Lottie
asked
Michael J. Sullivan:
Hi Michael. Are you ever surprised by how your characters are received by readers? Are there any that are way more popular than you'd expected? Or similarly, ones you feel deserve a bit more love? Or have the responses generally been as you planned or expected?
Michael J. Sullivan
Hey Lottie, thanks for the questions.
I'm surprised that anyone has read my books at all - so yeah, really shocked that my characters are so popular. I mean, I love them, but then again I "make up imaginary friends" for a living, so it stands to reason I enjoy my own creations.
With regard to someone who is more popular than I expeced . . . Raithe (from Legends of the First Empire) is more beloved than I would have thought. I knew Suri would be a big hit, and of course Minna, and I suspected that Gifford and Malcolm would get a lot of attention and they have. But a lot of people latched on to him in a way I wasn't intending. In many ways he was (at least to me) a minor character of Legends, but people have put him on a pedestal that I wasn't aiming for.
Gwen (from Riyria) is well-loved, so I don't feel she suffers on that front, but I always thought she needed more of the spotlight than she got in The Revelations, so I was really glad to give her expanded screen time in The Crown Tower, The Rose and the Thorn, and Drumindor.
The one big surprise was negative feedback about Roan. I think of her mind on the same level as Leonardo da Vinci, which is why she was credited for inventing things - but A LOT of people took issue with that. And complain that she "invents EVERYTHING" - which is a gross exaggeration. Yes, she made . . . the pocket, a hanging chair, and an arrow. but her big achievements (the wheel and steel) were mainly done because of her interactions with the dwarves. They were the ones that mastered these things, Roan just learned from them and brought that technology to humankind.
A big surprise to me is how much Robin (my wife) is loving the new characters in "The Cycle" - which I'm writing now. In many ways, that series is a love letter to my loyal fanbase (those who have read all my books rather than just one series or another). As such, it draws from A LOT of the "fan favorites" and I expected her (as she is the only one to have read any of the cycle so far), so I expected that would be where her heart was drawn, but in many ways, it's the new characters that she's enjoying the most and that makes me very happy.
I'm surprised that anyone has read my books at all - so yeah, really shocked that my characters are so popular. I mean, I love them, but then again I "make up imaginary friends" for a living, so it stands to reason I enjoy my own creations.
With regard to someone who is more popular than I expeced . . . Raithe (from Legends of the First Empire) is more beloved than I would have thought. I knew Suri would be a big hit, and of course Minna, and I suspected that Gifford and Malcolm would get a lot of attention and they have. But a lot of people latched on to him in a way I wasn't intending. In many ways he was (at least to me) a minor character of Legends, but people have put him on a pedestal that I wasn't aiming for.
Gwen (from Riyria) is well-loved, so I don't feel she suffers on that front, but I always thought she needed more of the spotlight than she got in The Revelations, so I was really glad to give her expanded screen time in The Crown Tower, The Rose and the Thorn, and Drumindor.
The one big surprise was negative feedback about Roan. I think of her mind on the same level as Leonardo da Vinci, which is why she was credited for inventing things - but A LOT of people took issue with that. And complain that she "invents EVERYTHING" - which is a gross exaggeration. Yes, she made . . . the pocket, a hanging chair, and an arrow. but her big achievements (the wheel and steel) were mainly done because of her interactions with the dwarves. They were the ones that mastered these things, Roan just learned from them and brought that technology to humankind.
A big surprise to me is how much Robin (my wife) is loving the new characters in "The Cycle" - which I'm writing now. In many ways, that series is a love letter to my loyal fanbase (those who have read all my books rather than just one series or another). As such, it draws from A LOT of the "fan favorites" and I expected her (as she is the only one to have read any of the cycle so far), so I expected that would be where her heart was drawn, but in many ways, it's the new characters that she's enjoying the most and that makes me very happy.
More Answered Questions
Mike Taylor
asked
Michael J. Sullivan:
That is so insightful. Now for the hard ones....Dragonlance by Weis and Hickman? Influential or not? Now I have to know....is Beatrice, even remotely based upon anyone you know? (your wife?) Do you identify with any one of your characters over another (please don't say Nyphron!) Thank you for the replies and your stories. Love your wife's thoughts at the end. So, so cool! Hooked.
Christomir Rackov
asked
Michael J. Sullivan:
I really like the multiple POVs in your "Legends of the First Empire" books :) But, when you have several main characters together (sometimes for a long time, like when a group of them goes on a quest - we notably had such group quests in "Age of Swords" and "Age of Legend"), then how do you choose which one of them should be the POV character at a certain point in time?
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Jun 16, 2025 11:48AM · flag