Magic In Common interviews
Here are the collected Magic In Common interviews, where I talk with different authors about their understanding of magic, the paranormal, or other fantastic element in their storytelling.
Maurice Broaddus
Author of The Knights of Breton Court series, Orgy of Souls, and many more: http://mauricebroaddus.com/
1. Let’s start at the beginning: how did you know you wanted the kind of magic you use in your writing?
How I use magic changes with each story and what I’m trying to do with it. With The Knights of Breton Court trilogy, since I was essentially re-telling the Arthurian saga, the roadmap was laid out for me. With the story being told through the lives of homeless teens, my approach for it was that magic would stand in as a metaphor for homelessness: both are all around us if we know what to look for.
2. Magic can open a whole set of doors (and pitfalls) in the plot of a story, with new opportunities for characters. How has your concept of magic meshed with your plots?
Yes, magic can be a crutch, a built in Deus ex machina in case one writes themselves into a corner. For me it’s like any other part of world-building. I work out as much f it as possible in advance so that I know the “rules” I need to play within. I knew going in, for example, I was going to use my love of the idea of ley lines as mystical boundaries dividing up the city. That element has popped up in several of my stories.
3. Pick a character in your stories. Of all the ways they could use their magic, what’s their approach for choosing what to do with it, how to go about it, and what are the challenges or limits that puts them in conflict with?
Merle, my “magical redneck,” was a fan favorite, not the least because of his on-going arguments with his squirrel companion. Magic was a tool that he wasn’t always in control of. In a lot of ways, he’s a relic ready to be put out to pasture, a magic user in the age of reason, science, and technology. So his is a constant call to look to the old ways, to look back on the stories and rituals which have shaped people in order to find their way
4. When magic touches your characters’ lives, how does it tend to change their lives or their viewpoint?
When one confronts magic, it’s like that scientist/skeptic in a horror story when confronted with a demon of some sort. They have lived within their worldview only to have that paradigm shattered. Then it’s a scramble for survival while they piece together a new or broader way of looking at life.
5. What authors, myths, or other sources does your view of magic admire or draw from? Is there anything you think one source hasn’t done justice to?
So I recently had to write an essay where I had to create a mythological history of Kurt Vonnegut. I re-imagined him as a practitioner of chaos magic. It gave me an excuse to study the work of comic book writer, Grant Morrison, and his views/practice of it.
6. Sometimes it just clicks. Tell me about your favorite scene or moment where your brand of magic brought the story up to a new level.
In The Knights of Breton Court, the main character, King, is the classic reluctant hero. There comes a point where the forces pulling at his life has him going up against the effects of the “Dragon’s breath.” Like the skeptic earlier, he could continue in a state of denial and end up dead, or he could realize this ish just got real.
It’s funny how we rarely think of the “monsters” as magical. I wrote the Green Knight as an elemental. He was a magical creature existing and making a (brutal) life for himself in the real world. He as my favorite character
7. Looking ahead for your writing: what’s your biggest hope for something you want to capture for writing about magic that you haven’t done yet?
The current novel I’m writing will be all about finding magic as a way to cope with life. It follows a gamer who lives in a world without magic, but loves the idea of the wizard character he has created for himself. So on one level it’s about a guy LARP-ing through life, on another it’s about finding ways to know yourself, discover who you are and to create your own reality.
8. About yourself now: what form of magic would you most like to have, and what would you use it for?
I had a discussion with my aunt who is a practicing obeah woman in Jamaica. She told me that because of my faith—I’ve been a Christian for decades—that I have a powerful obeah spirit. With that in mind, I think any faith, any system of belief, is to make us better people and be used as instruments of healing and making the world a better place.
On the other hand, I was raised on comic books and magic can also equal super powers, from Dr. Strange to Dr. Fate. So there’s a good chance I’d slip on a pair of tights and go fight crime.
9. What’s the most important thing you want to convey to your readers when you write about magic?
I get asked a lot about how I can be a Christian and write about magic the way I do. I have never seen these as incompatible bedfellows. We live in a world full of mystery. My worldview is already bent toward seeing the world as a spiritual place, that there is more to life than what we see and that there are forces all around us that can be drawn upon.
Ksenia Anske
Author of the Siren Suicides series, Rosehead, and other books: http://www.kseniaanske.com/
1. Let’s start at the beginning: how did you know you wanted the kinds of magic you use in your writing?
I didn’t. I didn’t know anything. Most of my story ideas would come to me in a kind of fleeting daydreaming or in nightmares. I’d wake up and write down snapshots of scenes, and that’s what would end up being the magic that I’d write about.
2. Magic can open a whole set of doors (and pitfalls) in the plot of a story, with new opportunities for characters. How has your concept of magic meshed with your plots?
The concept of plots didn’t really enter my mind until I was well into writing my third book. I heard the term but I didn’t fully understand it. So you could say, I wrote from the point of view of something magical happening to the characters as a way of showing myself and those who’d read my books that pain could be conquered. That beautiful things could grow from ugly things. That there is love where you thought could be only hate. It’s like dragons. We want to believe in them because if there are dragons, then there could be anything. It’s like hope. So I suppose my plots grew out of hope. And even now when I write, I don’t think about plots much. I mostly let myself imagine things and when they come to me, I write them down.
3. Pick a character in your stories that has access to magic. Of all the ways they could use it, what’s their approach for choosing what to do with it, how to go about it, and what are the challenges or limits that puts them in conflict with?
Actually, all the main characters from my books take magic as reality. They not so much believe in it or use it as they live it. Then there are those who oppose it. Conflict arises from this. When it does, I let the characters take over and do as they please. They dictate my stories, and I simply write them down. It never crossed my mind to think of them as having challenges or limits. I let them do what they want.
4. When magic touches your characters’ lives, how does it tend to change their lives or their viewpoint?
Magic is wonderful. It’s freeing. It’s healing. To me it’s the same as to my characters—something that makes bad things bearable. Magic tells me I can overcome anything, and so it tells my characters. After all, they’re all part of me.
5. What authors, myths, or other sources about magic do you admire or draw from? Is there anything you think one source hasn’t done justice to?
I grew up on Russian fairy tales that were dark and foreboding and outright horrific at times, full of dark creepy magic that made your skin crawl. Then there were the translated Grimms’ Fairy Tales that were as dark. Both had lots of animals with magical powers, roaming the woods and the shadows and the night. I also read most of the One Thousand and One Nights, and that put in my head the exotic richness, the bizarre, the odd, the extravagant, the lavish and the bloody. Kipling. Poe. Pushkin. Jansson. Later Bulgakov, Strugatsky Brothers, Lem. They all fed me. Plus my life experiences that I always turned into magical things in my head.
6. Sometimes it just clicks. Tell me about your favorite scene or moment where your brand of magic brought the story up to a new level.
Panther in ROSEHEAD, the talking whippet, was a character who started talking all of a sudden. And it was like it was supposed to be, nothing strange about it. I guess I always wanted a talking dog, and then it just clicked. It happened. He is now probably one of the most beloved characters in all of my books. So my readers tell me.
7. Looking ahead for your writing: what’s your biggest hope for something you want to capture for writing about magic that you haven’t done yet?
I never think of it this way. My biggest hope is to be able to keep writing full-time. That’s magic to me. Every day I go places without leaving my house, and the things I didn’t think were possible are possible. They are so real, they’re more real than what I think is real. It’s my hope to be inside this dream for as long as I can.
8. About yourself now: what form of magic would you most like to have, and what would you use it for?
I’d probably have all the boring bits doing themselves. Like it’s very annoying that I have to pee and brush my teeth and feed my body, and let it sleep, and so on. If I could magically do away with boring things like that (add to it dishes and laundry and bills and whatnot), then I’d just write and read. That’s what I’d do. Oh, and I’d want to magically read all the books there are by stretching time or something. Because there is never enough time for all the books I want to read.
9. What’s the most important thing you want to convey to your readers when you write about magic?
That it’s possible. Magic is possible. Anyone who says otherwise is not worth listening to. I recommend hitting them on the head with a big book—then they’ll suddenly see magical stars. Or purple flying pigs. Or some other wonders of magic. Who knows. They might even start believing in it.
Rayne Hall
Author of Storm Dancer and editor of the Ten Tales collections: http://raynehallauthor.wix.com/rayne-hall
1. Let’s start at the beginning: how did you know you wanted the kind of magic you use in your writing?
For every story, I choose a system of magic that’s compatible with the setting. For a historical story
set at the courts of Renaissance Italy, I write about Alchemy, and for contemporary fiction set in
modern Britain I often choose Wicca. I’ve written about Druidism, Shamanism and many other
forms. When I invent cultures, like I did for the Storm Dancer mythos, I also invent magic systems. These are based on real forms of magic, and compatible with the scientific knowledge, social norms and religious beliefs I created.
2. Magic can open a whole set of doors (and pitfalls) in the plot of a story, with new opportunities for characters. How has your concept of magic meshed with your plots?
In my story, the magic – especially its opportunities and pitfalls – is part of the plot. I don’t superimpose the magic on a story idea, or try to blend it with another plot. The magic develops as the plot develops, and the other way round.
3. Pick a character in your stories. Of all the ways they could use their magic, what’s their approach for choosing what to do with it, how to go about it, and what are the challenges or limits that puts them in conflict with?
Merida in my dark epic fantasy novel Storm Dancer is a magician who can change the weather with her dance. As a formally trained, highly qualified magician from a society where the use of magic is state-licensed and strictly controlled, she uses a systematic, formal approach. Everything has to be just right – the location, the planetary alignment, the period of fasting, the number of musicians playing, the height of the pyre – and she follows every rule in detail. The big challenge is working magic in situations where the rules don’t apply, and she needs to exercise her own judgment. She also has to work in conditions which are far from ideal, something she’s never done before. Of course, she misjudges and things go horribly wrong. I put her in a series of such situations, each worse than the others, and watched how she reacted to these dilemmas.
4. When magic touches your characters’ lives, how does it tend to change their lives or their viewpoint?
Magic changes the world the people live in – sometimes only for a fleeting time, sometimes permanently, either for better or for worse – and how they deal with these changes tests, reveals and shapes their personality. When people have the opportunity to wield magic themselves – either because they are a magician, or by employing the services of one – they need to decide what they really want, and if they are willing to accept the consequences for themselves and for others. Both the choice itself, and the consequences can alter the course of their lives.
5. What authors, myths, or other sources about magic do you admire or draw from?
There’s so much mythology, literature and real-life magic out there, I could not possibly list everything I admire our draw from. Let’s just look at some fantasy books I’ve enjoyed reading:
Krabat by Otfried Preussler, a famous German YA novel that uses magic as a metaphor for the way the Nazis drew naïve young Germans into their ban, their true intentions hidden until it was too late.With A Single Spell by Lawrence Watt Evans, an entertaining novel in which a apprentice magician isn’t able to complete his training, and has to forge his way in the world before he has learnt more than one spell.
Mage Heart by Jane Routley, a novel featuring a naïve student magician getting pulled into challenges far bigger than she’s equipped to handle.
6. Sometimes it just clicks. Tell me about your favorite scene or moment where your brand of magic brought the story up to a new level.
Each time Merida works magic in Storm Dancer, she has to overcome bigger challenges and leave more of her perceptions behind. I enjoy showing the escalation, and testing her mettle. It’s fun to watch squirm, cope and grow as a person.
7. Looking ahead for your writing: what’s your biggest hope for something you want to capture for writing about magic that you haven’t done yet?
I want to write stories about magic’s dark side… about an evil sorcerer who uses other people’s pain as a source of his magic, and about people who use magic for their own greed and power-lust. Several ideas are already simmering in my cauldron.
8. About yourself now: what form of magic would you most like to have, and what would you use it for?
Sometimes I wish I could change the weather. Then I’d take some of Britain’s surplus rain and send it to the drought regions of the earth where it’s sorely needed.
9. What’s the most important thing you want to convey to your readers when you write about magic?
Magic, needs to be used responsibly, ethically, wisely. When working magic, you need to consider the consequences, including how may affect others, and decide if the desired outcome is worth the price. Using magic without thought, or while in the grip of lust or greed, can cause great pain and regrets. The magic in my fiction is metaphor for all empowering skills – use them responsibly.
Iain Rob Wright
Author of the Damienverse books, the Redlake books, and many other horror novels: http://www.iainrobwright.com/
1. Let’s start at the beginning: how did you know you wanted the kinds of supernatural forces you use in your writing?
Growing up, I loved the X-Files, the Outer Limits, Dawn of the Dead, Buffy and Angel, and lots of other horror/fantasy products. I was also reading the books of Stephen King and James Herbert. For some reason, these were the things I loved, and I wanted to live in these scary worlds all the time. By writing my own worlds I get to spend even more time in the place I love to be—fighting for my life against monsters and ghosts. Maybe I love the thrill, but I also love the themes of death, loss, and adversity ever-present within the horror genre.
2. Magic can open a whole set of doors (and pitfalls) in the plot of a story, with new opportunities for characters. How has your concept of the supernatural meshed with your plots?
I have a tendency to weave my plots and characters together, which makes things very complicated to keep in order. I am slowly building a multi-verse which will have characters jumping between worlds. It’s hard work. When the rules don’t apply then you have to restrict yourself or your plots will end up unravelling all over the place!
3. Pick a character in your stories that has access to supernatural abilities– hero, villain, or otherwise. Of all the ways they could use them, what’s their approach for choosing what to do with them, how to go about it, and what are the challenges or limits that puts them in conflict with?
Most of my characters are human, but some characters such as Lucas have great power. Lucas, however, is trying to shy away from his own nature, which means his use of power is reluctant. Other characters such as Sam yearn for more power, and will do anything to get it. I think it’s important that characters are unhappy with their own abilities, either upset that they have those talents, or unhappy that they do not have more. Power can end up being an allegory for self-esteem and the battle we all have with ourselves.
4. When the supernatural touches your characters’ lives, how does it tend to change their lives or their viewpoint?
It obviously shatters their previous understanding of life, but often empowers them to look beyond their own comfort zones. Characters grow when exposed to things they do not understand. Magic, again, is just an allegory for that which we do not understand. Buffy the Vampire Slayer was a girl who suddenly got powers, but really it was just a metaphor for the battle of puberty, and growing to accept the role of being an adult. My character Scarlet has bad powers with an even worse destiny, but really it mirrors the fears she has about her own reckless behaviour and her fears that she will not become a valuable adult.
5. What authors, myths, or other sources about magic do you admire or draw from? Is there anything you think one source hasn’t done justice to?
I love Christian-Judaic mythology and find the themes of Good versus Evil fascinating. It’s the dichotomy present in all life—the battle between light and dark, kindness and selfishness, hate and love. Angels, demons, miracles, and sins, the bible has it all, and it ends with Revelations! Lots of material I love to make use of their. I also love looking at the origins of myths, such as where Vampires arose in folk law. I would like to tackle all the icons of horror in time, putting my own spin on them. Sam is a possession story, but I like to think I turned it on its head by the end. The Final Winter, my first story, also played with conventions too.
6. Sometimes it just clicks. Tell me about your favorite scene or moment where your brand of magic brought the story up to a new level.
I love how Scarlet realises the power of blood magic at the end of Wings of Sorrow. Her embracing her own darkness and wielding evil to save her friends is an empowering moment for her, and me the author.
7. Looking ahead for your writing: what’s your biggest hope for something you want to capture for writing about the supernatural that you haven’t done yet?
I want to build the entire world on forces we don’t understand. I want a war to end all war between unimaginable powers. The Buffy Verse is my inspiration, but I am also heavily influenced by Brian Keene and F Paul Wilson. If I can come close to any of those universes then I would be ecstatic.
8. About yourself now: what form of magic would you most like to have, and what would you use it for?
I would love to be able to have my wishes granted. That would be amazing! You could have anything you wanted. But then Djinns are sneaky and they always end up screwing the wisher over in some way.
9. What’s the most important thing you want to convey to your readers when you write about the supernatural?
That it’s not really about magic. It’s about the world and our nature. A character might cast a spell to change their lives in a book, but in real life the magic comes from our own efforts to make things happen. We all wish we could wave a magic wand, and that’s why literature is cathartic, but ultimately the real power lies in our interactions with the world and each other.
10. Is there anything else you’d like to say about it that we haven’t covered?
Nope. I will let my writing do the talking. Every story I write is different, but readers will find that they are all woven together through the ‘Celestial Tapestry’. I would urge horror and fantasy lovers to check them out. J
Kim Cormack
Author of the Children of Ankh series: http://kimcormack.blogspot.ca/
1. Let’s start at the beginning: how did you know you wanted the kinds of supernatural you use in your writing?
I have no idea. I was writing children’s books and one night I had a nightmare. The dream started at the slightly opened door, swinging in the wind. That scene is right at the beginning of book one, “Sweet Sleep.” I woke up after the creepy lullaby and wrote it all down. My genre changed overnight. I’ve been writing this magical series on autopilot.
2. Magic can open a whole set of doors (and pitfalls) in the plot of a story, with new opportunities for characters. How has your concept of magic meshed with your plots?
The wonderful thing about magic is that there are no rules to follow. Magic can be anything and it can be anywhere. There are three clans of partially immortal teens in my series. They are called second tiers and they all have some form of ability. It’s always fun to randomly write in new abilities. If I use a well known ability for a character sometimes I’ll do some research and purposely steer it away from the norm.
3. Pick a character in your stories that has access to magic. Of all the ways they could use it, what’s their approach for choosing what to do with it, how to go about it, and what are the challenges or limits that puts them in conflict with?
I’ll go with my main Character Kayn. This character is a Magical Conduit. She can absorb any ability and use it. The three members of clan Ankh are, Enlightened during the immortal Testing in book two, “Enlightenment.” The Testing takes place in a floating crypt in another reality the size of New York City. Inside of this crypt, everything is magic. Anything you have ever thought of becomes reality. Every nightmare is real. Three teenagers from Clan Ankh go into the Testing together where they must die thousands of times in increasingly horrifying ways to prove that their partially mortal brains are capable of living life as an immortal. There is a plot going on to turn Kayn into a Dragon because the Oracle of Clan Ankh has foretold that this is the only way the three clan Ankh will survive the Testing. (An emotional Dragon, not a green scaly one) When the main character survives the Testing and leads the others to safety, she is no longer the girl that went in. She’s a bit mentally unhinged, as anyone would be after being murdered thousands of times in a rather graphic simulation of hell. She gains the magical ability of a Conduit. Kayn feeds on the other immortal’s abilities so I’ve given her magical ability the vibe of an addiction. She can’t control it and it’s a process of trial and error. In the third book in the series, Let There Be Dragons, Kayn learns how to control the primal urges caused by her new ability. She also has to learn to use each new magical ability, she absorbs. Kayn is living with Clan Ankh and she feeds on magic, so there are a few rather complicated situations she finds herself in. She ends up discovering the actual use for her ability by the end of the book.
4. When the supernatural touches your characters’ lives, how does it tend to change their lives or their viewpoint?
In book one Kayn Brighton is a normal teenage girl. She has a twin sister, a brother and two wonderful parents. Her life is altered because her twin sister has an ability and her misuse of it causes the Correction of their entire family line. After the massacre, Kayn is the soul survivor and she joins with one of three clans of immortals living on earth. They train in the in-between and we watch her learn to fight. She has to learn to let go of her mortal life and except that magic is real. In book two, “Enlightenment,” the battle changes. In this book she learns what the clans really do on earth, and the battles they have to face that the first tiers (mortals) are unaware of. She has to prove herself capable of being immortal by entering the immortal Testing. In book three, “Let There Be Dragons,” Kayn has evolved to the point where she has to fight to regain her humanity.
5. What authors, myths, or other sources about magic do you admire or draw from? Is there anything you think one source hasn’t done justice to?
Honestly, I wing it but some of my fondest memories are of reading C.S Lewis as a child.
6. Sometimes it just clicks. Tell me about your favorite scene or moment where your brand of magic brought the story up to a new level.
I love the terrifying creatures from the Testing. I took all of my fears and the fears of everyone I know and made this simulation of hell. If you try to avoid one of the versions of death the next time you are faced with it, you will wish you’d taken door number one.
7. Looking ahead for your writing: what’s your biggest hope for something you want to capture for writing about the supernatural that you haven’t done yet?
I’ve already begun to split of the main series into a side series and I plan to release many more books in this universe. I plan to write a separate book for each character because I’m so attached to each one. We all know head hopping is a big no, no. So, separate books it is
8. About yourself now: what form of magic would you most like to have, and what would you use it for?
I’d like to be a healer and I’d use it for the obvious reasons.
9. What’s the most important thing you want to convey to your readers when you write about magic?
Magic is everywhere but only if you look for it. There’s magic in many simple things that you overlook every day. The fragrance of grass and the dust particles in that ray of sunlight shining through the trees. There’s even tiny rainbows in the bubbles in your bubble bath. There’s magic in love and family. There’s even magic in your dreams and if magic exists in all of these little things why can’t it exist everywhere? You don’t need a magic wand or a broom stick to create magic all you need is a heart.
10. Is there anything else you’d like to say about it that we haven’t covered?
I love hearing from you and I love the pictures the readers have been sending me. I’ll keep posting them if you keep sending them. I hope to keep you lost in my messed up little world for many years to come. Happy Reading.
Paul Western-Pittard
Author of Undreamed and Lethe Rising (and also Jan and the Spooky Periscope): http://pwesternpittard.com/
1. Let’s start at the beginning: how did you know you wanted the kinds of paranormal you use in your writing?
I don’t know that I ever thought about it specifically, to be honest. A focus for a lot of my writing is the mind—and what happens when things go wrong with how we see ourselves or what we think we remember. For my characters, the paranormal or supernatural is an extension of that.
Having said that, my next book is a supernatural story, and for that I set out intentionally to drop Tara (the hero) into a world that she can’t accept.
My favourite kind of supernatural is the almost—but not quite—kind where you could just about convince yourself that what you thought happened, didn’t really happen. The kind of thing that if it happened to you, you’d stay up wondering if you’re going just a little bit insane…
2. Magic can open a whole set of doors (and pitfalls) in the plot of a story, with new opportunities for characters. How has your concept of magic meshed with your plots?
I guess magic, in a conventional sense doesn’t play a major role in my stories. There are definitely inexplicable, supernatural events, but as I mentioned above, these feel like a natural extension of pushing characters into great stress. For them, it’s like the rules of the world are breaking down.
When the lines of reality start to blur like that, all bets are off and anything can happen.
Using the idea of magic a bit more broadly, I’m a fan of the story-idea that anything we do has a cost, that needs to be paid for somewhere down the line. So in my next book, there are serious consequences for a character trying to break ‘the rules of the world’ and a price must be paid for that.
I think I’m drawn to this idea because it feels real and relatable.
3. Pick a character in your stories that has access to magic. Of all the ways they could use it, what’s their approach for choosing what to do with it, how to go about it, and what are the challenges or limits that puts them in conflict with?
In my upcoming book, Tara Laskin has access not so much to magic, but a supernatural being. Initially she thinks this is the best thing to have happened to her in her life, and she’s reckless with what she asks of it. She doesn’t understand the danger of what she’s dealing with, but slowly comes to realise exactly what it is that she’s unleashed.
Back to the points I made above, Tara learns there’s a cost to what she wants and a price that needs to be paid. By the time she figures this out, the price is too high it throws not only her life, but a whole town into a disaster.
4. When the uncanny touches your characters’ lives, how does it tend to change their lives or their viewpoint?
At first, most of my characters are confused by it or try to reject what they have seen or experienced. I’m sure the real world is filled with many things we all miss, or just don’t see. Same for my characters. When they do allow themselves to understand what’s going on, it becomes a turning point for them and they are able to do something about their problems.
5. What authors, myths, or other sources about magic do you admire or draw from? Is there anything you think one source hasn’t done justice to?
I like the darker, older fairy tales. The ones that don’t always have happy endings. These stories are cautionary tales that go beyond ‘be careful what you wish for’ and tell us to keep our eyes open and wits sharp. I also love Faustian stories where we do deals with the Devil in order to get our heart’s desires. (Which of course never works out).
6. Sometimes it just clicks. Tell me about your favorite scene or moment where your brand of the paranormal brought the story up to a new level.
There was a moment in ‘Undreamed’ where Alice takes a shortcut down a small alley between some houses. She’s feeling stressed and distracted. She doesn’t pay attention at first, but she slowly realises that somehow this small fence-lined alley has taken twists and turns that can’t possibly be there, and for a moment she finds herself in the heart of a labyrinth, in the middle of suburbia. Even as she fights to keep a lid on her panic, knowing full well this can’t happen, she still runs for her life. This has always been one of my favourite scenes.
7. Looking ahead for your writing: what’s your biggest hope for something you want to capture for writing about the paranormal that you haven’t done yet?
Biggest hope? That’s a tough question. I want to try to express that single moment when you know, deep down, that things have turned horribly, horribly wrong and you can’t run any longer. To be caught up in the belly of the beast and know you have to fight your way out, or be lost forever.
And to write something that sits in your mind for a long time.
8. About yourself now: what form of magic would you most like to have, and what would you use it for?
I don’t know if this is magic but I’d like the ability to see all the possible ways decisions may go…before they’re made of course. I’d love to be able to see that spiderweb of consequences, causes and effects. Why? Because it would be cool. And also to win the lotto.
9. What’s the most important thing you want to convey to your readers when you write about the uncanny?
I think the most important thing isn’t so much about conveying an idea, but a feeling. I want to be able to bring the readers with my characters and have them feel what they feel. I want them to feel that particular kind of uncertainty that the world isn’t how we think it is, doesn’t work the way we think it works. It can be a fluid, changeable and uncertain place.
10. Is there anything else you’d like to say about it that we haven’t covered?
I’d just like to say thank you for the chance to chat, Ken!
Mario Acevedo
Author of the Felix Gomez series: http://www.marioacevedo.com/
1. Let’s start at the beginning: how did you know you wanted the kind of supernatural elements you use in your writing?
The big reveal about myself. Growing up, I didn’t like books or movies that dealt with the supernatural, especially monsters like vampires. I couldn’t reconcile how supernatural creatures could survive among us unpredictable and dangerous humans. After I sent out queries for a men’s action thriller I was certain would get picked up but didn’t even get so much as a form rejection letter, I decided the hell with it, I’m going to write the most ridiculous story I can think of: a detective-vampire investigates an outbreak of nymphomania at a nuclear weapons plant. Part of that decision was based on my reading of Charlaine Harris’ Dead Until Dark. That book showed me there were no commandments concerning the supernatural and you the writer could make up whatever rules you wanted. Plus she introduced a good dose of humor that I appreciated. When I write for my Felix Gomez detective-vampire series I make sure the books mesh with pop culture’s perception of the supernatural as a starting point and I riff from there.
2. Paranormal abilities can open a whole set of doors (and pitfalls) in the plot of a story, with new opportunities for characters. How has your concept of magic meshed with your plots?
Magic, meaning the supernatural, must be integral to the plot, otherwise what’s the point? If my characters have supernatural powers then they must rely on them to address the story question. Readers tell me they can tell by the structure of my stories that I am at heart a mystery writer. Like any good mystery, there must be a sense of desperation by both the villain and hero, a lot of misdirection and hidden agendas, and that final justice must involve moral compromise that challenges the hero’s values, even if using magic.
3. Pick a character in your stories. Of all the ways they could use their abilities, what’s their approach for choosing what to do with it, how to go about it, and what are the challenges or limits that puts them in conflict with?
Since Felix’s vampire powers give him an edge over his adversaries, he uses them whenever possible. After all, wouldn’t you use your strengths against your enemies’ weaknesses? However, to keep from making the situation too easy for him, I introduce complications that rein in his supernatural abilities. Basically, for the same reason we have kryptonite in the Superman tales.
4. When the paranormal touches your characters’ lives, how does it tend to change their lives or their viewpoint?
Felix never hesitates to mention the irony that though he is an undead bloodsucking killer, he remains the good guy.
5. What authors, myths, or other sources about the paranormal do you admire or draw from? Is there anything you think one source hasn’t done justice to?
After six books in the series, the rules in my world are set. When I read another author’s work, what I draw from are the ways they introduce the supernatural elements of their world as well as pay attention to the mechanics of their writing.
6. Sometimes it just clicks. Tell me about your favorite scene or moment where your brand of the supernatural brought the story up to a new level.
A lot of readers comment that it’s the humanity of my supernatural characters that amps up the stories. Especially that everyone needs a day job. Felix often reflects on his time as a sergeant in the army fighting in Iraq and the moral dilemma of doing his duty amid the chaos and tragedy of war. The loss of every one of his soldiers, and the deaths of innocent civilians, weighs on him and forces to him to check his actions against his conscience. Readers key in on these moments and tell me this is what sets Felix apart from other smart-mouthed paranormal gumshoes.
7. Looking ahead for your writing: what’s your biggest hope for something you want to capture for writing about the paranormal that you haven’t done yet?
Tough question. I’ve pretty much rifled through the supernatural menagerie, drafting werewolves, zombies, ghosts, dryads, Native American spirit creatures, and specters from Mexican folklore, as well as rambled through the astral plane. I’ve also lassoed aliens into my tales though technically, they’re not supernatural. I’ve written a couple of short stories that have veered straight into horror, and I’d like to try more of those. On a back burner, I’ve also got a manuscript pitting magic against technology that I’d like to finish.
8. About yourself now: what form of magic would you most like to have, and what would you use it for?
The ability to fly. Mostly to save money on gas. Since my dog Scout accompanies me on most trips, I’d like that he’d be able to fly as well.
9. What’s the most important thing you want to convey to your readers when you write about the paranormal?
That stories featuring the paranormal, like all fiction, are about making an emotional connection with your readers–not an easy task. You the writer must entertain and deliver a satisfying story. Make readers glad they bought your book.
10. Is there anything else you’d like to say about it that we haven’t covered?
I’m about done with my next Felix Gomez story, Steampunk Banditos. I have another novel forthcoming, University of Doom, a satire about scientific research and academia. Stay tuned.
MarioAcevedo.com UniversityOfDoom.com
Thanks for the interview.
Nicole Hill
Author of The Avalon Legacies series: http://nicolefaithhill.blogspot.com/
1. Let’s start at the beginning: how did you know you wanted the kinds of magic you use in your writing?
I didn’t really know what kinds of magic I would be using in the beginning. The more I wrote, the more details came to light for me. In the end, it turned out that my characters have access to every type of Magic ever thought, spoken or written about. It just depends on what form they needed for what purpose.
2. Magic can open a whole set of doors (and pitfalls) in the plot of a story, with new opportunities for characters. How has your concept of magic meshed with your plots?
My concept of magic has direct links to the plot of my story. My books explain that magic is really the ability to control the atoms inside and around you. The Avalon Legacies go on to explain that everyone at one time could use this “Magic” as everyone is at their core made of atoms and atoms can attract or repel other atoms.
3. Pick a character in your stories that has access to magic. Of all the ways they could use it, what’s their approach for choosing what to do with it, how to go about it, and what are the challenges or limits that puts them in conflict with?
Ailis is the first main character introduced. She has always known she had access to magic. She has also always known that she has a very bad temper and has a lot of trouble controlling her magic when around Vampires. She basically goes on auto pilot and turns into an assassin of sorts. Her biggest challenge is controlling her temper and as she will find out; every woman in her family line suffers from the same epic temper.
4. When magic touches your characters’ lives, how does it tend to change their lives or their viewpoint?
Magic tends to complicate matters more for my characters in the beginning and they hate it. They find that it can be so easy to begin to rely on your magic that you forget how to live without it. Those who loose their link with the earth tend to loose their minds as well without proper support.
5. What authors, myths, or other sources about magic do you admire or draw from? Is there anything you think one source hasn’t done justice to?
I have always been obsessed with Arthurian Legends. All forms of them. So obsessed in fact, that I was already researching the possible locations for Camelot if it were ever real. before I ever thought of writing about it. My one pet peeve about most all of the Legends is how they end. Whether people believed that Morgan Le Fey was evil or just a girl who could be manipulated, I hated the endings. I always thought; That’s it? They just get Kicked out of Avalon? So, someone created this whole alternate plane and because she didn’t get her way, she just kicked everyone out? I hated that.
6. Sometimes it just clicks. Tell me about your favorite scene or moment where your brand of magic brought the story up to a new level.
The moment Ailis thought she accidentally blew up the man she loved and the father of her child because she again lost her temper was a big Aha moment for me. Right until that paragraph flew from my fingertips, I had no clue that the family was actually tapping into the power of The Goddess. I had no idea they could actually destroy the world if they wanted to. It was then that the real danger of this family’s epic temper finally came to light.
7. Looking ahead for your writing: what’s your biggest hope for something you want to capture for writing about magic that you haven’t done yet?
I have yet to explain how God falls into place in this story line. He has a very big role in the creation of earth after all but beyond that, he is actually directly responsible for the Creation of Avalon and I am so ready to tell that story but I still have one more to tell before I get to him. I can’t wait to explain how Gods form of Magic is very similar to how Avalonians use their magic and how all magic (Including God’s) came from the same initial source.
8. About yourself now: what form of magic would you most like to have, and what would you use it for?
I think I would like to be able to Glamour people. I would only use it for good but I seriously think the ability to make people think they want to help you would come in handy more often than not.
9. What’s the most important thing you want to convey to your readers when you write about magic?
The one lesson I wanted to get across was that all power whether magical or mundane, comes with a great amount of responsibility. If you are gifted with power of any kind, it is your duty to control that power no matter how hard it is. It is your duty to make sure you never uses any power for evil purposes.
10. Is there anything else you’d like to say about it that we haven’t covered?
The most important lesson learned in The Avalon Legacies is that no matter how strong you think you are. No matter how powerful you think you are. Everyone needs help sometimes and if you are vain enough to think that you are the exception, you probably don’t deserve the gifts you have been given. Help each other. Love each other and above all, respect each other.
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