Deborah
J. Ross: Tell
us a little about yourself. How did you come to be a writer?
Carol
Berg: I
grew up reading classics, mysteries, fantasy, science fiction, adventure
stories, and spy thrillers, but never imagined I could ever write one for
myself. Instead I majored in math, had a short stint as a teacher, had a
family, got another degree--this time in computer science—and was halfway
through a software engineering career when a fellow engineer (and good friend)
convinced me to write a series of letters “in character” so she could practice
her writing. It was so much fun, I couldn’t quit! After a number of years
writing novels just for myself, reading an article about writing now and then
and revising with the newfound knowledge, I wrote a story that was most
definitely the best thing I’d written thus far. It felt as if I’d made a huge
step forward. My friend agreed, and we stuck our toes in the publishing waters
by attending a writers conference. A year later I’d sold three books to the
publisher who’s bought them all so far.
DJR:
What
inspired your story in Lace and Blade 4?
CB:
One
of my aims when I create new heroes or heroines is to make them real people. I
want readers to believe they had a life before walking onto the canvas of my
story and will (if the story permits!) have a life when they walk off again.
But of course, after the traumas/losses/victories of the story, the nature of that
life is often irrevocably changed. Ever since my novel Song of the Beast was published, I’ve had readers asking what
became of Aidan McAllister--a scarred, broken singer of visions, who saved his
world from the scourge of dragon warfare. At the end of the story, he abandons
his friends and his hope of a normal life to lead the beasts into the wild. I
decided that it would be fun to satisfy the readers’ curiosity and mine, and so
I wrote “The Heart’s Coda. “
DJR:
What
authors have most influenced your writing? What about them do you find
inspiring?
CB:
So
many! One of the first was Mary Renault, who took the mythological hero,
Theseus, and the historical myth, Alexander the Great, and wrote them as fascinating,
flawed human beings in worlds that felt real and true. Another Mary--Mary
Stewart--showed me the epic story of Merlin and Arthur through a very human
Merlin’s personal lens. And then there’s
Ellen Kushner, who created true magic with exquisite prose and deep emotion in
her novel, Thomas the Rhymer. Alongside
these three are many mystery and thriller writers like Dick Francis and Len
Deighton who instilled a love of complex stories and exciting adventures, and
fantasy writers like Roger Zelazny and Poul Anderson who taught me the delights
of building magical worlds.
DJR:
Why
do you write what you do, and how does your work differ from others in your
genre?
CB:
Fortunately,
I’ve been able to write the stories I love to read--complex, twisty, filled
with mysteries and magic and events with big stakes. I love making my secondary
worlds intensely real, and developing characters who are as complex, twisty,
and surprising as the plot, so that one can reread the stories and discover new
pieces. I strive to create immersive fiction, where the reader feels deeply
drawn into the story action, experiencing the action along with the characters,
not just reading about it. Thus, despite portraying events that are epic in
scale, I use the very personal lens of a single narrator (or two.) I have a fondness for certain tropes of the
genre—like portals and parallel worlds, an occasional dragon , as well as the
fae and flawed heroes who are not quite sure of their place in the world. I
like to think I turn all those tropes on their heads.
DJR:
How
does your writing process work?
CB:
I’m
an organic story developer, that is I start with a character in a situation and
enough thinking about the world, cultures, and characters to put down the first
scene. The act of writing that scene gives me ideas for moving forward in plot,
characters, and world development, so that by the time I’m halfway in, I’ve got
lots of notes about what needs to happen next. Every day, I read what I wrote
the previous day, getting it right enough I can charge forward toward a climax
that, so far, has made itself apparent by the time I get there. Revision is my
friend and delight!
DJR:
What
have you written recently? What lies ahead?
CB:
My
most recent novels are the two volumes of the Sanctuary Duet: Dust and Light and Ash and Silver, the story of a sorcerer/artist whose portraits set
off a political firestorm in a war-riven kingdom, propelling him into a destiny
he had never imagined. Since I finished that series, I’ve been dabbling with
short fiction related to my existing worlds (five worlds to date). Besides “The
Heart’s Coda,” I’ve just had a Navronne story called “The Book of Rowe”
published in an anthology titled Hath No Fury. I’ve also written a novella set
in my Rai-kirah world and a short story set in my Collegia Magica world, and
hope to find a suitable home for them. Meanwhile I’m developing a new mythos
and a new cast of characters for a new long form series.
DJR:
What
advice would you give an aspiring writer?
CB:
Read,
read, read. Write, write, write. Learn the craft. Think deeply, then think
again--harder. Persist. Be proud of what you write.
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