Interview mit Raymond E. Feist
Redakteur: Markus Mäurer
Fantasyguide: Hello Raymond, thank you for giving us some time. Could you please tell us some facts about your person?
Raymond E. Feist: Well, let's see. I'm 61 years old, have been married once, have two amazing children, live in Southern California, and enjoy music, movies, wine, and the beach.
Fantasyguide: You have studied Communication Arts. When and how did you started writing?
Raymond E. Feist: My degree is in Communication Arts from the University of California, San Diego. My emphasis was in Mass Market and Public Opinion, which means basically I have a degree in Marketing. I started writing as a hobby, to amuse myself and friends, and it sort of took on a life of its own. When I was half-way through Magician, my friends started urging me to try to get it published. That's how it all started.
Fantasyguide: Have you been a fantasy reader before you start writing by your own and do you read current Fantasy? If so, what could you recommend us?
Raymond E. Feist: I was never a fantasy reader, per se. I read a few things, but mostly my influences were the adventure and historical writers of the late 19th and early 20th Centuries. I read Anthony Hope, Thomas Costain, Samuel Shellenbarger, Robert Louis Stevenson, and many others like that.
Fantasyguide: Your first novel “Magician” was published in 1979, how did you get the idea for it and how hard was it to find a publisher?
Raymond E. Feist: Actually, it was published in 1982. The idea evolved. Originally it was going to be a straight adventure novel about a prince looking for his abducted sister and a young apprentice magician who is his "sidekick" and that idea actually resurfaced in my book, King's Buccaneer. As I really knew nothing about writing a novel back then, the project took on a life of its own and became something far bigger. As for getting it published, I was very lucky. I got a very good agent right at the outset and he got me to Doubleday within a year.
Fantasyguide: Could you please describe the development process of one of your books?
Raymond E. Feist: There really isn't one. I know the characters (after 25 novels, I should), and know where I am in the cycle of stories I'm writing about the five riftwars. I know how it's going to end. Sometimes long the way getting to that ending, I surprise myself. One could say my subconscious does a lot of the work when I'm doing other things, and then when I write, it tells me what comes next.
Fantasyguide: “Magician” was my first fantasy novel( at the age of 16) and the beginning of a long passion, and Midkemia has accompenied me until now. Have you had the intention, to write such a long series, from the beginning?
Raymond E. Feist: Not really. I didn't even know if anyone would buy the first one, let alone it would eventually cover 30 novels. But I write about a game world we used to use in University, and because it has a "history" I could utilize that and evolve the story down the timeline.
Fantasyguide: I must confess that after the end of the serpentwar saga, the return to the riftwar (Betrayal at Krondor etc.) bored me a little bit. But with the “Conclave of Shadows” you got me back. After twelve books, was it hard to continue the story and increase the events of these two wars?
Raymond E. Feist: Not any more than it is to write about the American Depression after writing about World War I. As I said, there's a timeline and I'm always coming up with new characters to throw in with the old, and there are new challenges, both to the characters and to me as a writer.
Fantasyguide: You often focus on one or two young characters, like Pug or Talon and then tell there delvelopment and “coming of age”. I think this is the best way to get the reader identified with the protagonist. It is like growing together with these person. Was this your intention and “strategy”?
Raymond E. Feist: Not a strategy, but rather it's one of the most common tropes of fantasy. Pug and Tomas, Mara, Borric and Erland and Nicholas, Talon, all went through that. Kaspar and Nakor, however, did not, and I think they are also compelling characters readers have come to appreciate.
Fantasyguide: In “Exile’s Return” you wrote a lot about religion and theology. Do you think fantasy novels are very suitable for facing topics like these? Especially under the reproach of escapism?
Raymond E. Feist: It's an integral part of the universe, and central to what happened and why the characters have to deal with all the stuff they have to deal with, so of course I think is suitable. Without it, I've got a pointless series of trivial quests.
Fantasyguide: Are you religious? And are you interested in magic?
Raymond E. Feist: No and no. Unless you mean "spiritual" in which case I have strong beliefs, but I do not belong to any organization, and unless you mean stage magic/sleight-of-hand stage magic, in which case it's yes and yes.
Fantasyguide: In Midkemia pure evil exist, like Leso Varen and the Mad God. Does pure evil also exist in our world? And do you think that evil is caused by madness like you wrot in “Exile’s Return”?
Raymond E. Feist: Of course it does. Pol Pot, Hitler, Stalin, all were 20th Century examples of evil. Al-Qeda is evil. No mater what they stated as their reason for doing harm to others, the fact they did harm without regard for the lives on innocents shows they were evil.
Here's why the Nazi's were convicted of "Crimes Against Humanity." Not only did tens of millions of people die as a direct and indirect result of the Nazi's choices, they weren't the only victims. In the death camps or on the battle field might have laid the body of the next Mozart, or the next Einstein, the kid who would have grown up to cure cancer may have died in a tank at the battle of Kusk. The kid who might have become the greatest writer of the twentieth century might have died on the beaches of Normandy. We'll never know. That wonderful human potential was taken from all of us, including the Nazis. That's why they were insane. That's why they were evil.
Fantasyguide: Midkemia seemes very much like the middle ages with all its feudal systems. Have you done research in history books for creating Midkemia?
Raymond E. Feist: Not really. The trick with fiction isn't to be an expert, but to be convincing.
Fantasyguide: If you could live in Midkemia - i am sure you do a kind of -, what would be your profession there and what your favourit place to live?
Raymond E. Feist: I'd never want to live there. Too dangerous and no indoor toilets or satellite TV. But if I was there, I'd probably be a minor functionary in the Prince's court, say a scribe or assistant to some nobel.
Fantasyguide: Are there any serious plans of adapting one of your books into a film?
Raymond E. Feist: We're always talking to people who are interested. For years, now, and nothing so far, but you never know.
Fantasyguide: “Into a Dark Realm” is your current title – in germany it will be published in October. “Wrath of a Mad God” will come out in April 2008. What are your plans for the future? Could you tell us something about the “Demon-“ and the “Chaoswar Saga”, and about the “Jigsaw Lady”?
Raymond E. Feist: Deamonwar Saga and Chaoswar Saga wrap up the entire Riftwar Cycle of books. All I'll say is they cover the 4th and 5th (last) riftwars, and after that I'll move on to another world for a while. Jigsaw Lady is a science fiction adventure novel I may never get around to writing as long as my publisher insists on fantasy.
Fantasyguide: Have you ever been to germany? Are there any german authors you like?
Raymond E. Feist: I have been to Germany twice and enjoyed it a great deal. My favorite German author when I was younger was Herman Hesse, who I think was one of the truly great authors of modern literature.
Fantasyguide: Raymond, thank you for the interview.
Raymond E. Feist: You're welcome.
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