Questions for Trudi Canavan?

[Tom, Supreme Laser]

We're recording our next two authors guides this coming Tuesday. Got questions for Trudi Canavan? Ask them here! We'll ask them to her.

[Ty]

As someone who has only recently returned to reading fantasy after a couple of decades away, I was wondering which of your books would be most representative of your writing and the best place to dive into your world?

[Ty]

I'm not trying to hog all the questions here, but I was curious about your writing method. Do you start with a character, a story, or a world? Or do you perhaps just sit down in front of your computer, crack your knuckles, start typing and magic happens?

[Richard]

Do you feel like the 'hooded figure' is becoming an over-used trope in new fantasy writing?

Do you think there is an emerging preference for shorter fiction and if so, how might this impact new fantasy trilogy/epic series? Will it be harder to establish a fan base for these?

Thank-you!

[Alexander]

I've read all ten of the books you've written so far. My favorite being the "Last of the Wilds"

They all explore a similar theme of a commoner rising to the worlds greatest healer and magician. Along with gay and lesbian relationships and the violent overthrow of the established order. Is this a theme that you find yourself telling again and again because you are trying to get it right or one that you find personally compelling?

And will it carry on into your next trilogies?

[~~~N~~~]

Is it ok that I have two questions? I would ask a hundred questions if I could but I couldn't decide what I wanted to know more about out of these....

When you decided Sonea should be pregnant at the end of The High Lord, was it just to set up the next trilogy and if you hadn't planned to write a new trilogy (or at that point did you not plan to write the second trilogy?) what do you think you would have done to tie up some of the characters stories a bit more (specifically Cery)?

Are you going to do anything with other magical/supernatural creatures? Another series? Or will they make a small appearance in other books?

[Timm]

Similar to my question for Jacqueline Carey, i hear from Wikipedia that Trudi is unconventionally "appreciative of fanfiction". How does she consider it in relation to her own canonical writing? This move toward democratization of art among fan bases really interests me. It puts fans in a really intimate relationship with their favorite authors.

[Isabel]

I could probably think of many other questions, but I just stick with these two.

Were there scenes you found particulary hard to write for some reasons? What kind of scenes would that be and for what reasons, if I might ask.

And: Do you plan much before you start to write? Do you write down many details about the world and the characters or do you just keep those things in your head, but not write it down?

[Isabel]

Aaand, another question just came to me. At least it's a short one... I guess.
Do you have difficulties finding names for your books or your chapters?

[Mapleson]

As an Aussie, do you find many Americans complaining about your spelling/grammar being "wrong"?

[Trudi]

Tom wrote: "We're recording our next two authors guides this coming Tuesday. Got questions for Trudi Canavan? Ask them here! We'll ask them to her."

Hi Tom! I was going to answer the questions we didn't tackle in the interview but then I thought... maybe you'd prefer I waited until after the show has aired so people don't know which ones you asked. What do you think?

[Ty]

I don't know about Tom, but I vote to wait. I prefer surprises...unless it's one of the "Surprise! There's a maniac with a knife hiding in your closet" variety. That would be bad.

[Trudi]

Ty wrote: "I don't know about Tom, but I vote to wait. I prefer surprises...unless it's one of the "Surprise! There's a maniac with a knife hiding in your closet" variety. That would be bad."

Lol, I nearly splurted my peppermint tea over the keyboard reading that. I will wait. Or answer new & different questions to those posted before the interview!

[Tom, Supreme Laser]

Trudi Canavan wrote: "Tom wrote: "We're recording our next two authors guides this coming Tuesday. Got questions for Trudi Canavan? Ask them here! We'll ask them to her."

Hi Tom! I was going to answer the questions ..."

I agree with Ty... in all things. The show will be up on Friday morning (Saturday in Australia) so if you don't mind coming back then it would be great!!

And thanks again for talking with us, it was great fun.

[Tobias]

Since Trudi volunteered to answer further questions after the show I'll ask mine now.
It's been a few years sinde I read the Black Magician Trilogy and on top of that the german translation seemed to be done a bit poorly, so forgive me if I'm a bit fuzzy on the details.

My question is about the final confrontaion in "The High Lord" so I'll put in in spoiler tags.

(view spoiler)[
Why didn't Sonea and Akkarin use the same trick of absorbing vast amounts of magical energy from the buildings around the academy? This always bugged me and because they just didn't, Akkarin's sacrifice seemed utterly pointless to me.
(hide spoiler)]

And on another note I'll quickly share my pet peeve with an otherwise compelling trilogy.
Your use of the term "black magic" always sat wrong with me. It is my experience, especially as a player of pen & paper role-playing games, that the term "black" magic is most often associated with demons and necromancy and such. It just never felt right in the context of your story to me. Imho the much more fitting term would have been blood magic.
Was this just me, or did anyone else have that problem?

[Alexander]

It has a been a while since I read the books but I believe the prequel Magician's Apprentice explains high magic in more detail. As well as the pre-academy system which more egalitarian then the later system.

As I recall they renamed high magic to black magic to vilify it after what happened with the mad apprentice and the things they learned during the prequel.

In fact if you read the whole series you get the impression that the academy which was set up to share knowledge between magicians has actual developed into an institution that focuses magicians talents away from those skills deemed to dangerous. Like mind reading which is revealed to be a simple ability that any magician can learn.

[[deleted user]]

That's how I saw it. They call it black magic because they wanted to make it sound evil after they decided to ban it. Before then it was called higher magic, and still is outside the Allied Lands.

I think Alex's suggestion that the Guild's purpose is partially to focus magical study away from perceived-to-be dangerous areas is a good one. I guess the most remarkable thing is that it actually seems to have worked for a few centuries or so (I'm unsure what the time frame is from the mad apprentice through to Sonea's arrival).

[Trudi]

Ty wrote: "I'm not trying to hog all the questions here, but I was curious about your writing method. Do you start with a character, a story, or a world? Or do you perhaps just sit down in front of your compu..."

All three! Sometimes it's a scene or situation, out of which a character springs and a fragment of a world. Sometimes it's an idea on how to twist a common or obvious plot in a new direction. Sometimes it's a new cool way a magic system could work, or an environment that would pose challenges for humans to occupy. Often a good story comes out of shmoodging two or three ideas together.

But I can say I don't sit in front of the computer and just write. I tend to do a lot of thinking and visualising in my head first, then make notes and an outline, then put it in my 'incubator' folder and let it ferment for a few years.

[Trudi]

Alex wrote: "I've read all ten of the books you've written so far. My favorite being the "Last of the Wilds"

They all explore a similar theme of a commoner rising to the worlds greatest healer and magician. Al..."

Hmm, I think I'll have to break this down...

Commoner: if you mean that my characters aren't royalty, then mostly yes. There's something about how often lead characters are (or were) lost, deposed or bastard princes and (sometimes princesses) that irks me. It's as if we haven't grown past the fairy tale, where only royalty have adventures. Far more interesting is the ordinary person who succeeds out of determination and intelligence. But I think that's changing and why there are so many stories where the central characters are thieves and scoundrels. I might write a royal character one day, but no plans to yet.

If you mean commoner as in from the lower classes, then I'd have to point out that Auraya was from the merchant class and is even more powerful than royalty at the beginning of PotW, Tessia is from the professional class, Lilia the servant class and Lorkin, of course, was raised in the Guild so is the highest class. In my next book one of the two main characters is a rich girl. So no, I'm aiming for variety.

Healer: I do like my healers. Mostly because I like magic, and it's the most noble and useful form of magic, needed in times of peace and war. Only one of my characters could be described as 'the world's greatest' healer, though: Mirar. It's likely there'll be healers in future stories, but I'm not aiming for them to be in all my stories or always have the starring role.

Magician: heck yes!

Gay characters: In more Black Magician Trilogy sequels? Yes. In other books? Probably, since to me it feels like a more realistic world if it reflects ours, but how prominent they are really comes down to whether the story requires it. In the end, the story rules.

Violent overthrow of the established order: I can't remember where I read or heard it, but someone once summed up what a satisfying ending to a fantasy epic required was for the character and world to be changed in some fundamental way. So unless I come up with a twist on that, then yes.

[Trudi]

Obssesive Girl wrote: "Is it ok that I have two questions? I would ask a hundred questions if I could but I couldn't decide what I wanted to know more about out of these....

When you decided Sonea should be pregnant at..."

Actually - and this may seem weird - Sonea's pregnancy was a last moment decision that came out of needing the story's final wrap-up to not be too grim or tidy. I could tell that the descriptions of recovery weren't enough, and I prefer a sense that, like in reality, the story goes on. But I didn't plan to write a sequel at that point. I had a few ideas, but not enough for another trilogy. It took over half a decade for the ideas to develop into The Magician's Apprentice and the sequel.

Magical creatures? Maybe. There's something in the new series that kind of is and kind of isn't.

[Daniel Hooley]

Hi, Trudi. I have followed your works religiously since picking up the Magician's Guild way back when and i'd love if you could answer a couple of questions.

1) *Potential Traitor Queen spoiler* You dropped a lot of hints about the Igra and a potential magic vs firearms conflict at the end of The Traitor Queen yet you have stated that your new trilogy is set in a completely new world. Are there any definite plans to come back to this at any point or is it just one of those things dropped in just in case you do want to go back and expand?

2)Your magical system within Kyralia is one of my favourite ever because, though the magicians are powerful, they have very definite limits and weaknesses that make them human. What was your inspiration for the system and especially the decision to have separate types of magic (force, heat, etc)

3)*Definite Traitor Queen spoiler* The only thing I have felt to be really out of character through ten books was the relationship between Sonea and Regin. As the author, what did you feel were Sonea's motivations in Pursuing, or rather accepting, the relationship?

4) When you first published the black magician trilogy were you worried about the reaction to writing an openly gay character?

Sorry for the excess of questions, it's not often I get to ask these things of my favourite authors.

[Trudi]

Timm wrote: "Similar to my question for Jacqueline Carey, i hear from Wikipedia that Trudi is unconventionally "appreciative of fanfiction". How does she consider it in relation to her own canonical writing? Th..."

I realise I answered only half of this in the show. I don't read fanfiction and ask that fans not send me their ideas, so the relationship isn't as close as it could be. The reason are: I was advised not to in case I did something a fanfiction writer had done and they tried to sue me; and I can't help thinking that anything someone else suggests must be predictable so if lots of people told me lots of ideas I'd have nothing left to write!

[Trudi]

Isabel wrote: "Aaand, another question just came to me. At least it's a short one... I guess.
Do you have difficulties finding names for your books or your chapters?"

Books: no. Chapters: sometimes, because it has to be something that fits the events in the chapter without giving away the plot. In Age of the Five I tried not naming chapters and in the new series I'm not doing it either. While it's fun, I do wonder if people associate it with children's novels.

[Trudi]

Mapleson wrote: "As an Aussie, do you find many Americans complaining about your spelling/grammar being "wrong"?"

Lol, no! Probably because there are US, UK and Australian editions with appropriate spellings for each.

[Trudi]

Tobias wrote: "Since Trudi volunteered to answer further questions after the show I'll ask mine now.
It's been a few years sinde I read the Black Magician Trilogy and on top of that the german translation seemed ..."

(view spoiler)[You won't be surprised to know I've been asked this more than once. I even added a reference to it in a conversation between Sonea and Rothen in the beginning of The Ambassador's Mission.

There are two factors: time and it wouldn't have made any difference so I may as well torture the reader with 'what ifs'. So. Time. The Ichani had arrived. S&A could have destroyed the University but it would have taken too much time. They certainly couldn't have got to the Arena as well. And there were magicians in the University who would have died either way. Also, Akkarin thought they were strong enough. Why destroy the place you love if you don't have to?

And all in all, it wouldn't have mattered. He would have given all his strength to Sonea anyway. And she would have taken it. Neither of them knew exactly how power much the Ichani still had. Better to throw it all at them than lose some shielding the next strike.

So I could have had them run around destroying Guild buildings simply for the sake of it, but that wouldn't mess with your head as much now, would it?
(hide spoiler)]

Interesting pet peeve. In the ten years since the book was published this is the first time anyone has asked me about it.

I took the general meaning from past and existing cultures of this world, where black magic simply means evil, forbidden or secretive magic. I suspect it's more of a modern popular culture thing to narrow it down to necromancy or demon raising.

My pet peeve is the opposite, when they describe blood-letting magic as necromancy. Necro=dead body. As in 'necrophillia' which is... eww!

[Trudi]

Daniel wrote: "Hi, Trudi. I have followed your works religiously since picking up the Magician's Guild way back when and i'd love if you could answer a couple of questions."

I'm downstairs in the aircon using an iPad so forgive me if my typing is a little off...

(1) Future BMT/TST sequels

I didn't think I'd write a sequel to the Black Magician Trilogy but I did, and of course the possibility I might write more was in the back of my mind while writing it. Yet I didn't want to commit to more books either, just in case I never did come up with enough ideas for any. So everything that is there that might lead on into future books is just that: possible but not definite leads. The firearms hint comes out of my observation that civilisations are rarely static. There is always change, and Kyralia is at a level of technological development where change should be speeding up.

(2) Magic is what I most love in fantasy, but it seemed to me (back in the 80s and 90s) that it was always too mysterious and only a last resort. I set out to make it almost ordinary, more like electricity than anything sacred or profane. Characters would use it for mundane tasks like opening doors just like we use a remote control. But the casual way magicians do this only highlights their place in society, like a rich person buying something expensive on a whim.

Of course, it needed limits and some structure in the training and fight scenes, so I tried to give a sense that it did obey, sort of, the laws of physics. Like how it's easier to heat something up than cool it down.

(3) Sonea & Regin
(view spoiler)[When I split the single book that the BMT was into three they needed for each to have a 'bad guy'. Fergun and Regin were already there, but Fergun wasn't fully developed. I saw I needed them to be different kinds of bad guys. One of the differences was that one would be redeemable.

Regin was the one. Being young, he had the greatest potential for change. One of his good traits was loyalty, so the fact that he'd already had realised he'd been wrong about Sonea meant it was plausible that his loyalty would switch to her. (And the guy he was very remotely based on was kinda hot, even though I disliked him, so I'm sure that was in the back of my mind too.)
(hide spoiler)]

(4) I was a little worried. Enough to ask my agent, editors and other authors for advice. But they all said to write the books I wanted to write, and it clearly hasn't affected their popularity. I get the very occasional complaint, far outweighed by all the emails of thanks and appreciation.

[Tobias]

Trudi Canavan wrote: "Mapleson wrote: "As an Aussie, do you find many Americans complaining about your spelling/grammar being "wrong"?"

Lol, no! Probably because there are US, UK and Australian editions with appropriat..."

Thanks for the answer. I'm stil not totally conviced, though. ;p

Regarding your pet peeve: I can absolutely understand that. I would also have a problem with that. I have never come across it, though.
In all instances I have come across, necromancy always concerned itself with any combination of speaking to the dead, raising the dead, and controlling these raised dead.

[Gary]

Hello Trudi, Thank you for all of your books, I've just finished Voice of the Gods and thought it as excellent as all the other 8 books of yours I have read. I was wondering, like with the Black Magician trilogy, are you planning to write more books on the Age of the Five line. I would be interested to see what happened next. That being said, I will read whatever you write anyway as I have never been disappointed by your work, thank you again.

Gary.

[Trudi]

Hi Gary. I have no plans to write more books in that world. I deliberately left it up to the reader to decide if the epilogue would lead to a better or worse future, so I'd spoil that openness if I did write more. Some readers have suggested I go backward and do a prequel, but the trouble with prequels is you know how things are going to end up, so I'd have to think of a really good way to make up for that. Nothing has popped into my head so far.

[Paul]

Having watched the interview I had to get the Magicians' Guild but my daughter was with me and snaffled it for herself!
Sheesh, teenagers! What are they like! :(