Q&A with J. Leigh Bralick discussion

This is a place where you can ask me questions about Down a Lost Road. If it has anything to do with this book, ask away!

This is a totally evil question...

If there is one thing you would do all over again while writing "Down a Lost Road", what would it be? Would you change a scene, add/delete a character, etc.?

Okay, this is a great question!

Well, I think there aren't many scenes or characters I would choose to delete. I like each of the characters for different reasons, and many of them who didn't end up having very prominent roles in DaLR will actually return in Subverter.

However, I think my greatest challenge with this novel was simply that I took so long writing it. I mean, let's be honest. I got the story idea when I was twelve. Now, there's nothing remaining of that earliest draft anymore, but any time you have a story where the bulk of it was written when the writer was a teenager, you're going to have problems. I edited the heck out of that story. Wrote and rewrote. But I always felt like it might have been such a better story if I'd started it from whole cloth as someone who was a little more mature. The story is quite simple, in its broadest strokes. Not a lot of intricacies, revelations, reversals, subplots, or anything like that.

So yeah, I guess if I could do anything different, I would.......go back in time and not get the idea until I was at least 24? ;-) Nah. I probably would try to find some way to develop the plot in a bit more intricate manner. But I really just needed to come to some closure with the novel, so eventually I just threw in the towel and said, "it is what it is."

I'm excited, though, because Subverter is from whole cloth. It's brand new. And I think it's going to be a whole lot better. :-)

That be good! I'm really looking forward to it because Down a Lost Road was really good!

Thanks Keri! :-)

I'm really nervous...I just sent off a copy of DaLR to someone I really respect. And he might just give me a cover quote...... Yikes! That would be so awesome...but I'm terrified he won't like the novel. :-/

So let me be evil myself and turn Jen's question around on you guys!

What would you have told me to do differently, if you could have?

(view spoiler)[I miss Yatol! Can I have him back, pretty please? (hide spoiler)]

Did I totally spell that wrong? I bet I did...

LOL! Nah, you got it right...

(view spoiler)[I'm not going to answer that! Mwahaha! (hide spoiler)]

:-P

(view spoiler)[Hrrmm...I think...well, I'm not going to tell you what I think! Except I think you love him too, and will find a way to bring him back. :-) (hide spoiler)]

Nothing really. It might be my mind's eye, but I always feel that Kurt Hurtsinger is portrayed as younger in some way than he would be in real life. That's about it. I'll let you know after I finish the 2nd read if anything else comes to mind.
'o'

Really? That's interesting... He's no older than 25 or 26, so he's still pretty young (*mutter*)...but maybe I did go overboard in trying to capture his youthful personality... O.o Haha...yeah...

...yeah...(view spoiler)[I won't change anything. as long as Yatol comes back... (hide spoiler)]

Well, he could be so brilliant that he could be a professor at such a young age, but I'm also feeling that maybe the real Dr. Curtsinger would have not been so terribly different, back in his day.

yeah

It wouldn't be unheard of! After all, Kurtis just an adjunct with a Master's at that point. :-) And he's a pretty smart dude.

yeah...he's kind of a professor, so he has to be even a little smart!

=D

Hey, I just posted this to my blog, I but I thought I would post it here, too, for your viewing pleasure. Behold, my Down a Lost Road soundtrack!!! I thought it would be fun to compile a list of songs I think go with different parts of the book, so...

What would you pick for these different scenes?

Trailer: Summoning of the Muse — Dead Can Dance

Opening Credits: Í Gaer — Sigur Rós
Pyelthan/Memories: In the Shadow of Life — Niyaz
Arrival: Panoramic — Atticus Ross (Book of Eli)
Yatol/Through the Desert: Egil Saga — Faun
Camp: Ember Deid II — SuidAkra / Kadet Siipina — Korpiklaani
All Forgotten: The Scientist — Coldplay
Watched: Summer Overture — Clint Mansell (Requiem for a Dream)
Return/Ungulion: Sirius b — Therion
The Gorhiem Bolstoed: In Search of Lost Innocence — Lisa Gerrard
Safe: Yasmin the Light — Explosions in the Sky
Akhmar: The Northern Lights — Lisa Gerrard (A Thousand Roads)
The Branhau: Aldebaran — Enya
Meeting the Lord Master: Coming to Barrow — Lisa Gerrard and Jeff Rona (A Thousand Roads)
Consolation: Red Horizon — Lisa Gerrard
The Library: Black — The Birthday Massacre
Yatol Remembers: Adagio for Tron — Daft Punk (Tron: Legacy)
Khymranna/Escape: Elk Hunt — Trevor Jones (Last of the Mohicans)
Azik: Sigur Rós — Sigur Rós
Departure/Elekeo: Fejd — Eld / Twilight and Shadow — Howard Shore (Return of the King)
The Blade of Heaven: Last Agni Kai — The Track Team (Avatar: The Last Airbender -- cartoon, not movie)
The Gift of Fire: N’Eus Forzh — Denez Prigent
Lathelin: E-Bow — Sigus Rós
Into the Void/Alone: Sanvean — Lisa Gerrard
Dreams/Entry: Indigo — Epica
The Judgment/Rescue: The Host of Seraphim — Dead Can Dance
Farewell: An Hini a Garan — Denez Prigent
Home: Wherever You Will Go — The Calling
End Credits: Hawk vs. Crow — The Union Trade

cool!

Adagio for Tron? I like that!
Oh, Elk Hunt, Yes!
You know, you've got great taste in music.
A few of these I'll have to look up. I've got a CD of Medieval songs in different period languages, one in Latin, that you'd probably like.