Friday, February 09, 2007

Questions

I'm opening up the floor for questions - writing related/reading related/plain old nosy (though I do reserve the right to be a smart-aleck about these *g*). Post them on this thread. Depending on the question, I'll either answer it in the thread tonight or do them in separate blog posts over the next week.

7 comments :

Sweet said...

Thanks for giving me a chance to ask some questions, here are a few things I've been dying to ask.

With Psy/Changeling or Human/Changeling couples, are the offspring always changeling? Or are there exceptions?
What would a Psy/Human couple have little humans or little psy?

Will the wildcat that worked for Lucas in StS (I can't remember her name right now) have her own story?

Is the series open ended or do you have a certain number of books planned?

How long will we have to wait for Hawke's and Dorian's books?

With that I'll stop. Thanks again for giving me a chance to ask all these ?'s !!!!!!

Nalini Singh said...

Wow, great questions, Sweet! I'm going to answer them in a blog post tomorrow as I think other people might be interested too :)

Anonymous said...

I second the Hawke question. Do you have his story planned already? Do you have any idea of a release date?

Anonymous said...

Where all have you lived/visited? Which did you like the best? Why? If someone were to visit your favorite place, what should he/she not miss?

Anonymous said...

What inspires you to write? Particularly with your Psi/Changeling series as the world seems well developed I found the concept of the psi-net fascinating.

How much research do you do for your books?

What book/type of book would you love to write?

Do/Where do humans feature in the psi/changeling world?

Nalini Singh said...

Clare - missed your questions when I answered the others, so here goes:

What inspires you to write? Particularly with your Psi/Changeling series as the world seems well developed I found the concept of the psi-net fascinating.

Inspiration can come from anywhere - something I see, smell, hear... But for the Psy/Changeling series, I really couldn't tell you. One day, I just sat down at my laptop and started writing. Three weeks later I had a complete first draft - it was rough but it was all there.

The world was so amazingly detailed to me and the characters' voices so clear that I was pushing myself to get it down - I was exhausted after those three weeks (I was working full time, too) but man oh man it was fun - a wonderful, wonderful experience. And that experience continues with each book in the series.

I wrote more about this on my website on the Psy/Changeling Behind the Scenes page if you want to have a read.

How much research do you do for your books?

I do what's necessary. A trap with research is that you can sometimes learn too much and want to put it all into your book, because it's interesting to you. But as a writer, I have to keep in mind that it might not exactly fit the pace of the story. So, to stop myself from overusing research, I write the first draft wtih basic research ie. if a plot point hinges on a point of research, I'll make sure I'm right before carrying on. But for the rich details that color the story, I'll put those in afterward. That way, the story dominates, with the research being part of the backbone.

With this series, I have some leeway because I can make things up. But then I have to be careful about internal consistency, which requires another kind of research.

What book/type of book would you love to write?

I have absolutely loved each of the books I've written. I know authors say this often but it's true and it should be true - writing is such a passionate experience that you need to be totally into what you're working on at that time.

Do/Where do humans feature in the psi/changeling world?

Humans have a place, an important places. Fragments of that place will become apparent in the October novella and in book 4 of the series. They're considered weak - whether they are or not is one of the things we'll discover as the stories continue.

Anonymous said...

Are labels for story lengths set in stone? I've read that a short story is under 8000 words. I've read another that a short story can go up 15,000 words. What's the difference?