Category Archives: Interviews

Author Talk: Building Character

About a month ago, I did a G+ hangout with Felicia Day, John Scalzi, and Amber Benson in order to promote the launch of Felicia’s new maelstrom of nerd-awesome: Geek and Sundry.

We set out to talk about what makes for good, interesting characters, and the conversation spiraled pleasantly through all manner of interesting tangents after that. In addition to being a fun talk with some of the wittiest geeks around, I think we also ended up raising some interesting points about stories, writing, truth, beauty, etc.

Anyway, if you missed the live broadcast, you can stop weeping softly to yourself in the corner. They’ve just posted up the video over on youtube.

Here it is:

Man, I really need a haircut….

pat

Also posted in Felicia Day, tangentality, the craft of writing, videos | By Pat48 Responses

Love Story, Horror Movie, and WPR

A couple weeks ago I did a radio interview with Veronica Rueckert on WPR. We had a fun discussion with Laura Miller about The Hunger Games and what makes for a good female character. (Among other things.)

For those of you who might be interested, they’ve got an archive of that broadcast, as well as a few other things I’ve done with WPR over the years.

Or, if you’re looking for something a little more texty, here’s a sweet story of a young couple in love., and how they met, in part due to a certain book….

Lastly, I feel morally obliged to remind y’all that Joss Whedon’s The Cabin in the Woods is coming out this weekend. Early reviews look good, plus, y’know JOSS WHEDON.

My plan is to go see it, preferably in the company of an attractive, easily startled young woman. That way, when the movie gets scary, she will cling to me desperately for comfort.

My plan is a good plan.

pat

Also posted in Joss Whedon, movie talk | By Pat28 Responses

Maps, Brackets, Interviews, and Wind

On today’s menu we have:

Warning, it will bog down your browser a bit.

Edit: Whoops. Turns out the voting on this round is over. I thought it went *through* the 2nd. Not *until* the 2nd.

The title seems a little argumentative, but I didn’t mean it to come off that way. I’m also a little irritated that the pictures they used to punctuate the article are from The Lord of the Rings and Game of Thrones, two series two authors who are delightfully NOT-guilty of following in the tired rut of fantasy cliche. (Tolkien because he wrote before these things were cliche, and Martin because he’s skilled at avoiding it.)

And yes, I’m aware that it’s a little hypocritical that I say people should avoid writing about dragons even though I include something very similar to a dragon in my book. We actually talked about that in the interview as well, but we had to cut that piece out because I’m a wordy bitch and the interview ran long….

  • Lastly, there’s an article over on IGN that asks, “What’s the next Hunger Games?” A grammatically baffling title to an article that speculates as to what the next hot book-into-movie adaptation might be. Kingkiller gets a nice nod on there.

Normally I wouldn’t mock their title, but they took a dig at me for how long I take to write. So fair’s fair.

*     *     *

In related news, I actually got to watch Hunger Games in the theater. That’s not something I get to do very much these days.

I liked it a lot. It’s rare that I leave a movie without some fairly major gripes. Especially one based off a book that I enjoyed.

But Hunger Games was solid. Good casting. Good acting. Sensible changes to suit the adaptation into a different medium. And properly subversive. I love me some good subversive.

It was also nice to see the author of the books having a hand in the screenplay. Things like that tend to warm my bitter old heart.

Later,

pat

Also posted in miscelany | By Pat62 Responses

Link Salad

I’m busy getting caught up on some a backlog of work so I can focus exclusively on writing after that, so today we have link salad.

First, here’s an interview I did for the Denver Post a while back.

This interview ended up being a bit different. It was a phone interview. (That’s not the different part.) And when the journalist called, she asked if her daughter could listen in, because she was a big fan of the books.

I said it was no problem, and when I found out that she was 18 and about to leave for college, I asked if she wanted some advice. Because I have a weakness for giving advice, and if there’s one thing I know, it’s college.

She said yes, so I gave her some advice.

What’s interesting is that they included the advice to the daughter in the interview. After re-reading it, I’m happy to say it was pretty good advice. It wasn’t just a product of over-caffeination.

Second, I wanted to point folks at Wednesday’s comic over at Real Life.

Why am I pointing you at that comic? Because right now I’m brewing a batch of mead, and I have done exactly what he’s talking about. Except without the smartphone. Because I’m apparently the last person on earth without a smartphone.

Thirdly and lastly, a quick story. Or rather, a series of stories that make a sort of story gestalt.

Though I don’t gamble much, it’s always fascinated me. Back in high school, I used what little calculus I knew to create a roulette betting system that I was pretty sure would make me rich.

Luckily, at that point in my life I didn’t have access to a car or a line of credit. What’s more, when I wrote a computer program to model my betting strategy, it kept losing money. So I gave it up as a bad idea and kept playing D&D instead.

Fast forward to last year, when Worldcon was held in Reno. A reader contacted me and asked if I’d like some help finding a room in Reno. Jade worked in the hospitality business, and hooked me up with some accommodations.

He also sent me this map:

(Click to Embiggen)

If you click on it, you can see that it has helpful tips on it, such as, “Do not go here or you will die.”

I got a kick out of it, and posted it up on Google+ for other people to see.

A couple days later when I was doing a signing in Reno, someone came up to me and said, “I went to that place that the map said I shouldn’t.”

I nodded. This didn’t surprise me. I had the same impulse when I saw it. The main reason I hadn’t already gone myself is that I was too busy with the convention.

“Did you die?” I asked.

“No,” he said. “But someone stole my car.”

At that point I decided to take Jade’s advice a little more seriously. And, as you can see, I’m still alive. So I count that as a success.

I found out a couple months back that Jade had actually started up a blog where he talks about casinos and gambling. It’s not only funny, but informative, as he has a insider’s knowledge of casinos and casino towns.

You can check it out HERE.

That’s all for now,

pat

P.S. We’re still shipping out Worldbuilders prizes. So keep an eye on your mailboxes.

Also posted in Link salad, Tales from the Con | By Pat41 Responses

Upcoming appearances and some Interviews

Okay. First and foremost, I have a couple of readings/signings/Q&A things coming up in these next couple weeks.

One of them is right here in Stevens Point at my local independent bookstore, Bookfinders. It’s on Friday, Feb 24th, at 7:00. I’ve also heard that one of the cool local coffee shops will be providing treats for the event. So even if you don’t care about hearing me read some of my newer stuff… y’know… treats.

The other event that’s rapidly approaching is in Virginia. Specifically, I’ll be in Blacksburg.

Here. Let’s just do it like this:

STEVENS POINT, WI
February 24th at 6:30 PM
Reading and Signing at Bookfinders
1001 Brilowski
Stevens Point, WI 54481
Facebook Event

BLACKSBURG, VA
February 29th at 7:00 PM
Reading, Q&A, and Signing
Virginia Bioinformatics Institute Conference Center
BLACKSBURG, VA 24061
Facebook Event

HIGH POINT, NC
March 2-4, 2012
Literary Guest of Honor for StellarCon 36
Best Western High Point
135 South Main St
High Point, NC 27260
Facebook Event

I don’t get down into that corner of the world very often, so if you’re interested in seeing me and maybe getting a book signed, you should catch me when I’m in the area.

As always, you can get details about my upcoming appearances on the Tour Page. I’ll be updating it with this summer’s conventions pretty soon, too.

Lastly, for those of you who enjoy hearing me ramble about one thing and another, we have a couple interviews from a while back. I didn’t get a chance to post them when they happened because we were in the thick of Worldbuilders.

Here’s a podcasty one with Adventures in Sci-fi Publishing.

And a texy one with NeuFutur.

Share and Enjoy,

pat

Also posted in appearances | By Pat36 Responses

My First Google+ Video Hangout Thinger

I recently did a streaming video interview thing hosted by the fabulous Trey Ratcliff from Stuck in Customs.

The truth is, I’m a little bit of a Luddite. I don’t skype. I lost my webcam months ago (don’t ask me how) and I didn’t bother replacing it. I think I’m the last person on earth that doesn’t have a smartphone.

But earlier this month, I watched the inaugural flight of Felicia Day’s Vaginal Fantasy book club on Google Air. (That’s the official name of the live streaming hangout thing.)

So when Trey invited me to come and hang out on his show, I jumped at the chance.

Since I don’t do a lot of webcam-ish stuff, I expected to be kinda self-conscious. But Trey’s questions were really good, so I had a good time talking about the creative process. He has a different perspective on things, as he’s a photographer. But it was interesting to see how much our experience overlapped.

We wrapped up the official part of the hangout in about an hour, but then we kept chatting because we were having a good time. Then Veronica Belmont swung by to say howdy and things got even cooler. The conversation went pretty free-range after that, but it was all good geeky fun.

If you’re interested, they taped the whole thing and it’s up on youtube over here. So if you want to see how messy my computer room is, and watch me try to talk with my hands on a webcam, you can hop over and check it out.

And, if you’re on Google+, you can add my profile if you want. That way if I get around to doing some hangouts of my own you’ll get a chance to be a part of them.

Best,

pat

Also posted in the craft of writing | By Pat22 Responses

Link Salad: Worldbuilders and Waterparks…

So I’m kinda swamped right now with one thing and another. I’m struggling manfully with NaNoWriMo, trying to get ready for Worldbuilders, and working on putting new inventory in Worldbuilder’s online store: The Tinker’s Packs.

And, on top of it all, I’m attending a convention this weekend in Wisconsin Dells.

I wasn’t planning on going to the Dells this weekend, I was going to try and knuckle down and focus on my wordcount. But the local sci-fi convention that’s based here in Stevens Point got hit with a sudden change of venue when the convention center here in Stevens Point unexpected closed a month ago.

But the folks at Daishocon didn’t let that stop them. They called around and found somewhere else they could host the convention: The Kalahari in Wisconsin Dells. Which is kinda cool, because now I can take Sarah and Oot to play in their indoor water park in between my panels.

What’s my point? Mostly :

1. If you’re at loose ends this weekend, and want to come to a gaming/sci-fi/anime convention, you should stop by Daishocon. Not tonly will we I be doing three panels on Saturday, but we’ll be holding an auction for worldbuilders.

Best of all, fellow fantasy writer and Wisconsinite Scott Lynch will be there, too.

2. I’m kinda busy.

So for the blog today, you’re going to get link salad. An interesting miscellany of stuff I’ve been meaning to share for a while now, but for some reason or other, I haven’t gotten around to it.

First and foremost, Goodreads is holding their annual Choice Awards. The Wise Man’s Fear has been nominated for a couple of categories, so you can wander over there if you like.

Or, if you’re not in a voting mood, you can subscribe to my profile over there, so you’ll get a heads-up when I post up a review of a book.

Secondly, here’s a link to a video interview I did with Speculatesf a while back..

Nextly, someone posted a cool flow chart using all the books in NPR’s list of 100 best sci-fi books of all time. It’s a very tongue-in-cheek “how-do-I-find-the-book-that’s-best-for-me?” chart, and you can test your geek street cred by seeing how many of the jokes you understand.

Penultimately, here’s a link to an interview I did with my UK editor when we were both at World Fantasy convention last month.

And lastly, a blog where someone compares different writing styles to different deserts. It struck me as an interesting way to look at the situation, and I will admit that I was a little tickled to be referred to as tiramisu.

Later,

pat

Also posted in Link salad, The Tinker's Packs, videos | By Pat21 Responses
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