Fantasy Book Club discussion

Post questions here for Django Wexler.


Hello and welcome Django. Thank you for your participation.
:)

Hi everyone! I'll be checking back to answer questions as we go along. Enjoy the book!

I have some questions, although I have to admit I haven't heard of you till now.

Also, not sure if this is the thread for author questions, so feel free to move it.

1. How did you make the transition from computer science and research to a full-time writer? What was easy, what was hard?

2. Can you give us an idea of your daily writing routine?

3. How'd you get the name Django? It just seems kind of unusual, and I bet now you get a lot of Tarantino-style comments, huh?

Thanks!

I'm not surprised you haven't heard of me, Thousand Names is my first major book! To answer your questions:

1) It was surprisingly easy overall. I'd been writing in my free time for years, but once I signed up with my agent, I sold two books (Thousand Names and The Forbidden Library) within a year. That might it financially possible, and my day job at MS was becoming a bit awful, so I decided to go for it. The hard part is preventing myself from turning into a hermit and going crazy!

2) It depends what I'm working on, whether it's editing or drafting or whatever. When I'm writing a draft, I usually shoot for 2,000 words per day, with one session before lunch and one in the mid-afternoon. In between I take care of e-mail, social networks, publicity, etc. (Also computer games.)

3) From my parents? I'm named after jazz guitarist Django Reinhardt. It's definitely become a lot more recognizable recently, though!

Django wrote: "I'm not surprised you haven't heard of me, Thousand Names is my first major book! To answer your questions:

1) It was surprisingly easy overall. I'd been writing in my free time for years, but o..."

Thanks!

Django wrote: "I'm named after jazz guitarist Django Reinhardt. It's definitely become a lot more recognizable recently, though! "

Sorry for this dumb question, but how is it pronounced? Is the D silent?

How do you know so much about flintlock-style strategy? Do you participate in reenactments? Or is it from reading history books?

No problem, I get asked that a lot. Yes, the D is silent, so just "jango".

Reading, basically, I've never been involved enough to do reenacting. I love history and read a lot of it just for fun, and I decided to Thousand Names after reading some particularly good stuff about the Napoleonic Wars.

If you want to see your namesake ... He's one of my favorite musicians of all time.

Hello Django, In your upcoming book The Shadow Thronewill there be more brilliant military aspects? And would there be more focus on magic, now that some of it was revealed in the first book?

I've heard of you, but have yet to read your books since I'm still trying to finish most of the classic series and haven't gotten around to many of the recently debuted stuff.

My questions are mostly based around the use of gunpowder in fantasy.

1. You and Brian McClellan and notable for both debuting with gunpowder fantasy (not sure if there's a true sub-genre for this type of setting). Do you think that this sub-genre will grow into its own thing the way that steampunk has?

2. Why did you pick to use a different time period than most fantasy authors? It's very unusual to see gunpowder used in fantasy with maybe the exception of the earliest stages of its discovery and implementation.

3. How does using gunpowder limit or enhance your ability to tell the stories you want to tell?

I'm an 18th century re-enactor myself, so I have a lot of experience with early gunpowder time periods and I'm very excited to read both you and Brian's books.

Brightlord wrote: "Hello Django, In your upcoming book The Shadow Thronewill there be more brilliant military aspects? And would there be more focus on magic, now that some of it was revealed in the f..."

The next book has a bit more politics and a bit less military action than The Thousand Names, but still a fair chunk of both. There's quite a bit of magic, too, but magic in this world is often pretty subtle rather than flashy battle-magic. (I designed it that way deliberately -- too much magic makes the poor soldiers kind of irrelevant.)

Luke wrote: "I've heard of you, but have yet to read your books since I'm still trying to finish most of the classic series and haven't gotten around to many of the recently debuted stuff.

My questions are mo..."

1. It's funny, Brian and I are now forever joined at the hip by accidentally coming out with vaguely similar books at the same time. I'm not sure that "flintlock fantasy" will become a particular "thing" in and of itself; rather, what I think (hope) we're going to see is more fantasy taking different periods and regions as its base, instead of everything being 13th century England or France. There's a lot of history out there!

2. I basically blame George R. R. Martin. When I read his books, I was really impressed with the way he'd taken the traditional "knights and castles" fantasy setting and brought it back closer to its historical roots, and I decided to try something similar. But since he'd done such a good job with that setting, I wanted to do a very different historical period. Later I was reading The Campaigns of Napoleon and I thought that would work excellently -- there's so many wonderful stories in the history. So that's basically where I ended up!

3. It hasn't been terribly limiting for ME, because I picked the period and the setting knowing what kind of story I wanted to do. It definitely restricts some kinds of stories -- there's not as much chance for individual heroism in battle, for example, and fighting tends to be more confusing than glorious. But I wanted my heroes to be more "normal" soldiers than Sir Lancelot anyway, so that worked out just fine.

Hi Django, just a note to say thanks for participating.

Can I ask how long did it take to write your book The Thousand Names?

Do you have a quiet roo m to write in?

Awesome answers, thanks so much. I'm very excited to read the book since I should be able to relate on some level. I had it on my TBR, but didn't actually know that it was gunpowder based until I took a look in here.

Bev wrote: "Hi Django, just a note to say thanks for participating.

Can I ask how long did it take to write your book The Thousand Names?

Do you have a quiet roo m to write in?"

Happy to! I love stuff like this.

Writing the first draft, after many false starts, took about nine months. Another three or four months were taken up by various stages of editing, so about a year all told.

I do have a room to write in (my bedroom, which has my writing couch in it) although I generally prefer to keep it full of familiar music rather than totally quiet. I do lock the cats out though!

Luke wrote: "Awesome answers, thanks so much. I'm very excited to read the book since I should be able to relate on some level. I had it on my TBR, but didn't actually know that it was gunpowder based until I t..."

Excellent, hope you enjoy it!

Ok, since no one else seems to be asking questions, I'll throw a couple more out.

I know you mentioned The Campaigns of Napoleon as the book that inspired you, but what books did you use for your research?

What subjects did you research the most for your books?

I used quite a number of books, although a lot of them are just stuff I read for fun. Some particularly useful ones were Citizens: A Chronicle of the French Revolution, Tactics and the Experience of Battle in the Age of Napoleon, and The Anatomy of Victory: Battle Tactics 1689-1763. (Though that last one is very boring.)

The main thing I tried to focus on is what it was actually like for the people involved, rather than getting too caught up in strategy and tactics -- that stuff is important, but individual soldiers often don't have a good grasp of what's happening. Fortunately, the Napoleonic Wars have left us tons of first-person accounts, so you can read a lot of story of how things happened.

Also, no hurry to ask questions. Reading the book takes a while!

First of all, I loved this book! I enjoy getting out of the "same ol' same ol" in Fantasy settings and I've always been fascinated with this time period in Europe, though with an admitted preference for the British side of things, and I thought you captured that era quite well; while still making it foreign enough that I was aware I was reading fantasy and not historical military fiction.

Coming back to the question of magic: I really enjoyed the subtleness and somewhat mystical feel of the magic system. I also felt that it isn't very well understood, even to those that use it, like Feor.

Is that just because of our viewpoint from Marcus and Winter, or is it not well-understood for even characters in the know, like Colonel Janus?

So glad you enjoyed it! It's a period I've always found fascinating, obviously. My only problem with the British side is that they missed most of the biggest events -- a lot of the historical stuff in English runs Trafalgar-Peninsula-Waterloo, which leaves out everything from the Mantua campaign through Leipzig. There's lots of good stuff there!

Regarding magic, I can't say TOO much about what Janus does or doesn't know, since I wouldn't want to spoil things. But in general the magic is poorly understood, even by best informed. Different cultural traditions understand it differently, as well, which can make it even harder to sort out.

I've liked magic that feels weird and *magical*, rather than out of a D&D-style toolbox. It also helps keep the magical element from completely overpowering the mundane stuff; I wanted the non-magical characters and events to matter.

As the series continues, will magic take on a bigger role? I was very much a fan of how it was presented in the first novel and can't wait to see how it evolves as the series progresses!

Justin -- somewhat, yes. The magic in The Shadow Campaigns is not flash-bang battlefield magic, very much by design, so don't expect Malazan-style wizards destroying armies with a wave of a hand. But just because the magic is (relatively) subtle doesn't mean it's not powerful, and as the series go on the characters become increasingly aware of it. They will also figure out a few more of the rules and design as they go along.

Why did you choose a desert as the setting? Most authors seem to start somewhere lush and then visit the desert for a few chapters. You, however, started and remained in the desert for the entirety of the book (well, at least for the first 2/3 since that's where I am now). It's not a complaint, just curious.

Also, would it be possible for you to break down the standard unit sizes (company = 120, etc), officer structure (colonel - captain - lieutenant, etc), and which unit each level of officer would be responsible for?

The desert is an artifact of the story's origin. Back at the very, very beginning, it was supposed to be a fictionalized version of the campaigns of Napoleon Bonaparte, and this campaign was an analogue of the French invasion of Egypt in 1798. Since then, it has diverged rather wildly from that concept, but I retained the setting. In the second book, we go back to Vordan, and then on to various other places!

Sure! The rank structure is a little simpler than the standard Anglo-American version (there's no equivalent of "major") but I decided to keep the familiar officer titles anyway to reduce confusion. From smallest to largest:

1 section = 19 rankers + 1 corporal. (An administrative rather than tactical unit.)

1 company = 6 sections. 123 men total: 1 lieutenant, 2 sergeants, 6 corporals, 116 rankers. (Usually only separated out in small-unit actions.)

1 battalion = 8 companies. 984 men, plus 1 captain and his staff lieutenants, who are not officially in the chain of command and not fixed in number, used for various replacements and other tasks. Also includes a number of non-combatants -- drummers, cutters, and so on. (The standard battlefield maneuver unit.)

1 regiment = 1 or more battalions. (The Colonials have 4, which is unusually large.) A regiment is commanded by a colonel, which is a title sold by the king to noblemen. The number of battalions in a regiment varies depending on who pays for it -- 2 is average, but 1 and 3 are common. 4 is unusual. The colonel will usually have a staff of his own, including officers and civilians, servants, etc.

A full battery of artillery is 12 guns, commanded by a captain. A half-battery is 6 guns.

There's a strong divide between the officers who buy their commissions (noblemen) and those are trained to them in the War College. Nobles can buy a post as a colonel by agreeing to fund a regiment, or as a lieutenant in someone else's. Promising commoners go to the War College, do a tour as a lieutenant, go back for more schooling if successful, and become captains. Corporals and sergeants are usually promoted rankers. The upshot is that most regiments are run by their captains, who actually know what they're doing.

That is just what I was looking for! Thanks! Too many times writers mention various unit types and officers and then you have to sit and try to figure out the structure for yourself. It's like a novel long mathematical word problem. I know that most people probably don't even worry about that sort of thing, but it bothers me when I don't have a handy guide like that.

More questions! (If anyone is getting tired of me, just say so. I'm a world builder at heart and love to have a greater understanding of the things outside of the frame of the novel.)

1. Will there be a multi-national level map for the next book? I like the smaller, regional maps, but I'd also like to see where everything is in relation to each other.

2. How large of a campaign is this? Meaning, are the engagements in the book about the standard size for this time period, or was this a particularly large campaign/battles? Also, how large is the Vordan military? Do they have 100 colonels commanding regiments or 10? Basically I just want to know how big of a deal this is for Vordan, if it's just a little skirmish that people won't even remember in a month, or if it's the largest war of this generation, to this point.

No problem! It's based on various historical armies, but the sizes and nomenclature varied a lot over time.

The next book has a map of Vordan and parts of the surrounding countries. I may also be able to put some more maps on the web. I have a bunch of maps, but my chicken-scratch drawings aren't terribly good to look at.

The Khandarai campaign is a bit unusual in that it's conducted at a very great distance (and thus expense) from Vordan. The total size of the Vordanai armed forces is probably in the neighborhood of 30-40 regiments of various sizes. So, by the standard of the number of men involved, it's a small campaign, but since those are the only men available within a thousand miles, it's important politically.

Ok, just finished last night. One more question. Why are there earth references scattered throughout? It seemed like most of them were associated with the religion, but there were non-religious ones as well. Is this an alternative earth story or did you just feel like adding something familiar in?

Thanks for answering these questions. It gives me a much deeper appreciation and understanding for the world and the story.

It's a tricky question. It's definitely not an alternative earth story; some of them are probably just mistakes on my part. Sometimes, though, there's a question as to whether to invent a word to describe something or to use an existing word for a very similar concept. (i.e. Bishop, hell, and so on.) I generally tend to try to keep the invented words to an absolute minimum, because I find them confusing.

I wrote a bit about this problem at Fantasy-Faction:
http://fantasy-faction.com/2014/the-f...

http://fantasy-faction.com/2014/the-f...

Hope you guys have enjoyed the book! I'll be signing out of this thread at the end of the month, so if there's any questions left to ask, feel free to post them before then!

I'll ask a couple general questions.

How many books and how many years do you think it will take for you to finish The Shadow Campaigns?

Do you think you'll stick with Flintlock Fantasy after you're done, or is that just for these books?

I have a question related to your writing process:

When you are writing do you primarily exploratory write and follow the story as it develops or do you outline most of the plot and scenes before writing? Or are you more of a hybrid of both styles?

Assuming all goes well, The Shadow Campaigns is planned to be five books in total. If I manage to keep to the schedule and not go completely insane, that means book 5 will be released in 2017 -- so about five years? I'm also doing my middle-grade series at the same time, though.

I have no concrete plans, but my guess would be not. I've got a ton of different ideas for stuff to write, a lot of it based on various historical periods. So it's more likely that I'd do something else, at least initially, though it still wouldn't be knights-and-castles. I do have one thing that's an American Civil War analogue, though, which is (sort of) still flintlocks.

John --

I used to be very exploratory, but I've become much more of an outliner, partly out of necessity. Writing a series this long and complex just doesn't work without some serious planning. So these days, I usually have a pretty detailed outline.

One last question. How would someone go about getting a signed copy of your books? Do you offer signed copies on a website or do signings?

^ I second that question!

A couple of ways! I do signings at bookstores, and a lot of the time they have extra signed stock you can order. Most recently I was at Mysterious Galaxies: http://www.mystgalaxy.com/ You can ask if they have some left! Or if you put in a request at The Signed Page (http://signedpage.com/ ) I can stop over there and sign.

Or, I can just send you one directly, especially if you want it personalized. You can e-mail me via my contact form here: http://djangowexler.com/contact/ It's typically more expensive than going through the bookstores, though.

Also, I go to a lot of cons. I'll be at Pheonix ComicCon, San Diego ComicCon, and WorldCon this year, and I'll be doing signings there too.

Django, thank you so much for doing the Q & A. PLEASE do feel free to stay in touch with our group and maybe we will see you joining in, time permitting. Bev

Great read - disappointed I missed it because I would have loved to ask the genesis of the female lead. I really enjoyed the book and that character, but do wonder at how she could fool the army so long as to hide her sex. I'm thinking basic toiletry functions if nothing else...