Ask the Author: Victoria Goddard
Answered Questions (15)
Victoria Goddard
Oddly enough, I only read Omelas after writing about Fitzroy--I am starting to get into Le Guin now, but she hasn't been a major author for me. (Yet.) Similarly, while I've read a couple of William James's stories, I wouldn't call him an influence. As for Dostoevsky, I have not yet dived into his work despite much encouragement. Perhaps this will be the year I finally read the great Russian novelists!
Victoria Goddard
Quite possibly! I would imagine at some point I'll feel like writing from Ludvic's perspective, though I don't know at the moment when a story focusing on him would be set. There's a lot to work with there!
Victoria Goddard
Hi Sheila! I'm afraid those words are all made up. Many Islander words are related to Polynesian cognates (vaha, for instance, is based on va'a/vaka), as are some names, but not those particular ones.
Victoria Goddard
Hi Paul! Vangavayen culture is a combination of some Papua New Guinean elements, specifically from the Trobriand Islands, with quite a lot of Polynesian and some Micronesian aspects when it comes to the wayfinding. The Papuan elements come from my family background (my parents lived for ten years in PNG, including two years on the Trobriand Islands) and because there's a lot of ethnographical and anthropological research to draw from. The Polynesian elements come out most clearly in the wayfinding and voyaging canoes, names, some words, some foods, as well as some details regarding specific plant usages. In many ways Vangavayen culture is intended to be something of a cousin culture to real-world historical Polynesian ones in terms of material culture, with a quite different spiritual understanding.
Victoria Goddard
Not at all! Though I can't say when the next one will come ... Probably not for a couple of years. There might be a few side stories earlier than that, of course. And you can expect to see some of what happens after ATFOTS from other points of view before we come back to Cliopher's. :)
Victoria Goddard
Hi Claire!
1) "Féonie and the Islander Regalia" is a Discord-exclusive short story (one of several bonus bits) available on the HOTE Support Group Discord, which you can join through the link on this page of my website: https://www.victoriagoddard.ca/pages/...
2) Short answer: Hadrian's Wall. Long answer: I took a meandering route so I could visit various friends and relatives and see some things I wanted to see. I started at the Scottish border just north of Berwick-upon-Tweed, followed the St Oswald's Way down the Northumberland coast to Warkworth and then inland to meet Hadrian's Wall, which I then followed to Carlisle. Down to the Lake District, a short detour on the Dales Way (part of the Coast-to-Coast), then down the Ribble Valley to the Leeds and Liverpool Canal ... through Liverpool, across the Mersey to the Wirral, down the Wirral to Chester, then along Offa's Dyke until I decided I had had enough of going over the spines of the hills and wandered off inland through Shropshire to Worcestershire, Warwickshire, and in a circle around Oxford to the Downs, which I followed past the White Horse of Uffington to Avebury, then to Stonehenge and down that river Avon to the English Channel.
1) "Féonie and the Islander Regalia" is a Discord-exclusive short story (one of several bonus bits) available on the HOTE Support Group Discord, which you can join through the link on this page of my website: https://www.victoriagoddard.ca/pages/...
2) Short answer: Hadrian's Wall. Long answer: I took a meandering route so I could visit various friends and relatives and see some things I wanted to see. I started at the Scottish border just north of Berwick-upon-Tweed, followed the St Oswald's Way down the Northumberland coast to Warkworth and then inland to meet Hadrian's Wall, which I then followed to Carlisle. Down to the Lake District, a short detour on the Dales Way (part of the Coast-to-Coast), then down the Ribble Valley to the Leeds and Liverpool Canal ... through Liverpool, across the Mersey to the Wirral, down the Wirral to Chester, then along Offa's Dyke until I decided I had had enough of going over the spines of the hills and wandered off inland through Shropshire to Worcestershire, Warwickshire, and in a circle around Oxford to the Downs, which I followed past the White Horse of Uffington to Avebury, then to Stonehenge and down that river Avon to the English Channel.
Victoria Goddard
That's a hard question to answer, actually! I'd say I'm working primarily within the British tradition, particularly the English folklore part of it--my family is English in origin and I grew up with some of the stories as ones my dad told to me, plus we had quite a few collections of fairy stories from various parts of Britain. It's an area I have been interested in for a long time, so I've read a number of collections of folklore and fairy stories (not just British), plus some academic works on the subject, plus the large number of fantasy novels I have read over the years. I also did some research into "A Midsummer Night's Dream" for a class I was teaching, and got some bits and bobs from that.
Some specific texts: Tolkien's essay "On fairy stories" is a classic (I also love his stories 'Leaf by Niggle', 'Smith of Wooton Major', and 'Farmer Giles of Ham'). The 'coloured' fairy books of stories collected by Andrew Lang ("The Red Fairy Book", "The Blue Fairy Book", etc.) are full of stories and variants from around the world, and include many we'd class as "fairy tales" that don't necessarily involve the Good Neighbours themselves, but some do. W.B. Yeats' collection of Irish fairy stories is similar but of better literary merit.
Some academic books on fairy lore: "The Good People" ed. Peter Narváez (2nd ed, 1997); "The Fairy Faith in Celtic Countries," W.Y. Evans-Wentz (first published 1911, republished with an introduction by Terence McKenna 1966, 1994). I also read one that was a study on the figure of Puck/Robin Goodfellow that I remember gleaning a lot from, but I got it out from my university library and I can't recall more details than that.
Really, this is a living tradition, and it remains true folklore--which is very interesting in many ways! You just pick it up here and there, collecting the elements that speak to you out of the vast body of the lore. I get it from reading gardening books that talk about folk names for plants and their uses; or Robert MacFarlane's books about landscape ("The Old Ways"; his new book "Underland" is remarkable); or etymologies (real or folk), or place-names or from looking at a British Ordnance Survey Map and wondering at the names of standing stones or farms. From reading the Matter of Britain (Arthurian stories) or books and ballads about Robin Hood (my favourite) or tales from the Welsh Mabinogion or stray bits of the Thousand and One Nights. You get bits and pieces from various novels (Neil Gaiman draws on a lot of British folklore) and then there are books *about* the modern fairy tradition like Alexandra Rowland's "Finding Faeries" (2020).
And then, of course, some of it I just make up myself.
I hope that helps--at least a little. If you haven't read it yet, I'd start with the Tolkien essay and go on from there. (C.S. Lewis also has some very interesting things to say about fairy tales.)
Some specific texts: Tolkien's essay "On fairy stories" is a classic (I also love his stories 'Leaf by Niggle', 'Smith of Wooton Major', and 'Farmer Giles of Ham'). The 'coloured' fairy books of stories collected by Andrew Lang ("The Red Fairy Book", "The Blue Fairy Book", etc.) are full of stories and variants from around the world, and include many we'd class as "fairy tales" that don't necessarily involve the Good Neighbours themselves, but some do. W.B. Yeats' collection of Irish fairy stories is similar but of better literary merit.
Some academic books on fairy lore: "The Good People" ed. Peter Narváez (2nd ed, 1997); "The Fairy Faith in Celtic Countries," W.Y. Evans-Wentz (first published 1911, republished with an introduction by Terence McKenna 1966, 1994). I also read one that was a study on the figure of Puck/Robin Goodfellow that I remember gleaning a lot from, but I got it out from my university library and I can't recall more details than that.
Really, this is a living tradition, and it remains true folklore--which is very interesting in many ways! You just pick it up here and there, collecting the elements that speak to you out of the vast body of the lore. I get it from reading gardening books that talk about folk names for plants and their uses; or Robert MacFarlane's books about landscape ("The Old Ways"; his new book "Underland" is remarkable); or etymologies (real or folk), or place-names or from looking at a British Ordnance Survey Map and wondering at the names of standing stones or farms. From reading the Matter of Britain (Arthurian stories) or books and ballads about Robin Hood (my favourite) or tales from the Welsh Mabinogion or stray bits of the Thousand and One Nights. You get bits and pieces from various novels (Neil Gaiman draws on a lot of British folklore) and then there are books *about* the modern fairy tradition like Alexandra Rowland's "Finding Faeries" (2020).
And then, of course, some of it I just make up myself.
I hope that helps--at least a little. If you haven't read it yet, I'd start with the Tolkien essay and go on from there. (C.S. Lewis also has some very interesting things to say about fairy tales.)
Victoria Goddard
Eventually, I hope! Getting into audio is looking like a potential 2023 project at the moment.
Victoria Goddard
I have always been fond of acquiring odd and unusual pieces of information, and also books about odd and unusual things--part of my worldbuilding process is to read a lot around various nonfiction topics like those, which gives me a reasonable basis to work with. I then do specific research as I need to for things that arise in the story.
Victoria Goddard
Hi Karin! I'm glad you've been enjoying my books. Yes, there will be more Greenwing & Dart books. I plan on working on the next G&D after At the Feet of the Sun, so look for it at the end of 2022 or early 2023.
Victoria Goddard
Hello! The phrase is supposed to be from an in-universe song so I would be very surprised if it came up anywhere else! Perhaps we'll find out more about the song the line came from in a future book ...
Victoria Goddard
Hi Todd! Thanks for writing. I must admit I saw this question and have been pondering how to answer it for the past several days ... I'm not sure if I have a 'real' reason, but I'll give it a shot.
I think it's because I love the characters dearly, and they are good and admirable, if flawed, people. I try to honour them and their stories. Perhaps it is because I let them be Real to me--the way the Velveteen Rabbit is Real (if you know that children's book! It was one of my favourites).
I started to write a little vignette about the Last Emperor from the perspective of his secretary, and gradually I found myself writing more and more about the secretary until his story eventually became The Hands of the Emperor. Cliopher seized my heart very quickly, and the story just came. More than that is hard to say.
I think it's because I love the characters dearly, and they are good and admirable, if flawed, people. I try to honour them and their stories. Perhaps it is because I let them be Real to me--the way the Velveteen Rabbit is Real (if you know that children's book! It was one of my favourites).
I started to write a little vignette about the Last Emperor from the perspective of his secretary, and gradually I found myself writing more and more about the secretary until his story eventually became The Hands of the Emperor. Cliopher seized my heart very quickly, and the story just came. More than that is hard to say.
Victoria Goddard
I am currently working on several projects: AT THE FEET OF THE SUN is a sequel to THE HANDS OF THE EMPEROR, once more from Cliopher's perspective; that should be out in 2022. I am also working on the next Greenwing & Dart book and have a few other Red Company stories in the works too.
Victoria Goddard
Hi Cath! I don't have audiobooks in the plan for 2021, but I intend to revisit the question for 2022. Short answer: Hopefully one day, but not immediately.
Thanks for the question!
Victoria
Thanks for the question!
Victoria
Victoria Goddard
Hi Kim! Thanks for the question. The short answer is no, but the long answer is, it's on its way. For various reasons that particular book got away from me, I turned to other works, and only came back to it this winter. At which point it promptly turned into a trilogy.
The first book of said trilogy (now called "Small Adventures") is written, but I would like to have at least the second and preferably all three drafted before it's published. I'm leery of giving a date given how lackadaisical I can be at following them, but my intention is to have the trilogy come out over the course of 2022.
Thanks for asking! I have absolutely not forgotten about the adventures of the younger Red Company (or indeed the third of the Sisters Avramapul books). I'm just not very good at following schedules when it comes to which book I'm writing next.
Cheers,
Victoria
The first book of said trilogy (now called "Small Adventures") is written, but I would like to have at least the second and preferably all three drafted before it's published. I'm leery of giving a date given how lackadaisical I can be at following them, but my intention is to have the trilogy come out over the course of 2022.
Thanks for asking! I have absolutely not forgotten about the adventures of the younger Red Company (or indeed the third of the Sisters Avramapul books). I'm just not very good at following schedules when it comes to which book I'm writing next.
Cheers,
Victoria
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