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Glen Cook Interview

Ankari

Hero Breaker
Moderator
Greetings All,

I stumbled upon this Glen Cook interview. In it, he discusses a wide range of topics. He gives great insight into the inner mechanics of publishing as well as personal philosophy of writing.

Here are a few exerts I liked:

A publisher asking him to resurrect an old series of his:

“Well, I tell you what I’m gonna do then. I’m gonna have Steven Erikson write it. He’s willing to write it.” And I said: “No, even though I love Steven Erikson and love his work, nobody’s gonna write my stuff but me.” And so I finally agreed to write the book.

On North American appetite for purple prose:

But his style in English was very florid and for a while I tried to imitate that style. And I basically discovered that it doesn’t work in North America. People want you to get on with it; they don’t want to see you use this beautiful language.

On the effects of e-books on traditional publishing:

I’m pretty positive that the mass market paperback will be completely dead in the USA in another few years.

On his mastering of Facebook:

Every once in a while, someone comes up to me and says “Hey, I saw your thing on Facebook and yada yada yada”, and I say “What the hell are you talking about?”. I wouldn’t even know how to find it.

The whole interview can be found here
 

zizban

Troubadour
It was Glen Cook who changed my mind about publishing maps. It does limit possibilities and set boundaries, so my novel doesn't have a map published with it.
 

Steerpike

Felis amatus
Moderator
It was Glen Cook who changed my mind about publishing maps. It does limit possibilities and set boundaries, so my novel doesn't have a map published with it.

Interesting you say that. I used to be in to maps, and I'd refer to them while reading a story. Now I never even look at them anymore, even in novels that may have four or five of them at the beginning of the book. I've also decided against using them.
 

korabas

Dreamer
Thanks for the link. I prefer to have maps in the novels I read, although a lot of the time they aren't very good. I will occasionally refer to them, but I never find them particularly useful. All the same, I prefer to have them!
 

zizban

Troubadour
I make exceptions for books that toss around of people and places. If I ever write a big bloated epic fantasy, I'll include a map.
 
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