Interview with Den Patrick, February 2014
Hello Den. Many thanks for agreeing to this.
To start with, what can you tell us about Boy with the Porcelain Blade, your new book?
Den: Hey, thanks for having me on the site.
The first book of The Erebus Sequence charts the fortunes of Lucien de Fontein as he finds himself cast out from Demesne, the labyrinthine castle at the heart of Landfall. Lucien is an Orfano, a caste of deformed foundlings, protected by edict of the reclusive king. Lucien’s expulsion sets off a chain of events that uncover the king, his warped schemes, and the long running oppression of the lower classes.
Its Renaissance-like setting sounds to me like an area ripe for Fantasy writing, but one that involves a lot of research. Did you have to do a lot of preparation before writing the book?
Den: I didn’t want to get too bogged down with historical details but I loved the flavour of Renaissance Italy, the politics, the intrigue, the subterfuge and the corruption. I dipped into The Merchant of Prato, but my main influences were Jon Courtenay-Grimwood’s The Assassini Trilogy, and The Lies of Locke Lamora by Scott Lynch, not forgetting Gormenghast.
Preparation consisted of about two weeks planning the chapters and the plot progression.
The setting itself grew as the novel did, and grew further when I wrote book two.
I understand that it is the first in a series: a trilogy? How long did it take you to write?
Den: I started Porcelain in March 2011 and finished it that October. I was unemployed at the time and searching for jobs, eating a lot of noodles, quietly freezing to death and, weirdly, writing burlesque reviews. The novel went through a second draft and was then sent to proof readers, then it went through two drafts with my agent, Juliet Mushens, then more drafts with my editor. Finally, some polishing with a copyeditor and a proofreader.
Pray tell: how did you get a job as a burlesque reviewer? And has it helped your writing?
The burlesque reviewing was part of an unpaid internship. I have a background in performing arts, so it seemed like a good fit. All writing helps your writing, any time you sit down and think about words, sentences, adjectives, whatever, it’s all ways of stretching your editorial muscles.
Has Boy with the Porcelain Blade always been planned as the first in a series?
Den: Very much so. I wasn’t even sure there would be a second novel at first. As I wrote Porcelain I decided what would happen in book two of The Erebus Sequence, and that it would have a different protagonist. Book three has two female protagonists.
At one point I understand the book was being called The Boy with the Porcelain Ears? Is that true?
It is. The feeling at my publisher was that ‘Ears’ felt too weird and literary. I’m perfectly fine with people thinking I’m weird. I’m weird for a living, but we didn’t want to chase off fans of traditional fantasy. The novices are given ceramic blades in Landfall, earning steel blades upon their eighteenth birthday, so the title change wasn’t too much of a stretch. Much of the novel is about childhood and coming of age, which is a fragile time where mistakes are made and things get broken.
What were you most pleased about at the end of writing Boy with the Porcelain Blade….?
Den: The ending of the book is a ‘fuck you’ to patriarchy. Rather than writing the predictable fantasy novel where a straight, white male protagonist takes power and sets all things right, we see a society delivered into the care of women. It’s a tiny part of the book, but one that brought me a lot of pleasure.
…and how far are you with the next in the series?
All three books are written, although they are wildly different stages. I finished the (very rough) first draft of the third book of The Erebus Sequence just before Christmas.
I suspect that many reading this may consider you to be a debut author, although from my perspective this is your fourth book in what to me seems to be less than a year! That is an amazing turnover: what’s your writing schedule like?
Hectic. I’ve been such a Gollancz fanboy for while, so when I got signed by them I took it very seriously. Being signed is awesome and I’m going to repay that awesome in hard work (and hopefully some awesome of my own). I write five or six days a week, and I don’t like to talk about word counts as I think so much of writing is re-writing and polishing.
I’d now like to spend a little time digging deeper, if I may. Your bio says that as well as being a writer, you have in the past held a variety of occupations – to quote, ‘a comics editor, burlesque reviewer, bookseller and Games Workshop staffer.’
You’ve already mentioned your burlesque reviewing. Did your Games Workshop experience help you in your writing of the War Manuals? What did you do there?
I joined GW when I was a fresh-faced 22-year old. I worked in the stores and stayed with them for around three years. I loved making scenery the most. Table top gaming and roleplaying have been huge influences on me and they undoubtedly fed into The War-Fighting Manuals.
As a comic editor, the ultimate question is usually ‘DC’ or Marvel’: so? Any favourite characters?
I actually edited reprints of The Simpsons and Futurama. Sorry to dispel the glamour of that job title. I used to letter the comic strip for Transformers UK too. I loved doing that.
I’m a Marvel guy, and I was all over Matt Fraction’s Invincible Iron Man. That said, I have a lot of time for Hellboy and Sandman. I’ve drifted away from comics of late. The last thing I bought was Young Avengers, which was great.
One of the questions we often debate at SFFWorld is whether there’s a need to have a knowledge and understanding of other Fantasy novels and authors. (To be honest, the jury’s still out, as we can think of nearly as many writers who ‘don’t’ as ‘do’). Do you have any favourite Fantasy books/authors?
I used to be a reviewer and blogger for Dreamwatch Magazine and the website that came after, so I had a fairly good understanding of the scene a few years ago. I’ve been hard at work in the mines recently so perhaps not so much. I’ve always gravitated toward contemporary writers such as Joe Abercrombie, Chris Wooding, Richard Morgan and Steph Swainston rather than the classics. I’m not sure why.
Does having been a bookseller give you an advantage as a writer, in a world that editor John Jarrold (and others) are always saying must be remembered that ‘it is a business’?
I guess I know how book shops work, and their limitations, I know what they’re up against. Does that help me as a writer? I don’t know.
Is there anything that has surprised you about the business as a writer as well as your many other occupations?
I’m lucky in that my agent, Juliet Mushens, gives me prior warning about all aspects of the industry. She manages my expectations so there are never any nasty surprises.
You’ve also taken to the social media – I gather you’re quite busy on Twitter, for one. Do you see that as ‘fun’, part of ‘the job’, or both? How important is it to have that on-screen presence these days, in your opinion?
Mainly it’s a place I can interact with my peers. I do think a lot of badness occurs on Twitter that you just don’t see in real life, especially for women and minority groups.
And where next? Any thoughts or plans? Do you fancy writing SF at some point, for example?
I’ve got a lot projects waiting in the pipeline. I could happily write another two standalone books for Landfall. I do have a Science Fiction novel kicking around, planned and largely unwritten. I’ve also got a future noir that I’d love to write one day, but who knows?
Sounds like a lot to look forward to. Many thanks: best of luck with the book!
Den Patrick and Jen Williams will be appearing at Blackwell, Charing Cross Road, London on March 10th for a sit down Q&A with Jared Shurin of Pornokitsch:
http://stores.blackwell.co.uk/stores/london-charingcrossroad/events/
Boy with the Porcelain Blade will be available in the UK from March 20th:
