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

Comments

[glimmerfox.livejournal.com]

Q: Is there ever going to be a spin-off based on Edward’s life?
A: She says that Jonboi and her were thinking about doing an Edward original comic, but no plans to do a novel. Edward doesn’t talk to her that well. He keeps his secrets. She talks about Edward’s surprise in Obsidian Butterfly. She said that she knew that surprise two sentences before Anita knew. She says that a comic will be easier because she doesn’t have to get too deep in his head, but a novel is out of the question.

At this point Laurell makes a big deal of unbuttoning her very tight jacket. Jonboi holds her microphone so she can mess with the buttons. Back to questioning.

Q: How many times have you come across a line that you wouldn’t cross in your writing? Are there other people who tell you not to cross certain lines?
A: Laurell says that she’s never had anyone in the publishing world say that she’s gone too far. She says she keeps waiting for a rejection. She says that the only time she’s had a book rejected for content was with A Lick of Frost, but the editor told her that she needed another sex scene.
She said that when she started out she didn’t want the sex on paper, but as the series went on she knew that she was going to cross that line. She was very uncomfortable with the sex, and realized that she could write violence and dismembered bodies with no problem, but sex between two people who care about each other was uncomfortable. She emphasized that it’s a first person narrative and that made it even harder to deal with. And Jean-Claude has been a ladies man for hundred of years and her words must defend his honor. And with all the build up to the sex scene how is she going to pull it off?
She had a good friend, who sent her nude drawings of Jean-Claude for inspiration. And since she kept sending pics of him wet, the sex scene was in a bathtub. She kept sending the sex scene to that friend and the friend kept saying that Laurell can do better. She sent it 3 times until her friend says it was perfect.
Now she talks about how reporters tell her that her work in uncomfortable because she’s writing from a woman’s view point. It’s that she’s a woman and writes about women having sex and enjoying it., and that makes people uncomfortable.
Then she realized that she’s not sure if she’s answered the question. She had to work through her own issues and if she was okay with the violence what did it say about her if she wasn’t okay with the sex, so she got over it.

Q: She asks which character is her husband.
A: Jonboi takes the mike and answers that one dead character in Blue Moon, had his name Jon Green. They both talk about how neither of them realized she used his name. At this point she was just friends and she starts talking about how they didn’t date for years.
Now she’s talking about being single after her first marriage. None of her anecdotes are funny.

Q: How did you come up with the character of Nathaniel and where can I meet Jason in real life?
A: She says that Nathaniel was loosely based on a real person. She goes on to her research of the BDSM community and says that everybody else writes it wrong, but not her because of her research. And found that there are people who are so into pain and they have no stop. Real Nathaniel had disappeared and Laurell decided that what you can’t do in real life, she did in fiction and saved him. Someone in the audience says “Thanks.” and Laurell give this solemn, “Your Welcome,” back like she actually saved a real person.
She goes into how he’s a total fantasy of the dream men, he does housework and shops, he’s gorgeous, he’s a stripper, long hair, he’s sensitive. She says he’s really close to perfect.
She doesn’t mention anything about Jason.

Q: Where did Merry come from?
A: She wrote 5 Anita books all in a row and had a dream where she was Anita and Edward was with her, and that people were chasing her. She woke up in a cold sweat. She didn’t like the fact that she had an anxiety dream about Anita’s life so she developed Merry.