Young Writers Society Interview With Tamora Pierce
Tamora Pierce is the critically acclaimed fantasy author of dozens of young adult books. Most of her stories take place in the universe of Tortall and usually involve heroines as the main character. Her newest book, Terrier, is set to release on October 24th, and will begin a new triology set in Tortall.
1. What age did you start writing?
I started writing in 6th grade. It was my dad's idea. One night he caught me telling stories to myself as I did the dishes. Instead of saying people would think I was nuts if I talked to myself, he suggested that I write a book instead. I gave it a try. I never finished that book, but by the time I gave it up a year later, I was hooked on writing.
2. When did you decide to be a professional writer? What triggered your decision?
I actually decided to do that as soon as I began to write. I liked writing more than anything else I'd done; it was a simple enough decision. Then I went through a very bad patch where I was unable to write original fiction, so I looked to psychology as a career. When I began to write again, I knew I wanted to move back toward writing as a profession, but I also knew I didn't have the confidence or the ability yet to write full time. I simply wrote when I could and worked other jobs until I had enough books in print and had enough interested publishers that I felt I could make a living off my writing. It took me a long time and a lot of sales to get back the confidence in myself that I'd had before I'd sold anything at all!
3. Do you incorporate personalities of people you meet into your characters? One of the characters specifically mentioned was Alianne, the heroine of Trickster's choice.
There are writers to whom the characters just come, without any help or props. I'm not one of them. I base many characters either on people I know or on actors or the characters those actors play, simply because this way I know how the person moves, sounds, and reacts to things. It gives me a place to start. Even though after I work with the character for a little while s/he separates from the person I based her/him on, even now I still need at least a photograph and the right name before I can start to write. Even though I write fantasy, I can guess how people will react to my situations because I have seen them react to others that are similar, either in my real life or on a screen.
For example, I based Alanna, my best-known hero, on my younger sister Kim. Any girl who would disguise herself as a boy for eight years to make a point had to be very determined, and if you look up "determined" (or mule-headed) in the dictionary, there is Kim's picture. Her first word was "no," and she meant it. She was biting me at the time. Other family members became the Lord Provost and the Shang Wildcat. My friend, writer Bruce Coville, became Kyprioth, the god in the Trickster books; an artist friend was the basis of Niko in the Circle books, and another writer friend became the basis for Frostpine.
In the Trickster books, I used Sigourney Weaver for Duchess Winnamine; Vincent D'Onofrio's character from "Law and Order: Criminal Intent", Bobby Goren, as Taybur Sibigat, the captain of the child king's guard; Jonathan Pryce as Prince Rubinyan, and Helen Mirren as Princess Imajane. At the risk of incurring the wrath of a number of parents out there, I based Ulasim on professional wrestler Eddie Guererro. Alianne, Aly, was one of my rare characters based on a picture I found in a magazine: elements of her personality came from the look on her face--she had a very sly smile and knowing eyes, and from her parents, who are very different, complex people. And once I knew she was going to be facing her parents with blue dyed hair, and how they would react and what she would say to them, I knew everything else about her.
In THE WILL OF THE EMPRESS, I based Empress Berenene on actress Susan Sarandon and Shan, who courts Sandry so assiduously, on the actor who played Riley on "Buffy: the Vampire Slayer." In TERRIER, my newest book, Beka is based on the young Jodie Foster, her training partner Tunstall on French actor Jean Reno, and her other training partner Goodwin on a character played by actress Diane Venora in the Bruce Willis movie "The Jackal." Two other characters are fans of mine, two more are based on characters from "Grey's Anatomy," and one is based on a character in "Buffy: the Vampire Slayer."
4. How do you plot or prewrite for a novel?
When I first started out, I wrote the original first draft of the four Lioness books as one book, with no outline, starting with a scene in the beginning, then adding on new scenes as I thought them up. I had a lot of time on my hands then, and the only person I was writing for was me, so I took my time.
Once my first book was finished and bought by a publisher, I entered that realm that book writers are often admitted to: to get a contract (and money) for a new book, all I had to do was hand in three chapters and an outline for the rest, then later simply an outline for one book, or for several. Even the outlines are getting shorter and shorter--my agent recently did a contract with Scholastic based only on a three-page outline covering four new books!
Most of my “prewriting” now consists of researching certain aspects of my character’s main skills. For Alianne, I read in depth about spy work. I’ve been working on a book for Evvy, who has stone-magic, and I’ve purchased a ton of different stones so I can experience them first hand. I've read about military history, epidemic diseases, true crime, forest fires, earthquakes, and medieval history for years, and draw ideas from those things, storing them against the time I'll need a plot.
Once I have an idea for a character, I think about them and what they'll be doing, letting their lives grow in my mind. This process takes place over months, even years, while I work on other books, travel, and do research. I'll work a very rough plot out in my head for my publisher, and that's the most planning I do before I sit down to write. By that time, I know how the book begins and ends. My middles are kind of vague--I have to work those through as I write. I've tried plotting things out completely, but I lose all interest when I do that. This is the way that works best for me. Other writers, of course, are a lot more organized!
5. From planning to finish, how long does it take you to write a book?
It varies. The original 732-page first draft of what became *The Song of the Lioness* quartet took me six months to write (I wasn't doing anything else, so I had plenty of time on my hands), and a year to rewrite (I had a job by then). I rewrote the first quarter of that into ALANNA: THE FIRST ADVENTURE in 10 months, after my first agent Claire Smith suggested that I break it up into four books for kids. It went to three publishers and the third, Atheneum (Jean Karl's publisher), gave me a contract after I'd rewritten it again (which took 6 months). There was one final rewrite (6 months), and then it was published.
For my other books, when I first started publishing and had to work a day job to pay my bills in addition to writing, it took me eight months for a first draft (200 manuscript pages) and six months to do a rewrite. Once I could afford to stay at home and write, it took me a year per book, six months per draft. After I got comfortable writing full time, I decided to try two books a year, 3 months for a first draft (200 manuscript pages), and another 3 months to rewrite the book. Now that I am traveling more, I am slowing down again--a book and a half a year.
6. Which of your fantasy worlds is your favorite?
That’s a tough question--I love them both! They do different things for me. With Tortall and its surroundings I can get at more classic fantasy stories, the idea of the hero's journey, the involvement of the gods and mythical creatures in human lives, the press of great events and the intrigues that go on among nobles and at courts. In the Circle of Magic universe, I deal more with everyday people and everyday tragedies, the events which shape our modern world and the people in it. EMPRESS aside, I spend a lot less time among the nobility in the Circle books. The kids' magic works through the real world and has to obey the laws of nature, and magic can be found in the most common places. In Tortall, if magic is a matter of the Gift, it's more classic fantasy magic, on the order of spells, chants, and so on, with that rolling sense of great power behind it. Wild magic is truly wild: those who have it can only channel it, not control it.
As you see, I have fun thinking about each one. It's good for me to go from one universe to the other--it means I come to each fresh, with a new point of view, so I'm able to see new ideas and themes to tackle, and new adventures that highlight what I think is best about that universe.
7. You wish to empower girls through much of your writing, as many of your heroes are in fact, heroines; that aside, many members on YWS greatly enjoyed the Briar in the Circle of Magic books and wonder if you'd consider writing more books with male main characters? Why/Why not?
I have a book planned in 2009 for Numair in the Tortall universe, to cover the years he spent after leaving the university in Carthak, until he met Daine, and the next Circle book follows Briar, Rosethorn, and Evvy in Yanjing. I'm sure at some point I'll run into other male characters to write about: fans have already requested books about Kel's boy, Tobe, and Daine's daughter Sarralyn, and the only way I can write about Sarralyn is from the point of view of her brother, Rikash. That will be a while, though, because they're both still very young.
It's not that I dislike boys. My girls train with boys, their friends are boys, their teachers are boys. But there are plenty of books out there in which the hero is also a boy having adventures, and not enough in which the hero is a girl who is having them. I started writing female heroes because I wanted to read them, and there weren't any when I was growing up. When I was a kid, the heroes of 8 out of every 10 books published for kids were boys. These days the numbers are more 7 out of 10. Until the heroes of kids books are 5 boys to 5 girls of every 10 books published, I suppose I will continue to write more girls than boys, though any boys in my books are guaranteed to have just as much adventure as the girls.
8. When publishing a book, what do you have control over (e.g., book cover, about the author, etc.)?
Until recently I didn’t have much control over aspects of my book other than the maps and my writing. Nowadays I can voice my opinion on my covers (when I first started I didn’t even have that option), but usually my editor and publishing house win if there’s any disagreement--they're the experts, and often time runs short. They do go to a great deal of effort to get my opinion on rough drafts and on artists, though, which they didn't do before, so I have more input on covers before they reach the color stage. I get approval on jacket copy (inside and outside) and on any "about the author" materials. They control the kind of publicity I get and where I go on tour, though I do make suggestions about where I think a good, unusual stop should be on book tours.
9. Any writing quirks you'd like to share?
I don’t know if it’s a quirk, but I definitely used to spend more time in the park feeding animals than most people. I also can never look the other way when an animal needs help. I spent many park visits freeing pigeons from string or other litter that has ensnared their feet. Over the years, I’ve brought home a mouse, a mourning dove, a baby squirrel, a baby crow, a cat, a parakeet, and a chicken. The cat and the parakeet became members of the family.
I have varied taste in music, which include: Chinese Goth rock, Moroccan and Hindu pop, Christina Aguilera, traditional Arabic, Middle Eastern and Central Asian music, movie soundtracks, Mississippi and Delta blues, country, Pussycat Dolls, Dixie Chicks, Loretta Lynn, Rob Thomas, Alice Cooper, classical symphonies, fiddle music, and Renaissance dance music. There's more, but I’m afraid I might hurt someone's brain. I listen to music as long as it doesn't have words in a language I understand as I write, and now that I have an iPod, I put together playlists for each book of music that helps me to write. I even have a playlist for the comic book series my husband and I are writing, White Tiger.
I also have a bulletin board where I put the pictures I use to base characters and settings for the book I'm working on, so I can look up and check them.
I have a collection of real (sharp) edged weapons to help me write the books (so I know how they feel in the hand, how much they weigh, etc.), including a tanto (a Japanese dagger), a naginata (a Japanese spear-like weapon, six feet of staff topped with a 12-inch blade, bought for Lady Knight) named Stick, a Celtic short sword named Precious, a wakizashi (a Japanese short sword) named Daniel (after the swordsmith), a poignard (a three-sided assassin's blade, bought for Aly and the Trickster books), and a straight razor.
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