Some blog talk radio questions.. ;P

[MsKay]

The other day I listened to the World Building show staring the FFF team and there were some questions that were asked that made me curious about your perspective and so here I am asking you loool

*How much time do you spend world building before working on the story line?

*Have you ever gotten any reader backlash about your world?(and that is minus all my ranting at you bout Hunter ;P ) PS tell me who they are I'll get them beotches.... I know some people who some people... who really know noone...lol

*Has the World you built ever ended up affecting how you veiw the world or vice versa?

*Do you find it hard to make sure not copy other writers work when world building? and what do you do to avoid it?

*Is there something in somebody else's world where you have thought I wish I had thought of that?

ok Last question I promise....

Mark Del Franco said he avioded reading authors where his books have been compared to theirs... do you do the same?

Wheeeeew thats it.... loool

[Vicki Pettersson]

Sure, I'm happy to answer!

*How much time do you spend world building before working on the story line?

It's simultaneous. The story lets me know where I need more worldbuilding, but if I come up with some cool arcana or ideas, then that influences the story. This is especially pronounced in the beginning, but it continues through each draft, though I ultimately, inevitably don't need to use everything that I've come up with. In fact, I now spend later drafts ripping out, gosh, sixty percent of the worldbuilding -- stuff I now know but you'll probably never see. My editor had me pare back the worldbuilding in CoS three times. (There's a lot of new stuff! {rubbing hands gleefully])

*Have you ever gotten any reader backlash about your world?

Not specifically about the world...but then some things work for some and not for others. There are certainly people who don't buy in to the whole premise, and I'm assuming they just go read something else. Not really backlash, then, just preference.

*Has the World you built ever ended up affecting how you veiw the world or vice versa?

Oh, yes! I've set and designed Jo's world as a part of Vegas, and I live here too, so I'm always looking at locales and people with an eye toward the fiction. Occupational hazzard, I guess. It's odd, though, how the act of creation also creates you as an artist in return. Gratifying.

*Do you find it hard to make sure not copy other writers work when world building? and what do you do to avoid it?

That's something I worried about at first, but not now. By filtering everything through my mind, my perceptions and then my characters and their pasts, it pretty much takes care of all that. Rather like removing must from the barrel of a wine. Do it well enough and though it was essential to forming the wine, and the process, you'll never know it was there.
I'm also extremely comfortable with my voice, so I don't worry about sounding like someone else. But I don't read exclusively, if much, in the UF genre, either. I'm all over the place. If anything, I think I'm most influenced by crime fiction.

*Is there something in somebody else's world where you have thought I wish I had thought of that?

I thought the naturi in Jocelynn Drake's NIGHTHUNTER were great. They scare me because they're so unknown, yet she gave us a strong mythological basis for their existence. I loved that. The first time I saw Melissa Marr's fairies on the page in WICKED LOVELY, I was shocked into belief. They were so compelling and real. I'm finishing up Joe Hill's HEART-SHAPED BOX right now, and I wished I'd written the whole thing. He's a God. Ditto Gaiman. So, yeah. There's lots and lots and lots!

Mark Del Franco said he avioded reading authors where his books have been compared to theirs... do you do the same?

I can't recall being compared to anyone. Hm...
Does anyone else write bitchy superheroes?

[miki]

Haha on the last one...I don't know about a real comparison, but we did have a kind of UF character smack down somewhere on the boards~ Joanna Archer vs. Rachel Morgan--who would win in a fight between the two. ;-)

[pyrelight]

^ Even I can answer that one. Jo would win hands down.

[MsKay]

Thanks Vicki for answering well I was gonna say my questions...but they're not!

and totally funny on the last one! Bitchy superheroes - that's why I heart Jo - I thought her personality was just normal...or normal for me coz im bitchy too.. Never really noticed to you said it LMAO

[vampyre]

Wow, that was a great little QnA. Thanks Kay for "borrowing" and post the questions and thank you for answering them Vicki.

[Vicki Pettersson]

Nov 25, 2008 12:49:23 GMT -5 miki said:

Haha on the last one...I don't know about a real comparison, but we did have a kind of UF character smack down somewhere on the boards~ Joanna Archer vs. Rachel Morgan--who would win in a fight between the two. ;-)

I don't think they'd fight -- I think they'd like each other!

Alas. They don't live in the same world.

[Vicki Pettersson]

Nov 25, 2008 16:03:17 GMT -5 MsKay said:

Thanks Vicki for answering well I was gonna say my questions...but they're not!

and totally funny on the last one! Bitchy superheroes - that's why I heart Jo - I thought her personality was just normal...or normal for me coz im bitchy too.. Never really noticed to you said it LMAO

OMG, that's so funny.
After rec-ing a few emails calling Jo bitchy, and saying she had an attitude, I turned to my friends and crit partners and hubby and said, "She's not bitchy! Erm, is she?"
And nobody answered right away.
Which spoke volumes.

[vampyre]

Now that is funny. You need to save the funny stuff for your sit com. Hey if Rosie can get an hour variety show, you can get a 30 min sit com!

[slayercat]

Hey, is somebody calling Jolivia bitchy like it's a bad thing?

"Sometimes being a bitch is all a woman has to hold onto..."

(from Dolores Clairborne)

I know you hear me, sistas.

[nat]

Amen, Skitty!!!
I frequently have bitchy episodes! ;D And when I'm feeling like a biatch my msn icons are these:

[Raven]

Nov 26, 2008 23:57:53 GMT -5 slayercat said:

Hey, is somebody calling Jolivia bitchy like it's a bad thing?

"Sometimes being a bitch is all a woman has to hold onto..."

(from Dolores Clairborne)

I know you hear me, sistas.

I hear you and luv you for saying it, girl.

[pyrelight]

Heck, even Jo knows she's not nice. She's good, but she's not a nice person. It takes all sorts to make a world- even most made up ones. *g*

[Raven]

Well said, woman!

And hell, even the reverse is true. Kind people aren't always good people. Ya know?
I strive to be both.

[pyrelight]

Hehe. "You have to be cruel to be kind" very much describes a LOT of the characters in the books right now.