On the Spotlight: Fantasy Author J.C. Hall

To what do you attribute your fascination with the fantasy genre? Did you read fantasy stories when you were a child? Were you influenced by a specific author?
I discovered fantasy fairly late in life. As a child, I read whatever novels my dad left lying around the house—mostly Dorothy Sayers, Agatha Christie, P.G. Wodehouse, Dashiel Hammett, Erle Stanley Gardener, i.e. more crime/detective novels than anything else. It wasn’t until I emigrated to Canada that I discovered the fantasy section in the local library. I was hooked from my first Judith Tarr, Patricia A. McKillip and C. J. Cherryh, and read all their wonderful novels in a matter of months. Then I toyed with the idea of writing my own.

Tell us about your latest books—Legends of the Serai and Lady of the Lakes. What was your inspiration for these stories?
So many fantasy novels have male protagonists and the ‘quest’ theme where a bunch of mismatched people get together and journey on to find some object of vast importance. I wanted to read about strong female protagonists who lived in worlds where there’s magic but also rules and laws, where the conflict has mostly to do with them being in a position of responsibility, and also to do with them being female.

Since there were few such novels around, I decided to write one. The House of Orveen was also about Lady Cara (the female protagonist of Legends) and was the prequel to Legends, but it was so amateurish I put it aside as soon as I completed it and did not even submit it for publication. But I now had the backstory, I knew I had the persistence to complete a novel, so I took the experience and ran with it. Et voila, Legends of the Serai was born.

In the realm of fantasy subgenres, I like to think of Legends as a chameleon with attitude, blending into classic sword-and-sorcery with a strong dose of romance, yet sticking out like a sore thumb because its protagonist is resolutely female without sacrificing any of her strengths. Reviewers have commented that the writing sets it apart, and I like to think that lyricism has a firm place in fantasy, even when swordplay and sorcery provide most of the action and adventure.

Do you have any other titles coming up soon?

Lady of the Lakes is being re-released by Zumaya Otherworlds, the SF/F imprint of my new publisher Zumaya Publications. The publication date is March 2007. TheHouse of Caerne, the sequel to Lady of the Lakes, will be released either later this year or early next year.

Is sword and sorcery a subcategory of the Fantasy genre? What characterizes this subcategory? What other subcategories are there under this genre?
There’s High Fantasy (think Tolkien and C.S. Lewis), sword-and-sorcery (Moorcock, Leiber), dark/erotic fantasy (Lovecraft, vampire, supernatural), historical/medieval/alternative historical fantasy (Kay, Martin, Cherryh), contemporary/urban fantasy (Gaiman, Whedon, Rowling), romantic fantasy (Lackey, Duane), YA fantasy (Pierce) and many more. Often, the subgenres bleed into one another with elements of several present in any one novel. What characterizes sword-and-sorcery is the emphasis on swordplay, magic and romance.

Technically speaking, what would you say is the most difficult aspect of writing a sword and sorcery novel?
My cover artist, Sans Talbot, who is also my substantive editor for both Lady of the Lakes and its sequel, The House of Caerne, tells me in no uncertain terms that I am weak with action scenes. I think he’s right. But it’s really hard to write convincing action scenes when you’ve watched a lot of Chinese martial arts movies as a child. Trying to duplicate that kind of action in words just makes for extremely sarcastic comments from your substantive editor.

What are some of the best fantasy authors/books these days?My favourite fantasy authors are Patricia A. McKillip, C. J. Cherryh, Judith Tarr, and Lois McMaster Bujold. Cherryh and Bujold write SF as well as fantasy and do both equally well—quite a feat. SF and fantasy are both speculative fiction, but the technicalities of writing in the two vary greatly, especially in terms of language. McKillip writes beautiful, lyrical, prose. Cherryh excels at gritty realism. All are masters at the most important aspect of fiction writing—the suspension of disbelief.

You also write poetry. How would you compare the creative flow you get when writing prose as opposed to writing poetry? Which one comes more naturally for you?

Poetry comes unbidden. I’ve found that strong, positive emotions evoke ideas and images that naturally lend themselves to language. Cliched though it may be, I felt my best poems were written while I was falling in love. Prose tends to be more work—not so much forced as needing more polish, and I often re-write prose over and over again before I’m satisfied with it, whereas my poems tend to be ‘born’ more or less as they finally appear, requiring much less sweating over—more art than craft, perhaps!

Novelist, poet… and also book reviewer. Do you think a lot of reviewers on the web are guilty of ‘facile praise’? Do you keep into consideration the feelings of an author when writing reviews? If yes, how do you do this and still be 100% honest in the case of poorly written books?I must admit, rather sheepishly, that I don’t read many reviews. I like to think I’m fair and certainly wouldn’t subscribe to facile praise. Most of my reviews are positive because I tend to review the books I enjoyed reading, but I have also been moved to review books that I absolutely hated. I don’t review books that I wouldn’t choose to read myself. For instance, I have absolutely nothing against bodice-rippers but there’re only so many times you can read about heaving bosoms and throbbing manhoods and not have your eyes roll back so far into the back of your skull that it’s a doozy trying to get them facing forward again. Also, I’m very prone to nightmares, so I would simply not review certain genres like horror, no matter how well they’re written. And if it were an author I knew personally, and it’s a genre I enjoy but I end up not liking it, I would simply not review it. It’s no biggie.

You were born in Hong Kong, educated in England, and now live in Canada. Has this had an influence on your writing?
The only practical influence is that I have to keep reminding myself about all those pesky British vs Canadian/North American spellings.

Do you have a website where readers may learn more about you and your works?Yes, my webiste URL is www.jc-hall.com and I’ve just started a blog which can be accessed from my website. Some of my poems and excerpts of my novels are there, as well as links to samples of my book reviews, movie reviews and travel articles.

What advice would you give to fledgling fantasy writers who are trying to break into print? Read a lot, not just in the genre you’re writing but the classics as well. Know a little bit about the history of fantasy writing, read all the greats, but keep in mind that you must develop your own voice. Keep plodding away until you’ve completed your first novel, but know that it probably won’t be accepted for publication. But that’s OK, as it’s just the blueprint for your second one, and that one has a much bigger chance of acceptance. Keep in mind that talent is just the beginning and by itself will not amount to much. Hard work, dedication and determination are much better indicators of success.

If you could choose five books a beginner must absolutely read, what would those be?Renni Browne and Dave King’s ‘Self-Editing for Fiction Writers’ is essential reading for any aspiring fiction author. Also, my copies of ‘Beginnings, Middles and Ends’ by Nancy Kress and ‘Description’ by Monica Wood (both of the series ‘Elements of Fiction Writing’ by Writers’ Digest Books) are amazingly and rightfully dog-eared. Your editors will swear by the classic ‘Elements of Style’ by Strunk and White, and you would do well to stay on the good side of your editors. Also, a good electronic dictionary-cum-thesaurus like Merriam Webster installed into your computer will save you a great deal of time as you write, both in getting down those pesky words that always seem to be at the tip of your tongue, as well as providing you with ‘ le mot juste’ for every conceivable situation your characters find themselves in.