Hyperstorm
New Member
Hello People
Heres another Q&A with one of my favourite author James Rollins/James Clemens
1] This year you will have a short story coming out in the book "Thriller" organized by the thrillerfest organization, could you tell us as to how all of this came into place & something about your own short story.
Jim: It came about because I was invited to submit a story and when such an anthology is being edited by James Patterson and contains a host of leading thriller writers, how could I refuse? The story is titled Kowalski's in Love. And for those who don't remember him, he was the foul-mouthed seaman from Ice Hunt (which by the way struck #1 on Germany's Amazon.com site and has been holding there for the past 3 days). Well, in this short story, Kowalski is stranded on an island with a Sigma operative along with a jungle full of carnivorous man-eaters. Oh, and the island is set to blow up in thirty-two minutes.
2] You write 2 books an year on an average how do you cope with the stress of deadlines & rewrites & which book do you choose to write first[the rollins or the Clemens one] i mean do you have a preference or is it randomly chosen.
Jim: I actually feel extremely lucky to be able to write in two genres. I find by alternating between the thrillers and the fantasies that it keeps me fresh as a writer, staves off staleness. As to which I write first, it's not a choice since Day One when I wrote Subterranean, I've simply alternated between the two: a thriller, then fantasy, then back to thriller, then onto the next fantasy. And while I'd like to say I write two books a year, it's more like two books every 14-15 months. I can't quite fit two books into a single year.
3] After writing your new short story, do u feel that your fans could get a glimpse of your earlier short stories/new stories (in the form of a collection) or are they still buried forever?
Jim: Oh, trust me, I will take those early works to the grave clutched tightly in my dead, moldering fingers.
Me: And i thought we were finally going to read them
4] Where do you find the inspiration for your stories, thrillers as well as fantasy(ie: nature, events, people, etc.)? & if so yes then could please share one life experience that influenced you in writing a book or a part of it.
Jim: All authors hate this question. Where do you get your ideas? I think we're afraid that if we look too closely at the process it will slip between our fingers and escape us. For me, most of my inspiration comes from reading: fiction, nonfiction, magazine articles, etc. I have what I call my plot box, where I toss in any story ideas or exotic locales or bits of historical/mythological mystery that I come across or that are sent to me. And out of that fermenting, cobweb-filled box, stories arise. Some die on the vine, some are thrown back in because they're too small, some scare the hell out of me, and some just seem to strike the right nerve then I'm ready to flesh it out and write it.
5] How is your daily writing schedule,Do you write best in the morning or evening? or do you have a schedule like a certain mr. Dan Brown who gets up at 4:30 & performs shirsasan[a yoga posture] before writing
Jim: Hmm!! yoga maybe THAT is Dan Brown's secret. For me, my routine is pretty set. I get up and the first thing I do is write (don't eat breakfast, don't read my email). I write for about 3 hours, then I take a couple hours off to catch up on Life 101 things (banking, shopping, lunch, and yes, email), then back to writing for another 3 hours. Then I print up the day's work and hand-edit it at night. That's pretty much my typical day.
6] It has been noted by many fans that You and Matthew Reilly often write books with similar settings either storywise or locationwise[for eg. Both Amazonia[JR] & Temple[MR] had the same setting[amazonian rainforests], both Icehunt[JR] & Icestation[MR] were kind of similar in the plot aspect & both of your newest books MOB & 7AW/7DW[MR] had the sama plot aspect involving the 7 wonders of the ancient world. though in each of the cases the books have been different from each other] your thoughts on this coincidence.
Jim: Oddly enough, Matt Reilly and I had a discussion about this. I had forwarded Map of Bones to him in an early revision for a potential blurb (which he did provide but unfortunately it came too late to meet the printing deadline). His side comment to me was basically, Yikes, as he was also just finishing a book about the Seven Wonders. But such crossing of ideas happens. Look at the current best-seller list. Two Templar related books sharing the New York Times best-seller list, one by Raymond Khoury, one by Steve Berry. When it comes to adventure fiction, there are only so many exotic and untamed places in the world and only so many unsolved mysteries, that it's not uncommon to see similar themes in various novels, but all in all, the end products are vastly different. Like the difference between Map of Bones and Seven Deadly Wonders.
Me: I"ll bet, 7DW was waay bad coz MR is a terrific action writer & me being a fan of his, it was dissapointing & especially so since i bought it in hardcover
7] Do you have any favorite characters amoungst your books?
Jim: I have a slew of them: some for their abject wickedness (Vir'ani from the Banned and Banished series), some for their sense of humor (Ben from Subterranean), and some because I think they combine both innocence and strength (Dart from the Godslayer series).
8] Could tell us something about your new releases The Black order & Hinterland as to how different/similar are they in relation to their preceding titles & also when are their release dates.
Jim: Black Order (hitting shelves the last week of June) continues the adventure of Sigma Force, with a return of Painter Crowe into more of a leading role, along with the return of a character from an earlier stand-alone thriller. It is also a return to the monstrous mayhem of some of the earlier books, with the appearance/creation of a new apex predator. Hinterland (out in November) continues the Godslayer storyline one year after the end of Shadowfall. You'll see a return of all the characters from that first book, along with a few new ones including a pair of pesky wolfkits. And the book ends with a world-changing final climax and battle.
9] The Black order will be first step in unifying all of your past books into one "Rollinsverse", so could you tell as to how you decided on which character would be the first to make a comeback[ & could you give us hints to his/her identity, michael has been yanking our chains for a long time on this issue!]
Jim: My characters live and breathe in me and for the longest time, I felt I had slighted a certain character at the end of one of my books. She (and there's a clue for you) was owed a bit of extra stage time to complete an arc of her life. So she'll step out onto stage again in the first chapter of Black Order of course, at that time, she'll be running for her life.
10] This i have noted in relation to your fantasy books, you are a relatively new writer[in the sense you have only one completed series] around 90-95% of the writers start their careers with trilogies & continue to do so,but you haven't done so & even your 2nd series isn't a trilogy, in this aspect you have the esteemed Steven Erikson for company. your thoughts please[why the absence of trilogies]. Also most authors tend to write their second series of books in the same world which they have created, but you went and created another fantastic[& more gritty,realistic,IMO]world for your second series, why?
Jim: As to the number of books, I don't really worry about it up front. I prefer to let the stories unfold naturally into whatever number of books is necessary to tell the tale. That's why I can't tell you how many books will be in the Godslayer series. The main difference with this series is that each book will have a definitive and resounding conclusion. Whatever mystery or menace arises at the beginning of the book will be addressed-for good or bad-by the end. Only a larger, more comprehensive arc will span the course of the books-the second War of the Gods. We saw the first shot of this war in Shadowfall. Hinterland will reveal more players in the game and further extend the mythology of this world.
As to why I didn't jump into another series set in Alasea, I have to wait for that darned Wit'ch Star to fade. And it is fading!
11] In the future, if you were given an option of making a film of one of your books which one would you choose to grace the silver screen
Jim: I would love to see Amazonia made into a movie. If for no other reason than the Burger King tie-ins. I want to see the restaurant chain passing out plushy piranha-frogs with each kid's meal. You squeeze them, and they squirt out poison. Every kid would want one! I know I would!
12] What book/books[irrespective of genre] have you read recently that has made an impression on you?
Jim: I still read ferociously, about two books a week. I think the one that's had the most impact was The Wooden Sea by Jonathan Carroll. It's part literary novel, part fantasy, a pure work of art. Another book that I really enjoyed was Stephen King's latest, Cell. At long last, here is vintage King a return to his true horror roots with splatter-tastic results. And yes, splatter-tastic is trademarked and can be found in the latest edition of the Oxford English Dictionary.
***End of Interview***
If you want to read an earlier interview then help yourself http://forums.thebookforum.com/showthread.php?t=5575
you can also find out more about Jim at www.jamesrollins.com and www.jamesclemens.com
Storm
Heres another Q&A with one of my favourite author James Rollins/James Clemens
1] This year you will have a short story coming out in the book "Thriller" organized by the thrillerfest organization, could you tell us as to how all of this came into place & something about your own short story.
Jim: It came about because I was invited to submit a story and when such an anthology is being edited by James Patterson and contains a host of leading thriller writers, how could I refuse? The story is titled Kowalski's in Love. And for those who don't remember him, he was the foul-mouthed seaman from Ice Hunt (which by the way struck #1 on Germany's Amazon.com site and has been holding there for the past 3 days). Well, in this short story, Kowalski is stranded on an island with a Sigma operative along with a jungle full of carnivorous man-eaters. Oh, and the island is set to blow up in thirty-two minutes.
2] You write 2 books an year on an average how do you cope with the stress of deadlines & rewrites & which book do you choose to write first[the rollins or the Clemens one] i mean do you have a preference or is it randomly chosen.
Jim: I actually feel extremely lucky to be able to write in two genres. I find by alternating between the thrillers and the fantasies that it keeps me fresh as a writer, staves off staleness. As to which I write first, it's not a choice since Day One when I wrote Subterranean, I've simply alternated between the two: a thriller, then fantasy, then back to thriller, then onto the next fantasy. And while I'd like to say I write two books a year, it's more like two books every 14-15 months. I can't quite fit two books into a single year.
3] After writing your new short story, do u feel that your fans could get a glimpse of your earlier short stories/new stories (in the form of a collection) or are they still buried forever?
Jim: Oh, trust me, I will take those early works to the grave clutched tightly in my dead, moldering fingers.
Me: And i thought we were finally going to read them
4] Where do you find the inspiration for your stories, thrillers as well as fantasy(ie: nature, events, people, etc.)? & if so yes then could please share one life experience that influenced you in writing a book or a part of it.
Jim: All authors hate this question. Where do you get your ideas? I think we're afraid that if we look too closely at the process it will slip between our fingers and escape us. For me, most of my inspiration comes from reading: fiction, nonfiction, magazine articles, etc. I have what I call my plot box, where I toss in any story ideas or exotic locales or bits of historical/mythological mystery that I come across or that are sent to me. And out of that fermenting, cobweb-filled box, stories arise. Some die on the vine, some are thrown back in because they're too small, some scare the hell out of me, and some just seem to strike the right nerve then I'm ready to flesh it out and write it.
5] How is your daily writing schedule,Do you write best in the morning or evening? or do you have a schedule like a certain mr. Dan Brown who gets up at 4:30 & performs shirsasan[a yoga posture] before writing
Jim: Hmm!! yoga maybe THAT is Dan Brown's secret. For me, my routine is pretty set. I get up and the first thing I do is write (don't eat breakfast, don't read my email). I write for about 3 hours, then I take a couple hours off to catch up on Life 101 things (banking, shopping, lunch, and yes, email), then back to writing for another 3 hours. Then I print up the day's work and hand-edit it at night. That's pretty much my typical day.
6] It has been noted by many fans that You and Matthew Reilly often write books with similar settings either storywise or locationwise[for eg. Both Amazonia[JR] & Temple[MR] had the same setting[amazonian rainforests], both Icehunt[JR] & Icestation[MR] were kind of similar in the plot aspect & both of your newest books MOB & 7AW/7DW[MR] had the sama plot aspect involving the 7 wonders of the ancient world. though in each of the cases the books have been different from each other] your thoughts on this coincidence.
Jim: Oddly enough, Matt Reilly and I had a discussion about this. I had forwarded Map of Bones to him in an early revision for a potential blurb (which he did provide but unfortunately it came too late to meet the printing deadline). His side comment to me was basically, Yikes, as he was also just finishing a book about the Seven Wonders. But such crossing of ideas happens. Look at the current best-seller list. Two Templar related books sharing the New York Times best-seller list, one by Raymond Khoury, one by Steve Berry. When it comes to adventure fiction, there are only so many exotic and untamed places in the world and only so many unsolved mysteries, that it's not uncommon to see similar themes in various novels, but all in all, the end products are vastly different. Like the difference between Map of Bones and Seven Deadly Wonders.
Me: I"ll bet, 7DW was waay bad coz MR is a terrific action writer & me being a fan of his, it was dissapointing & especially so since i bought it in hardcover
7] Do you have any favorite characters amoungst your books?
Jim: I have a slew of them: some for their abject wickedness (Vir'ani from the Banned and Banished series), some for their sense of humor (Ben from Subterranean), and some because I think they combine both innocence and strength (Dart from the Godslayer series).
8] Could tell us something about your new releases The Black order & Hinterland as to how different/similar are they in relation to their preceding titles & also when are their release dates.
Jim: Black Order (hitting shelves the last week of June) continues the adventure of Sigma Force, with a return of Painter Crowe into more of a leading role, along with the return of a character from an earlier stand-alone thriller. It is also a return to the monstrous mayhem of some of the earlier books, with the appearance/creation of a new apex predator. Hinterland (out in November) continues the Godslayer storyline one year after the end of Shadowfall. You'll see a return of all the characters from that first book, along with a few new ones including a pair of pesky wolfkits. And the book ends with a world-changing final climax and battle.
9] The Black order will be first step in unifying all of your past books into one "Rollinsverse", so could you tell as to how you decided on which character would be the first to make a comeback[ & could you give us hints to his/her identity, michael has been yanking our chains for a long time on this issue!]
Jim: My characters live and breathe in me and for the longest time, I felt I had slighted a certain character at the end of one of my books. She (and there's a clue for you) was owed a bit of extra stage time to complete an arc of her life. So she'll step out onto stage again in the first chapter of Black Order of course, at that time, she'll be running for her life.
10] This i have noted in relation to your fantasy books, you are a relatively new writer[in the sense you have only one completed series] around 90-95% of the writers start their careers with trilogies & continue to do so,but you haven't done so & even your 2nd series isn't a trilogy, in this aspect you have the esteemed Steven Erikson for company. your thoughts please[why the absence of trilogies]. Also most authors tend to write their second series of books in the same world which they have created, but you went and created another fantastic[& more gritty,realistic,IMO]world for your second series, why?
Jim: As to the number of books, I don't really worry about it up front. I prefer to let the stories unfold naturally into whatever number of books is necessary to tell the tale. That's why I can't tell you how many books will be in the Godslayer series. The main difference with this series is that each book will have a definitive and resounding conclusion. Whatever mystery or menace arises at the beginning of the book will be addressed-for good or bad-by the end. Only a larger, more comprehensive arc will span the course of the books-the second War of the Gods. We saw the first shot of this war in Shadowfall. Hinterland will reveal more players in the game and further extend the mythology of this world.
As to why I didn't jump into another series set in Alasea, I have to wait for that darned Wit'ch Star to fade. And it is fading!
11] In the future, if you were given an option of making a film of one of your books which one would you choose to grace the silver screen
Jim: I would love to see Amazonia made into a movie. If for no other reason than the Burger King tie-ins. I want to see the restaurant chain passing out plushy piranha-frogs with each kid's meal. You squeeze them, and they squirt out poison. Every kid would want one! I know I would!
12] What book/books[irrespective of genre] have you read recently that has made an impression on you?
Jim: I still read ferociously, about two books a week. I think the one that's had the most impact was The Wooden Sea by Jonathan Carroll. It's part literary novel, part fantasy, a pure work of art. Another book that I really enjoyed was Stephen King's latest, Cell. At long last, here is vintage King a return to his true horror roots with splatter-tastic results. And yes, splatter-tastic is trademarked and can be found in the latest edition of the Oxford English Dictionary.
***End of Interview***
If you want to read an earlier interview then help yourself http://forums.thebookforum.com/showthread.php?t=5575
you can also find out more about Jim at www.jamesrollins.com and www.jamesclemens.com
Storm