Joe Abercrombie on The first Law Trilogy

It's always good to see a new author do well and Joe Abercrombie's first trilogy 'The First Law' has certainly taken fantasy readers by storm. Here he has very kindly answered some questions put forward by our reviewer Steve.

S: I enjoyed The First Law trilogy, but found it more gritty and the characters less ‘heroic' than in traditional fantasy novels. Do you see your work as part of the fantasy genre or a kind of ‘cross-over' ?

JA: Definitely I see it as part of fantasy, although I'd probably call it unheroic fantasy. Hopefully it has something to say about the genre, in the same way Unforgiven is definitely a western, but has something to say about westerns at the same time. I don't think its being fantasy means that one has to be unambitious about the breadth of its appeal, though. As far as its being a crossover, I think certainly it contains traces of all kinds of things I've read or watched or played outside of the genre and enjoyed, but probably any fantasy worth its salt does.

S: Will there be any sequels? The end of Last Argument of Kings left me wondering what would happen next...

JA: I'm continuing to write in the same world, though not necessarily with the same central characters. The new book, Best Served Cold, is a standalone, and a couple of minor characters from the First Law take centre stage along with some new faces, while some familiar ones hang around in the background...

S: Do you identify with any of the characters in the trilogy? If yes, who and why?

JA: I suppose you could say all of them are me, since their thoughts and dialogue come out of my head, which is a slightly worrying thought. The best I could say is that they're very exaggerated aspects of me.

S: Were there any characters that you found difficult to write?

JA: Like children, they all have had their frustrating moments, but I wouldn't say one more than the others was a particular challenge. It helped that I was writing from several viewpoints, and trying to make each one distinct, so if I was having trouble with one I could move across to another, and it would serve as some kind of break.

S: What books, authors or films have influenced your writing?

JA: I guess you could say that I'm influenced by everything I've ever read or seen and liked (or particularly not liked), so the list is long indeed. I've always watched a lot of films and played a lot of computer games, and I'm sure all kinds of things from those experiences come out in my writing. Most of what I read these days is non-fiction, a lot of history, so that's a big source of inspiration. Within fantasy I'd say Tolkein (of course), Ursula le Guin with her Wizard of Earthsea, Michael Moorcock, and more recently George RR Martin have all been big influences.

S: Have you taken part in role-playing games (eg.Dungeons and Dragons)?

JA: Oh yes, for a long time in my teens it was probably the thing I spent most of my free time doing.

S: If yes, has that influenced your writing?

JA: Hard to see how it could've failed to do so. Certainly gamesmastering Warhammer Fantasy Roleplay was excellent practice for the imaginative effort that writing requires. And the huge amount of supplements, adventures, and guidebooks to fantasy worlds I read through are probably as big an influence on me as actual fantasy fiction.

S: One online review called your writing ‘Lord of the Rings meets Guy Ritchie'. Do you agree?

JA: Fantasy with some thriller elements, with some humour, and with some over the top violence, so that doesn't seem too bad a match. I'd probably pick Tarantino instead...

S: Has anyone suggested making a film based on these books?

JA: I have suggested it often. No one seems to be listening to me, however.

S: Whose style of film-making would best suit your writing?

JA: A tough question to answer. I guess my feeling would be that the best film makers are able to change their style to suit the subject matter. I wonder if the sprawling nature of my books would be better suited to a television series than a film, though. It seems to me that a lot of the more exciting and challenging stuff is happening on TV these days - things like the Sopranos, the Wire, Battlestar Galactica, and so on. I'm very excited to see what HBO do with George RR Martin's Song of Ice and Fire, which they're in the process of doing a pilot for. That has the potential to be amazing, I think.

S: A map would have helped while reading the books - did you consider including one?

JA: It was more a decision of my publisher than me. If they'd wanted one I'd certainly have provided one. I tend to agree with them that there are some subtle drawbacks to including them, though - especially the way in which they seem to be included as a knee jerk in fantasy books whether they're really necessary or not. Lord of the Rings had one, so we have to. I wanted the focus to be very much on the characters rather than the world, for the reader to feel like they were part of the action, rather than floating dispassionately above it. So going without a map seemed to make sense.

S: Do you have a separate career in addition to writing?

JA: I was a film editor for a long time, mostly of documentaries and live music, and I still do the odd bit of work in that direction, but writing is very much my main activity now.

S: Does this or former employment help you create characters/situations?

JA: Part of my job was working to scripts for documentaries, and I watched some very clever people fine-tune scripts to pictures, reducing them to the minimum possible number of words, and I think that was certainly very valuable experience (although it may seem rich from someone who writes huge doorstopper fantasy novels). Working as an editor oneself, even if in tv, certainly is good preparation for working with an editor.

S: Have you written in any other genres?

JA: No. Wouldn't rule it out in the long run, but I've still got a few fantasy-based ideas I want to do. It's tricky when you've had a certain level of success in one area to then move on to another. It's a bit like starting from square one.