Barb & J.C. Hendee, authors of a books collectively called the Noble Dead Saga, join us for an “On the Spot” to talk about their books among other things.  Ken, who is a huge fan of the books, put together the questions while patiently waiting for the next book in the series.  For more information you can check out their website NobleDead.com; it is packed full of information on the books, including pronunciation (why don’t all authors do this), glossary, maps, weapons, excerpts, etc.   Per the website, the authors write what they call Dark/High Fantasy.  The books are published in the U.S. by ROC publishing.  Please welcome our guests Barb & J.C. Hendee, and thank you for taking the time to talk to the readers.

BSC:   What is the reason you chose to have Magiere, Leesil, Chap, and Wynn travel together?  

J.C.:    Well, Magiere and Leesil (if not Chap) were unaware of what surrounded the task of finding the unknown object sought by Welstiel. So . . .  when Wynn came into the picture, we used her and others from the Guild of Sagecraft to fill in missing information (but only what they might know). The guild’s view of history and the world has always been there in the background since Series 1, Book 2: Thief of Lives, and it is what guides both the protagonists and the readers, whether they know it or not. So as the stakes grew for our initial trio, it made sense that they needed input from the guild. From the start of Thief of Lives, we’d decided that Wynn (rather than an older, experienced sage) should come into the mix. She represents the true hero(ine) - an ordinary person thrust into extraordinary circumstances, and not a medieval superhero out of RPGs and video games.

Barb:  Yes, I think Wynn balances out the cast of protagonist in a way that even we didn’t expect.  Originally, she was going to be a young man, but in the draft phase of Thief, we decided to make her a young woman. This later added a much different dimension to character relationships.  Among our protagonists, no one is exactly the “leader,” though Chap certainly believes he is.

BSC:   Why these four, and are they based on people from your personal experiences.

Barb:  I think this is a common question for most writers.  All writers draw from themselves and others, but our characters aren’t based on any specific people that we know. 

In the saga’s early days, people who knew us well said that many of Magiere’s outer personality traits reminded them of J.C., and Leesil’s outward personality traits reminded them of me . . . minus the alcoholism and compulsive gambling of course.  Hah! 

J.C.:    And perhaps some of the opposite for their internal sides, Leesil for me, and Magiere for Barb.

Barb:  And Chap is always a blast to write for because he is both an eternal Fay and a typical canine… 

J.C.:    Including his gluttony and abysmal table manners! 

Each character also represents a small or pronounced tilt from classic characters of high fantasy.  Each is flawed, like a true person.  Each denies their supposed nature, fate, and what others expect of them by true or false perceptions.

From the onset, we wanted a female lead, who was a basic warrior, yet still a true woman and not some Conan-esque cliché.  Hence Magiere was born in combination with Barb’s research into real historical dhampirs (charlatans of Eastern Europe called by such titles) and yet beyond cliché female “adventurers” or fainting damsels for that matter.  Magiere can be a nasty piece of work.  But she’s that way for her own reasons rather than the old “woman in a man’s world” nonsense. 

Leesil represented Magiere’s counterpoint in multiple ways, as readers later learned.  His half-bred heritage grounded the first book in Fantasy rather than just a medievalist vampire tale.  It also provided hints of what might come as the readers explored the world, for Leesil was obviously hiding from a past that may have been uglier than Magiere’s.

Chap was the ultimate “black bag,” pulling the wool over the readers’ eyes.  From the start, he was just too aware for a common dog/wolf.  But that’s the best part; no one could have guessed just how much more he was.

Even as we constructed our initial trio of protagonists, out of the ordinary and each a half-breed in differing ways, the emphasis remained on their needs and wants to just be people and live out their lives.  So it was and is, though they’ve been pulled far off the path they wanted.  That path is still their prime focus, and not being heroes.

Barb:  We also developed some character traits based on funny or interesting little “snippets” we’ve seen in ourselves and others.  For instance, Leesil’s flippant claim “I’m not that easy to kill” and his utter dislike of horses come straight from J.C.  And then there are couples’ dynamics.  We know a few couples where one spends money like water and the other is a tightwad.  It’s nearly impossible to part Magiere from a single penny or shil-and Leesil can’t hold a coin longer than a breath.

BSC:   When you began creating / writing Dhampir were you already aware that you were beginning a series.

J.C.:    Oh yes, we had big plans.  But the ending of Dhampir was written to lean either to a sequel or a stand-alone novel.  It had to be.  Most publishers won’t commit to future works until they see if an author’s first novel sells - that is the publisher’s prime interest.  In our case, our first contract was for Dhampir (which is now Series 1, Book 1) and an unspecified sequel, right from the start. 

Barb:  It may sound wonderful - and rare - that our long term plans had finally taken root so quickly, but it was little daunting after we stopped jumping up and down.  But barely halfway through the re-write of S1B2: Thief of Lives, the publisher came to our agent with a contract offer for three more books in the Noble Dead Saga.  We’ve received great support from our editors at Roc.

BSC:   If so, did you have just a basic idea where you were going or did you have it mostly choreographed?

J.C.:    Somewhere in-between. We’ve always known where the saga would ultimately go and how it will end, conceived in stages that needed to be fulfilled and what steps were required in each stage.  There were concepts for each series in this venue, as well as potential books, settings, and characters.  But some of this has changed along the way.  You have to stay flexible to the new possibilities that come up along the way.    

Barb:   Yes, we were always hoping for the chance to do an epic series with these characters.

The process for creating each of our books begins with an extensive outline-sometimes exceeding 100 pages.  Each outline starts with concepts for conflict, setting, characters, etc.  We normally spend about a month on each outline.  I tend to focus more on the specific story we are writing, but as we outline one book, J.C. often comes up with bits and pieces and connections for how we are going to reach the grand end of the series-and we keep a file.  As he mentioned before we know exactly how the saga will end . . . we just have to get there.

BSC:   Was Child of a Dead God originally going to be the final book of the series?  If yes, I am really pleased you changed your mind! I haven’t had enough yet.

J.C.:    Oh no, S1B6 was never intended to be the end of the “saga” but only the end of its first series. Think of the Noble Dead Saga like a television show.  Each book is an episode and each series is a season (year). So long as our readers’ and our publisher’s interest remains strong, there will be four series in total.  Each of the subsequent three will have at least three episodes (meaning books).

Barb:  I love the idea of a “saga.”  It allows us to deeply develop our characters and our world with richly layered stories. But it’s an overwhelming project at times-to think so long term.  Hopefully readers will continue enjoying the book plots and series plots enough to stick with it through the years.

BSC:   Since my next question is of a personal nature, I will preface it by saying that I have recently retired and my wife thought that too much time together would be a disaster.  Thankfully, it has been just the opposite. So I’m wondering when two creative people work so closely and are also married does this put extra stress on your relationship, or as in our case does it bring you even closer together?

J.C.:    This is the most personal question we get asked along side the professional one of “how do you actually write together?” Honestly, we still don’t know how to answer - it just happens, sort of.  It’s a rare synergy.

Barb:  We have a very easy “energy” running between us, and we get along well.  We’ve been married almost 24 years.  We went to college together, took our classes together, sometimes taught in the same colleges.  And now we work all day in the same office and eat all our meals together. Our friends respond to this in one of two ways: 

                        A dreamy, happy voice: “Oh, you’re soooo lucky.  You get to spend so much time together.”

                        A shocked, appalled voice:  “Oh, my God!  How do you spend so much time together!”

BSC:   I read on your website how you collaborate on the writing, but was curious how you resolve situations that you just can’t agree on. Do you arm wrestle or take turns being in charge?   Do you find world-building to be tough with two people or is one of you the world building specialist?

J.C.:  It varies, depending on what the conflict really is - something big or something small, something critical to book, series, or saga plot, or just some pet affectation of the moment. 

For the big (real) stuff, we stick to what’s rational and reason it through. Writing fantasy isn’t (or shouldn’t be) about inventing and throwing in fantastical ways around obstacles.  Sometimes one of us might do such a thing during drafting or outlining just to get through a moment and move on. Later we go back and look at it with a cold eye, facing the consequences, and do something with more verisimilitude within the rules of the world we’ve created.  If we come to loggerhead on a point, it’s usually the one who best reasons what serves the greater amount of book, series, and saga plot… so long as it doesn’t violate character and setting structure.

Now for the little stuff (personal preferences)… well, we’ve had our petty moments.  One time, one of us wrote a scene one way, then the other came along later and re-wrote a different way - we follow each other in layered re-writes. The first came through and changed it back… and fuming glares began to pass over the tops of our monitors (our desks face each other).

Barb:  Bahahahahahaha!  Well . . . that doesn’t happen too often-but it has happened.  We tend to work by one Cardinal rule:  “Leave your ego at the door.”  Too many creative teams have been destroyed by ego.  But we both deeply appreciate the other’s strengths.

                        Oh, and he is our master “world-builder.”  J.C. created the maps you see in our books and on our website.

J.C.:    The world itself is loosely based on one from my master’s thesis novel, and from there it has expanded monumentally. Barb essentially took off with her own magical touch and added much more, and then me, and so on.

BSC: How do you decide its time for a character’s demise? Is it plot-related or do you find you get tired of some characters?

J.C.:    Well, most times there isn’t a decision to be made.  The events and forces in play dictate who lives or dies.  Yes, there twists that can be done, but we prefer not to use our characters (too often) like meat puppets. 

Barb:  I must say, I find the phrase “meat puppets” to be vulgar.

J.C.:    I’m the dragon in this office, not the fairy; I get to be vulgar if I want to. 

Barb:  Blow that smoke out the window, baby… and you’re being unclear with the readers… again!

J.C.:    [Sigh... with smoke.] Some writer (I don’t remember who) once said there are two types of fantasy writers: dragons and fairies.  One’s nasty and grumbly, likes small dark spaces with all of its possessions close at hand, regardless of clutter… so it can kill anything that messes with its stuff.  The other… well, she’s all sweetness and charm, likes space and light, and everything in its organically organized place, clean and tidy.

Barb:  Behave… or I’ll clean that pig-pile hoard on your desk.

J.C.:    I’ll bite you!

Barb:  You want to be zapped into a toad… again?

J.C.:    Grumble… it sucks to be a toad… but back to the point….

We know the course of events in a book, series, or the saga as a whole.  Once we’ve worked through those events, there come moments when there is no way out unless we were to bend-break-the rules of our established world-and any sense of verisimilitude that has made the characters real. 

Barb: We don’t believe in altering our world in order to avoid the consequences.  At the same time, we try to strike a balance for the reader’s emotional investment.  We play things a little real, gritty, and rough, though we recognize that readers do like their protagonists to go on… and on.  But most real world people facing the kinds of events found in fantasy wouldn’t survive them.  Most exceptional individuals as characters might not make it through.  The story, the world, and the events seen as real will determine everything that happens, even in life and death.

BSC:   Is death the final end in your world?

J.C.:    Well, that depends on how one dies… and what is meant by “death” in a world where the dead rise again… and again.

Barb:  Have you met Chane? (giggles).

BSC:   After taking six books to reach the castle in the mountains, it just struck me that we were there for a very brief visit.

J.C.:    Consider whether anyone in their right mind would want to stay there any longer.  They were in the vacant castle of a mad, ancient undead too dangerously powerful to ever let loose upon the world.  They had no food, little fuel for heat, and in that, limited possibilities to melt snow for consumable water.  They had an object they didn’t understand, which scared the stuff out of even Chap.  And they knew something was controlling the mad undead from afar.  Now, considering the individuals involved, their goals for tasks to complete, which were in direct conflict with what they personally wanted.  Would anyone in that position have stayed? Well, maybe naïve little Wynn, but Chap wouldn’t have put up with that.

Barb:  One of our most trusted “first readers” mentioned this too, and of course I agree, but J.C.’s points above are right.  And the novel was already so long that our poor, long-suffering editor was about to have a batch of kittens trying to get the word count under control.  Keep in mind that after they left the castle there were still a lot of loose ends to wrap up.  Mysteries in the scope of the Forgotten History and its great war are never uncovered by one person in one tale… or often even in one series… or at least not realistically.

BSC:   I am curious what else might be in the castle, and why there were three bridges to reach the orb. I guess my question is, are we going to end up back there at some point?

Barb:  As to seeing that place again, mums the word! 

J.C.:    A couple of good questions, but consider that the castle was directly above and that’s where the one tunnel seen did lead.  It’s likely the other three were just the same.  The cavern was obviously made and not found by those who came long ago, if you read carefully.  One tunnel would not have been enough for the excavation. 

BSC: How do you feel about the cover art of the books?  Do you have a lot of input?  What would be your favorite cover of the series?

Barb: I honestly believe that we’ve been very lucky with our covers.  I loved the one for S1B1: Dhampir the instant I saw it.  We’ve had only two cover artists - Koveck and Steve Stone - and both are extremely talented.  The only cover that gave me pause was Sister of the Dead. Magiere looks like she hadn’t eaten in about two months, and yet she seems about to topple over from the sheer weight of those huge bosoms.  But hey… that cover sold a lot of books.  I think my favorite cover would be S1B6: Child of a Dead God. 

J.C.:    In the early days, we had little input into what appeared on our covers.  As time went by, we were allowed a bit more. 

One thing readers are often unaware of is that illustrating book content is the last thing considered for what goes on the cover, if it makes the list at all.  Covers are part of packaging designed to get new readers to pick up a book in the store.  But that being said, now that the saga’s first series is on the shelf, our editor has been able to gain us a little more input.  After all, we have a following, and if the cover isn’t a little representative of characters readers have come to know… oh boy, do we hear about it! 

Overall, it’s hard to pick a favorite.  I think for clothing, setting, and ambiance, S1B2: Thief of Lives is the best, though I like ambience of the Czech versions for Dhampir and Thief  (see www.NobleDead.com under “The Saga >> Other Editions”).

BSC:   Lastly, are there other projects you are planning and if so could you give us a hint?

Barb: Yes, I already have one in the works.  It’s called the Vampire Memories series, a non-Noble Dead series.  The first book, Blood Memories, was released on October 7^th, 2008, this month. You can learn all about it at www.BarbHendee.com.

J.C.:    I have a couple, as does Barb as well, for tales in the Noble Dead world that wouldn’t be part of the sags.  But I won’t discuss those at this time.  There are a lot places, peoples, and characters met and left behind along the saga’s path.  Lots of potential stories to tell… perhaps someday.  There’s always someday.

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Topics: Author, Barb Hendee, J.C. Hendee, The Noble Dead