/r/Fantasy Discussion Group discussion

Hey guys, sorry for starting this later in the month, but Daniel Polansky has agreed to do a casual Q&A on here. Please feel free to ask him questions and he'll get back to you as soon as he can - if items are spoilers, please make sure to use the spoiler code. Thanks!

This was a really fun read in an unusual setting--did you have any specific inspirations? Was or is this intended to be part of a larger project, or is this just a standalone work?

Hey, Mr Polansky. Just a couple of things:
1) After reading this story, I've decided you have a slightly unhinged mind.
2) Thankyou for sharing your slightly unhinged mind.
3) When you were writing this, what came first - the animals, or the characters? (I hope that makes sense)

Mr. Polansky, I loved the Low Town series and the noir feel to it. Based on that I read The Builders with a great spaghetti western characters and action. My question is does The Empty Throne series also pay homage to any certain genre?

I also just realized The Empty Throne is only two books and both are out now. I was holding off on starting because I thought it was a trilogy for some reason.

Hey Daniel,
Nice seeing you here. i'm thrilled to reading this new book and having a ton of fun with it. No real questions, just wanted to say hello and extend best wishes for your continued success.

No questions, just wanted to say I loved The Builders, and am looking forward to reading more of your books. Thanks!

Hi Dan
No questions from me. Just thought I'd say g'day and let you know that I really enjoyed the Lowtown series, but I loved loved loved this little story and I've been telling everyone I can to read it.
Gotta say it didn't really appeal to me going in. T'was only because it was short that I thought I'd give it a go. Now I'm wishing it'd gone on sooooo much longer. Every character was an absolute cracker
In fact it's pushed 'Strange & Norrell' into 6th spot to squeeze into my top 5 all time.
More Please

Clay wrote: "This was a really fun read in an unusual setting--did you have any specific inspirations? Was or is this intended to be part of a larger project, or is this just a standalone work?"

Thanks! Glad you liked it. I think the influences for the Builders are probably reasonably clear -- Peckinpah, Kurosawa, Sergio Leone. A lot of movies, thinking about it. There is a book called Dogs of War by Frederick Forsyth which I cribbed a lot from.

Stand alone, always. Part of the fun/challenge was to write something as sharp and brutal and fast paced as I possibly could, and not to draw it out any longer than necessary.

Benedict wrote: "Hey, Mr Polansky. Just a couple of things:
1) After reading this story, I've decided you have a slightly unhinged mind.
2) Thankyou for sharing your slightly unhinged mind.
3) When you were writing..."

1. Thanks?
2. You're welcome.
3. They were always animals, if that makes sense, but I think probably some I knew exactly what I wanted them to be from the outset and others I was more thinking, OK, this one needs to be sneaky or whatever. But mostly they kind of came to me full grown.

Chompa wrote: "Mr. Polansky, I loved the Low Town series and the noir feel to it. Based on that I read The Builders with a great spaghetti western characters and action. My question is does The Empty Throne serie..."

Thanks lots! Probably not as explicitly. The Empty Throne stuff is a little more complex/subtler than the Builders of Low Town, both of which were variations on a theme, if that makes sense. I hope you like them, there are only the two!

Michael wrote: "Hey Daniel,
Nice seeing you here. i'm thrilled to reading this new book and having a ton of fun with it. No real questions, just wanted to say hello and extend best wishes for your continued success."

Michael! So nice to hear from you again! Glad you liked the book, hope that everything on your end is going well. I think I still owe you a drink from the last time we ran into each other, whatever distant period that was. :)

Richard wrote: "No questions, just wanted to say I loved The Builders, and am looking forward to reading more of your books. Thanks!"

Thank you! I hope you enjoy them.

salty wrote: "Hi Dan
No questions from me. Just thought I'd say g'day and let you know that I really enjoyed the Lowtown series, but I loved loved loved this little story and I've been telling everyone I can to ..."

Hah! Glad to see I won you over! Take that, Victorian era England, with your magic and whatnot! :)

Daniel, thanks again for doing this Q&A. I'll admit to being a fan and book collector of yours for some time (harder living on the west coast of the US...), and I bother you on Facebook often enough, and Twitter less often.

My question is one I probably should have asked in one of your AMAs, but I'm going to ask here in case anyone on GR wants to know: What is your planning/outlining process like? Most authors seem to be some kind of hybrid between 'pantsers' and Brandon Sanderson - where would you say you fall? Do you go into your writing of prose knowing exactly how things are going to go? Do you go in with a very vague idea and let the pieces fall into place?

Second question: You seem to travel the world quite a bit. Can you give an example of a way that these travels have affected your writing, namely something that might not be obvious to a reader?

Thanks again!

Hi Daniel are there any plans for more Low town books in audio?

Daniel wrote: "Michael! So nice to hear from you again! Glad you liked the book, hope that everything on your end is going well. I think I still owe you a drink from the last time we ran into each other, whatever distant period that was. :) "

Everything is going very well, thank you. I finished the story yesterday and really enjoyed it. Loved the characters - it was a ton of fun to read.

Sorry for being a little late to the party (too late?). First of all: I would never have picked up that book without this group. So thank's guys for this group and thank you, Daniel Polansky, for the book. I really liked it a lot!

So, my question: Will we have more stories from this world? Or did we already and I was just unable to see them in your profile?