Interview with Melanie Rawn

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THE GOLDEN KEY was a collaboration between yourself, Jennifer Roberson and Kate Elliott. Do you have plans to collaborate on new projects in the future, with them or other authors?

The three of us deliberately set out to make the process something we could all enjoy (we'd heard tales…). We knew that readers can be skeptical of multi-author books, so we were determined that they would get the full experience of each of us; in this, I think we succeeded. We also decided that this would be a unique event in our writing lives, because we knew we could never be guaranteed the same quality of experience.

What authors make you shake your head in admiration?

A lot of people, in my genre and out, whose names I'm not going to list because I'd inevitably leave somebody out and thereby tempt the wrath of the whatever from high atop the thing. (And there's a clue in there to one of my favorite writers--points for anybody who spots it!)

Before your hiatus, you ranked among the "big names" of the fantasy genre.

Man, I wish somebody had told me that at the time.

Since then, the landscape of the genre went through many changes, and now authors such as Robert Jordan, George R. R. Martin, Terry Goodkind and Neil Gaiman are on top of the totem. Where does Melanie Rawn stand in the fantasy field in 2006?

Way out in the tall, tall grass.

If you could go back in time, what advice would you give the younger Melanie Rawn concerning her writing career?

I think I did okay, actually--especially considering that I wrote things because I needed to write things, and never consciously considered a "career." In fact, the first time anybody ever used that word to me, I gaped like a goldfish.

Is a World Fantasy Award something you covet?

A nomination is something I'd like. Jennifer, Kate, and I were nominated for Golden Key, and it was a tremendous honor.

The fact that you have your own forum on the internet is an indication that interaction with your readers is important to you as an author. How special is it to have the chance to interact directly with your fans?

I love it.

Writers work in a vacuum, pretty much. So it's great to make that contact.People who've met on the bulletin board are now married. There are children named for my characters (which is classic "goes around comes around" because Mom got my name from--wait for it--GONE WITH THE WIND). They talk politics, current events, movies, music, school, personal problems, everything. They're wonderfully supportive of each other. I think they're an example of the best that an Internet community can offer.

Anything else you wish to share with your fans?

Have a good time with Spellbinder--please just laugh in all the right places, okay?

Thanks!

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Interview by Patrick
fantasyhotlist.blogspot.com