Interview with John Lawson by
Sabrina Williams
John Lawson is the author of Witch Ember and The Raven,
two remarkable fantasy novels. Mr. Lawson was kind enough to
answer a few questions for me.
Thank you so much for taking the time to indulge readers a little more.
Have you always wanted to be a
writer?
Gosh, I think so. I've always dabbled with writing and other creative
outlets, but it took me a really long time to ever get around to
actually trying my hand at doing anything as ambitious as a full novel.
I took a Creative Writing class back in college, but the experience was
so damaging, it took me nearly 10 years to want to take up fiction
writing again (the professor was seriously out of control). It didn't
keep me from writing creatively however, and I created quite a bit of
material for a role-playing game I was interested in at the time (none
of it was published tho).
I remember back in Junior High, we had an assignment to create a book
of our own. We were even supposed to figure out how to bind them. (My
mother found a little photocopy place that could do it. Not small feat
considering this was in the early 80s, before Kinko's and PCs.) I spent
days meticulously typing out my pages without typos, drawing my
illustrations. I even created a fake copyright page. I didn't get a
very good grade though, because the teacher believed that my parents
helped me write the story. My parents became really offended and
complained… I don't remember if that changed the grade or not…
I was actually somewhat flattered that the teacher thought the writing
was so good, I must have had help writing it.
What do you enjoy about writing?
I try not to over-think my writing. I create the setting and the mood,
drop the characters in, and then see what happens. I really dig it when
they end up doing something I didn't expect.
What makes it most rewarding?
There is almost nothing better than being on a true creative binge,
where the words are just pouring out of you. And at the end of it, you
have a tight, exciting scene where interesting people do interesting
things.
What prompted you to write fantasy?
It's funny, because I'm not a big fan of the genre in general. I have
no patience for derivatives of the Tolkien stereotypes. But at the same
time, I love the setting and the themes. So in a sense, everything I do
is an attempt to break out of the established norms while staying in
the genre.
I actually consider myself a science-fiction author—rather than
fantasy—primarily because sci-fi holds itself to a certain degree of
plausibility. Stuff has to be based on science (or pseudo science) and
has to have a certain degree of realism. You can have alien races in
sci-fi, just so long as they're not so outlandish that you can't
imagine them evolving on a distant planet.
How long did it take to complete each book, from inception to
publishing?
It took about a year to write each book.
Do you have any other projects or
ideas you would like to pursue?
I have a prequel to Witch Ember finished and am currently looking for
representation for it. I also have a fourth book finished that takes
place in the same fantasy world but follows a different set of
characters.
The world in which I write is an evolving one. Unlike Middle Earth,
where 3000 years can pass and people are still using swords and bows,
my world will see changes as time goes on. When I'm finished writing
what I call the " Witch Ember Cycle," I'm thinking of jumping ahead a
few hundred years to see what things will look like there.
Did you have any particular
inspiration for the characters?
Oh, there are many, I'm sure, but only a few of them were intentional.
Myrdd from Witch Ember was definitely based on Merlin. Myrdd's name is
even a variation of his.
The character of Esmeree was partly inspired from Neal Stephenson's
Nell from Diamond Age and David Brin's Maia from Glory Season.
I patterned Verole from Witch Ember after what I could remember of Tim
Roth's bitter illegitimate courtier, Archibald Cunningham, from "Rob
Roy." But it's been such a long time since I've seen the movie, I'm not
sure if the comparison is deserved.
Many of your characters are moral
deviants and many of your creatures are relatively grotesque. Were you
concerned how readers would accept this?
No. As far as moral deviations are concerned, the people in my world
are not idealized. They are as real as I could make them, adjusted to
be contemporary with the time period. My world is not a medieval world
populated by 21st century people with 21st century values. It's a
primitive world, with primitive people, doing primitive things.
I suppose a certain sense of macabre could be generated by creating a
race of cute gnomes that look just like Mogwais but are really vicious
man-eaters, but done badly, it could almost come across as comical.
I don't consider my creatures grotesque. I do consider them alien, in
the sense of being different physiologically and behaviorally. They are
NOT humans with rubber prostheses glued to their foreheads.
Some aspects of the novels are
similar to reality: for example, the Medianist religion is very like
Christianity. Did you intentionally draw parallels between fiction and
reality and do you have a specific message you wish to impart upon
readers?
When I was conceiving the Church of the Holy Median, I wanted it to be
a huge, monolithic entity with a rich back history and an intricate
bureaucracy. Call it laziness, but it was fairly organic to draw upon
Catholicism as a source (when it comes to centralized, organized
religions, there aren't many others to choose from).
Not being raised Catholic, most of my exposure to it has been through
the ceremonies held since I met my wife. Marriage, baptism, etc. I love
the trappings and ritual.
A reviewer once remarked that Medianism was a "thinly disguised form of
Christianity". Sure, they share some of the same concepts and terms
("priest," "church," "saint," etc), but beyond their structures, I
endeavored to diverge from the source.
Medianist doctrine is not the same a Christian. Medianism has four
messiahs. In a sense, it's four faiths vying for power and influence
under one umbrella organization.
Why did you decide to switch
protagonists when you wrote The Raven?
I remember seeing "Star Wars" in the theater as a kid, and at the time,
I obsessed over what was Darth Vader thinking as he flew away from the
remains of his Death Star?
After the climactic final battle, with the good guys victorious and the
villains in ignominious retreat, I always wondered how the main bad guy
reacted to such a crushing defeat. So I decided to write the book and
find out.
(Also, I believe Esmeree's continuing story will be fairly complicated,
so I wanted some more time to evolve some ideas.)
Both Witch Ember and The Raven are lengthy by today's standards. Did
you intend to make them so substantial when you began? Do you feel the
length may be daunting to some readers?
I love long books. I love books that require an investment to read. I
don't like books you can finish in an afternoon. So, yes, I
intentionally set out to write long books.
I actually blogged about this very subject here .
I kept my fourth manuscript short just to address this issue.
Finally, will you share some
favorite titles from your personal bookshelf with readers?
Catch 22
Diskworld series
Dracula
Focault's Pendulum
Footfall
House of Leaves
The Monk
Myth Adventures series
Mythago Wood
Sharpe's Rifles series
A Tale of Two Cities
Uncle Silas
The Uplift War series
Waiting for Godot