Novik has already soared to great heights.
His Majesty's Dragon (2006) is the first book in a seven-book series published by Del Rey. The sequels to book one are
Throne of Jade (2006),
Black Powder War (2006),
In the Service of the King (2006) and
Empire of Ivory (2007). She is currently working on
Victory of Eagles, which should be out in the summer of 2008. In addition to the release of
His Majesty's Dragon in England (under the title
Temeraire), Japanese publisher Village Books is currently in the process of translating
His Majesty's Dragon into Japanese. The
Times of London called Novik's work "Patrick O'Brian crossed with Anne McCaffrey: historic, seafaring adventure, with dragons." [Photo credit: Beth Gwinn]
Novik, who lives in New York City and is the daughter of two Polish immigrants, earned a degree in English literature from Brown University and a master's in Computer Science with some post-doctoral work in the same field. She is also a gamer, and is known for her work on the expansion of the
Dungeons & Dragons computer game
Neverwinter Nights: Shadows of Undrentide.
Her official Web site is:
www.temeraire.org.
Did you originally intend His Majesty's Dragon to be a stand-alone novel or the first book in a series?Novik: When I finished
His Majesty's Dragon, I didn't have a contract yet. It was my first novel. I gave it to my agent [Cynthia Manson], and she sent it to editor Betsy Mitchell at Del Rey. I wasn't expecting to hear for quite a long time. That's what they tell you in all those writer's advice books. As I was waiting to hear from them, I knew I wanted to tell more stories about these characters, how their lives would go on. I was thinking of what I'd like to do when Del Rey called up and basically said they didn't want one book, they wanted more. I quickly put together a synopsis of the next two books for them. I had solid plans for seven books.
I generally like to be thinking a few books ahead as I write, so I can plan and do foreshadowing and give myself threads I can connect. It seems to happen organically; it's fun as a process. In a way, I do model on Patrick O'Brian's Aubrey/Maturin series [of nautical adventures], where it's the lives of these characters. I'd like to have each book to encompass a self-contained plot, even though I confess I ended
Empire of Ivory on a sort of cliffhanger. The main plot was resolved within the book with a setup for the next book [
Victory of Eagles]. I had to do it; I beg readers to forgive me for that one [laughs].
What about the Napoleonic Wars inspired you to write the Temeraire series of alternate-history fantasy books?Novik: I've loved the Napoleonic era in general for a long time: The Jane Austen books are set in that time period, and the Patrick O'Brian books are a big favorite of mine. I really love the flavor of the language. The comedy of manners and the social aspects combined with the swashbuckling adventure of the age itself.
On top of that, it is a good era for dragons. It's not the later, mechanized war, where you would have to start making dragons almost unrealistically powered as biological creatures to still be dangerous without a lot of certain buildup. When you have anti-aircraft guns and airplanes in the air fighting against dragons you can imagine that being interesting. I wanted the dragons to be believable, physical creatures in our world.
You can still have this great interaction between an air force, ships and land battles. It really just sort of worked well.
Are you a history buff? Are there other wars or political machinations that intrigue or fascinate you as well?Novik: Yes, I am. I'm interested in a lot of history and culture in general. The Napoleonic Wars are my personal favorite. But I am also interested in ancient Rome—that is a fascinating period. The history of China is something that I have become increasing interested in, as the result of writing the
Temeraire books, because my character Temeraire is a Chinese dragon. That has drawn me into the vast history of China.
What can you tell us about the latest Temeraire book, Empire of Ivory? Novik: I don't want to give away too many spoilers. There is an excerpt from the first chapter of
Empire of Ivory at the end of book three, which basically reveals what is going on in England while Captain Will Laurence [the protagonist in the series] and Temeraire have been away. They've been gone for about a year now; they were forced to travel to China, and they had to travel overland to come back they got caught in one of the major campaigns of the Napoleonic Wars, the war where Napoleon basically beat the Prussians. On their way back, they have secured nothing from England. Once they come closer, they become very worried about why they haven't been hearing anything from England. They do reach England, at the start of
Empire of Ivory. It is revealed that all the dragons in England are extremely sick with a disease, a kind of tuberculosis for dragons, which has spread, was brought over accidentally by a dragon shipped to England from America. All the dragons in England have this disease because it has infested all the different dragon communities, all the covert breeding grounds of England and British territories, by the British courier dragons, because it wasn't realized how serious the disease was. They come back to England to find out all the other dragons are sick or dying. They have to find a cure.
Since you have considerable experience writing computer games, do you see your stories in action while you write them?Novik: I try to write my action scenes in a cinematic way. I try very hard to visualize exactly what is going on, so I can explain to the reader in three dimensions. Now that you mention it, my training in computer games definitely helps with that. I am certainly used to making characters move through space, which is something that not even necessarily watching movies gives you. Having to think about how characters are going to interact in a computer game definitely helps.
I wouldn't say that I think of it as a computer game while I'm doing it, but it is very much a concern of mine to make sure, if you are sitting there at home reading this scene trying to figure out how it's working, what is going on, that it's clear how these bodies are relating to each other.
Peter Jackson optioned your books for movies. Would you write the computer games for them?Novik: Wow! If they asked me to, I'd certainly participate. Obviously, a computer game on that scale is never done by just one person. I'd be happy to look at a script or contribute to one. I'd be equally happy to see other people's interpretations and go on and write other novels. Either way is fine with me.
I'm not proprietary about the ideas and the concepts. I am having this wonderful experience right now that the foreign editions of my book have started to come in. I have these fantastic different covers coming in from all over the world. There were already the United States and the British editions, and now the British editions have a completely new style. It is really quite wonderful for me to see all these different interpretations of my work. I love the variety. I like mash-ups—when people put their own ideas on an existing pieces of work. I feel that is what happens with computer game rights and movie rights. You get to see what somebody else creates out of your work. I think that, in itself, is a really thrilling experience.
Has Peter Jackson optioned just the first three books or future books, too?Novik: He has optioned the first three books entirely and the rights to the series and the characters.
Have you been in contact with Peter Jackson? Is there anything you can tell us that is going on so far with the script, etc.?Novik: I have been in contact with Peter Jackson. I am not allowed to say anything whatsoever.
Personally—options are for quite a long period of time. I myself am not expecting anything to happen in the short run. Peter Jackson, Philippa Boyens and Fran Walsh are still working on
The Lovely Bones [based on the Alice Sebold best-seller]. I believe he has another project,
Avatar. Peter Jackson has a lot of projects going on. I will get very excited when it becomes our turn, but until then, I don't really know, don't expect to know. I am resolutely putting it out of my mind [laughs].
You hear all these stories, of course, about how in Hollywood things get optioned and nothing ever happens. I feel my work is done, my job is to be patient and let them do their work. I do think the creative process takes time. What you want is that it be done right, and that is why I was so thrilled when I heard that Peter Jackson was interested. That tells me immediately that the project is going to be done right.
Do you find that your degree in British literature added to your skill and creativity as a fiction writer?Novik: Yes. I went to Brown University, which has the wonderful feature that there isn't any core curriculum. I actually did it in English Literature, so it is both British and American. Being old-fashioned, I preferred British. I studied a lot of Old English and Middle English literature in particular. I think that the abilities and skills I learned for analysis and an exposure to a wide range of literary traditions is really important for anyone who wants to be a writer. I was also able, because of the flexibility at Brown, to take a lot of science classes, biology, computer science, international relations, political science and history classes—those kind of things. In no sort of prescribed order, the university allows you to pursue your interests and take the best classes in every discipline. That is about as good a training as you can get for any kind of creative profession. That broad exposure, which is traditionally the idea of liberal arts, is something very valuable, and has been very valuable, to me.
I think she is right in a sense; she clearly, from the beginning, had a story to tell, and she told it. I saw in one interview she said something like she didn't want Harry to have more adventures. She wanted Harry to have what he always wanted: a happy family. I think that makes quite a lot of sense. You don't want to necessarily drag your characters out of retirement and send them on another adventure. I feel these are fascinating characters, and people will make up their own stories about them, which is what you want.
Do you have any personal connections to dragons?Novik: I think they are amazingly cool. Wawel has made a big impression. I'm Polish. One of the most famous legends of Poland, the founding of Poland, is the Wawel dragon. That is a legend I grew up with as a child. Outside Krakow, where the old palace used to be in Poland—there is a statue of the Wawel dragon, a bronze statue—it's quite modern, and it breathes fire. That was something that was really fun for me to see when I was in Poland a few years ago.
Last question—you are a self-described "big geek and fan girl." Care to elaborate?Novik: The first book my mother ever read to me was
The Hobbit. I have a big, battered picture book from when I was about 4 or 5, and I read
The Lord of The Rings for the first time in first grade. I am sure I missed about 9/10 of what was going on. That really is a start of a tradition of being a big fan of science fiction and the fantasy genre in general. That has led me, in a lot of ways, to being interested in computer science and programming. I am a fan of most of science fiction and fantasy.
Being a geek in certain ways is about having deep passions in weird areas and being able to follow them. That is very much what I am.
