Questions and Answers What appealed to you about writing a book in the Quentaris Universe? I saw some of the books advertised and a write up that made me wish I had been asked. It really appealed to me, but I am always late with deadlines and as usual had something pressing so I didn't make any attempt to find out more. Then I met Paul Collins at a festival and I liked him and he made me laugh. The subject of the Quentaris books came up, and I said half jokingly that it sounded fun, and he offered to send me a couple. It was reading them that really fired me up. I don't write to order, but this was a great project because aside from setting it in Quentaris, you could pretty much go wherre you liked. I guess I also really laughed at the idea of taking characters produced by other people and tweaking them a bit. It appealed to me that many of the other writers were friends. Writing is generally a wonderfully solitary business, but every now and again a fun prioject arises which offers to break, albeit fleetingly, that solitude... Did you read the previous Quentaris books before beginning writing your own? I read the first four, and I knew right off that I didn't want to send the world up or take a funny approach. I liked the idea of Quentaris and I didn't just want to take it seriously, I wanted to be able to write the sort of story I write and make it work in that world. It was a challenge. The Quentaris books display a remarkable level of continuity between tites given they are written by different authors. How did the series editors manage to keep everything so consistent throughout? I think they manage this because they have this creative and imaginative overview of thr series which they see your story against, and the only changes are those that would distort the overview. Other that this, they allow a writer all the creativity they would wish. I think the cohesion also comes from them being good writers, too. It helps because they maintain a very laid back sense of control based more on a sort of camerarderie of like minds than any sort of fascist approach. Though I don't doubt they could get out the jackbooks and whip if they felt it was needed. The Quentaris books are young adult fantasy tales, how does this reflect the rest of your writing? Fantasy is very much a genre where what might in other forms be called children's books- ie books with young protagonists, are read by all ages. My first book was not written for teenagers, even though it was published as a young adult novel. I was a teenager - 14 - when I wrote it. But even though I am quite a bit older than that now, I am still drawn to that age as a protagonist. I like the transformative quality of that age. The fact that a young character can teeter back and forth between child and adult. Is this your first experience of writing for a shared Universe? Yes. And would you be willing to do so again? If so which shared Universe would you like to explore? I am doing another story for The Quentaris Chronicles. It won't be about the characters in this book, though a couple of them will defiantely feature. I am really looking forward to revisiting them, and to seeing if I can use more of the established Q world when I do. I have really enjoyed this, but I don't think it will be something I'd do again because I would always fear I wouldn't like it as much. How do you prepare for a writing idea for fiction? Do you outline the characters, setting, plot, etc. before you begin to write? I think for ages and usually a couple of questions keep recurring to me. In fact, the central idea is usually some sort of philosophiocal question which i want to try out. Angel Fever was focused by the question of our human facination for beauty and what it might mean. It's something I have come to before in my books- most particularly Darkfall and Darksong and maybe the Obernewtyn Chronicles as well. What do you do if you are half-way through writing a story and you don't know what to write next? I never start writing until I have so much in my mind that I am never in danger of running out of material. If an idea does not reach this weight, I don't write anything. It's not rich enough as an idea to generate what I will need, so I stop thinking abiout it and think about something else instead. Given that fantasy is very popular with younger readers at the moment (with authors like Rowling, Pullman and Garth Nix all gathering large fan bases), can you see these younger readers remaining interested in their adult reading lives? Once a fantasy fan always a fantasy fan, but the more you read the more you hunger for the rare really wonderful fantasy. One of the best I've read in recent times is the Philip Pullman Dark Materials series. Brilliant. Do you write exclusively books that are suitable for younger readers or do you also write fiction for a purely adult readership? I have been working on an adult book for years, and I am working on a collection for Allen and Unwin which is also an adult collection. I suppose I think of these as adult specifically because I doubt they would be interesting to young readers, however I don't feel that the books marketed for kids would bore adults. Isn't that funny... What are you currently working on? I'm finishing a book called Alyzon Whitestarr. It's stand alone novel, and is a borderline fantasy like The Gathering, set in the primary world and in this time. Who (Fact or Fiction) would you most like to meet, and what would you ask them? Philip Pullman and I wouldn't ask him anything. I'd just like to hear him talk. I heard him read his books and it was riviting. What was your first professional sale? How did it feel when you received the acceptance? My first book, Obernewtyn, was accepted by the first publisher I sent it to. I could hardly believe it. Many Thanks, Isobelle! Relevant Links Isobelle Carmody Main Bibliography Quentaris Website