Ask the Author: Tracy Townsend
Answered Questions (7)
Tracy Townsend
It's tense! At this point, other than trying not to be too annoying in reminding people to come to a launch event, or order the book, or whatnot, there's little an author can really "do" anymore. It's a lot of waiting and trying not to make an arse of yourself as you do it. :) I think, more than scary, "surreal" is a good word for it. I finished writing THE FALL 18 months ago, and so in some ways it feels very far away, and yet writing promotional materials, doing interviews, talking with friends and fans, makes it feel imminent and anticipated. The timeline of publishing feels so much like time travel, or moving to an alternate universe, where other people are just catching up to things you already know and have taken for granted.
Tracy Townsend
Hi, Noel! Thanks so much for your question, particularly because I wasn't aware that readers abroad are having trouble getting hold of copies! I've sent your question on to my publisher so they can connect with Simon & Schuster, who distributes the books to retailers on Pyr's behalf. They're working with S&S now to figure out what the problem is and get it resolved.
Tracy Townsend
Hi, Evie! I'm sorry I didn't this earlier! (I've been spending a lot less time on Goodreads than usual in the last few weeks as semester grading winds up.)
Please send your details for either snail mail or email to tracy at tracytownsend.net and I will make sure my people get you a book pronto! (Considering how close we are to release, I think you'll just get a release copy to work with!)
Please send your details for either snail mail or email to tracy at tracytownsend.net and I will make sure my people get you a book pronto! (Considering how close we are to release, I think you'll just get a release copy to work with!)
Tracy Townsend
Ooh, tough one! Okay, I'm going to cheat a bit and choose a couple.
From theater: Iago from Shakespeare's _Othello_. He's devastatingly intelligent, perceptive, and capable of convincing everyone he should be trusted, to their own ultimate ruin. He has no real motive, and that SHOULD be a problem from the narrative standpoint, but it's one of the most fascinating parts about him. He subsists on malice.
From modern fiction, Mrs. Coulter, of the His Dark Materials trilogy. She's cold, vicious, and just barely redeemable. Her motives make sense. Her wounds are real. That's what I like best about her.
I don't really have a favorite movie or television villain. These figures just come and go for me. They never quite stick the way they do in fiction.
Thanks for the question!
From theater: Iago from Shakespeare's _Othello_. He's devastatingly intelligent, perceptive, and capable of convincing everyone he should be trusted, to their own ultimate ruin. He has no real motive, and that SHOULD be a problem from the narrative standpoint, but it's one of the most fascinating parts about him. He subsists on malice.
From modern fiction, Mrs. Coulter, of the His Dark Materials trilogy. She's cold, vicious, and just barely redeemable. Her motives make sense. Her wounds are real. That's what I like best about her.
I don't really have a favorite movie or television villain. These figures just come and go for me. They never quite stick the way they do in fiction.
Thanks for the question!
Tracy Townsend
Oh, heavens. I'd start by taking a long walk nowhere in particular, somewhere with as many trees as I could find, and then decamp to a library for hours just to sift shelves and browse. I'd come back home hungry and eat a quick lunch while doing some writing, then get in some kind of workout. Then a bath. Then a pot of tea and a bucket of popcorn and Marcus Aurelius' _Meditations_ until I fell asleep with the dogs next to me in a nest of pillows. Perfect.
Tracy Townsend
"Marketing loves the pitch for the sequel! We were wondering if you could rethink the title with us?"
=P
=P
Tracy Townsend
I would love to travel to Roger Zelazny's Amber universe precisely because it's ultimately a limitless multiverse: any kind of world someone attuned to the power of the Pattern can imagine, they can find (or, arguably) create. The trick would be walking the Pattern in the first place, of course...
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