LKH: If I had known people would get confused between fiction and fact I'd have made Anita look less like me?? but it just never occurred to me that there would be a problem. I've had fans want to know what weapons I'm carrying. They assume all the men are based on real people?? and they aren't. I don't actually base characters on real people. Since I can't lighten Anita's hair?? I've lightened my own and I get less fan confusion. I've had fans ask for the phone numbers of the men and get angry when I tried to explain I couldn't give them the contact info for a fic"al character.
CH: Ha! Well?? I'm much older and rounder than Sookie?? so I'm definitely no stand-in for Sookie. In fact?? readers who have never met me before are usually astonished when they meet me; so were the actors on True Blood. Some of my readers who came to me after watching True Blood get the characters in the books sort of conflated with the actors who play them on television. In their minds?? Alexander Skarsgard IS Eric?? Stephen Moyer IS Bill. It can lead to some confusing questions when I'm at signings.
What scenes in your novels are the most fun for you to write? Action? Sex? Relationship drama?
CH: All of those are fun?? depending on the outcome! But I have to say?? I love to write a good fight scene. I find the "nship" scenes a challenge. When people talk about their relationships it's a messy conversation. People aren't too articulate about their innermost feelings. And such conversations don't proceed in a linear way but jag back and forth as each speaker voices the issues that are most important to that person. So it's hard to make sound realistic coherent and yet condense such a conversation enough to make it tolerable.
LKH: It depends on my mood. Sometimes a good fight scene can be very therapeutic and give a productive outlet for negative emotions. The more people involved in the action the more complex the fight choreography can become and that can be a challenge and slow down the emotional content for me. I enjoy doing sex scenes but they are a different kind of challenge. On a day when I can get in the mood for the scene theyre great but on a day when real life interferes its a bit like real sex. Its hard to concentrate on it when you have too many interruptions from the non-sexy side of your life. I guess thats true of all writing though?? too many interruptions disrupt the process in general. The biggest challenge for the sex scen