The Gradual Interview

[dlbpharmd]

Hmmmm - IIRC wasn't that the personal autographs that he did? Seems to me that he did several hundred of them.

[matrixman]

I'm fairly sure it was the autographs, too. I think SRD said he signed 7500 copies of Runes.

[dlbpharmd]

That's what it was, your memory is much better than mine, MM.

[wayfriend]

Jeff Periman: I just want to say the Thomas Covement Chronicles are such a graet read!!!! I just finished RUNES WOW!! Okay my question is the Ranhyns? Why horses?

Thanks for your time Jeff

Well, why not? This is a medieval-ish fantasy (technologically speaking <grin>). How else are people going to get around?

Or did you mean, Why horses instead of some invented creature? Because Covenant is familiar with them (through Joan). Remember that he thinks the Land is a dream--and not without reason. So naturally many of the "raw materials," so to speak, of the Land are based on details from his "real life" (e.g. the Giants).

(11/01/2005)

I find this response fascinatingly illuminating as as well as incredibly frustrating.

Does he mean that the Land has Ranyhyn because Linden rode horses?

Or does he mean that the author created both Joan's horses and the Ranyhyn so that the two worlds would be sufficiently similar that the Land-as-dream angle would be plausible?

What other "materials" have crept into the Land?

And, what, oh what (!), are the details of Covenants real life that the Giants are based on?? (Actually, I have a good guess on this one.)

[dlbpharmd]

Does he mean that the Land has Ranyhyn because Linden rode horses?

I think he means Joan, actually.

[drew]

And, what, oh what (!), are the details of Covenants real life that the Giants are based on?? (Actually, I have a good guess on this one.)

would you mind enlightening us on this one...it through me for a loop..I mean it's not Doctors, he'd didn't really like them.

[ur-bane]

If I had to take a guess at it drew, I would first think about the Giants as we know them.
They are a wise, caring, intelligent breed. They are not afraid of Covenant's leprosy. They welcome Covenant and are willing to go to any length to help him.

IMHO, that mirrors the attitude of the doctors at the Leprosarium. They would be Giants to Covenant because in his otherwise lonely world, the doctors gave him the care, compassion, concern and contact that he needed.

[drew]

Yeah, I guess...I suppose in the First Chrons, Cov didn't know any Giants other than Foamfollower.

He just heard what the others were like through him.

[wayfriend]

And, what, oh what (!), are the details of Covenants real life that the Giants are based on?? (Actually, I have a good guess on this one.)

would you mind enlightening us on this one...it through me for a loop..I mean it's not Doctors, he'd didn't really like them.

I think the answer has something to do with what he wrote earlier in the GI.

3) My story is one of extremes: it's about people who push their own beliefs and personalities beyond all rational limits. [...] For the Giants, it was pure untarnished love of life or nothing.

So I think that the Giants arise from Covenant's experiences with people with a 'love of life'. Maybe specific ones, such as the leper that he describes in the Rock Gardens, who liked folk dancing. Or maybe from everyone who is not a leper - able to enjoy life and love without restraint, in a way that a leper cannot.

[dlbpharmd]

STEVE M: This may seem like a dumb question but at the end of The Power That Preserves, Covenant defeats Foul by using the wild magic yet at the beginning of the Wounded Land Lord Foul informs Covenant that the wild magic was no longer potent against him. Reference is also made in the earlier books that Berek knew of the wild magic and that Kevin had also longed for it. Accordingly, there must have been some fundamental change in the nature of Lord Foul that would bring about this immunity to wild magic. Moreover, The Land, Kevin, Berek and even Lord Foul exist within the confines of the arch of time (albeit Foul is imprisoned) yet the wild magic is the keystone of the arch and and exists outside of the arch. Logically the wild magic should have worked against Foul at the end of White Gold Wielder. Indeed, in many ways Covenant and the Land went through substantial changes between the first and second trilogies but at least the character of Lord Foul seemed to be substantially the same. Could you elaborate on the change that Foul must have gone through betwen the first and second chronicles that gave him the immunity to the wild magic.

As I see it, the change isn't in Lord Foul (although he has become considerably smarter): the change is in Covenant ("You are the white gold"). The combination of what he goes through at the final crisis of "The Power that Preserves" with what he experiences at the very beginning of "The Wounded Land" renders him incapable of repeating his earlier success: because he now knows where he stands, knows what he loves, and is fully committed, he is simply *too* powerful to just duke it out with the Despiser. (And please remember also that Lord Foul is really into misdirection and partial truths. "The wild magic is no longer potent against me" could easily mean "because I'm going to mess you up so badly before you ever get to me that you'll be helpless.")

Of course, Lord Foul isn't *really* the same in the first and second trilogies. In "The Second Chronicles," he's not only smarter: his larger aims are more clearly defined. Now it's not simply "DESPAIR FOR EVERYONE while I secretly destroy the Arch of Time": it's "Despair for you and you and you SO YOU'LL DESTROY THE ARCH FOR ME." If you see what I mean. And those larger aims will be even more clearly defined in "The Last Chronicles" (plus I think Lord Foul is still getting smarter).

(11/07/2005)

[Alynna Lis Eachann]

Jeff Periman: I just want to say the Thomas Covement Chronicles are such a graet read!!!! I just finished RUNES WOW!! Okay my question is the Ranhyns? Why horses?

Thanks for your time Jeff

Well, why not? This is a medieval-ish fantasy (technologically speaking <grin>). How else are people going to get around?

Or did you mean, Why horses instead of some invented creature? Because Covenant is familiar with them (through Joan). Remember that he thinks the Land is a dream--and not without reason. So naturally many of the "raw materials," so to speak, of the Land are based on details from his "real life" (e.g. the Giants).

(11/01/2005)

I find this response fascinatingly illuminating as as well as incredibly frustrating.

Does he mean that the Land has Ranyhyn because Linden rode horses?

Or does he mean that the author created both Joan's horses and the Ranyhyn so that the two worlds would be sufficiently similar that the Land-as-dream angle would be plausible?

Damn. Somebody beat me to it. I was working on an involved question about the Ranyhyn, but he's covered the basics, and the rest rather explains itself. I agree, the answer is a bit frustrating (I feel like I'm going in circles - is this another paradox?), but I suppose it couldn't have been anything other than horses, in the end. The Ranyhyn are what Joan could have been - they stayed where she left, they suffered where she fled in fear. They remain themselves, where she has been corrupted.

[Dragonlily]

I suppose it couldn't have been anything other than horses, in the end. The Ranyhyn are what Joan could have been - they stayed where she left, they suffered where she fled in fear. They remain themselves, where she has been corrupted.

Well put, Alynna.

Regarding the question of whom the Giant stem from in TC's earth life, I don't see them as being spiritually related to all doctors, more likely the few doctors who genuinely cared about him, and the lawyer who looked after his interests ... any of those kinds of people. Most of them cared for him with little or no encouragement, except their own good hearts.

[wayfriend]

Stephen R Donaldson has joined the Mile High Club!

The GI now stands at an even 1000 posts.

Congratulations, SRD!

[matrixman]

Nice! And he did it the hard way -- without going to Mallory's.

But it would be a riot if SRD joined in the sentence game.

[Dragonlily]

I always wanted him to. That would be a new level of play!

[Revan]

Stephen R Donaldson has joined the Mile High Club!

The GI now stands at an even 1000 posts.

Congratulations, SRD!

heh, i was just checking out the SRD site and noticed that, I was goona just post about it... seems I'm late.

[dlbpharmd]

Here's a good Q&A, spoilered for those who have not read Runes yet:

Spoiler

Eric Spahr: Dr. Donaldson
I would first like to say thank you for having a forum that allows your fans to provide feedback.
Second, I have a question about Linden Avery from Runes.
Early in the story, while in her 'real world', she gives Joan her ring back to calm her. But then she also states that any attempt to restrain Joan from hurting herself fail.
I remember the passage roughly saying that restraints would just fall off in the night.
Is Joan really that stupid that she couldnot see Lord Foul at work?
Not an insult to you, but the observation that she KNEW that Foul could work in this world, she in fact remarks on memories of his influence of the weak willed in her world.
I would think the second or third time the restraints 'fell off' she would have taken the ring away. She know how much Lord Foul wants access to white gold.
So why did she not 'connect the dots'?

First, I assume your question is really about Linden rathr than Joan. I hope that's accurate.

Other than that.... <sigh> Sometimes the more obvious something is to me the more trouble I have explaining it.

As a general observation, I find that "connecting the dots" as a reader of fiction--or as any kind of observer--is a whole lot easier than it is in real life. I can't tell you how many times I've wanted to smack people I know because they can't connect the dots in their lives; but I *don't* smack them because I've learned with anguish and sorrow and I'm pretty ^#$$&U& lousy at connecting the dots in my own life.

After that, I suppose you could say about Linden that it's all a question of what her assumptions are and where her attention is focused. (After all, the poor woman doesn't know she's a character in a novel.) Trying to keep the list short (and remembering that we're only talking about the Prologue of "The Runes of the Earth"), her assumptions are: a) the struggles of the Land to survive Lord Foul revolve around Covenant, not around Linden herself, and certainly not around Joan, because b) Joan isn't now and has never been--in Linden's experience--a figure of power, she's just *bait*, on top of which c) Linden has never been given any reason to believe that any ring except Covenant's matters, in addition to the fact that d) Linden has left Covenant "in charge" of the Land's reality (the Arch of Time), so she has no reason to believe that Lord Foul will ever be a problem again.

As for Linden's attention, she's a physician who has spent all of her life except for one (apparently) long night living in a world that follows rules she knows and understands, rules to which she was born, and she is (very naturally, in my opinion) focused on Joan as a *patient* rather than as a *threat*. I don't consider myself a stupid person, but if I were in Linden's place I think I could have made the same mistake she makes 12 times out of 10.

And as an additional point, remember that Linden's decision to give Joan her ring is a "successful" therapy: it significantly reduces the amount of damage Joan does to herself, as well as the amount of hysteria Joan displays.

Also: have you ever tried withholding relief from a person who is obviously in terrible pain? Do you know what that kind of decision costs the person who does the withholding? (Covenant's decision in "The Power that Preserves" to reject the Land for the sake of a threatened child is relevant here.)

Finally, how do you know that Linden's decision wasn't the best possible choice under the circumstances? You haven't read the rest of the story yet: you don't know what the eventual outcome of Linden's actions--or Joan's--will be.

<sigh> All of the above may be over-kill. If so, I hope you'll pardon me. I've been known to become downright belligerent in defense of my characters.

(11/27/2005)

[drew]

Drew (drew): I've noticed, as I'm sure you have, many requests from aspiring writters. Anything from, how to start a stroy, to how to find the right publisher.

It must be the most flattering thing an auther can hear, that his books moved so many people to want to write.

I'm just curious, have any aspiring writters ever sent you any of their manuscripts, or even published works?
If so, are there any we've heard of?

Thank you.






There are several scenarios.

1) An aspiring writer sends me a manuscript. I always return it unread because it is just *rude* to intrude on my life and time in that way.

2) An aspiring writer asks permission to send me a manuscript. I always say no because I (as perhaps any writer is) am the wrong person for the job. I have too many opinions about how books *should* be written, and those opinions are too passionately held, to be of any use to an aspiring writer. Crudely put, writers need readers, not other writers--and writers are seldom useful readers.

3) An editor sends me a manuscript about to be published. (No, they never ask permission. But they also don't take it personally if I just throw the manuscript away.) If the writer was not known to me, in the old days I would read the manuscript if I respected the editor. Now I don't have the time. However, if the writer was/is known to me, I'll make a special effort, either because the writer is a friend, or because I know the writer's work is good, or both.

This isn't a direct answer to your question, but I hope it tells you what you want to know.

Is it flattering to receive requests (of any kind) from aspiring writers? Sometimes yes: usually no. The truest thing I know about becoming a writer--and I knew this without anyone telling me--is that each individual has to figure it out for him/herself. All of the very best lessons that I've learned about writing came from a) readers, not writers, and b) studying other people's writing. Asking an admired writer for help is like trying to take a shortcut on a road that permits no shortcuts.

-so nobody send any works the the big guy, okay?

[Fist and Faith]

DAMN it!!! *quickly calls Fed Ex*

[lucimay]

All of the very best lessons that I've learned about writing came from a) readers, not writers, and b) studying other people's writing

a) most writers i know are avid readers

and

b) how else do you "study other people's writing" except by reading it?


i understand what Donaldson was getting at here, but, in true Donaldson form...a bit hard edged. he was simply discouraging people from sending him manuscripts, which is fine.
but i'm of the mind that writers need other writers. just my opinion, not carved in granite anywhere. like baseball players hang out with other baseball players and brokers hang out with other brokers and waiters hangout with other actors...wait, i mean...well, you know what i mean.