1. What is it about the Fantasy genre that attracted you to it?
I think that writers do best when they write what they most enjoy reading. All my life, I’ve enjoyed all forms of fantasy, from beast fable and fairy tales to epic quest tales. Swords and Sorcery, horror, humorous fantasy…I have my favorites among all of them. I think the big attraction for me is that Fantasy frees me to tell a very big story, and to look at issues that interest me from a neutral standpoint. Any what-if question can become the starting point for a story.
2. Of all the fantastical creatures, what spurred you to chronicle the lives of dragons?
Dragons are a fantasy staple and in some ways, a fantasy cliché. We have maiden devouring dragons, gold hoarding dragons such as Tolkien’s Smaug, dragons that are companions to people, such as Anne McCaffrey’s Pern dragons, wise dragons from the far east and the feathered serpents of South America. I think every writer sees them a bit differently. For me, the question was, “How would it impact humanity if there were a large predator, with a longer lifespan, one that didn’t respect human ideas of ‘ownership’ of the world and its resources?” Well, of course, we’d kill them if we could, I don’t doubt. But if they are not only intelligent but can communicate with us clearly? Then things become very interesting. People can kill a whale or an elephant or a gorilla and say, ‘Oh, but they are only animals.’ Even though we have some evidence of language and culture among such creatures. But what if we had to share the world with a species that was unmistakably as intelligent as humanity, and just as arrogant? Thousands of stories come to mind.
3. You’ve created some incredible characters, do you have any particular that you especially enjoy bringing to life?
All my characters become special to me, and I love them all, even the villains. I think it’s impossible to spend as much time as I do with my characters and not have them become real to me. As such, they are very like my real friends. There are days when I really miss Fitz and other days when I’d like to spend time with Ki. I spent such a long time with Fitz and the Fool that it is inevitable that they are both very special to me. I don’t feel like I ‘brought them to life’ however. It is more like watching a seed sprout and grow, to logically become what it was destined to be.
4. What does a typical day in the life of Robin Hobb look like?
Oh, I wish I had a typical day. Yesterday, without warning, we had 8 people eating dinner here, at three different times. Toss in a ballet lesson, a gymnastics class, and a quest for a book of poetry called Why Did You Leave the Horses Alone? Oh, and we had new sheetrock installed in the ceiling of my bedroom, too. Today the contractor taped and mudded the sheet rock, while I went on a quest for a chair and bought two brass lamps instead (only $2 each . . . I love a bargain!) I worked on my computer French course, in the hopes that I’ll understand a bit more of that language when I’m traveling there this spring. Then I cut some broken branches off the fruit tree in the back yard and did a bit of garden clean up. And this is the second email interview for the day. And I’m still wrestling with a short story that won’t come together. But in all fairness, I’m just coming off a long project and a huge deadline, so I’m enjoying a bit of freedom and getting done a lot of tasks that have been waiting for a long time.
5. You recently called a hiatus on your online presence in favor of concentrating on your writing, is having a two-way discourse with your readers an important part of what you do?
In terms of having a life and friends, yes. In terms of writing, no. I enjoy talking to readers via my newsgroup on sff.net but what we discuss there often has very little to do with my writing, and much more about what their lives are doing, and what music we like or where we got a great sandwich or solar powered Christmas tree lights. I don’t often discuss details of characters or plot there at all. In a very strange way, the stories are very private to me until they are actually in a book on the shelves. I know that some writers shape characters or stories based on what the readers suggest. Some can even base a character off a real life friend. But the writing just doesn’t work that way for me. I need to keep that world separate from my reality, so that the characters and stories remain very true to their own reality. If I were writing a story that took place in Tacoma in 2011, it might be different, I suppose.
6. You recently finished your latest manuscript, with a release date of May 2012, what can we expect from your next journey in the Rain Wilds?
Now that would be telling! And actually, I’ve already told, in a very long manuscript that I’ve sent off to the publishers. Without spoilers, I think I can say that it continues the adventures of the characters that readers have met in Dragon Keeper and Dragon Haven. And it gives some glimpses of a few characters that some readers will know from The Liveship Traders Trilogy as well.
7. I’ve heard rumors that you are considering writing more FitzChivalry novels. Is there any truth to those rumors? And if so, can we expect a return of The Fool?
Oh, I’m always considering it. But it would have to be a truly compelling story for me to take that up again. And it would have to be because the characters genuinely had a tale to tell, rather than ‘I’m writing this because a lot of readers would like me to do this.” That isn’t because I disdain my readers. Quite the opposite. If I wrote more about Fitz and the Fool simply to write a story that a lot of readers would buy, I suspect that not only my editors but the readers would know it right away, and I think they would lose respect for me and for the story. I do have a lot of possible ideas, but if and when I sit down to write them, it will be because I can’t not write that story. That’s what the characters deserve. And the readers. And it’s what I deserve, too. To write a story with excitement and anticipation.
8. If you weren’t a writer, what would be your next profession of choice?
A mycologist. I love mushrooms and hunting mushrooms. I don’t get to do that as much as I used to, but even on my walks around the neighborhood, I’m always spotting them and identifying them. I’ve always thought it would be great fun to do a guide to the mushrooms of Tacoma’s yards and gardens. Limited readership, of course, but a lot of fun.
9. Are there any upcoming novels or authors you are particularly looking forward to in 2011?
I’m an old fashioned bookstore browser. I love to go in and wander the racks and pull out books and read a few pages. So my great read of 2011 is out there somewhere, but it may be an old book that I simply haven’t encountered before, or something by a brand new writer. Like many readers, I’m hoping that George RR Martin will favor us with another installment of A Song Of Ice and Fire. But if he doesn’t get round to it, I’m sure that I’ll encounter other tales worth my time. I also greatly enjoy short stories of SF and fantasy, so I subscribe to several SF/fantasy magazines. Those are like getting a sampler box of See’s Chocolates every month. I never know what I’m going to find when I bite into a new issue. Asimov’s and The Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction are my favorites and have been for some time. The others are good, but those two are my favorites.
10. What would be your advice to aspiring authors?
Write here, Right now. Or Right here, Write now! Whichever you prefer. Don’t wait to be a writer. Stop aspiring and just write. There are stories in your heart that want to be written right now, your very own stories. If you wait too long, they will either get stale to you, or they will change as you change and grow, and they will never be what they would have been if you had written them right away. If you mind boils with story ideas, start a file on your computer or in a spiral notebook (They still work just fine for me!) and jot those ideas down. Leave plenty of space on the page so you can come back and add more to the skeleton as it comes to you. But trap the idea on paper before it fades away. Only you can write those stories; if you don’t write them, they die unborn.
Robin is best known as the author of the Farseer Trilogy (Assassin’s Apprentice, Royal Assassin and Assassin’s Quest.) Other works include The Liveship Traders Trilogy, the Tawny Man Trilogy, and the Soldier Son trilogy. The Rain Wilds Chronicles is now complete, published as Dragon Keeper and Dragon Haven.