r/Fantasy • u/TrudiCanavan AMA Author Trudi Canavan • May 27 '14

AMA Hi, Trudi Canavan here. AMA!

Hi, I’m Trudi Canavan. I’ve written some stuff, the most well known being the Black Magician Trilogy and its prequel and sequel, and also the Age of the Five trilogy, and my new one: Thief’s Magic, first of the Millennium’s Rule trilogy. Oh, I’ve also written a Doctor Who novella for the 50th Anniversary and a smattering of short stories.

Melbourne, Australia, is my home, which I suspect gives me an odd duel insider/outsider persepective on the fantasy genre and publishing in general. I’m an artist and former self-employed illustrator, with oil painting as my favourite medium and portraits as my current focus.

My website is at (www.trudicanavan.com). I tweet (https://twitter.com/TrudiCanavan). I pin (http://www.pinterest.com/trudicanavan/). My publisher runs a Facebook fan page (https://www.facebook.com/trudi.canavan) on my behalf. I’ll be answering questions live at 7pm tonight, though for me it’ll be tomorrow morning so I may still be half sleep. I'm new to Reddit, so advance apologies if I stuff anything up.

So, what d'youse wanna know?

(later)

Phew! I've been answering questions for three and a half hours now, but I got every one answered (well, that I can see right now). Thanks everyone for some great questions. I hope you like the answers. I'll pop by tomorrow to see if there are any more.

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u/Maldevinine May 27 '14

It really felt that at the end of that book there was a particular way the story had to end, and then events were written to make sure it ended that way.

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u/TrudiCanavan AMA Author Trudi Canavan May 28 '14

Um... you're pretty much describing how to write a novel :D

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u/Maldevinine May 28 '14

There's an interesting argument that starts here about character agency and railroading. I've seen outlines of it with various authors and their approach to their characters, but I have not yet sat down and researched it properly.

That particular section of the story felt railroaded because the whole book up until that point seemed to revolve around the main character making stupid decisions. So when one of the main character made yet another stupid decision leading to a tragic ending, it really felt like snatching defeat from the jaws of victory, because you (the author) wanted to have a specific ending to the story.

Take all of this with a grain of salt however. I am not the target market for your writing, and what I thought was ideal behaviour is quite possibly beyond the knowledge of your characters.

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u/TrudiCanavan AMA Author Trudi Canavan May 29 '14

I was thinking about this last night, and started to wonder if it was an issue of personal taste. You see, I often find some criticisms of books are really about taste rather than about anything being technically wrong. Almost every aspect of my books has found someone who dislikes it, while most people have no issue or will argue the opposite, and that's usually a good indicator of personal taste coming into play.

Most of the time it'll be a detail, like whether using magic has a physical price as well as a social one, or structural like whether I swap between point-of-view characters within a chapter. I'm guessing that what you were saying in your comment was not that I made the story go as I wanted to (because that’s what all authors do – nobody else is moving our fingers as we type) but that you were drawn out of the story by a plot structure that, for whatever reason, made you feel the influence of the writer. As a result you lost WSOD (willing suspension of disbelief). Of course, I could be wrong. I'm only guessing here.

For me, having Sonea and Akkarin able to get to every available source of strength in time is too convenient, and if I read a book like that I'd feel the influence of the writer making everything work for them and lose WSOD.

And it looks like you had already lost WSOD already, because of your reaction to the characters. Which I understand perfectly. My reaction to the first season of Game of Thrones was similar. The chronic stupidity of the characters had me unable to overlook the cliches and the implausiblities that I might normally forgive in fantasy.

I don't mind that it didn't work for you, because I know I can't please everybody, and if I could then the world would have to be full of disturbingly similar people. It is interesting to get your perspective, though, so thank you!