RSSFive Minutes, Five Questions: Charlaine Harris
Apr 20
Arkansan Charlaine Harris is the author of the extremely popular Sookie Stackhouse vampire novels. “Dead Reckoning” comes out May 3.
Anne Rice. Laurell K. Hamilton. Charlaine Harris.
Three authors have shaped the current genre of vampire fiction, and arguably none more than Harris, who lives in Arkansas.
In October 2008, she became the only author to have an entire series on The New York Times bestseller list simultaneously.
Last year, “Dead in the Family” sold 200,000 copies in its first week on sale and debuted in the No. 1 spot on both The New York Times and USA Today bestseller lists.
There are more than 20 million copies of her 10-book series in print.
And the HBO series “True Blood,” based on the adventures of telepath Sookie Stackhouse, has won an Emmy, a Golden Globe and a People’s Choice Award.
On May 3, Sookie returns in “Dead Reckoning.” The vampires are still fighting among themselves. The were-creatures are dealing with the aftermath of “coming out.” The fairies are drawn to their kinswoman like moths. And it’s a human who really, really wants Sookie dead.
After a late-night spent with a preview copy, What’s Up! asked Harris five questions:
Q. I’m curious about how “Dead Reckoning” reflects your life. I wonder if there are people you love reflected in Sookie, in her grandmother, in Bill, in Dermot, in Sam?
A. Certainly there are aspects of people I love (and some people I really dislike) in the characters as I’ve created them. Writers are observers, and we’re all affected by what we observe. I’m glad to say that “Dead Reckoning” doesn’t reflect my actual life at all!
Q. How do you begin to write a fight scene like the one at the Fangtasia? Do you diagram? Do you have consultants who are trained in fighting?
A. I wouldn’t hesitate to consult a fighter if I needed to, but up until now my imagination has done the job. My former karate instructor gave me a helpful observation: Real fights are usually very short in actual clock time, though they may seem to last forever to the participants. So when I’m writing a fight scene, I have to hold a lot of action in my head at once, and it has to be decisive and drastic.
Q. Why Elvis?
A. It occurred to me that that would explain all the sightings. I decided to go with the idea.
Q. Is there literature from your childhood reflected in your books? Did you love to read about fairies and elves and demons? How did vampires come into your world?
A. Of course, my childhood reading has affected everything I’ve written. I was an early Poe fan, and I loved “Jane Eyre” and all the Jane Austen books. I read a lot of my brother’s action books, too, and the usual Nancy Drew and Trixie Belden books. I’ve always been a voracious reader. I didn’t really think about vampires a lot, since they weren’t such a popular fictional topic then.
Q. Do you have hopes for Sookie to find happiness? Is there a happy ending in your head that she just has to get to? Or is the character shaping her own destiny, so to speak?
A. I have known the way the books will end for quite some time. The clues to it do lie in Sookie’s character. I’m very fond of her, since I’ve lived with her for so long, and I hope readers will be satisfied by what becomes of her.