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Today, I have an interview with L. Jagi Lamplighter, author of the Prospero's Daughter trilogy from Tor. Her newest book is Prospero Regained, the third volume in the trilogy. I'll let L. Jagi Lamplighter explain about her books in the interview, so read that and then check out her books!
Interview
First off, why don't you introduce yourself and tell us a little bit about the new book!
Greetings, I am L. Jagi Lamplighter, author and wife of an author (sf/fantasy author John C. Wright. Ours is a very writerly house . . . meaning, in translation, that it is rather messy and not quite anchored in the world of order and chores, which I am sure must be a trial to my children’s friends when they visit--not to mention my children. There is a soccer-ball herding rabbit, though. That makes up for a lot.)
My newest book is Prospero Regained, the final volume of the Prospero’s Daughter trilogy. The series is a sequel to Shakespeare’s Tempest, set in the modern day, with magic, mystery, and humor. In the first volume, Prospero Lost, Miranda discovers her father, the Dread Magician Prospero, is missing. She and her company detective, Mab--an airy spirit in human form, set out to find him. In the second volume, Prospero In Hell, she gathers all her half-brothers and sister, born in the five hundred years since the end of The Tempest, and they go to Hell to rescue their father.
In the third and final volume, Prospero Regained, Miranda and her family must cross Hell to rescue her father, who is due to be executed by demons on Twelfth Night. (Hmm . . . you know, I never noticed the additional Shakespeare reference there. I picked Twelfth Night because I’ve always thought it was rather cool.) Along the way, they must face their worst fears, sacrifice some of their dearest possessions, and learn to act together like a family again. It is a book about forgiveness and redemption and really wanting a piece of cheese. There is also a hot elf.
When did the writing bug bite? Was there someone or something that got you started down that road?
So far as I can recall, I always made up stories. I started my first novel at the age of twelve. I never got very far, a chapter or two. It was a story about a wizard school on a fantasy world. Unlike both Earthsea and Harry Potter, the main characters were the teachers, not the students. (I was strongly influenced by Anne McCaffrey’s Pern at that age.)
However, back then I did not want to be a writer, which I thought a rather shaky proposition. I wanted to be either an animal trainer or a marine scientist. It was not until I was well into college that the idea of actually becoming a writer hit me. It finally occurred to me that if I did not become a writer, my daydreams--all the stories I constantly made up--would just be a crutch, something that kept me from my real life. But if I became a writer, then all that time I spent making up stories became raw material, a tool of my trade.
I loved writing, but I was not good at nearly every aspect of it. But I sat myself down and went to work, learning each separate aspect of the trade one painstaking moment at a time. It took me about twenty-five years to get published . . . which shows that perseverance actually does pay off. Who would have thought it?
Why this genre? What is it about it that excites you and fires your imagination enough to sit down a write?
I have a long essay on this subject that has been well received wherever it has been posted. It’s called "All About The Wonder or Why I Write Fantasy." You can see it here: http://www.ljagilamplighter.com/about/why-i-write-fantasy/.
The gist of the matter is: the wonder of it. If mystery is the genre of curiosity, romance is the genre of passion, and horror is the genre of fear, then fantasy is the genre of wonder.
So what is wonder? It is that moment when we realize that there is something greater than ourselves. Something more wonderful, more fantastic, more astonishing that what we had expected. That moment when the sky opens, and we see that the universe is infinitely bigger than we had thought.
I love that!
As a fantasy author, I not only can explore wonder, I can share it with others. (I was really pleased when my first novel came out with the quote: “You hold in your hand a book of wonders” on the back cover. I was also amused, as the quote was from my husband.)
What kind of writer are you--organic, an outliner, or some combination of both?
First, may I take a moment to thank you for saying “organic” rather than “pantser” which is a term I particularly dislike. I try not to get worked up about terms for things . . . but I cannot help note that this particular term was invented by an outliner.
I do believe there are writers who write “by the seat of their pants,” but I do not feel that describes what I do at all. And I have spoken to other organic writers who describe something very similar to what I experience.
That being said . . . I love outlining. I admire outliners terribly. But I cannot write from an outline. Since the reason I write fantasy is for the wonder, I find my writing is fresher if I am inventing the story anew as I write it. If I plan too far ahead, my imagination just stops. It’s like the muses go on strike. They leave the megaphone that they use to send me ideas and go out for coffee. (They probably go hang out with the mermaids who run Starbucks.)
Many other fine authors feel this way. Terry Practhett put it really beautifully. He described writing as a mist-filled valley. You can see the peaks and the treetops, but you cannot discover the fascinating characters and places within the mist until you head down there. (In defense of outlining, I know a lovely outliner who says she makes these wonderful, mist-filled journeys during the outlining process.)
There’s a delightful story about Roger Zelazny on the subject that I once her Jack Chalker tell at a convention. He said that Zelazny came to him once and announced, with delight, that he had gotten a contract for a mystery series. Chalker exclaimed, “Roger, you can’t write a mystery. Writing mysteries requires an outline!” To which Zelazny replied, “If I knew what was going to happen ahead of time, why would I want to write the book?” Chalker shook his head, amused, and concluded. “Roger had to give the money back.”
So, you might be wondering, if it doesn’t feel like writing by the seat of my pants what does it feel like? It feels like taking dictation. As if the Muse has a plan for the book and if I deviate from the plan, the story will dry up and go away. My job is to sit down and listen. (When I remember, I pray first and then listen. ;-) Then, to write what comes to me while being as true to what I hear as possible.
I know no other way of explaining it.
What's the "big, cool idea" behind this book? What makes it different and unique?
Prospero Regained has a number of big ideas. It deals with the nature of free will. It deals with the question of whether a soul can escape damnation once it has been consigned to Hell. It deals with sacrifice and forgiveness.
But it is also a book of magic and wonder. When writing the series, I tried to stick to the maxim: never do by ordinary means anything that could be done by magic. When I was a kid, my big complaint about fantasy stories was that they just did not have enough magic in them. This book does not suffer from that phenomena.
Most of all, however, it is a book about family . . . about the pains and troubles of family but also the joys and rewards. It is about being there for those you love, even when you really think that your efforts won’t be appreciated.
It’s about love and never giving up.
What's the best part of the writing/publishing process for you? What's the worst?
Ah. Finally, an easy question. The worst part, for me, is the writing . . . getting the words and ideas down for the first time. The best part is revising and editing. I love reworking the raw ideas to make them come alive. Everything else is in between.
************************************************
L. Jagi Lamplighter’s most recent release, Prospero Regained, is the stunning conclusion of the critically acclaimed Prospero’s Daughter series.
She is also one of the editors of the Bad Ass Fairies Anthology series. When not writing, she reverts to her secret identity as an at-home mother in Centreville, Virginia, where she lives with her husband, author John C. Wright, and their four children, Orville, Ping-Ping, Roland Wilbur, and Justinian Oberon.
Website: http://www.ljagilamplighter.com/
Blog: http://arhyalon.livejournal.com
Interview
First off, why don't you introduce yourself and tell us a little bit about the new book!
Greetings, I am L. Jagi Lamplighter, author and wife of an author (sf/fantasy author John C. Wright. Ours is a very writerly house . . . meaning, in translation, that it is rather messy and not quite anchored in the world of order and chores, which I am sure must be a trial to my children’s friends when they visit--not to mention my children. There is a soccer-ball herding rabbit, though. That makes up for a lot.)
My newest book is Prospero Regained, the final volume of the Prospero’s Daughter trilogy. The series is a sequel to Shakespeare’s Tempest, set in the modern day, with magic, mystery, and humor. In the first volume, Prospero Lost, Miranda discovers her father, the Dread Magician Prospero, is missing. She and her company detective, Mab--an airy spirit in human form, set out to find him. In the second volume, Prospero In Hell, she gathers all her half-brothers and sister, born in the five hundred years since the end of The Tempest, and they go to Hell to rescue their father.
In the third and final volume, Prospero Regained, Miranda and her family must cross Hell to rescue her father, who is due to be executed by demons on Twelfth Night. (Hmm . . . you know, I never noticed the additional Shakespeare reference there. I picked Twelfth Night because I’ve always thought it was rather cool.) Along the way, they must face their worst fears, sacrifice some of their dearest possessions, and learn to act together like a family again. It is a book about forgiveness and redemption and really wanting a piece of cheese. There is also a hot elf.
When did the writing bug bite? Was there someone or something that got you started down that road?
So far as I can recall, I always made up stories. I started my first novel at the age of twelve. I never got very far, a chapter or two. It was a story about a wizard school on a fantasy world. Unlike both Earthsea and Harry Potter, the main characters were the teachers, not the students. (I was strongly influenced by Anne McCaffrey’s Pern at that age.)
However, back then I did not want to be a writer, which I thought a rather shaky proposition. I wanted to be either an animal trainer or a marine scientist. It was not until I was well into college that the idea of actually becoming a writer hit me. It finally occurred to me that if I did not become a writer, my daydreams--all the stories I constantly made up--would just be a crutch, something that kept me from my real life. But if I became a writer, then all that time I spent making up stories became raw material, a tool of my trade.
I loved writing, but I was not good at nearly every aspect of it. But I sat myself down and went to work, learning each separate aspect of the trade one painstaking moment at a time. It took me about twenty-five years to get published . . . which shows that perseverance actually does pay off. Who would have thought it?
Why this genre? What is it about it that excites you and fires your imagination enough to sit down a write?
I have a long essay on this subject that has been well received wherever it has been posted. It’s called "All About The Wonder or Why I Write Fantasy." You can see it here: http://www.ljagilamplighter.com/about/why-i-write-fantasy/.
The gist of the matter is: the wonder of it. If mystery is the genre of curiosity, romance is the genre of passion, and horror is the genre of fear, then fantasy is the genre of wonder.
So what is wonder? It is that moment when we realize that there is something greater than ourselves. Something more wonderful, more fantastic, more astonishing that what we had expected. That moment when the sky opens, and we see that the universe is infinitely bigger than we had thought.
I love that!
As a fantasy author, I not only can explore wonder, I can share it with others. (I was really pleased when my first novel came out with the quote: “You hold in your hand a book of wonders” on the back cover. I was also amused, as the quote was from my husband.)
What kind of writer are you--organic, an outliner, or some combination of both?
First, may I take a moment to thank you for saying “organic” rather than “pantser” which is a term I particularly dislike. I try not to get worked up about terms for things . . . but I cannot help note that this particular term was invented by an outliner.
I do believe there are writers who write “by the seat of their pants,” but I do not feel that describes what I do at all. And I have spoken to other organic writers who describe something very similar to what I experience.
That being said . . . I love outlining. I admire outliners terribly. But I cannot write from an outline. Since the reason I write fantasy is for the wonder, I find my writing is fresher if I am inventing the story anew as I write it. If I plan too far ahead, my imagination just stops. It’s like the muses go on strike. They leave the megaphone that they use to send me ideas and go out for coffee. (They probably go hang out with the mermaids who run Starbucks.)
Many other fine authors feel this way. Terry Practhett put it really beautifully. He described writing as a mist-filled valley. You can see the peaks and the treetops, but you cannot discover the fascinating characters and places within the mist until you head down there. (In defense of outlining, I know a lovely outliner who says she makes these wonderful, mist-filled journeys during the outlining process.)
There’s a delightful story about Roger Zelazny on the subject that I once her Jack Chalker tell at a convention. He said that Zelazny came to him once and announced, with delight, that he had gotten a contract for a mystery series. Chalker exclaimed, “Roger, you can’t write a mystery. Writing mysteries requires an outline!” To which Zelazny replied, “If I knew what was going to happen ahead of time, why would I want to write the book?” Chalker shook his head, amused, and concluded. “Roger had to give the money back.”
So, you might be wondering, if it doesn’t feel like writing by the seat of my pants what does it feel like? It feels like taking dictation. As if the Muse has a plan for the book and if I deviate from the plan, the story will dry up and go away. My job is to sit down and listen. (When I remember, I pray first and then listen. ;-) Then, to write what comes to me while being as true to what I hear as possible.
I know no other way of explaining it.
What's the "big, cool idea" behind this book? What makes it different and unique?
Prospero Regained has a number of big ideas. It deals with the nature of free will. It deals with the question of whether a soul can escape damnation once it has been consigned to Hell. It deals with sacrifice and forgiveness.
But it is also a book of magic and wonder. When writing the series, I tried to stick to the maxim: never do by ordinary means anything that could be done by magic. When I was a kid, my big complaint about fantasy stories was that they just did not have enough magic in them. This book does not suffer from that phenomena.
Most of all, however, it is a book about family . . . about the pains and troubles of family but also the joys and rewards. It is about being there for those you love, even when you really think that your efforts won’t be appreciated.
It’s about love and never giving up.
What's the best part of the writing/publishing process for you? What's the worst?
Ah. Finally, an easy question. The worst part, for me, is the writing . . . getting the words and ideas down for the first time. The best part is revising and editing. I love reworking the raw ideas to make them come alive. Everything else is in between.
************************************************
L. Jagi Lamplighter’s most recent release, Prospero Regained, is the stunning conclusion of the critically acclaimed Prospero’s Daughter series.
She is also one of the editors of the Bad Ass Fairies Anthology series. When not writing, she reverts to her secret identity as an at-home mother in Centreville, Virginia, where she lives with her husband, author John C. Wright, and their four children, Orville, Ping-Ping, Roland Wilbur, and Justinian Oberon.
Website: http://www.ljagilamplighter.com/
Blog: http://arhyalon.livejournal.com
