David Casperson
asked
Kate Elliott:
I just read "Black Wolves", I am catching up on reviews for the Spirit Gate trilogy. Here's the actual question. When I read Traitors' Gate, I though you might have been inspired in part by then current American politics, but then later read that it and "Black Wolves" are all a prequel to a yet-to-written trilogy. So... to what extent do current affairs influence your writing when you already have a plot in mind?
Kate Elliott
This answer contains spoilers…
(view spoiler)[David, thank you for a great question.
The Spirit Gate trilogy was not originally conceived as a commentary on the politics of the period when it was written (2004 - 2008); it was intended to be a study of how a culture with a more loosely organized political social structure gets taken over by a strongman, so to speak. But as a writer I am always influenced by the current events around me, so in the end Traitors' Gate was definitely influenced by that era, as you rightly guessed.
Black Wolves is not a prequel. It is volume one of the second trilogy. It's too early for me to tell how current politics will influence the second trilogy as a whole. I do have a plot in mind for the Black Wolves trilogy, and it has already begun to alter a bit from my original conception, but the main through-lines remain intact. I can't really discuss them without spoilers for the later volumes, though.
Thanks again! Kate Elliot (hide spoiler)]
The Spirit Gate trilogy was not originally conceived as a commentary on the politics of the period when it was written (2004 - 2008); it was intended to be a study of how a culture with a more loosely organized political social structure gets taken over by a strongman, so to speak. But as a writer I am always influenced by the current events around me, so in the end Traitors' Gate was definitely influenced by that era, as you rightly guessed.
Black Wolves is not a prequel. It is volume one of the second trilogy. It's too early for me to tell how current politics will influence the second trilogy as a whole. I do have a plot in mind for the Black Wolves trilogy, and it has already begun to alter a bit from my original conception, but the main through-lines remain intact. I can't really discuss them without spoilers for the later volumes, though.
Thanks again! Kate Elliot (hide spoiler)]
More Answered Questions
Angela
asked
Kate Elliott:
I've just began to read Bk 1 of this series and was hoping my library have the other 2! I was sad to to be told they were not published --- could you not find another publisher for the remainder of this series? Baen books or whoever? - I really like bk 1 (I'm 83 years old and SF is my favourite reading matter)
Morgan
asked
Kate Elliott:
This question contains spoilers…
(view spoiler)[
When Liath walked the spheres in Child of Flame, I was excited and extremely fascinated to find that her accounts matched my notes on the Kabalah splendidly! My personal notes came from the only book on the Tree of Life I've yet read, which was Dion Fortune's "Mystical Qabalah," published in 1935. I've been very curious... which book/s (if any) did you reference on this topic of the seven palaces/ spheres?
(hide spoiler)]
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