Naomi Novik Facebook Interview - 28th July 2010

On the 28th of July, 2010, Naomi Novik conducted an interview of sorts on the Facebook page for Barnes and Noble, answering questions by fans about herself and the Temeraire series.

Questions Asked[edit]

THIS SECTION MAY CONTAIN SPOILERS FOR THE UPCOMING TEMERAIRE BOOKS.

This is an abridged version of the interview, since the interview was conducted on a discussion board. In addition to the many questions that were asked and answered, many more were simply comments, and the odd question that didn't get answered. A link to the full version exists below.

I don't want to be the biggest geek here (lol) but back when I was creating MUSH games I found some object pennMUSH codes written by someone named Naomi Novik. I wound up using some of those in my builds, and I was wondering... same Naomi? I think the fact that the answer is "yes" to my having written the pennMUSH code means I am at least tied for geekdom ;) Actually, I taught myself to code via MUSHcode (which for anyone who hasn't ever used it is exactly as clean and well-formatted as that name implies).

Any chance to have a "Doodle Temeraire" game for iPhone/iPad? Not sure exactly what you're envisioning, but there is a Naomi Novik iphone app (er, will dig up the link for that) although it is not a game. Any non-promotional (read: especially cool) game stuff is all tied up in the movie deal though, so that is on hold for the moment. :)

Do you intend the Temeraire series to be for teenagers or for adults? Or both? I generally write for myself, and most days I consider myself an adult *g* but on the other hand, I love the YA genre and many of my favorite works get classified in there. I'd generally consider the Temeraire books adult, but I know that a lot of kids from 10 and up have read them -- I think it depends on the child, really. But I definitely wouldn't shy away from a scene or topic out of concern for the audience's sensibilities, only whether I felt it was right for the story.

...do Temeraire and Lawrence visit India in the following books? ...while Laurence and Temeraire may not get to India (not ruling it out, but I can't say for sure they will), my next project is a YA trilogy inspired by a reversal of the Secret Garden and set partly in India, for which I'm very excited. :D There will be other locations in the Temeraire series, definitely. (I don't think that's too spoilery to say. ;)

how do you pronounce Iskierka? Easy question, hard pronunciation. ;) "Eez-kee-er-kah" is about as close as I can come to spelling it out. It's Polish for "spark" :)

[Regarding several posts about a potential Temeraire movie] To answer several questions about the movie deal -- yes, all the books have been optioned by Peter Jackson (yay). One possibility is definitely a miniseries, but all of that is very subject to the realities of Hollywood, and he has a few other small, minor projects on his plate ;) so for now, you all have to be patient along with me! I will say I am ludicrously excited for him to do them. :D

Have you ever imagined what it would be like 100 or 200 hundreds years after Temeraire and Lawrence's adventures? I have! :D And I might well write some stories set in the Temeraire universe but in other times; I have actually already written one short story, "Vici", which is about a dragon in Ancient Rome, which was in The Dragon Book anthology edited by Gardner Dozois and George R. R. Martin.

what would you tell a young writer My advice to a writer who wants to improve is, (1) write and finish a lot of stories, (2) beta-read for other people whose work you enjoy, (3) find readers for your own work who enjoy it and want to read it. This is one of the huge benefits of writing fanfic, for anyone who enjoys it -- you find a community of people who actively want to read what you write, as opposed to a writers' workshop where often it ends up being people trading critiques not because they are excited about their fellow participants' writing, but because they want feedback on their own, which IMO doesn't work as well.

Are there any other fantasy creatures you are partial to? Well, for anyone who reads the new anthology Zombies Vs. Unicorns, you'll find I am partial to the occasional horned horse too. ;) But I really enjoy pretty much all fantasy creatures. :D

Is there the possibility that Celestials can only breed and produce eggs with Imperials (and someone else asking about a decision about Iskierka and Temeraire having an egg) No comment. :D /annoying author is annoying

Do you ship Temeraire with any other dragon as an OTP?* I personally have heaps of fun writing Temeraire and Iskierka's love-hate relationship, but I don't know that I would consider it an OTP necessarily. :D

(One True Pairing, for the non-fanfic-jargonified among us)

I really love all the little inclusions of rl historical figures in the background of the plot (or not so much background, with Wellington etc). Can I ask who your favorites were? Well, Napoleon is kind of my big favorite. *g* I am also really fond of Wellington, and Captain Bligh was especially fun to write in Tongues of Serpents. (Seriously. THREE mutinies. I think that's when it's time to start thinking maybe it's you!)

In Empire of Ivory we see a female dragon re-incarnating the Tswana king. In their reincarnation process, does the gender of the dragon not matter? And also, will they appear in future novels? Right -- the gender of the dragon doesn't matter to the Tswana, the person can be reincarnated differently. And we hear the mention of the Tswana's activities towards the end of Tongues of Serpents; as for future appearances, all I will say for now is wait for Crucible of Gold (book 7). :D

Where can I send you a fan letter? Del Rey? Yes, although I have to confess that I am rotten at answering them even though I gloat over mail like Smaug on his hoard. ;)

Is it just me, or are we perhaps witnessing, not the Napoleon Wars, but the birth of a new world order? I'm definitely going down a very different road, as the end of Tongues of Serpents makes clear, and yes, I think it's safe to say that both the Napoleonic Wars and the world after them will be very different from the historical. :)

Will we ever get to hear more of what happened to poor Lt Ferris?...And will we see more of North and South America in future? Let me get back to you on the first part. (I sniffle over Ferris, too, so even if he doesn't reappear in the books, there will probably be a story about him at some point.) As for the second, yes. :D

So how long are you going to make us wait for the next book? Hopefully next summer! Currently the due date is January, but as my daughter is due in December, I am planning to get it written before she is born. ;)

how many languages do you speak? and which languages you would like to learn (as fast as Temeraire)? Learn ALL the languages! /obscure Hyperbole & A Half reference I can make a dubious and rusty claim to speak Polish and French, and have a very sad smattering of Spanish, Italian, Russian, and Japanese. I love studying languages, but I generally both gain and lose them fairly easily. :/

Will Temeraire ever get his own pavillion? Yes! Temeraire will have a splendid pavilion in the Blue Mountains by the start of the next book. (I make no promises how long he gets to ENJOY it, but he will HAVE it, which is very nearly as good from a dragon's perspective.)

I'm sometimes uncomfortable wth the way Lawrence addresses Temrraire (he calls him"dear"). Why do you do that? (Ffffffffff- this question.)* While Laurence is reserved, in the way of his period, he's also in some ways less anxious about showing affection to his true intimate friends than a modern man might be. And yes, as Veronica mentions, that's definitely on display in the wonderful Aubrey/Maturin series, which I highly recommend. :)

This line was later added in the recap posted on Naomi Novik's Livejournal.

Will we ever get to see any Japanese Dragon species? Yes. :D

have you any thoughts on how long you think the series will turn out to be?? The Temeraire series will be nine books long, and conclude with the end of the Napoleonic Wars. :) Laurence and Temeraire and/or other characters in the series may have further adventures after, but I do intend to bring the series to a close -- that's important to me both as a reader and a writer.

where did you get the idea to add the twist of having an Aerial Corps made of dragons (obvious fantasy) mixed with a very real event such as the Napoleonic Wars? You know, people always ask me this question as if it is surprising! I don't understand! What is not obvious about adding dragons! ;) ;) ;) Which is a silly way of saying, to be honest, I don't know! I love mashing up elements and reinterpreting cliches, and I love fantasy and sf and historical fiction, so it all felt really organic for me. :)

How come Temeraire, and particularly Iskierka were drawn so differently on the cover of the new book? That's not Iskierka, it's Kulingile! :D

is Iskierka typical for her breed, or is hatching during a battle what made her so... ornery? I think being dragged hither-and-yon in the shell combined with a natural tendency to assertiveness on the part of large fire-breathers all influenced Iskierka's personality. :)

about the Aerial Corps: What do their uniforms actually look like? Definitely a good model for the "dress" uniform would be the Royal Navy only with the coat in bottle-green cloth, although I think aviators have pretty much ditched the knee-breeches entirely a little ahead of the rest of society. And in the air I generally envision a kind of leather overcoat very much like the dusters of early pilots circa WWI, with leather gauntlets and goggles -- a bit like an RN captain wearing oilcloth in a storm, practical gear.

I would just like to ask how hard or how easy it is or has been for you to come up with the plot for the Temeraire series. I've tried writing myself but the plot and the pacing always seems off to me. I'm sure practice is the key, but I was wondering if you had any suggestions concerning an author's worry for their own plots or how to make them last for an entire series like you have done. This is a tricky question, and for me a terrific learning experience was working on the Neverwinter Nights: Shadows of Undrentide game -- we had to have 30 hours of gameplay or else you can't sell it! -- so we ended up working out a sort of structure with a backbone of core plot that was about 15 hours, organized that into three acts, and then hung side plots off that like ornamentation. I think a process like that can be very helpful, and also breaking things down into smaller chunks -- I like the three act structure myself a lot as you can see from the Temeraire books.

about how fast do you think the average heavyweight dragon could fly? And the middleweights? Dragon speed is based on pterodactyls. :D The general thought my research turned up is that they could reach something like 30 mph -- so I tend to scatter the speeds of dragons between 15-30 mph, with the Jade Dragons able to go significantly faster, and then it varies based not just on weight but on the streamlining of a given species, what they're carrying, and some are more designed for endurance where others are better sprinters.

Will we ever see anything radicially different from Temeraire? Staying within fantasy still. I'd say my short story Seven Years From Home (in the Warriors anthology) is pretty radically different, although it's sf rather than fantasy; I've also got a really fun superhero manga project coming soon from Del Rey, with artist Yishan Li. :D And then my next novel series is going to be a YA trilogy inspired by the Secret Garden, although kind of in reverse. ~is mysterious~ I was hoping to get the first book of that written this spring, but morning sickness killed that plan. :'(

Will we be able to see updates on this project anywhere? Just follow my facebook fan page! :D

'Not directly related to the books, but is there any chance we might see you at Dragon*Con some time? I'd love to make it to Dragon*Con sometime! It has always conflicted with other travel plans somehow, but it is definitely on my agenda -- maybe next year!

I was wondering how you felt about How to Train Your Dragon, if you've seen it, and how the dragons in Temeraire might react to the dragons in that particular universe. Haven't had a chance to see it yet, sadly! :( Although I totally want to, because it looked ridiculously adorable. I don't know that it strikes me as very similar to the Temeraire series, though; I think the Temeraire dragons would be more inclined to go see "How To Train Your Human" ;)

Could you imagine The Hobbit with Temeraire instead of Smaug? And what would be the differences in the story? Hahaha, Bilbo would have bonded with Temeraire over the discussion of the merits of tea and seed cakes and a nice haunch of mutton, perhaps with some taters and onions; as compared to venison, if any could be gotten near the Mountain; and eventually the dwarves would have come poking nervously down the passageway to find Bilbo making dinner for Temeraire, and Temeraire blissfully discovering the joy of hobbit cookery ;)

What do you think of the audiobook interpretation of your books? Are the characters "read" as you imagined and did you have a say in how they were portrayed? I think Simon Vance does a great job with the audiobooks; it's not necessarily how I'd imagine all of the characters, but I like hearing different interpretations, so that doesn't bother me! Someone else asked earlier how I envision Temeraire's voice; I actually imagine him quite deep-voiced and not sounding entirely human, because I sort of envision that dragons speak from deeper in their chest/throat, rather than with lips.

So does anyone know what happened to Lung Qin Mei Mei is indeed still happily living in the Forbidden City! :) No comment on future meetings between Temeraire and Lung Qin Mei. ;)

did you have any say in Amazon's/B&N's free giveaways, or was that decided by the publisher? I have a say insofar that I jump up and down at my publisher encouragingly about doing the giveaways whenever they are willing. :D I think it is an awesome marketing technique.

Is Tharkay really a super secret agent from the EIC? No, I definitely wouldn't describe him as such! Tharkay is really a freelance operative -- he has a personal relationship with Maden, who is associated with the EIC, so he'll hire on with them, but he's not devoted to the EIC "cause"; ditto his relationship with Laurence making him more willing to hire on with the Aerial Corps earlier, eg. But I don't think he'd give his loyalty to a nation or military/industrial org easily, if ever.

Recap[edit]

Following the interview, Naomi Novik posted a brief recap of the topics discussed in the interview. It is reproduced here;

SUMMARY:

There will be 9 books in the series.
7th one, Crucible of Gold, was due in January, but will probably be released summer 2011.
Because Mrs. Novik is having a baby girl. :D
She is also working on future projects, including a YA series and a manga with an artist.
All the books have been optioned by Peter Jackson.
Naomi Novik likes zombies and unicorns.
Temeraire/Iskierka is not Novik’s OTP. :|
Tswana may be back for book 7!
More South and North America in later books!
Lt. Ferris short story maybe. ;A;
Temeraire gets an awesome pavilion in the Blue Mountains. :D
But not for long.
Kulingile is the dragon pictured on the cover of Tongues of Serpents.
AVIATOR UNIFORM HAS GOGGLES. AND NO KNEE-BREECHES, BUT LONG PANTS. And “a kind of leather overcoat very much like the dusters of early pilots circa WWI, with leather gauntlets”. In other words: HRRGHHHHHH<3
Dragon speed is based on pterodactyls. The general range is 15-30 miles per hour.
FUCK YEAH THAT’S AWESOME.
Temeraire's voice; deep-voiced and not sounding entirely human
Mei is still living in the Forbidden City.
Tharkay is not a super secret agent. :(

In addition to this, one topic discussed on the board by the various commenters included who they would have liked to see portraying the characters from the series. Naomi Novik listed several along with the recap, stating she would not exclusively comment on it; they are as follows: