Ask the Author: Rick Riordan
Answered Questions (553)
Rick Riordan
As a native Texan, I can tell you that Austin (where I went to college) is a very blue island in a very red state. Most larger Texas cities, actually, lean blue. So I'm not sure that would have affected Will too much one way or the other. The larger truth, in my opinion, is that the whole "blue/red" divide is not as clean-cut as you might think looking at a map or at election results. Every community is a mix of life experiences and viewpoints. Wherever you live, hopefully, you can find your tribe, so to speak, and find the support you need to be yourself.
Rick Riordan
It's a good point and I agree there is a lot about Will Solace still to be explored. Mark Oshiro and I have talked about this. We have no definite plans at this point. We're both pretty swamped with other projects, but we've agreed that if we do get to explore another Nico and Will book at some point, we should focus more on Will.
Rick Riordan
Malcolm is one of the many returning characters you will see in the upcoming Camp Half-Blood series. He remains mostly a background character, though, so I'm not sure you'll get the deep dive into details that you're looking for, but I hope you enjoy seeing him again!
Rick Riordan
Absolutely true! In Ester's case, that is her personal choice to talk openly about her diagnosis with her friends, and rather proves the point that all autistic people are different and have different preferences about how they identify and are identified. For Ester, the self-identification is important and empowering, especially with her close friends like Ana, who is our POV and narrator, so we know that information with more certainty. Like so many neurodivergent characters in my books, Ester is directly inspired by real people I know (however loosely based the characters might be in the aggregate). Thanks for reading the books!
Rick Riordan
Our young actors are fantastic people! They are so down-to-earth and real. They support one another and are genuinely kind and loving. I think they will all tell you that the cast has become like a family, and that the show has been an incredible shared experience. It's been one of the great honors of my life to watch them grow into their roles and bring so much talent and dedication to the parts they play. They're simply the best.
Rick Riordan
I mean most of what I do has intentional parallels to Greek myths, so yes, of course Silena and Clarisse were meant to parallel Patroclus and Achilles. That does not necessarily mean I saw a romantic relationship between the two characters back when I wrote the book in roughly 2008. Like a lot of people, I think I first appreciated the romantic interpretation of that relationship in The Iliad when I read Song of Achilles, which didn't come out until 2011, so that wasn't really on my radar back then. I wish I had been more cognizant of it! I think Song of Achilles is amazing.
Rick Riordan
Oh, wow. My family and I are lucky enough to have seen a lot of musicals on Broadway over the years. I have lots of favorites. I have a soft spot for "The Origins of Love" from Hedwig and the Angry Itch, and of course "Time Warp" from Rocky Horror. The new version playing right now is amazing.
Rick Riordan
Good luck with your writing! I can't offer much in the way of specific advice for your situation, other than to assure you that you are not alone. Every writer I know, myself included, has wavering confidence from time to time (actually, all the time). Many successful writers come from non-literary backgrounds, and many have no platforms for support. Really the main thing is persistence. All successful writers have one thing in common: They didn't give up.
Responses to querying is something you cannot control. 99.9% of the time, the answer you get will be a "no," because agents are overwhelmed by submissions, and most reputable publishers won't even look at a query unless it comes from an agent, not the author directly, because the publishers too are overwhelmed. The thing is: If someone tells you 'no,' it's probably for the best, because unless they absolutely LOVED your work, you wouldn't want them trying to help you get published. They wouldn't do a very good job. That may not be much comfort, but it's true. Agents and editors have to be champions for your work. They have to believe in your work 100% in order to put their reputations on the line for you. You don't want someone representing you who doesn't love what you do.
The main thing you CAN control is your writing. While you wait for those dreaded rejection letters, start on your next project. Finish it, even if you're not happy with it. Then start on your next project. Rinse and repeat. I was an unpublished writer from age 13 to age 30. Tons of rejections. But eventually, I honed my skills with enough years of reading and writing that I got an offer to publish. Even then, my book sales were only okay. It took seven published novels and another ten years before I broke through with Percy Jackson. Persistence and patience. Nothing happens easily. Nothing happens right away. Keep at it. Learn. Practice.
Honestly, looking back on my career now, I am so glad I did not get published when I was a teenager, or even in my twenties, because my writing back then was not great. If I'd gotten published, that early work would have defined my career and possibly killed it before it really began. Your path may be different, but don't be too hard on yourself or feel like you're against a timeline. Just keep writing stories you want to write and develop those writing muscles!
Responses to querying is something you cannot control. 99.9% of the time, the answer you get will be a "no," because agents are overwhelmed by submissions, and most reputable publishers won't even look at a query unless it comes from an agent, not the author directly, because the publishers too are overwhelmed. The thing is: If someone tells you 'no,' it's probably for the best, because unless they absolutely LOVED your work, you wouldn't want them trying to help you get published. They wouldn't do a very good job. That may not be much comfort, but it's true. Agents and editors have to be champions for your work. They have to believe in your work 100% in order to put their reputations on the line for you. You don't want someone representing you who doesn't love what you do.
The main thing you CAN control is your writing. While you wait for those dreaded rejection letters, start on your next project. Finish it, even if you're not happy with it. Then start on your next project. Rinse and repeat. I was an unpublished writer from age 13 to age 30. Tons of rejections. But eventually, I honed my skills with enough years of reading and writing that I got an offer to publish. Even then, my book sales were only okay. It took seven published novels and another ten years before I broke through with Percy Jackson. Persistence and patience. Nothing happens easily. Nothing happens right away. Keep at it. Learn. Practice.
Honestly, looking back on my career now, I am so glad I did not get published when I was a teenager, or even in my twenties, because my writing back then was not great. If I'd gotten published, that early work would have defined my career and possibly killed it before it really began. Your path may be different, but don't be too hard on yourself or feel like you're against a timeline. Just keep writing stories you want to write and develop those writing muscles!
Rick Riordan
Good luck with your writing, but I would also say give yourself some grace, because you have a lot going on! Try to find a time of day when you can write effectively, even if it's just journaling or a few lines of dialogue, but don't beat yourself up if you can't do as much as you'd like. Just keep at it as much as possible. All writing is good practice.
Re. TV, I don't know of any plans for adaptations beyond Percy. It's just not possible to know that right now. As I've said before, TV is a tough business these days, and even getting five seasons of ANY show is a miracle. A series that spawns a spin-off series is even rarer. That's not a "no," it's just a "I have no idea, we'll have to see what happens."
I like animation, too. Again, no plans to explore that but who knows? One thing I learned over the last few years is that animation is even more expensive and takes even longer to make than live action. I had no idea.
Re. TV, I don't know of any plans for adaptations beyond Percy. It's just not possible to know that right now. As I've said before, TV is a tough business these days, and even getting five seasons of ANY show is a miracle. A series that spawns a spin-off series is even rarer. That's not a "no," it's just a "I have no idea, we'll have to see what happens."
I like animation, too. Again, no plans to explore that but who knows? One thing I learned over the last few years is that animation is even more expensive and takes even longer to make than live action. I had no idea.
Rick Riordan
Best advice for dialogue: Read it aloud after you write it. You will find out quickly whether the lines sound natural. Often, improving it is a matter of just cutting out a few words, because people don't tend to talk in complete sentences.
If you tag dialogue ('he said,' 'she said,' 'John exclaimed,' etc.) only do that when you have to, when it would be confusing for the readers otherwise.
Prefer the simple 'said' to too many synonyms, because those can get distracting. Also, try putting the tag as early as possible in the dialogue. If it's at the end of a long speech, it's not really helpful.
Finally, try just using an action as a tag. It helps build in pauses. For instance:
Clara rolled her eyes. "Not in a million years."
With that, you don't need 'she said.' It's very clear Clara is speaking.
Hope that helps, and good luck!
If you tag dialogue ('he said,' 'she said,' 'John exclaimed,' etc.) only do that when you have to, when it would be confusing for the readers otherwise.
Prefer the simple 'said' to too many synonyms, because those can get distracting. Also, try putting the tag as early as possible in the dialogue. If it's at the end of a long speech, it's not really helpful.
Finally, try just using an action as a tag. It helps build in pauses. For instance:
Clara rolled her eyes. "Not in a million years."
With that, you don't need 'she said.' It's very clear Clara is speaking.
Hope that helps, and good luck!
Rick Riordan
Thanks for reading! It's very difficult to answer "Will I ever...." questions because I just don't know. I don't have a master plan and simply write whatever project appeals to me at the time, which is quite a privilege, I confess. Yes, I'd love to write more books outside the Percy-verse. I have many potential ideas. I need to get through the Camp Half-Blood series and PJO senior year 3, and then we will see!
Rick Riordan
I don't know exactly, but as soon as possible. As you know, the Camp Half-Blood series jumped in front of it for a number of scheduling reasons, and since we wanted to publish all four of those books at six-month intervals, that meant writing FOUR books before I could get back to the final Percy book. I should be done with my revisions of the third and fourth Camp Half-Blood books by the end of the summer, and then will turn immediately back to Percy. The first draft of Percy 3 is done already, but probably 4-6 more months will be needed to do my final revision draft, after which it will need to be copy-edited, proofed, prepared for publication -- the usual process, which takes another 6 months more or less, so you can do the math. Anyway, I am not sleeping on it or taking a break until it is finished. We'll get it out asap!
Rick Riordan
For the new Camp Half-Blood book series, yes, you will see lots of the year-round campers, including Beckendorf, Selena and Clarisse. For the PJOTV season 4 renewal, I am afraid I don't have any information. I would not necessarily be worried. Sometimes it takes longer to announce than other times, and there is a lot going on at Disney right now with the new CEO and a bunch of changes in the leadership, which undoubtedly is part of what's going on. They also tend to be very conservative about their decision-making and prefer to look at the most recent numbers before deciding how/when/whether to renew things (even more so when there is new leadership) so they may be waiting to see how season three does, though of course I'd like to hear something sooner. That's just speculation on my part. I don't know anything concrete. Honestly, I'm not sure those decisions have been made yet, so I'm not sure anyone at Disney knows anything concrete about this either right now! We'll just have to wait and see what happens.
Rick Riordan
Thank you for reading! I hope your brother enjoys the books. I suppose I relate most to Chiron, since we are both teachers and also thousands of years old. : )
Rick Riordan
Books one and two are done. I am doing my pass on book three right now and am about halfway through. I have read Pablo's pass on book four and it's already great, but I have not yet started my pass. Basically, each co-author writes their draft, based on a detailed outline I created. Then I write my draft, weaving in my own details and additions to the story, so that by the time the book is done, it is a hybrid of my style and theirs. If you were to look at the edited manuscript, you would see that it really is about fifty percent them, fifty percent me, but by the time we get each book cleaned up and copy-edited and we're all happy with it, it's almost impossible (even for us) to say who wrote what sentence or who suggested which idea. It's actually a lot of fun!
Rick Riordan
Good luck! I wouldn't worry too much about genre labels. Just write the story you want to tell. Most important thing: Finish it. Even if you don't think it's good or if you get stuck. Forge ahead and get the pages done. Then even if you decide you don't want to show it to anyone, that's okay! You've built up your writing muscles through the process. That's not to say the next story will be easier to write. It probably won't be. But it probably WILL be better because of the practice you got.
Rick Riordan
Thanks for writing. Neurodivergence is and always has been central to the Percy Jackson books. It absolutely runs in my family, in many different forms including autism, and so it's something I feel reasonably comfortable writing about.
At the same time, I think it's important to leave room for the reader's interpretation of the characters. Once you attached a label to someone, it can limit the way readers are able to make that character their own. In a way, you are saying, "This is what the character is, therefore that's the only way you are allowed to see them." And of course, most people don't want to be seen as only the way they are labeled. They want to be seen as full, complex, living people. So are there characters who are on the spectrum in Percy Jackson. Oh, I think so, of course. I might not pick the same ones that you do, however, and I think that's perfectly fine! As the old saying goes, "If you've met one person with autism, you've met one person with autism." It is a huge category, and presents differently in each person.
At the same time, I think it's important to leave room for the reader's interpretation of the characters. Once you attached a label to someone, it can limit the way readers are able to make that character their own. In a way, you are saying, "This is what the character is, therefore that's the only way you are allowed to see them." And of course, most people don't want to be seen as only the way they are labeled. They want to be seen as full, complex, living people. So are there characters who are on the spectrum in Percy Jackson. Oh, I think so, of course. I might not pick the same ones that you do, however, and I think that's perfectly fine! As the old saying goes, "If you've met one person with autism, you've met one person with autism." It is a huge category, and presents differently in each person.
Rick Riordan
Thanks for reading, and good luck with your studies! I think Percy would say, "I don't even know what classical and statistical mechanics are, so I'm glad you're taking the test and not me." Or maybe that's the author talking . . .
Rick Riordan
I understand that the "Uncle Rick" thing is a way of people inviting me into their families, of feeling a positive connection to me, and for that I'm grateful. I don't ever use that term myself or encourage it. I think that would be slightly creepy for me to do, but I appreciate the sentiment behind people choosing to use it.
I think I have talked enough about the movies for one lifetime. The term 'ad nauseum' comes to mind. I think I'll let it rest now. Surely you can find my old commentaries floating around on the internet somewhere if you really want to look.
Advice for writers is something I have offered in these Q&As many, many times before, as you will see scrolling through them. You can also check my website here: https://rickriordan.com/about/advice-... Hope you find something helpful, but the main thing is to just write! Simple to say, very hard to do.
I think I have talked enough about the movies for one lifetime. The term 'ad nauseum' comes to mind. I think I'll let it rest now. Surely you can find my old commentaries floating around on the internet somewhere if you really want to look.
Advice for writers is something I have offered in these Q&As many, many times before, as you will see scrolling through them. You can also check my website here: https://rickriordan.com/about/advice-... Hope you find something helpful, but the main thing is to just write! Simple to say, very hard to do.
Rick Riordan
That's an interesting way to look at the problem! Not finishing stories is an issue that faces most writers, especially when they are just starting out. I have dozens and dozens of unfinished stories from when I was in high school and college, but for me, the block wasn't about becoming too attached. I just didn't think they were good enough to finish. Another shiny new idea would grab my interest and I would tackle that instead (and not finish it). Whatever the reason, I can only encourage you to try finishing what you start. You will probably hate the endings. You will probably think the first drafts aren't very good. That's okay! Just force yourself through them. As other writers have said, a first draft's only job is to exist. Then you can revise as much as you want, or choose to do something else. But finish it. A big part of learning to write is learning to complete a project, pushing through even when you don't want to. There is no magic trick, no way through the block, other than to just keep writing. Worry about how good it is later. Just get the words out. You may find, after letting the draft sit for a while, that it's better than you realized. Even if not, you will have built your writing skills a little bit more through the effort, and will be better able to handle the next project. Good luck!
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