New Robin Hobb interview

There is a new interview with Robin Hobb, who recently published City of Dragons (Canada, USA, Europe), on SciFiNow.

Here's a teaser:

The rate at which you publish novels is impressive; is it out of an obligation to your readers to work at this pace or something else?

I sign a contract for each book, and I try to keep my word. It’s a balancing act between being creative and keeping my word to my editor. I know that when I’m late, I throw a monkey wrench into a lot of peoples’ lives and work days, so I try not to do that. Sometimes I’ve been late, however, and sometimes I’ve been VERY late. And often it had been Herculean editorial effort that has concealed that from the readership. I appreciate that, and I try not to abuse it. I do know this about myself. If I dismissed deadlines as optional, I’d never finish a book. I always want to do one more re-write, to add one more scene or tack just a few more chapters onto the end of the tale. I would happily revise forever and never turn the book in. So by telling myself that I must make that deadline and focusing on it, I actually manage to finish the book.

Follow this link to read the full interview.

2 commentaires:

Spaz said...

One of my favorite authors. Thanks for sharing the link!

Federico said...

I'm always surprised when authors like Hobb say they have trouble with self-discipline. I can't imagine series like hers coming about with anything other than intensive, never-waning self-discipline, given that she usually releases a book once per year.

That question comparing the Hobb & Lindholm writing styles is interesting - I'm glad they asked that.

Thanks for the link Pat.