Kevin's Watch

Okay okay ... here's my SRD interview database.

09/16/2005, Internet Writing Journal
Stephen R. Donaldson Talks
www.internetwritingjournal.com/stephen- ... lks-916051

03/30/2012, SFSignal
SFFWRTCHT: A Revealing Interview With Author Stephen R. Donaldson
www.sfsignal.com/archives/2012/03/sffwr ... donaldson/

10/08/2013, SFRevu
Interview: Stephen R. Donaldson and the Last Chronicles of Thomas Covenant: Ending the Tale of the Land
sfrevu.com/php/Review-id.php?id=14970

11/15/2013, Barnes and Noble
Stephen R. Donaldson: The Believer
bnreview.barnesandnoble.com/t5/Intervie ... ba-p/11743

10/18/2013, The Reading Frenzy
**GIVEAWAY** Author Interview Stephen Donaldson- The Last Dark
thereadingfrenzy.blogspot.com/2013/10/g ... ephen.html

10/??/1991, Andrew A Adams
An Interview with Stephen R Donaldson
www.a-cubed.info/SD.html

09/??/2004, Locus
Stephen R. Donaldson: Coming Back to Covenant
www.locusmag.com/2004/Issues/09Donaldson.html

11/30/2013, Reading and Writing Podcast
Stephen R Donaldson Interview - Episode 145 (audio)
readingandwritingpodcast.com/stephen-r- ... interview/

08/16/2006, Vaguely Borgesian
An interview with Stephen R. Donaldson
juandahlmann.wordpress.com/2006/08/16/a ... donaldson/

10/01/2007, Pats Fantasy Hotlist
New Stephen R. Donaldson Interview
fantasyhotlist.blogspot.com/2007/10/new ... rview.html

12/10/2010, The Fringe Magazine
Author Interview: Stephen Donaldson
thefringemagazine.blogspot.com/2010/12/ ... ldson.html

10/15/2004, Bookreporter
Interview: October 15, 2004
www.bookreporter.com/authors/stephen-r- ... iew-101404

07/12/2007, SFFaudio
StarShipSofa interviews Stephen R. Donaldson & reads a short story (audio)
www.sffaudio.com/?p=1325

11/05/2007, SFX
Author interview: Stephen Donaldson
www.sfx.co.uk/2007/11/05/interview_auth ... donaldson/

01/??/1979, Fantasy Crossroads
INTERVIEW: January 1979
www.stephenrdonaldson.com/fromtheauthor ... hp?Page=12

(Links tend to go stale over time. I have not checked these recently.)

Thanks, way!

I wasn't trying to bug anyone into anything, it's just that I've been monitoring our Google search ranking and looking for sites to link to and maybe get more links to the Watch on such sites. So I've been coming across a lot of stuff I haven't seen before.

u.

The Top 10 Fantasy Heroes of All Time

I won't spoiler it for you by telling you who is number 9.

Should be higher.

Reading the list of fantasy heroes in wayfriend's most recent link on this thread made me realize I'm culturally illiterate when it comes to classic fantasy.
But I am in agreement with dlbpharmd in that Covenant should be higher in that list, at least in the top five.



[Edited for typos.]

I thought that there might be a thread about fantasy/sci-fi world-building around, but if there is, I could not find it. So I am throwing this in here. It only mentions Donaldson in passing, but I think it is an interesting article anyway.

The Pros And Cons Of Worldbuilding



A while back, in a reply to CJA's 2013 essay on The 7 Deadly Sins of Worldbuilding, I posted a quote from the British writer M. John Harrison (no, not him) on the subject of worldbuilding, or as he put it, "the great clomping foot of nerdism." As Harrison put it on his (now non-extant) blog in 2007:

• Every moment of a science fiction story must represent the triumph of writing over worldbuilding.
  
  Worldbuilding is dull. Worldbuilding literalises the urge to invent. Worldbuilding gives an unnecessary permission for acts of writing (indeed, for acts of reading). Worldbuilding numbs the reader's ability to fulfil their part of the bargain, because it believes that it has to do everything around here if anything is going to get done.

[Continue here.]

Pretty sure we did have one somewhere. Might be the Writers Circle though...not sure.

Interesting article. I agree with the comments about the Hobbit. Turning it into a LotR prequel really messed with the whole spirit (and tone) of the story.

On the other hand, I love world-building. I can forgive mediocre stories in great worlds quite easily.

(Oh, and hahaha, King turned out to be the biggest world builder of them all. )

--A

Avatar wrote:On the other hand, I love world-building. I can forgive mediocre stories in great worlds quite easily.

I'm not much of a fan of world-building in fantasy (I enjoy it in sci-fi), once the world starts to become more important than what it symbolises I lose interest. In Tolkien and SRD's work the places represent ideas and there is no need for the blank spaces around the edges to be filled in (or even the blank spaces in between). All I need is what's necessary for the story.

I disagree with one of the writers who said that LOTR was nerdish world-building at the expense of the atmosphere created in The Hobbit. The Hobbit was more of a fairytale/adventure, whereas LOTR was more mythic/epic.

The obvious mistake that Jackson made in the films was to try and impose one upon the other. Obviously, the whole atmosphere and spirit of The Hobbit was lost when it became subsumed within the atmosphere of LOTR (and suffers badly because of that ).

u.

ussusimiel wrote:I disagree with one of the writers who said that LOTR was nerdish world-building at the expense of the atmosphere created in The Hobbit. The Hobbit was more of a fairytale/adventure, whereas LOTR was more mythic/epic.

Well, the Silmarillion certainly fits the complaint, if LOTR does not. (Not that I think nerdish world-building is necessarilly bad. It's entertaining to other nerds, such as I.) LOTR has a good story, but it also certainly has more world-building than it strictly needed. It suffers a bit for carrying some of the burden of the Silmarillion, in that the author wanted to introduce a world very much like the world of the Silmarillion in it.

ussusimiel wrote:The obvious mistake that Jackson made in the films was to try and impose one upon the other. Obviously, the whole atmosphere and spirit of The Hobbit was lost when it became subsumed within the atmosphere of LOTR (and suffers badly because of that ).

Just FYI, but Tolkien attempted to do the same, himself. He tried to re-write the Hobbit to be more LOTR-ey. But he gave it up, I forget why, but I don't think it was because of the tone. (And I don't think Jackson's work suffered badly either, but that's for another day.)

wayfriend wrote:I thought that there might be a thread about fantasy/sci-fi world-building around, but if there is, I could not find it. So I am throwing this in here. It only mentions Donaldson in passing, but I think it is an interesting article anyway.

The Pros And Cons Of Worldbuilding



A while back, in a reply to CJA's 2013 essay on The 7 Deadly Sins of Worldbuilding, I posted a quote from the British writer M. John Harrison (no, not him) on the subject of worldbuilding, or as he put it, "the great clomping foot of nerdism." As Harrison put it on his (now non-extant) blog in 2007:

• Every moment of a science fiction story must represent the triumph of writing over worldbuilding.
  
  Worldbuilding is dull. Worldbuilding literalises the urge to invent. Worldbuilding gives an unnecessary permission for acts of writing (indeed, for acts of reading). Worldbuilding numbs the reader's ability to fulfil their part of the bargain, because it believes that it has to do everything around here if anything is going to get done.

[Continue here.]

It was an interesting article, and it's a shame that SRD is mentioned in passing and nothing more because he's been staunchly anti world building for some time now and I'm sure would have had just as much to say as Moorcock (who made some strong points) ...

Personally I notice a difference to that end in SRD's writing between the 1st and 2nd chronicles, and I'm not sure that it was entirely successful; there seems to be a 'skimming' feeling to his work in the chronicles at the time post 1C.
It's not present in the Gap series though, imo ..

I've just started Thomas Pynchon's 'Gravity's Rainbow', which is mentioned in the article, and already I get a sense of a kind of uncanny eye for invented detail which I'm already certain David Foster Wallace stole from liberally (with largely excellent results).

Well, the author of the article says he avoided reading the Chrons because he thought the series was an exercise in the sort of worldbuilding he doesn't appear to like. Which explains why he didn't know that SRD doesn't engage in the sort of worldbuilding that Tolkien did.

I've been battling this very thing on a personal authorial level and I am glad to have been shown this article. I think I will agree with Moorcock and stop worrying so much about political systems and religious uprisings years and years in the past.

rdhopeca wrote:I've been battling this very thing on a personal authorial level and I am glad to have been shown this article. I think I will agree with Moorcock and stop worrying so much about political systems and religious uprisings years and years in the past.

Agreed. Just invent 'em as you go. It worked for SRD.

I still consider the Land to be a built world. The sense of history and scope doesn't have to be explicit to be present.

--A

Avatar wrote:I still consider the Land to be a built world. The sense of history and scope doesn't have to be explicit to be present.

--A

I think the guy who wrote that article is complaining more about the focus of a book being on the society and/or geography over the story.

Which is a matter of taste. I'm sure there are some people who treat the story as merely a way to explore the world, while others treat the setting as background to the important stuff. All depends what you want to get out of it.

I came across a blurb today that Stephen Donaldson will be at the Red Lion Inn in Stockbridge, Massachusetts for an author event. Which is in the county where I grew up, in Westernmost Massachusetts.

Turns out, it's Stephen G. Donaldson. Who authored a book of photographs entitled "The Berkshires" (which is the aforementioned county), and several others.

Haha, that could have led to some misunderstandings WF.

Wildling wrote:Which is a matter of taste. I'm sure there are some people who treat the story as merely a way to explore the world, while others treat the setting as background to the important stuff. All depends what you want to get out of it.

Agreed, and I'm a world explorer type.

--A

Avatar wrote:Haha, that could have led to some misunderstandings WF.

One sees it in Google News and get all excited for a second.

Then one realizes the probability of that happening is near zero, at just about the same time one realizes that it's not actually the same author.

. . . . . .

So far Google News routinely turns up news about Stephen Donaldson the LGBT activist, Capt. Stephen Donaldson the MP, and Stephen Donaldson the Irish football ref. Now I can add Stephen Donaldson the New England photographer.

wayfriend wrote:So far Google News routinely turns up news about Stephen Donaldson the LGBT activist, Capt. Stephen Donaldson the MP, and Stephen Donaldson the Irish football ref. Now I can add Stephen Donaldson the New England photographer.

Heh, that's fun to know, wayfriend! Thanks!