All The Writers

A blog about present and past serious fiction and literature.

Sci-fi author Timothy Zahn interview – Far Point 2018 – youtube

Author Timothy Zahn has been writing professionally since 1984. He’s written a number of well-regarded Star Wars novels, as well as the Manticore Ascendent trilogy, the Cobra trilogy and the young adult Dragonback series. I was able to interview Mr. Zahn at Far Point 2018.

1:17 – Mr. Zahn’s latest work is the ninth book in the Cobra series. It’s the last Cobra book for a while. Right before that he finished the Star Wars Thrawn novel and coming up is the third book in the Manticore Ascendant series.

1:55 – He likes his Quadrille series. The Star Wars books. Everything has been fun to write. He has about 55 books published.

3:01 – He outlines his books and knows where they’re going. So plot threads wind up at the 100,000-word mark. His middle grade books are about 50,000.

4:05 – Sometimes his cat will join him in his writing. He started with short stories and developed from there. The second story was important to show he’s not a one hit wonder. Once he started writing Star Wars novels everything jumped forward fast.

5:28 – He doesn’t get to read much fiction. It feels too much like research. He reads a lot of history for his books. For example, the Nazi desire to invade Switzerland has been interesting. Science is interesting for his writing but is part of the grab bag like history. He’s seen some of his story ideas become actual inventions.

7:41 – he loved sci-fi when he was young. His favorites were Larry Niven, Theodore Sturgeon, Keith Lamar, and Alistair McClane. Those writers inspired him.

8:31 – When he was young his favorite X-Man was Cyclops. He also read a lot of comic books. X-Men, Flash, Fantastic Four.

9:15 – He has a couple of Star Wars novels he’d like to pitch to LucasFilms. He also has some personal works he wants to pitch to his agent.

10:03 – He’s on facebook under Timothy Zahn and he goes to conventions often.

 

Links

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Larry_Niven

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Theodore_Sturgeon

 

 

Guests: Timothy Zahn

Host: Cris Alvarez

 

Writer Robin C. Farrell interview

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Robin C. Farrell is a writer and video editor. She has worked on the upcoming web series “Genre Wars” and has written a novel based on the story. I was able to interview Robin at Magfest 2018.

 

0:54 – Robin talks about writing screenplays and a novel.

1:29 – The novel grew from an online film competition and grew into a web series called “Genre Wars”. It began as a deadliest warrior kind of idea.

2:50 – Robin liked the idea of a genre being a culture and all these genres mixed together in one world.

4:52 – Robin discusses the writing process. Feedback from beta readers is an important factor.

6:22 – Robin likes to focus on characters in her writing. She often prefers character development to plot points when watching Doctor Who for example.

7:15 – Robin discusses her cosplay and steampunk Ariel.

11:13 – Robin again discusses how she goes about writing and what she needs to do her work.

13:08 – Her cosplay development involves watching her characters over and over or listening to sound tracks.

14:20 – Robin likes going back and forth between screenwriting and prose writing to compare the processes.

15:43 – Robin likes the display part of cosplay the most. She calls herself an extrovert introvert. She created an alternative storyline for her steampunk Ariel.

17:40 – Robin talks about how she got into writing and shy she continues to write. She then talks about how she got into cosplay because she was really into Halloween. She transitioned from that into cosplay to keep putting costumes together.

22:16 – Robin’s first big success was being able to work as a video editor since she loves it so much. That pushed her to take more risks with cosplay and putting her writing out there for people to comment on.

24:34 – Robin talks about how storytelling takes many different forms. She compares the kinds of escapism out there. Coplay has become more mainstream.

26:30 – Her writing also tries to educate people about dealing with different cultures.

27:12 – Steven Brust’s novels have been her biggest inspiration. She also likes Eddings’ fantasy series. She likes Megan Whalen Turner’s Queen’s Thief series too. She likes the Greco-Roman culture of the series.

29:07 – Robin talks about her future goals.

31:00 – Her stuff can be found at RobinCFarrell.com.

 

Links of interest

https://genrewarsresistancerising.wordpress.com/

https://robincfarrell.com/

 

For more “Creating Sci-Fi and Fantasy – An Inside Look” please follow me on Facebook at crisalvarezwlc, on youtube at Cris Alvarez and on Instagram @crisalvarezscifi

 

Guests: Robin C. Farrell

Host: Cris Alvarez

Tags: fantasy, writer, ariel, genre wars, cosplay

Writer Robin C Farrell – Super Magfest 2018 – youtube

Robin C. Farrell is a writer and video editor. She has worked on the upcoming web series “Genre Wars” and has written a novel based on the story. I was able to interview Robin at Magfest 2018.

 

0:54 – Robin talks about writing screenplays and a novel.

1:29 – The novel grew from an online film competition and grew into a web series called “Genre Wars”. It began as a deadliest warrior kind of idea.

2:50 – Robin liked the idea of a genre being a culture and all these genres mixed together in one world.

4:52 – Robin discusses the writing process. Feedback from beta readers is an important factor.

6:22 – Robin likes to focus on characters in her writing. She often prefers character development to plot points when watching Doctor Who for example.

7:15 – Robin discusses her cosplay and steampunk Ariel.

11:13 – Robin again discusses how she goes about writing and what she needs to do her work.

13:08 – Her cosplay development involves watching her characters over and over or listening to sound tracks.

14:20 – Robin likes going back and forth between screenwriting and prose writing to compare the processes.

15:43 – Robin likes the display part of cosplay the most. She calls herself an extrovert introvert. She created an alternative storyline for her steampunk Ariel.

17:40 – Robin talks about how she got into writing and shy she continues to write. She then talks about how she got into cosplay because she was really into Halloween. She transitioned from that into cosplay to keep putting costumes together.

22:16 – Robin’s first big success was being able to work as a video editor since she loves it so much. That pushed her to take more risks with cosplay and putting her writing out there for people to comment on.

24:34 – Robin talks about how storytelling takes many different forms. She compares the kinds of escapism out there. Coplay has become more mainstream.

26:30 – Her writing also tries to educate people about dealing with different cultures.

27:12 – Steven Brust’s novels have been her biggest inspiration. She also likes Eddings’ fantasy series. She likes Megan Whalen Turner’s Queen’s Thief series too. She likes the Greco-Roman culture of the series.

29:07 – Robin talks about her future goals.

31:00 – Her stuff can be found at RobinCFarrell.com.

 

Links of interest

https://genrewarsresistancerising.wordpress.com/

https://robincfarrell.com/

 

For more “Creating Sci-Fi and Fantasy – An Inside Look” please follow me on Facebook at crisalvarezwlc, on youtube at Cris Alvarez and on Instagram @crisalvarezscifi

 

Guests: Robin C. Farrell

Host: Cris Alvarez

Tags: fantasy, writer, ariel, genre wars