Interview: Author Raymond E. Feist
Crimes against humanity are those things that rob the entire world of potential. Among those millions [Hitler] killed might have been a kid who would grow up to cure cancer, or the next Mozart, or a playwright to equal Shakespeare. -Raymond E. Feist
Can you give us some insight to your early life? What shapes a writer of epic fantasy?
I can only give you insights into my life, so it's hardly a generalization. Mostly as a kid I was a daydreamer. I spent a great deal of time living inside my own head, which turned out to be a bad thing as well as a good thing later in life. People like me are constantly fashioning narratives in our head and even into my 50s I was often making choices in life based on those narratives rather than what was really happening around me. It does, however, make it easy to dream up stories which other people want to read. As my mother was a singer and my stepfather a TV/film director, producer, writer, no one told me you can't make a living being creative.
That was important. Other than that, a kid who grew up watching Ozzy & Harriet, Father Knows Best, The Adventures of Superman, Space Patrol, who couldn't believe how good Forbidden Planet was, and who was addicted early on to football.
Who were your favorite writers and who influenced you the most?
Too many to list all of them. Pretty much anyone who was good, starting with that Shakespeare guy. As for genre, I read a lot of what was called "Boys Adventure Fiction," which included Sir Walter Scott, Howard Pyle, Anthony Hope, Robert Louis Stevenson, and their kindred.
Historical novels, as well, were a staple; Thomas Costain, Mary Renault, Rosemary Sutcliffe, etc. All of it is "other times and places" and SF/F is an extension of that meme. I discovered SF in about 1958 or so and read it constantly for the next ten years or so.
How does it feel to have written a book series that has spanned 3+ decades and was it your intent for it to be this huge?
No. It was a question if I'd sell one. I didn't realize I was going to do all five Riftwars until I was about half way through writing Rage of a Demon King. Then I knew I'd be married to the series until it was done.
You were an early pioneer in the computer game genre. Did you foresee how big it would become?
Not really.
When Betrayal at Kronor was developed, they were still arguing about which system, DOS or the new Windows. Computers were still a hobbyist's or "the computer guy" at a company's area of interest and games were just starting to take off. By Return to Kronor I had a pretty good notion we were looking a something that was far bigger than we thought.
Could you tell us a little about the Friday Night Gamers?
What it was all about and the games you used to play?
The game itself was our "do-over" of early Dungeons & Dragons, a rule set so incomprehensible that just about every early adopter rewrote the rules until [Advanced Dungeons & Dragons] came out. The game wasn't the thing for me; it was the world. Midkemia [Press] was created by a lot of very bright people who took improbable nonsense and hammered it into a rich, varied environment in which I could tell the story of the five Riftwars. All I wrote about was "backstory" from sitting around explaining why things were the way they were in the game. My stories start about 500 years earlier than the game period.
What are you currently working on?
Can we expect a radical departure or will you be doing epic fantasy again?
It's fantasy. I don't know how epic it will be. It's a smaller stage with fewer characters and a much more focused set of tropes, mostly concerning itself with revenge and it's consequences.
What authors are you currently reading and do you see anyone doing anything interesting that you like?
I don't read fiction when I'm working, and as my last vacation was 14 years ago . . .
You get the idea.
I mostly read history and biography. In the later, William Greenblath's Will in the World: How Shakespeare became Shakespeare is highly recommended and in the former I finally caught up with The Line Upon A Wind: The Great War at Sea, 1793-1815 by Noel Mostert. It's must read for any Patrick O'Brian or C.S. Forster fans.
Any plans to continue the books in comics?
Not at the moment. It's about who is interested in the rights. Truth to tell, Marvel didn't want us; we were part of a package of rights they got from DB Pro, and what they wanted was the Laurel Hamilton, Anita Baker stuff. The rest of us were just in the box, so they did a semi-decent run with Magician, though they dumped the last bit into digital only. We had zero conversation with them about continuing past Magician. Like tv/film, we'll listen to any pitch.
There are rumors of a Game of Thrones treatment for the Rift War, any truth or possibility and would you be okay with that?
"Okay" with seeing my income go up five million dollars? Ya, I think I could live with what George has had to endure.
We talk to film/TV people all the time. That's been true for thirty years.
I've made deals which have unwound ("In Turnaround" is the Hollywood phrase), and deposited quite a good hunk of change over the years in option money, but nothing so far has gotten past that stage. This is not uncommon. Look how many years The Lord of the Rings took to become a live action film series. We're just looking for the right deal.
Besides Tomas are there any other characters that you were particularly pleased with how they developed?
Characters are a funny thing to me. I don't get attached. They're part of the narrative and have a job to do and if they do what I asked of them, I'm pleased. Some are a bit more fun to write, like Amos, Jimmy, and Nakor, but they all served their purposes well.
Pug got more difficult to write as he went because I realized about Into A Dark Realm that he was becoming obsessive, and wrote a sense with his son reflecting Magnus' concern about it. On balance I'm very pleased with the whole lot of them.
Your theory of how evil and madness are intertwined was so central to your books.
Was it planned from your first book or did it evolve?
Always. I've always considered "evil" to make no sense whatsoever. Conflicting special interests, say a fight over land or water or wealth, okay, I get it. Each side demonizes the other and each side sees itself heroic and the other side evil. Hitler looked in the mirror and saw a man of vision and those who opposed him were evil from his point of view. Very few would agree with that assessment.
Crimes against humanity are those things that rob the entire world of potential. Among those millions he killed might have been a kid who would grow up to cure cancer, or the next Mozart, or a playwright to equal Shakespeare. Who knows? We will never know. To write evil it has to be crazy, in my humble opinion, or it becomes banal.
What advice would you give to an aspiring writer?
Sit.
Write.
Keep writing until you find your unique voice or give up and do something else.
I know you attend Comic Con every year. Are you a fan of the conventions?
I was when it was small and I knew most of the pros and we all ended up in the same bar in the same hotel. That was about twenty years ago. My first con was about 5,000 people in the basement of the El Cortez Hotel, in 1978. It had just started 8 years earlier with 150 or so people. Now, it's a trade show for fan geeks. It's the Frankfort Book Fair for media rights. It's where you now roll out the big tent pole films and TV shows for the next year. If you have a panel in Hall H, you've arrived at the big time. I go because I'm a local with kids, and because my publisher makes me show up at least one day each year. This year it's Saturday at the Harper-Collins both--time to be announced in a few days.
You tour the world. Outside of the U.S., what's your favorite destination?
I love London. One of the world's truly great destinations. I also enjoy visiting other cities in the UK.
I love visiting Australia, particularly Sydney and Brisbane, but I enjoy everywhere: Perth, Adelaide, Melbourne, Canberra, etc. I would like to get up to the North Coast at some point. I had my first visit to South Africa last year and it was great. I think I'm a bit more partial to Cape Town, but enjoyed Durban and Johannesburg very much. France and The Netherlands are always a pleasure, and this year I'm making my first sojourns to Brazil and Portugal and am looking forward to those visits as well.
Have you ever considered another genre?
I have.
I have two SF books i've written in my head, and a Police Procedural as well, but my publisher reaches for the stomach mints when I bring them up. They want fantasy. If I win the lottery and finish my current contract, maybe I just write one for the hell of it.
This is for the comic fans out there. Who is your favorite superhero?
To read?
Probably over the years Batman, but Superman comes in a close second. Nice contrast in styles. I read comics for fifty years before I gave up (the crossovers killed it for me), so it's not so much the character as much as who wrote it, and drew it to a lesser extent, that interested me. Gaiman's Sandman was stunning, as was Miller's Ronin. Alan Moore's [Hellblazer] John Constantine is a character i wish to hell I had thought up. Without Chris Claremont I lost interesting The X-Men. Womlfan and Pérez's initial run on The Teen Titans was bloody wonderful. So I break it down that way.
Have you seen any of the big comic movies?
Which ones do you prefer?
I have a teenage son. I've seen them all. Captain America: The Winter Soldier is hands down the best of the lot. I even did a plot breakdown of it on my Facebook page as an example of how to plot a narrative; it drives like an express train. It's not an action movie, despite all the things blowing up and fistfights, it's a suspense thriller, with more in common to the Borne movies, Mission Impossible, or Three Days of the Condor than an X-Men or Spiderman film.
Alfred Hitchcock could have directed it. Listen to the score; Bernard Herman could have written it. It is not only the best of the super hero films, but it was one of the best films out last year.
Do you have any hobbies? When you need a break from writing how do you unwind?
I indulge in tasting as many whiskies as I can.
We have a little bar here in San Diego, the Aero Club, over by the airport, that's been a fixture there since the 1940s. They have over 1,000 bottles of whisky from all over the world. I'm there with friends once, twice, sometimes three times a month tasting a few each visit. I've managed over they years to sample all the major distillers in Scotland and Ireland, as well as a fair bit of those from Japan and India. Hundreds to go. I am an avid fan of football in the US and out. I follow Rugby in Wales (Osprey!), Australia (St. George-Illawarra Dragons!) and the All Black internationally. I have a footie team as well, Brisbane Lions (I miss Fitzroy!). Love soccer, so Go Wolves (long story about my being a boy in L.A. when Wolverhampton actually played for 2 seasons as the L.A. Wolves omitted) and of course in the States my San Diego Chargers.
We know you love sports. What are your current favorite teams?
Well, Stanley Cup just finished, so the Anaheim Ducks, and looking forward to the return of hockey to San Diego with the AHL Norfolk Admirals arriving here and rebranded as the San Diego Gulls! I keep one eye on the Padres, though I only go to one or two baseball games a year. Looking forward to the Chargers season, though rumors abound it may be their last in San Diego. And loving the USA woman's team in the current World Cup.
And lastly. Where do you come up with the names? This one's from me. I have always been interested in how the names feel right. That they fit the character perfectly. I'd like to know your inspiration
I just do. It's a knack. For those who lack it, my suggestion is a phone book (if you can find one nowadays) from any major city--there are wonderful names from cultures your not familiar with and you can always substitute a letter, or move a couple of syllables around.
Raymond E. Feist is an American author who primarily writes fantasy fiction. He is best known for The Riftwar Cycle series of novels and short stories. His books have been translated into multiple languages and have sold over 15 million copies.
edited by Archie R Spires