Lynn Flewelling is an American fantasy author, who has written two successful fantasy series, Nightrunner series and The Tamír Triad.
Risingshadow.net has had the honour of interviewing Lynn Flewelling.
AN INTERVIEW WITH LYNN FLEWELLING
Hello Lynn and thank you for allowing Risingshadow.net to interview you. We appreciate it very much that you had time to answer our questions.
Here's the first question: Have you always wanted to be a writer?
In my heart, yes, ever since I was in junior high. But for a long time I thought that an ordinary person like me couldn't be a writer. Fortunately the drive to do so carried me on.
Did you write any stories before Nightrunner books? If you did, what kind of stories were they?
I wrote some really bad stories (and a few decent ones) in school, and later in a college writing class. Nobody else was doing genre, and they didn't quite get my stories, but it was still a good experience. My first published work was a vampire erotica story for Prisoners of the Night magazine, which I sold just before the Nightrunner books.
What was the first fantasy book you read?
It was probably Eleanor Cameron's Wonderful Flight to the Mushroom Planet. I don't remember much about them except that I really loved that series when I was in elementary school. The first more modern Young Adult book I read was Andre Norton's Moon of Three Rings, which I also don't remember a lot about except that there was a creature called a barsk and I really loved the book.
What are your favorite writers and what writers have influenced you most?
That's a very long list. To name a few that have influenced me: Jack London, Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, William Faulkner, and Ray Bradbury.
How did you come up with the idea of writing "Luck in the Shadows"?
Seregil just wandered into my brain one day, demanding if I could write mainstream fantasy with a gay protagonist. I took up the challenge and the rest is history.
How did "Luck in the Shadows" become a series of books? When you started writing it, did you know that you'd write a series of books?
I started with one book, which was divided and rewritten into Luck and Stalking Darkness. The publisher asked for more books, so I wrote Traitor's Moon, then the Tamir Triad, set in the same world, and now the new Nightrunner books! The latest, titled The White Road, will come out next spring.
You've written several Nighrunner books and the fifth book will be published soon. How many Nightrunner books are you planning on writing?
I have ideas for at least two more. Just waiting to see Bantam wants them.
The Tamír books are situated in the same world as Nightrunner books, but at a different time. What insprired you to write this trilogy? Did you want to explore the history of this world?
I did. When I was creating background for the NR books and came up with the line of queens, Tamir's little snippet of story stuck in my mind. The circumstances of her life allowed me to play with gender and identity issues.
The Tamír books are a bit different from Nightrunner books. Did it feel different to write them?
Darker.
The Nightrunner books contain homosexuality and homosexual characters. Was it difficult to publish fantasy books which contain homosexuality?
Not at all. In fact, it's been a good selling point.
How have your readers reacted to the homosexual content of the books?
I've gotten two letters from readers who didn't like that element. I have gotten hundreds and hundreds of letters and emails from people ranging from straight people who found that my books helped them better accept gay family members or gay people in general to letters from gay people thanking me for creating heroes with whom they can identify. Others just enjoy seeing something a little different.
Some of your books, for example "Stalking Darkness", contain some dark and macabre things. What inspires you to write about these things?
I write the sorts of books I like to read, and I do like that sort of thing. I've also had dark and macabre experiences and I draw deeply from those.
You write about exotic locales and cultures (for example Aurënen). Do you have to do any research when you write about these things?
I do a great deal of research about actual locales and cultures in order to create my world and its inhabitants. It's quite wide ranging. I know more than most people about medieval sewer systems, for example.
Does the feedback from your readers and fans influence you in any way?
Probably, though I consciously try to keep writing what I think is good, not what I think will sell. But I do admit that positive feedback really helps keep me going.
What kind of plans do you have for the future?
As I said above, I hope to write more Nightrunner books. I can't speak yet of other projects.
Here's the last question: What do you do in your free time when you're not writing?
LOL! Good question. I knit, cook, work out at the gym, explore new places. I love travel, museums, and art galleries. I hang out with friends and family, watch TV, train my dogs. I practice Buddhism. And I spend far too much time on the computer. What I don't do enough of lately is read. I'm so exhausted with words on a page by the end of the day, it's the last thing I want to do, especially fiction. I sort of go in spates – not reading for a time – then devouring a few books very quickly. I just finished Patricia Briggs latest werewolf book, and am reading a lot of nonfiction about history, and the environment.
Thank you very much for your time and good luck with your future projects.