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Ask the Author: Laurell K. Hamilton

“I'd love to hear your questions about my two latest books, Rafael or Sucker Punch? What do you want to know?” Laurell K. Hamilton

Answered Questions (111)

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When the next book coming out again Laurell?
Laurell K. Hamilton Smolder comes out March 21, 2023!
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How is Jean-Claude's name pronounced in your head? Me and my mom both love your books and have been debating it for years now.
Laurell K. Hamilton I can't figure out how to explain pronunciation in a static form on here. I find those word breakdowns in dictionaries and elsewhere very difficult to read and translate in my own head, so I'm unsure how to do it here. It may have something to do with my dyslexia.
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Laurell K. Hamilton Primo was sent back to his master, the Dragon, but I did do it off stage. You're not the first one to flag it. If you notice after Primo came and got tamed the Dragon stopped trying to mess with Jean-Claude and his people. We will be seeing more of that particular vampire council member now that the old council has imploded and is basically being replaced by the new power structure that Jean-Claude is creating. All the old council members that are not accounted for will be resurfacing eventually.
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Hi, Laurell K. Hamilton. I wonder if Richard does hate Anita because of her relationship with Jean-Claude? Thank you.
Laurell K. Hamilton
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What happened to Anita's angelfish? I'm currently rereading the series and I started to wonder that. Once she moved into the house they were never mentioned again.
Laurell K. Hamilton The fish got sick while she was away raising zombies and passed away. Anita then realized she was working too many hours and traveling too much to even have fish.
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In your books, some of your bad guys are pretty twisted. How did you manage to write them so well? And did you ever sit and think that people would think you were messed up because you could think up something like that? Not saying that you're messed up or anything, I'm actually a big fan. I am asking because I am having a hard time finishing my book because of how twisted the bad guy is turning out to be. :-(
Laurell K. Hamilton I don't worry what other people will think of me when they read my books. The characters are the characters, and not you, or me. Don't cripple yourself creatively by worrying that other people will think badly of you because you've written a kick ass villain. It's called fiction for a a reason. Sorry it's taken me so long to go through questions, but I hope you finished your book.
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I have to start off by saying that I am a huge fan. Your talent has inspired me in so many ways. I have always wanted to ask about you about Anita's polyamory versus your own. Did your life inspire those relationships for Anita or did Anita's relationships help you be true to yourself?
Laurell K. Hamilton My books are usually ahead of my real life. I researched the first Meredith Gentry novels before I became Wiccan. I researched BDSM for the Anita Blake novels before I realized I was kinky. I was poly in both series before I realized that it was my sexual orientation. My subconscious is always ahead of me. I just finished the first novel in a brand new series, A Terrible Fall of Angels. I wonder what my subconscious is trying to tell me now?
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Thank you so much for including good BDSM into your books! It's so refreshing to not see abuse that's supposed to be S&M or people pretending that just because someone is female she should obey all men. I'm a poly switch, who really appreciates your good stories and sexy characters. Do you consider yourself a kinkster?
Laurell K. Hamilton Thank you, I started off researching BDSM the same way I researched guns, or mythology. I've never understood why other writers treat kink as if it doesn't need to be researched like it's not a real sexual orientation. The research on paper came before I joined the community, but I've been publicly out as poly and kinky for awhile now.
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I recently finished A Shiver of Light, and absolutely freaking loved it! But I also was happy but still sad over a part of it. I'm just wondering if it was also hard for you to write that, and if that was why it took a while to come up with A Shiver of Light?
Laurell K. Hamilton
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I know that Anita has had a lot going on since Dance Macabre but will she ever try to bring Sampson into his full siren powers or is that off the table since she has Marmee Noir's power is in her now?
Laurell K. Hamilton Sampson and his family are on the list of plots to be.
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For Micah, why did you change the perception of him so dramatically and extreme? He was the good guy that went along with what Anita wanted and needed. Now he seems to be a sort of wanna be cult leader. He gets people to join the coalition through 3 ways: willingly joining, fighting to the death, sex with him/others. When did this happen? How did Anita not know? Why’d she let the subject go?
Laurell K. Hamilton
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I know you say your characters like to argue with you sometimes, Iwas just wondering do your characters ever get upset or embarrassed because they feel like a particular scence you wrote is to personal or private?
Laurell K. Hamilton No, if the characters were embarrassed by a scene I'd skip the scene.
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Did you mean to change who Stephen was going to marry, or was that a type-o? Are we going to get more stories with the twins?
Laurell K. Hamilton My dyslexia and a careless copyeditor combined to changed Stephen's fiancé from Vivian to Vanessa.
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Can I ask why did you change Anita's character/attitude towards sex/ jealousy over her men? She stated she'd never be okay with her men with other women and now she's fine with it. I don't get it... I know she has 15 men so she says she needs other women to help out but she also stated she allocated most of her time to the men she loves so why is Jean Claude with another woman?
Laurell K. Hamilton
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For some reason Steve and Barbara Brown from Incubus Dreams have always stuck with me wondering what happened to their son and his girlfriend. Is that a storyline you planned to run with more in the future?
Laurell K. Hamilton Yes, I am planning to revisit that storyline, and you're not the only one that's asked about them. No, I don't know when I will get around to telling the next part of their story.
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How do you decide what your characters need in the series, do they decide? Also, when characters are "offed", what is the determining factor of them leaving; are you tired of writing about them, is it just their time to die? Oh and who is the weirdest, most unique character to you?
Laurell K. Hamilton My characters do more deciding than I do, but I'm a character driven writer, so if a character has a better idea I'll throw out a plot and start over. I hate killing characters, except for villains. It seems no matter who it is, I come up later and want to use them in a story, or just miss them. It's one reason I hate to kill anyone off. I've never killed anyone on paper because I was tired of them. I don't think I get tired of my characters, irritated, exasperated but not tired.
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What is your favorite part of your creative process and what part do you look forward to the least?
Laurell K. Hamilton First draft is my favorite part. Editing after the second draft is my least favorite. The more drafts a book takes to get to a point where I'm happy to send it to my editor the less fun it is, but it's all worth it in the end. The most drafts I've ever done before sending a book off is eight, and that was my very first novel, Nightseer.
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Your Anita Blake was the first urban fantasy I read & I really enjoyed it - at first. Why did you change the direction of the series? The stories went from tense action packed mysteries to erotica, many without any action. "Blood Noir" took place almost completely in a hotel room - just talk & sex - with the last chapter being a synopsis of the action rather than what would have been the focus earlier on.
Laurell K. Hamilton
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Love, love, love both of your series so much!! Very excited for A Shiver of Light. I am wondering, do you see what the ending is for Anita or does her story just come to you as you write it? Do you ever feel pressure from readers or other sources to take her or the series in a certain direction?
Laurell K. Hamilton Thanks, there's no ending in sight for Anita. I think of her books like a mystery series which is open ended. I hope you enjoyed, A Shiver of Light, and before you ask there will be another Merry book. There's always pressure from readers to write the way they want the story to go, but the trick is the readers don't agree on which direction that should be. There is no way to please everyone, so I just have to write the books as they come to me.
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