lkh_lashouts | Pull out your bingo card! An interview with LKH

The Mother Of All Paranormal Fantasy: An Interview With Laurell K. Hamilton

It's by some guy named paulgoatallen, which gets my sycophant senses tingling, but I can't quite pinpoint why. He's probably popped up in the past as a hardcore fan, but my brain scrubs clean most things I learn after a few weeks. I don't want to pull apart the entire interview, but here are a few head-tilt moments that jumped out at me.

LKH: I also think the fact that I'm still having a blast writing the books shows.

Really? Because your twitter feed tells a different story.

LKH: I am certainly astonished that a type of book that I was told would never sell back in late 1980s/early 1990s has become the genre that, arguably, saved publishing in these rather dire times.

Her genre saved publishing! Wait. Were we in danger of losing the published word?

LKH: A novel is between four-hundred to eight-hundred pages in manuscript form. A movie script is about one-hundred-and-twenty pages, to one-hundred-and-sixty pages, so how to take 400 - 800 pages and winnow it down to only 120-160?

Maybe start by winnowing your books down to 120 pages? I mean, you could easily cut that much out and not lose any of the finer points. Also, I've never heard winnow used in this manner, so I'm a bit confused, but eh.

To top it off, the comments end (as of this writing) with someone claiming their favorite of all the book covers is the one for Hit List. I'm hoping they are not talking about the American cover /o\

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

Scripts don't require all the setting info and description of actions or internal feelings.

George Bernard Shaw wrote some of the wordiest setting descriptions, and compared to a novel (or particularly LKH), they're much shorter. There's your answer to how you "winnow." And also why LKH's comics are so awful, as she didn't cut out all that she should have when she switched to a visual medium.

has become the genre that, arguably, saved publishing in these rather dire times.

Oh, I will argue. So she's no longer just the inventor of paranormal romance, she's now the savior of book publishing!

Oh, and for the record, I want to say that this entire "new" genre bothers me. Not because of the subject matter. I work in a used book store and trying to figure out which of these go in paranormal romance and which go in urban fantasy is so time consuming. Fortunately, working in both romance and sf/f means that I can shuffle books around to figure out where they sell better (like Parasol Protectorate will sell fast out of both sections, but Kurland's books only sell out of romance).

We need a new section called Paraban Rofantasy.

We need a new section called Paraban Rofantasy.

Or an acronym, maybe. Paranormal Urban Romance Fantasy, or PURF for short, perhaps?

Paul has been a reviewer for B&N for over 10 years. I read his comments off and on but to be honest he isn't going to tell you a book is bad in his B&N blog, he will say it is average

arguably, saved publishing in these rather dire times.

I'm sorry, but what? The published word will never be in any danger of going away. But if she's referring to the printed word, as in ink and paper books, then I'll concede that point when things like Kindle get more affordable.

As if Hit List didn't make my brain hurt bad enough. >.

The funny part is that her book sales have taken a nosedive, so she hasn't personally "saved publishing" during these "dire times".

Hm, maybe that's why she thinks this is a dire time for the published word to begin with. xD And yet no one at her publisher will realize she's burnt out and needs a break, because her books are still selling well enough that they're happy.

I was more than a little appalled to find out that when she's writing, she doesn't discover what the plot is to her novel until she's 50-150 pages in. Aspiring writers, take note: this is *not* how you should approach things.

Free-writing until you hit something you can work with is a great way to push through a creative block, but you then have to go back and figure out what's crap and what's usable. The problem here, I suspect, is that LKH doesn't cut anything. She seems to write with a mind that everything written in the leading-up-to-the-"plot" stages is staying.

She also seems to be under the impression that writing is solely about discovery, as if you're doing it wrong if you go in with a plot already laid out. While those moments of revelation can be really fun, it's by no means the only way or the "right" way to write.

Very true. It was also written into her last contract (and possibly others before that) that she had final editorial control over what appeared in print. Total control. If she didn't want something cut, it stayed. Having another pair of eyes on something is a really good way to avoid lengthy visits from the Exposition Fairy.

Between the loss of length that would happen anyway when you convert a book (with thoughts and descriptions and so on) into movie script format of dialogue and directions, and all the porn she'd have to cut out to make sure it doesn't end up X rated I think her problem is more likely to be it ending up too short.

If she cut out all that stuff would there even be a story left to put on film?

I noticed there were no new topics after Hit List's release. I personally thought it was so bad it's really hard to make fun of. It was sad and broken down, becides being egotistical crap. This goatsex guy writes about how great of a writer she is and he's a professional reviewer? Doesn't make sense.

Ugh lol, where to start hmm. I thought it was funny when he said that the series had gotten back to being a hard boiled mystery, gave a quick description of Hit List and flat out told every one that it was the Harlequin. I know that LKH does the same thing in the book, but seriously it is not a mystery if you know who done it. Also I read the chapter that she posted, she had Edward and Anita talking about the Harlequin and what their motives might be, and Edward suggests that the Harlequin is trying to draw her out of St Louis to kill or kidnap her, and it turns out that that is exactly what is happening. This bothers me on a few levels because its sloppy writing to give away the plot like that (especially if that is the core of the "mystery"), and why can't Edward be wrong? (you know add a twist or something). Sorry a bit off topic there lol.

It would be a scary world if more women were like Anita, the jails would certainly be more crowded. Also men would probably shave their heads as a measure of protection from all the man collecting, gun toting, women hating crazies out there lol.

Its nice to see by his introduction that he is unbiased though... lol :0P

The comments are funny, apparently all us haters can't stand the sex because we are prudes, glad I haven't wasted my time by pointing out (in numerous places on the internet) the actual things I don't like about the series, and that I don't mind well crafted and interesting sex scenes.

Thanks for posting this Interview Naeko :0) It's been pretty quiet on the snark front lately :0P

Pull out your bingo card! An interview with LKH

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