Author interview with Django
Wexler
Author bio:
Hi Django, welcome
over to The Book Plank and for taking your time to answer these few questions.
BP: First off,
could you give us a short introduction as to who Django Wexler is, what are
your hobbies, likes and dislikes?
DW: I think of myself as pretty typical of my breed, which is "computer/SFF nerd". I like to read, obviously, and I like games of almost any sort -- tabletop games, board games, war games, video games, and so on. I paint miniatures when I get the chance, which is not all that often lately. I like cats, which seems to be a requirement for fantasy authors.
DW: I think of myself as pretty typical of my breed, which is "computer/SFF nerd". I like to read, obviously, and I like games of almost any sort -- tabletop games, board games, war games, video games, and so on. I paint miniatures when I get the chance, which is not all that often lately. I like cats, which seems to be a requirement for fantasy authors.
BP: Do you still
know the moment when and where you decided that you wanted to become an author?
DW: Hard to
say. It's something I've wanted for a long time, but I didn't
really think it was plausible until fairly recently. There was a point in college where I had been
noodling around writing fan-fiction and other unpublishable stuff, and I
finally thought, "Okay, as long as I'm doing this, I might as well try and
write something I could try to sell."
It felt like a big step, at first, but ultimately I realized it wasn't
that different.
BP: The Thousand
Names kicked off the The Shadow Campaigns series, how did you come up with the
idea of the series?
DW: The Shadow Campaigns basically traces
its origin to a couple of books. At some
point, someone gave me the paperbacks of George R. R. Martin's A Song of Ice and Fire, which I
absolutely loved. I had been looking for
a new project, and this idea of taking a fantasy and pushing it backs towards
reality a little, closer to its historical roots, I found really
appealing. But George had done the
knights-and-castles, 13th century thing so well I didn't want to set it in that
world.Later, on recommendations from my wargaming buddies, I was reading David Chandler's The Campaigns of Napoleon, which is a really phenomenal narrative history of the Napoleonic Wars. And putting the two together seemed like a fun idea -- to write a fantasy with a strong historical basis, but to base it on 18th century warfare instead of the usual medieval stuff. I went through a lot of drafts after that, but that was the beginning.
BP: The Thousand
Names receives some rave reviews, had you ever thought that it would be such a
success?
DW: It's really
been more successful than I'd hoped, I'm always a little amazed. I tried to write the kind of thing I would enjoy, but I may not be exactly
typical of readers in general. I worried
a bit that the military stuff and the light touch on the magic would put people
off. And it does, sometimes -- I get
reviews that say, "This was boring, it was all battles and
fighting." I mean, I don't think that's boring, but I can't
deny that it's there!
BP: Did you gain
valuable experience when you were writing The Thousand names that you were able
to use in The Shadow Throne?
DW:
Definitely. In particular, I did a lot more
planning and outlining for The Shadow
Throne, partially because my agent and my publisher wanted me to, and the
results convinced me that it was really the right way to go. I'm very happy with how it turned out.
BP: If you would
have to sell The Shadow Throne with a single sentence, how would it go?
DW: Returning
military heroes get caught up in a succession crisis, a potential revolution,
and a battle against supernatural assassins.
BP: Did you
encounter any specific problems so far in writing the The Shadow Campaigns?
DW: I've had the
usual round of problems, getting stuck, taking false paths, etc, but nothing
really out of the ordinary. I think of
those as the typical bumps in the road.
BP: What has been
the hardest part in writing either The Thousand Names or The Shadow Throne?
DW: Trying to get The Thousand Names off the ground was
hard. I went through probably a dozen
different versions where I changed the characters, changed the scope, changed
the POVs, and so on. Once I got it nailed
down and was reasonably certain I could make it to the end, things got easier.
BP: Besides the
hardest part, which chapter/scene did you enjoy writing about the most?
DW: Some of
Winter's scenes in The Shadow Throne
were a ton of fun. I don't want spoil
any surprises, but she has a lot of interesting people to talk to and some
really complicated relationships which make writing her fascinating.
BP: If you would be
given the chance to retract The Shadow Throne from publishing this July and
make one final adjustment, would you do so? If yes, which parts and why?
DW: Generally I
don't actually read the book after I do the final proof pass, for exactly this
reason -- I don't want to find some mistake and think, "Oh, no!" I did realize the other day that I had never
come up with a name for the continent Vordan is on, so I invented one, and then
wished I slipped it into one of the first two books somehow.
BP: With The Shadow
Throne being published soon, have you thought about how many more volumes The
Shadow Campaigns will run?
DW: The Shadow Campaigns was intended from
the beginning (at least, close to the beginning) to be five books long. I'm in the midst of writing book three now,
so I'm close to the halfway point of the series as a whole. Things are proceeding according to plan at
the moment -- so far, so good!
BP: Next to The Shadow Campaigns you are writing a young adult series, The
Forgotten Library, do you have next to these other projects that you wish to pursue
in the near future?
DW: Oh, I have
dozens. I have a file on my desktop that
says "Idea File" and it's like thirty pages long. I'm usually reluctant to talk about them in
detail, because every project I've ever done has changed a lot between the idea
and the final version. I do have a thing
that's sort of WWI battleships vs. autonomous steampunk robots that I wrote a
short story of (coming in an anthology next year) which may end up as a novel
someday. Too many books to write, not
enough time!
BP: Everyone enjoys
science fiction and fantasy in their own way, what do you like most about it?
DW: For me, the key
to fantasy in particular is the freedom to adapt the setting to the story. Stories set in the modern world or in a
historical context have to deal with inconvenient reality a lot, but when
you're writing a fantasy story you can decide (as long as it makes sense) what
elements to include and what to leave it in the service of creating a better
story. It's important to not let things
get too convenient, of course!
For example: when I
started designing the world of The Shadow
Campaigns, I knew I wanted to have a lot of 18th century military stuff in
the books, battles and soldiering and so on.
Knowing that I wanted that element shaped how the magic system was laid
out -- I knew I wanted magic to be subtle, and not so powerful that it would
overshadow the mundane stuff completely.
(More like A Song of Ice and Fire,
in other words, rather than Wheel of Time
or Malazan Book of the Fallen. All great stories, but with very different
focuses, and world design that supports them appropriately.)
BP: If you would
have to give your top 5 favorite books, which would they be?
DW: I don't know
that I could ever pick just five. Off
the top of my head, after what I said above I'd have to put A Storm of Swords on there. Something from Terry Pratchett, probably Hogfather. Last
Call, by Tim Powers. Cryptonomicon, by Neal Stephenson. And to get some non-fiction on there, Lords of Finance by Liaqat Ahamed. But that's really just a smattering -- I'll
think of more in five minutes.
BP: And just
lastly, can you give us a sneak peak as to what will be in store for the
readers of The Shadow Throne and possibly the direction of the third book?
DW: In The Shadow Throne, Janus, Marcus, and
Winter return to Vordan to find the king dying and a disaster brewing in the
streets, as Duke Orlanko, head of the secret police, tries to consolidate his
control. Raesinia, the heir to the throne,
has her own plan to take back control of her government, but the forces of
change she unleashes threaten to run out of a control.
The third book is
still untitled, and still being written, so there's not much I can say. It's got more brilliant campaigning and a lot
more magic; besides that, we'll have to wait for next year!
BP: Thank you for
your time Django and good luck with your future writing!
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