Fantastic Metropolis

Gabe Chouinard: You have a lot to say about the so-called duality of human nature (again, like John Woo!), even going so far as to have multiple characters who are really more than one person, especially in the Aktiri. Do you think that duality is a common factor in the average person’s life?

Matthew Woodring Stover: I think “duality” doesn’t quite capture it; human nature is more complex than that. At the risk of sounding repellently New Agey, identity is not an object, it’s a process. It’s architectural: we are constantly building ourselves, layering each level upon the foundation of the last.

I could extend that metaphor into a lengthy essay, but shit—each of the four protagonists of Blade of Tyshalle is more than one person. I’ve spent three years and a third of a million words on the interaction of personal identity, fractal reality, mythic destiny and the Meaning of Life. I’m not about to bust my ass to summarize it here.

If the truth were simple, I wouldn’t write books. I’d rent billboards.

Gabe Chouinard: Coming from a theatre and acting background, how much did you draw upon your own experiences?

Matthew Woodring Stover: The biggest influence of my acting background on my fiction has been the ability to inhabit a character. A large part of effective character-creation on stage is training yourself to see the world the way the character sees it; if you can do that, all the character’s choices—no matter how bizarre or perverse they may seem from the outside—develop their own internal logic, because they arise from the way the character expects others (or the world in general) to react. That’s what makes these choices convincing, and goes a long way toward helping the audience believe the character is a living, breathing human being. That’s what Hari does in Day Two of Heroes Die, when it’s time for him to become Caine.

I do the same thing when I’m creating a character on the page. It seems to be working so far.

Gabe Chouinard: I hate to call Blade of Tyshalle a sequel to Heroes Die. I see it more as an extension of one large story. But tell me, is Caine’s story told? You left quite an opening in the last few pages. Will this grow up to be a Jordan-esque epic?

Matthew Woodring Stover: Christ, I hope so! Jordan-esque, at least, in the sense of Outselling Everything Else On Earth and Making Me Richer Than God.

Hey, a guy’s got to have a dream, right?

I’m kind of interested in discovering how many stories I can draw out of this vein before I start to repeat myself.

Gabe Chouinard: Are you going to revisit Overworld?

Matthew Woodring Stover: That remains to be seen. I want to; in fact, I have notes for two whole trilogies with a linking stand-alone. But the future of Overworld is subject to the realities of publishing, and the necessities of making a living. Which is to say: Blade of Tyshalle has to make money. It’s that simple. Putting out a book these days is expensive, and publishers aren’t in the business for fun.

I may write for love, but I also like to eat.