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SRD InterviewOK, this is pretty cool. Today, March 30th 2003, I got an e-mail from Stephen R. Donaldson. He wrote in responce to the questions that Mouseglove from the message board asked him at a recent convention. Mr. Donaldson was nice enough to answer those questions in the e-mail. So here you go, some answers about the Last Chronicles from SRD himself. Enjoy! (E-mail from Stephen R. Donaldson sent 3/30/03) At this year's International Conference on the Fantastic in the Arts, I was handed a list of questions from Kevinswatch.com. Since I think well of the man who handed them to me, I agreed to answer a few of them. I seldom do this, mostly because I don't enjoy writing letters. But here goes: 1) eta on "The Last Chronicles of Thomas Covenant? The story is underway, but progress is slow, primarily because what I'm trying to do is so large and difficult. I have roughly 3/4 of the first book (out of a projected total of four) on paper, and I'm pushing myself to finish the first draft in the next four months. After which, of course, comes publisher hunting, editing, etc. I don't see how the book could be published before late 2004. Incidentally, things don't look good for Kevin's Watch itself. (grin) 2) how reliable is TC as a narrator? Well, of course, he isn't actually the narrator at all: he's the primary viewpoint character--a very different thing. My goal in working this way is to preserve the integrity of what the viewpoint character thinks, feels, perceives, and does while allowing--even encouraging--the reader to make up his/her own mind about the accuracy or "rightness" of those thoughts/feelings/perceptions/actions. 3) are there any races or characters that I would like to write about outside the "Chronicles"? In a word, no. My mind doesn't work that way. I think in stories, not in races or characters (or in themes or belief-systems). 4) do I keep aspects of my characters secret or hidden to create the sense that they have added dimensions? Not consciously. That would violate my primary intention as a story-teller, which is to communicate as fully and vividly as I can the experience of being a participant in that story. However, see 2): a natural part of the experience is confusion/uncertainty about the nature and motivations of the characters. (Which, as it happens, is more significant in "Mordant's Need" and the GAP books than in "Covenant.") To some extent, that entails secrets, hidden dimensions. 5) the relationship between Covenant and Joan pre-leprosy? "The Last Chronicles" may shed a little light on this. As is so often true in young relationships, they loved each other without knowing each other very well. The stories are not about Joan, so I don't spend much time telling her personal story. But anyone who sneers at her for divorcing Covenant as she did is probably not the parent of a small child. The protective instincts of parents are intense and compulsory. 6) the importance of contradiction? the nature of evil? I can't answer such questions--by which I mean that I can't think of anything to say that would be more clear than what is already in my books. But on the subject of contradiction, consider this: every human being is by his/her very nature a contradiction between material flesh and unquantifiable consciousness. That's hard to think about. Understanding ourselves isn't easy. Personally, I don't know any other way to process the dilemma of being a walking, talking contradiction except through story-telling. Certainly the fundamental postulate of traditional Western religions--dualism--doesn't do it for me. As for evil, all I can say is: consider what Lord Foul, Kasreyn of the Gyre, Master Eremis, Nick Succorso, and Holt Fasner have in common. Be well! And good luck with Kevinswatch.com. --Stephen R. Donaldson
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