For fans of The Night Angel Trilogy and fantasy author Brent Weeks
Questions about the Writing Process
Cover art: Was that you? Did you design the covers? How much control did you have?
Actually, it was a live model. I saw earlier versions that were straight up photos, and some of the measurements did get played with afterward when they started doing some more intensive photoshopping to make it look more like a painting--and do little things like take the creases out of his hood. (Yep, someone had a real hood that he wore that had obviously been sitting folded in a drawer somewhere.)
I talked with Tim Holman, the head of Orbit, about this in depth, and he was very kind to involve me in cover concepts for my trilogy—which he didn’t have to do. His philosophy, and now mine, is to design a cover that lets the reader know in one glance what kind of book they’re looking at. You don’t like assassins? This isn’t the book for you. Of course, many seasoned fantasy readers love their old narrative covers, and may want to puzzle out the whole scene painted on the front, spine, and back of the book, so you lose points with them. And of course, part of me thinks, “But this series is about so much more than just an assassin!” But the cover’s purpose is merely to point the right people TO the book. Same goes for the back cover copy. Mine is very brief and focuses purely on the characters—because characterization is my great strength. I like to think I have other strengths, too, but if you try to convey that this book is great in every respect, you end up conveying nothing at all.
Last, you want to pass the public transportation test: you want an adult to feel okay being seen reading your book. A lot of wonderful books fail that test. I think mine pass, and I’m delighted with the covers Calvin Chu and Peter Cotton put together for me.
How do you come up with your ideas?
There are a lot of answers to this question.
First, few writers admit this, but coming up with ideas is the hard part of writing. I pay a guy in Bulgaria to do it for me. Then I do the easy part and make a novel out of it. No, actually, ideas come from a secret listserv in New York City. You can’t get on the list until you’re published, but you can’t get published until you’re on the list.
Second, the darkest part of the trilogy is near the beginning of The Way of Shadows, where we see the abuse of children. At the time I started the trilogy, my wife who has an MA in Counseling was working with children who’ve been molested and who then act out sexually. Without help, these kids often become abusers themselves. The very idea of an eight-year-old kid abusing a five-year-old is monstrous. Is an eight-year-old capable of evil? Is an adult abuser too deeply wounded himself to be held accountable for the deep wounds he inflicts? Where’s the line? My wife shared only little of what she heard, both for my sake and for confidentiality reasons, but it was clear that this was evil. That abuse is so common in a society where children have as much supervision as they do in ours is frightening. I extended that only a little bit to what might happen in a gang with no responsible authority figures—and, quite honestly, toned it down. Incidentally, in an LA Times feature on gangs this year, one gang member claimed that sexual abuse is rampant in today’s gangs, but such a taboo that you don’t even hear about it in hardcore gangsta rap. He claimed ninety percent of young men in gangs have been abused, and virtually all of the girls. If he’s even close to correct, I think sexual abuse is a huge component of why these kids are willing to obliterate themselves with drugs, to die, and to kill.
Third, calling these books dark and gritty is like saying George Clooney was an ugly kid voted least likely to succeed. Well, maybe he was, but that’s not the whole story. There is darkness and grit in these books, but I think that’s balanced and ultimately overcome with hope and redemption. It’s simply a matter of whether you think hope is wan and weak, or robust. Is your idea of hope when a brilliant girl who does all her homework wants to ace a test? Is your idea of redemption turning in a coupon at the grocery store? Hope isn’t vibrant unless it has to be chosen over despair. Redemption is cheap unless there’s a suffocating darkness in which even a hero is tempted to hide. I see these books as a fight to escape from darkness to light, which is reflected in the titles. So yes, the books start in a place that’s dark and gritty because without that, light and peace are meaningless, worthless, boring.
Are your characters based on real people? UNDER CONSTRUCTION
Actually, it was a live model. I saw earlier versions that were straight up photos, and some of the measurements did get played with afterward when they started doing some more intensive photoshopping to make it look more like a painting--and do little things like take the creases out of his hood. (Yep, someone had a real hood that he wore that had obviously been sitting folded in a drawer somewhere.)
I talked with Tim Holman, the head of Orbit, about this in depth, and he was very kind to involve me in cover concepts for my trilogy—which he didn’t have to do. His philosophy, and now mine, is to design a cover that lets the reader know in one glance what kind of book they’re looking at. You don’t like assassins? This isn’t the book for you. Of course, many seasoned fantasy readers love their old narrative covers, and may want to puzzle out the whole scene painted on the front, spine, and back of the book, so you lose points with them. And of course, part of me thinks, “But this series is about so much more than just an assassin!” But the cover’s purpose is merely to point the right people TO the book. Same goes for the back cover copy. Mine is very brief and focuses purely on the characters—because characterization is my great strength. I like to think I have other strengths, too, but if you try to convey that this book is great in every respect, you end up conveying nothing at all.
Last, you want to pass the public transportation test: you want an adult to feel okay being seen reading your book. A lot of wonderful books fail that test. I think mine pass, and I’m delighted with the covers Calvin Chu and Peter Cotton put together for me.
How do you come up with your ideas?
There are a lot of answers to this question.
First, few writers admit this, but coming up with ideas is the hard part of writing. I pay a guy in Bulgaria to do it for me. Then I do the easy part and make a novel out of it. No, actually, ideas come from a secret listserv in New York City. You can’t get on the list until you’re published, but you can’t get published until you’re on the list.
Second, the darkest part of the trilogy is near the beginning of The Way of Shadows, where we see the abuse of children. At the time I started the trilogy, my wife who has an MA in Counseling was working with children who’ve been molested and who then act out sexually. Without help, these kids often become abusers themselves. The very idea of an eight-year-old kid abusing a five-year-old is monstrous. Is an eight-year-old capable of evil? Is an adult abuser too deeply wounded himself to be held accountable for the deep wounds he inflicts? Where’s the line? My wife shared only little of what she heard, both for my sake and for confidentiality reasons, but it was clear that this was evil. That abuse is so common in a society where children have as much supervision as they do in ours is frightening. I extended that only a little bit to what might happen in a gang with no responsible authority figures—and, quite honestly, toned it down. Incidentally, in an LA Times feature on gangs this year, one gang member claimed that sexual abuse is rampant in today’s gangs, but such a taboo that you don’t even hear about it in hardcore gangsta rap. He claimed ninety percent of young men in gangs have been abused, and virtually all of the girls. If he’s even close to correct, I think sexual abuse is a huge component of why these kids are willing to obliterate themselves with drugs, to die, and to kill.
Third, calling these books dark and gritty is like saying George Clooney was an ugly kid voted least likely to succeed. Well, maybe he was, but that’s not the whole story. There is darkness and grit in these books, but I think that’s balanced and ultimately overcome with hope and redemption. It’s simply a matter of whether you think hope is wan and weak, or robust. Is your idea of hope when a brilliant girl who does all her homework wants to ace a test? Is your idea of redemption turning in a coupon at the grocery store? Hope isn’t vibrant unless it has to be chosen over despair. Redemption is cheap unless there’s a suffocating darkness in which even a hero is tempted to hide. I see these books as a fight to escape from darkness to light, which is reflected in the titles. So yes, the books start in a place that’s dark and gritty because without that, light and peace are meaningless, worthless, boring.
Are your characters based on real people? UNDER CONSTRUCTION
Replies to This Discussion
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Permalink Reply by Rev. Zen on -
You have mentioned that Don Maass "asked one magical question that made me realize I needed to go back and change everything". Can you enlighten us or is it a trade secret?
; )
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Permalink Reply by Judge on -
I would definitely also like the answer to this question but I believe it was in the Questions about Brent's Career thread Rev. Zen, I get the feeling the comment you made in that thread was meant for this thread too lol ;)
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Permalink Reply by Judge on
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RE Cover art: Was that you? Did you design the covers? How much control did you have? - From what I have read on the forums and from my own experience, the covers of the trilogy is a definite factor of the success the books have. I would love to say the writing alone is, but with the MTV generation etc, if the cover doesn't appeal enough for them to even pick it up, then even the most well written book will lose sales. Obviously something (I'm sure you are well aware of) you will want to take with you into the Black Prism series.
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Permalink Reply by Dark Saint on -
well that was interesting I'd been wondering about the guy on the cover since I picked up the books, its nice to finally know lol it'd been bugging me
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