erry Goodkind published his first novel, Wizard's First Rule, in 1994. It became the origin of a succession of novels collectively known as the Sword of Truth series. Set in a medieval fantasy world, the books centered around a humble woods guide named Richard who, with the help of his true love, Kahlan, becomes a great leader and learns that he has a destiny more important than he ever imagined.
Goodkind's ninth book, Chainfire, is the beginning of a trilogy that will effectively conclude the Sword of Truth series. Chainfire finds Richard at the center of a magical vortex in which the memory of Kahlan's existence has seemingly been erased from everyone who ever knew her. While Richard searches for answers, his enemies are closing in on all sides, threatening to conquer the last vestiges of freedom.
The author recently spoke with Science Fiction Weekly about the process of writing his latest book and his plans for life after Truth.
You've attracted a dedicated fan base over the course of the series. Do you keep those fans in mind when you're writing, or do you try to appeal to new readers as well?
Goodkind: I try to write each book so new readers are introduced, through the storyline, to the series.
This story deals with the disappearance of a major character, Kahlan. Was it difficult writing a story without one of the main characters in the series?
Goodkind: Well, it was a hugely difficult task, and it wasn't necessarily because it was without a major character, but the real central issue of the book is Kahlan's disappearance, and everybody that she's dealt with throughout the entire series no longer remembers her. And what happens because of that is that their personality is subtly altered by the absence of her influence. And as a consequence it was incredibly difficult to write, because you have to alter every important character's personality in subtle ways that a reader of the series, who's a fan of the series, and who knows everybody, will recognize that they're not acting quite right, but yet at the same time they really are acting like themselves. So it was a very tricky task, and I love challenges, so to me it was just really fun doing it that way. And it was also fun because new readers to the series ... what I intended was new readers would think, "Maybe this Richard guy really is nuts."
As a standalone story, it could have gone either way.
Goodkind: I like that. I like to give new readers a unique problem to consider, while fans of the series have their own things to consider. They're all going, "What in the heck is going on? Where's Kahlan? We love Kahlan." There really is a crisis of belief in one's self for Richard. And for new readers, you're trying to figure out "Is this guy really nuts?" You don't know what's going on.
Where did the idea for this book come from?
Goodkind: Every book that I write revolves around a central theme, and those themes will be things like the importance of individuality, or the meaning of freedom or free will. This theme is sort of a crisis of identity for Richard and his belief in his own ability to understand what's going on around him. To know what's real and what isn't real, and to use his brain to act upon what he believes to find out the truth. ... Everybody, when they act upon what they believe, they have central reasons for believing that they're right. Even when someone believes in flying saucers, they have a central reason for believing that. They think they saw something, and they act upon what they've seen or heard or experienced, and try to figure out how to prove that that's true.
Which came first, the story or the theme?
Goodkind: I always come up with the central concept, the central idea of what the story is about. This story, for example, is Richard wakes up, [and] his wife, the woman he loves more than anything, is missing. No one believes that she exists; he's the only one who remembers her. That's the central idea. And from that core of an idea, I bring into the plot all the characters that are necessary to tell that story. And this Chainfire trilogy is something that I have been thinking about for the last several books, because throughout this series I've known the ending to the series. I think the series needed to have a story arc, just like a book does. And that story arc needs to have a beginning, a middle and an end. And the ending of the series, because it's such a big series and it's so sprawling, needs to have a big ending. And I didn't think a one-book ending was sufficient to have this gigantic climax to this big series. So I wanted to have something really spectacular. I wanted to have a really wow ending for the series. And that's what the Chainfire trilogy is. And to tell the story of that ending, I needed to add a further complication to an already complicated problem.
Is this still the ending that you had in mind, or has it changed over the course of the series?
Goodkind: When I say I have the idea of how it's going to end, what I mean is I know the final resolution to the series. How I tell that story is a function of sitting down and developing the plot for the book or for this trilogy. Take Chainfire, for example. I know the resolution to the series. I know what Richard has to discover in order to discover the riddle of the book. But telling that story along the way is something that developed when I put the plot together and make the book a whole entity. And while I've known the ending to the series, I didn't know the exact story in terms of "This person's going to do that, they're going to travel here, this thing will befall them." Those little parts aren't the important thing in the concept of it. What I'm doing is, I'm identifying the skeleton, and then later when I develop the plot I put the flesh and bones on the skeleton.
You have said that you don't like cliffhanger endings, but this one is pretty open-ended.
Goodkind: Well, I've always said that I don't like cliffhangers, and each book was a story unto itself that had an ending to the major conflict. And part of the reason that I've done things that way is because I didn't have a set number of books in the series, and I didn't think it was fair to readers to say, "OK, I'm just going to go on writing this until I decide it's the end, and there's going to be cliffhangers from now until I decide it's the end." I just really feel that's unfair to the readers. I think readers deserve a story. More than the money they're investing in the book, they're investing their time. Their time is valuable, and I believe that they deserve a worthwhile story. But they've been told, before Chainfire came out, that this is going to be a trilogy, it's going to be different. This is the ending of the series. So there is a definite faith in how many more books to the series and when it's going to end.
But, that said, and I warned people, this is somewhat a cliffhanger because it is three books, but at the same time there is a resolution to the major problem of this book, and the major problem of this book is Richard's crisis of belief in himself and in his own mind, and the belief of all those people surrounding him in his cause, believing in his cause and believing in him, and if they don't believe in him, are they going to abandon the cause, which really is bigger than him. So there is a resolution to that major issue that comes up in the book. The next book is when the really bad stuff happens [laughs]. There will be more problems. But I acknowledge to an extent that this is a cliffhanger.
You've also said that one of the things you don't like about fantasy literature is the idea of world-building, which you avoid in your books.
Goodkind: World-building to me is a pointless endeavor, because it's like playing a video game. I'm telling stories about important human beings. I strongly believe that the purpose of a novel is to, as Aristotle said, the purpose of fiction is to show the way that things can and ought to be. I'm showing human values and what human values can achieve. When people want to be uplifted, they go to an art museum to see something noble. They want to look at a painting that's beautiful, to show that something is beautiful about mankind. I think it's important to tell those important human stories.
Now the world, of course, is the world around these characters. So you, to a certain extent, build the world around the characters, but the characters are what makes that world turn. And telling those important human stories is what I'm writing about. What is a loving relationship between two people really like? That's the story of Richard and Kahlan throughout this whole series. What is the valuable thing about this relationship? Why is it important?
So you only include the details that add to the story or the characters.
Goodkind: These are human beings. Now, what difference does it make if I invented this complex history of who was begot by whom and how many kings were related to this country and that country, and there was this war 300 years ago and this thing happened and they built this and then this army came in here and did this? That's just cardboard stuff. I believe in developing the flesh and blood of real human beings.
The Order, which is the big menace in the books, has elements of Soviet communism to it, but also elements of a Taliban-like government. Is this something that was always there in your mind, or has it evolved based on current events.
Goodkind: It's something that was always there. I tell people, they say, "Gosh, this situation really seems very current." And I say it's because I'm dealing with the essence of the human struggle. And the essence of the way people act hasn't changed throughout time. A murder 3,000 years ago is the same as it is today. Having your house broken into and being robbed in the Middle Ages is no different than having your apartment broken into today and being robbed. It's the basic principles behind what makes the beast, what makes the person who is being robbed, that are important. And when you write about a thief and a victim or a killer and a victim, the time setting is irrelevant.
And on a larger scale, the conflicts that are going on the world are the same kinds of conflicts that have been going on for thousands of years. The same mechanism that makes communism, a collective kind of political bent, is the same thing kind of happened in the Middle Ages. It's the same basic conflict that humans have been having for thousands of years. And the core of that conflict revolves around the individual. The struggle over millennia has been whether or not mankind is just a sacrificial animal to the greater good, or whether an individual has the right to exist. The United States, for example, is the first country in the history of the world that constitutionally stated that an individual has the right to exist. There's no country on the face of the earth today, other than the United States, that says an individual has a right to exist. In Canada, for example, you can be arrested for saying anything against the government. And that's the basic conflict. Do you have the right to exist as an individual, or are you owned by a group that says they're functioning for the greater good of mankind? And that's the basic struggle that goes on, and that's why it seems oftentimes current to Iran or the Soviet Union or something like that.
The conflict between determinism and free will is also one of the pillars of the series. Richard believes in free will, yet he's the object of so many of the prophecies.
Goodkind: One of the basics of how Richard functions as a human being is that he believes that it's necessary for him to use his own head to solve problems. Since the first book, his grandfather taught him, think of the solution, not the problem. And he is a person who tries to think of a solution to a difficult problem. Prophecy, on the other hand, says there's no need to think of the solution. You just sit back and fold your arms and wait for the prophecy to unfold. And Richard thinks that if he wants things to work out his way, he must find the solution to his problems.
Since this is the beginning of the end for this series, have you thought about what you're going to do when it's complete? Would you like to write stories set in different times and places, or more stories set in this world with different characters?
Goodkind: All of those things and more.
You've written nine books so far, all set in this world, all with these same characters. Are you looking forward to the chance to branch out?
Goodkind: Yes and no. I'm excited to think about writing about new characters, but at the same time I love these people and I love writing about them.
Are you going to miss writing for these characters?
Goodkind: I love telling stories. That's what I'm about. I tell stories about the human condition, about the nobility of mankind. I like to give people heroes to look up to and have them be heroes that are worth looking up to. There's so many characters in literature today that the heroes are despicable people that I just despise. I want to give people the kind of heroes that are worth looking up to. I have had a number of people who've written to me and said, "I live in a world of crime and violence, and I've never known the right thing to do. Since I've read your books, now I ask myself, 'What would Richard do?'" So they understand through these characters. And that's the purpose of a good book, is to understand through a character how to make concrete abstract principles.
Now there's a number of different ways to tell those stories, and I've thought up a number of stories I'd love to tell about a number of different people in this world and in contemporary worlds. There's all kinds of stories I'd like to tell. I love writing about Richard and Kahlan. I love this world. When the series ends, the end of the series is going to be the resolution of the story arc that's the background of the series. That doesn't mean that all the characters drop dead and evaporate. I very much would like to continue writing stories set in this world. And they may be about many of the characters we know and love, and they may be about new characters. It may go back to a time in the past, in the history of this world, and certain individuals that really made an impact on that world. And I'd like to tell their stories. So there's just all kinds of things I could write about. I love writing. It's my favorite thing in the world to do. It's like getting paid to daydream. It's just the coolest thing.
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