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Fantastic Women: Trudi Canavan
01/12/2007 . Source: Karen Miller 
Fantasy author Trudi Canavan on the limitless creative energy of children, getting stuck in the manuscript limbo, and her work on The Magician's Apprentice. Trudi is interviewed by fantasy writer Karen Miller, author of works such as Kingmaker and Kingbreaker. Yes, well, I bet you all thought I'd forgotten about the Fantastic Women series, yes?
But as you can see, I didn't. But it did get shelved for a wee while as I thrashed about with various writing deadlines. To those women who are still patiently waiting to be showcased I do most humbly apologise. I'm now back on the bandwagon and looking forward to sharing your insights in the coming weeks.
This week we resume the series with Australian fantasy author Trudi Canavan. Trudi's a bit of a publishing phenomenon, and yet another writer who gets nowhere near the kudos she deserves in her home country for her amazing achievements. She's an Australian, British and American bestselling author -- and that takes some doing. Even more incredibly, her Black Magician trilogy novels have stayed in the UK charts for over 150 weeks. I don't know of another Australian writer of any genre who has managed that ... so woots to Trudi! She's a megastar.
Here she is in her own words ...
Give us a brief bio: The Fabulous Life and Times of You!
As a child I had limitless creative energy. I was constantly making things, or making up stories. I was also constantly changing my mind about what I wanted to be when I grew up. At various stages I wanted to be a singer, potter, filmmaker, calligrapher, artist or writer. It was the last two that stuck.
The advice I'd been given on becoming a writer was to not be in a hurry. To gain some life experience and aim to work in other better-paying fields, while practicing my craft in my spare time.
So I headed in the direction of 'art that made money': graphic design, visual merchandising and illustration. I'd always thought I should be able to get a book out before I turned twenty-five - how hard could it be? But when I had my twenty-fifth birthday and realized I hadn't finished a book yet I had a good hard look at my life. I was in a job I hated, I had recently found the right ending for a book I wanted to write and was itching to get stuck into it, and I was ready to take the leap and start my own business.
I created The Telltale Art, an illustration, graphic design and cartography service. Between jobs I wrote The Book. A year and a half later The Book had turned into three, the Black Magician Trilogy, and I was able to start looking for a publisher.
As is so common for writers, this wasn't easy. But instead of a steady flow of rejections, I had the problem of my ms getting stuck in limbo. Firstly with a publisher that never replied, secondly with one that held onto the ms for two years, stringing me along with promises of marked up chapters.
Finally I found a great agent, and we sent off the ms to another publisher, who offered a contract.
Since then my life has taken some interesting turns. The unfortunate and inconsiderate timing of a break-up of a long term relationship led to some difficult times financially, jobs for illustrators dried up - perhaps due to the rise in popularity of digitally manipulated photos - and after I started writing my second trilogy, Age of the Five, I suffered a few years of chronic, unexplained fatigue which I've mostly, but not completely, recovered from.
Fortunately, by then the Black Magician Trilogy had found publishers and an enthusiastic readership outside Australia and I didn't have to try to find illustration work any more. Age of the Five has also been very successful and I was offered a very lucrative advance to write a prequel and sequel trilogy to the Black Magician Trilogy.
What drew you to writing speculative fiction?
I've always been attracted to stories that contained a supernatural element. As a child it was fairy tales, myths and bible stories. As a teenager I was one of the first generations to enjoy books written for the 'young adult' market. The first Star Wars trilogy came out during those years, and later the BBC radio show of the Lord of the Rings led me to discover Tolkein's books. I can remember waiting impatiently for the release of each book of David Edding's Belgariad, which was so refreshingly light and funny compared to what had been done before, and the revelation that Feist's Magician was at the time.
Describe a typical writing day.
There is no typical writing day for me at the moment! We're having our house extended and renovated and it's gone on so far past the deadline (was supposed to be finished last November) I wouldn't be surprised if they were still going this coming Christmas. Whether I write or not depends on whether any tradies turn up, which tradies and whether what they're doing involves noise, intrusion or turning off the power.
What's the best thing about being a writer?
Working for yourself, from home.
What's the worst thing about being a writer?
A lot of people had no inkling of how much work is involved, and how little money and recognition most writers get in return.
What other literary genres appeal to you, and why?
Writing-wise, horror has always attracted me, but I have no idea if I can do it well enough. I don't mind reading a little science fiction as well, but mostly in short form. Now and then I'll try one of the classics, or crime, or a contemporary novel. But these days if I'm reading outside of fantasy, it is more likely to be non fiction.
What are you working on at the moment?
The Magician's Apprentice, a stand-alone prequel to the Black Magician Trilogy. It's set six centuries or so earlier, so it's fun taking the culture and technology back to a simpler state.
How has the spec fic field changed since you joined it?
When I read it as a teen there weren't very many strong female characters that weren't priestesses or warriors, but now there are. Books appear to have got bigger, too. I miss the small but potent novels like those written by Tanith Lee. There has been this chunky mega-book series phenomenon, which I don't like as a reader. I prefer to wait until the last book of a series is available before I start reading the first one, and I must admit my interest in the Jordan and Martin mega-epics has waned from waiting so long to start them.
What do you know about the publishing game now that you wish you'd known when you first started out?
Everything. Not that it would have put me off. But the little things - like having a good pitch, bio, photo, etc. ready to go - would have helped in small ways. Especially the photo.
What's the best piece of writing advice you ever received?
When I was in my mid-teens I read a book at the local library called Writing For the Love of It, or something similar. It was honest about all the thing that could go wrong, but said that if you love writing it's all worthwhile. And it was laugh-out-loud funny.
What's the best piece of writing advice you never received?
Look after your back.
What's the one piece of writing advice you'd like to pass along?
Practice, practice, practice.
Who's the most influential writer in your life?
My dad. He used to spend hours writing notes on cards for The Book he was going to write one day. I wasn't allowed to read any of it. I even tried sneaking behind the couch one day, but I couldn't read his handwriting. I never read any of this mysterious Book, which my dad didn't finish, but the secretive, intense nature of this activity made me think writing a Book must be a wonderful and worthy thing.
What are your future writing plans?
To pace myself. I've never wanted to be the writer who wrote the greatest number of book in their lifetime, and chronic fatigue has reinforced that. I'd rather write quality rather than quantity. That way I might still be writing in my 80s!
What's the one book you think all aspiring spec fic writers should read?
For fantasy, Diana Wynne Jones Tough Guide to Fantasyland. It's funny and humbling. No matter how hard you tried to avoid them, you'll find you managed to include at least one cliché. And the explanation of how horses breed in Fantasyland is hilarious.
Otherwise, read widely.
Karen Miller
© Karen Miller 2007
Karen Miller is the author of the bestselling fantasy duology Kingmaker, Kingbreaker, the currently releasing fantasy trilogy Godspeaker, and the bestselling tie-in novel Stargate SG-1: Alliances. You can read more about her works at http://www.karenmiller.net
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