Q&A with Laurell

[glimmerfox.livejournal.com]

 This is Jon's youtube account and on it he has a 14 part Q&A with Laurell on her tour with Bullet.  Thought this might be an interesting watch for everyone (if you can survive all 14 parts).

www.youtube.com/jondgreen

Updated with the Q&A summary in the comments

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Summary

[glimmerfox.livejournal.com]

Laurell K Hamilton’s Q&A

Laurell takes the stage and I shouldn’t comment on what she’s wearing that much, but her short snake skin jacket is really a distraction. And her clothes are very tight. Admittedly, she seems to be keeping in good shape, but please, no woman her age looks good in panted on jeans.
She explains that people have to go to the microphone to ask questions. She explains to the audience like she’s talking to a pack of kindergarteners.
Everyone has a copy of Bullet and she asks if people has already read it. Apparently a few already have. She says she’s worried about spoiler questions for Bullet because she wasn’t sure how to handle them.
She introduces Jonboi, and he comes onstage and puffs out his chest, and his fashion statement is actually worse than Laurell’s, wearing a coat in that faux military style with the buttons and big cuffs. He bows and walks offstage. Laurell says he’s not her manager or agent, but husband. She’s very forceful about that point. Jeeze Laurell we get it.

(I’m going to generalize the Q&A, not everything will be word for word.)

Q: What keeps you inspired, with so many books coming out how do you keep going?
A: Laurell says she’s inspired by everything around her. She talks about the short story Geese and how it was inspired because she took out the trash and geese were outside. She says the ideas are not hard and claims that she has so many already she’d have to live to be 300 before she used them up. She says that keeping the spirit going is the hardest part. Everyday life will sap energy away, she says what helps her is a view of the water and music. She says that today was a Drowning Pool type of day. She wrote on the plane and in the hotel room, but she has a good view, and music and Jonboi with her…so it’s all good.
She also says that other writers have asked her how she’s such a prolific writer and she goes onto how it’s so easy because Anita and the other characters are her friends. And that they are so real to her that she actually purchased Christmas presents for characters in her book. We’ve covered this before on this site, but she really sounds like a crazy person explaining that the imaginary people in her head are trying to buy thing for other imaginary people in her head. She says that this a level of reality that other people never seem to achieve with their series.
But this is just a big shaggy dog answer because she ultimately says that she doesn’t know what gives her the drive to crank out stories. Just this is the way it just works out for her

Q: I’m writing but I’m writing three overlapping series, how can you stay on top of your series?
A: Laurell asks her back if she’s finished a book already and she says she’s finished two already. Laurell tells the girl to see what she can do to get the book published. Laurell says there is no problem with having multiple series. The questioner says that she’s starting to act like her characters and all her friends think she’s crazy, but Laurell says that’s no big deal if it helps her finish the book. She doesn’t really answer the question, but pushed her to send out her books

Q: He’s the son of a published author who’s books are all stand alone and in different genres. He thinks that series books do much better, and wonders how Laurell decided to do a series.
A: Laurell says that she’s never had a single stand alone idea in her life, that she’s just made to do a series. She says that there are two type of writers, those that get an idea and let it grow, write a book and then it’s over, and those that think of everything as interconnected. She actually says that his parent may just not like the idea of a series book, and that’s okay. It’s really personal writing a book. To Laurell, writing like jumping off a cliff and hoping her words will catch her. She does her research first, but once she sits down to write, she’s gone. She says that if you’re a careful writer that you’re slower and more meticulous.

(At this point in the interview I can no longer ignore her pacing. She’s wearing these big clunky heel boots and I can hear every step. In fact she moves the chairs and table on the stage back to give her more room to pace)