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.
