 |
| Photo by Augusten Burroughs |
Author of:
The Warrior Heir
The Wizard Heir
Dragon Heir
The Demon King
The Exiled Queen
Author Website
The world-building in the Seven Realms series is very intricate. When you were writing the story, did you have a map drawn? (This is a sneaky way of asking if we'll ever get to see a map of your world).
The Seven Realms is a world I created for an adult high fantasy series that I never finished. While shopping The Warrior Heir, I wrote the first two volumes of a planned trilogy called The Star-Marked Warder, set in the Seven Realms. I drew a map at that time, and kept redrawing it and adding places and features as the story progressed. Maps help writers stay oriented in fictional worlds (in the real world, too--I often referred to a map of Ohio when writing the Heir Chronicles.)
I put The Star-Marked Warder aside after The Warrior Heir sold, and began writing The Dragon Heir and revising The Wizard Heir. After finishing the first three books in the Heir series, I wanted to write more books for teens, but try something different. I loved my Seven Realms world and the characters in it, so I decided to go back to that. I took two characters (Han and Raisa) back to when they were teenagers, back to when they met. And that's how the Seven Realms series came about. When the series sold to Hyperion, they hired a cartographer to redraw my lame map, and it appears on the flyleaf of the hardcover. It is also posted on my website at http://cindachima.com/Demon_King/Places.htm. You can print out a pdf of it there for reference, if your book doesn't include it (it was not included in the first printing of the paperback Demon King or most of the foreign editions.)
My ARC of The Exiled Queen didn't include a map. Neither did my finished copy of The Demon King. I'm SO happy that there is a map to reference all the places that we hear about in the book.
Which perspective was easiest for you to write, Han or Raisa? Which did you enjoy the most?
It's probably easier to write Han's perspective, because I'm used to writing from a boy's POV. I felt a certain amount of pressure with Raisa because I wanted to accomplish so much with her character. I wanted her to be strong, yet flawed enough to be realistic. Probably the most difficult task was showing the growth of Han and Raisa through the four books of the series. It's difficult enough to make sure that characters are consistent through a long series. But to achieve a believable arc of character and maturity takes the kind of planning I don't usually do.
Can you explain your writing process? Do you outline? Free-write?
I don't outline ahead of time. I wish I did. I actually blogged about plunging vs. plotting here. http://cindachima.
What do you wish more people knew about publishing?
I often hear from young and unpublished writers who have questions about publishing. That's one reason I have lots of blog posts about publishing, including this one. http://cindachima.
Without giving too much away, what can we expect in the next book in the Seven Realms series?
HUGE reveals, ruthless politics, scheming wizards, ramped up romance--the usual.
Any tactics for writer's block?
I got links for that, too, of course. One key to overcoming writer's block is to turn off that editor in your head--the one that says that everything you write is terrible, it will never work, this project is a failure like all your others. You have to be willing to write badly in order to finish a first draft. Once you have the bones down, you can always revise, but you can't revise a blank page. Often writers have difficulty getting started because they think they need to have everything figured out before they begin. You don't. Just begin. Here are two posts about Writer's Block: http://cindachima.
Since you've built such a complex world, do you think that you'll ever write a spin-off series from another character's point of view?
I love living in the Seven Realms, so there's a chance I might. I would also like to do something with The Star Marked Warder, which is a kind of sequel to the Seven Realms series. It would require some revision, but my beta readers really really seem to want me to finish it.
Thank you so much to Cinda for dropping by. Her blog and website have a wealth of knowledge about writing, and I highly recommend them.
