AISFP 116 – Sherrilyn Kenyon

Moses (and friend Clancy) sat down at the Superstars Writing Seminars with sensational bestselling author Sherrilyn Kenyon. With more than 30 million copies in print, Kenyon writes for five of the major publishers and is no stranger to the New York Times Bestseller list. In this interview, Kenyon explains why paranormal romance is popular (this is for us space opera loving males in the audience), why all of her characters are sympathetic, growing up in the South, her writing schedule, and much more.

This episode is brought to you by Heart of the Ronin, a novel by Travis Heermann. Ken’ishi is just 17 years old and an orphan after the mysterious death of his parents. He dreams of training with a master who will some day help him become a samurai. Traveling with Silver Crane, a sword that belonged to his father, and a dog, Akao, for a sidekick, Ken’ishi’s adventures begin after he murders a policeman and must flee. Just when he thinks he has escaped trouble, he saves Kazuko, the daughter of an influential lord, from a group of bandits. In return, he is asked to live in the lord’s house, where he falls in love with Kazuko. Forced to flee once again, Ken’ishi goes on a hunt to discover his past while fighting off warriors and demons, not to mention worrying about the bounty that’s on his head. Will he find out if his father really was a samurai or why the sword he wields seems to be infused with magic? Read the novel and listen to the podcast on Podiobooks.com.

Show Notes:

  • The boys discuss Borders, wondering how the struggling Bookselling Giant will effect authors and publishers. Here is the article from Locus Magazine, and here is the list of Borders to be closed
  • Ask a Writer is back with Tobias S. Buckell. Today’s question comes from Dale, who asks about creating similes and comparisons from an alien viewpoint while still relating to a modern, and very much human, audience.
  • Feedback: Doug weighs in on our discuss of Heinlein’s Third Rule of writing.

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Comments

  1. Ha! I love the intro to Ask a Writer.

  2. Hey guys, thanks for taking my comments about Heinlein’s Rule 3 in the Q&A. You’re definitely right that it’s a matter of personal preference. Find out what works for you.

    FWIW I do rewrites, but it seems to me there are diminishing returns after a few. Either I’ve got the general idea of the story by then or I’m in the weeds. Otherwise rewrites threaten to become endless: there are *always* things that stick out, no matter how many times I’ve read and re-read a piece. Who was it who said that a work is never finished, it’s just set aside?

    Maybe it’s just that I get bored easily. After going over the same piece a few times and doing rewrites, I want to move on to at least different, if not greener, pastures. And working on new material also helps expand my repertoire, try out new characters, different scenarios.

    It’s all a matter of degree, of course.

    Love the show, and thanks again.

  3. Another small thing: I think at some point in the podcast someone suggested that the alternative to continuing to edit a piece was to discard or trunk it. I’d say the alternative is to consider it (provisionally) finished, to start sending it around and working on something else!

    Cheers,

    Doug

  4. I was chatting with Patrick Rothfuss’ editor on FB recently, and after I told her that Pat is my answer to Heinlein’s rule #3 she said: “Pat works very hard–I read seven drafts of THE WISE MAN’S FEAR. He wrote the first skeleton draft in 2000. He was continuously rewriting for four solid years. That kind of hard work is very impressive.”

    Works for him, right?

  5. Heinlein’s third rule is probably the most misconstrued piece of advice ever given.

  6. Dale Thomas says

    Hi Shaun
    I’d just like to say thanks for using my question in the ‘ask a writer’ segment. I feel so honoured.
    And I’d also like to say thanks and welcome back to Tobias. I love Jabberwocky too!
    Keep up the great work, I love the show.

Trackbacks

  1. […] Hey, the latest episode of Adventures in Sci Fi Publishing has the return of Ask A Writer. […]

  2. […] the Adventures In Sci Fi Publishing podcast (where I’m also a co-host): Brandon Sanderson, Sherrilyn Kenyon, and, now, Patrick […]

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