NormaCenva asked Patrick Tylee:

What is for you as a person both a reader and a writer, the most remarkable thing Frank Herbert achieved with his writings?

Patrick Tylee Herbert could peel the onion, to get through the layers of the character's psyche. He took us from the obvious external façade of what the character wanted everyone to see, into the subtle feelings and hopes, then into the fears and longing, and finally deep into their soul. Some, like Jessica or Liet Kynes, were fairly easy to transition thru. Others, like Chani, or Gurney Halleck (and later his gholla), were a more profound journey. Before I start Page One of a novel, I'm laying out the list of characters and how they will interact. It takes at least a week to just get a handful where I think their head will be at by the middle of the book. It is hard work, and Herbert could do it all day with excellence.

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