John Stephens
About Author
John Stephens is an American writer and television producer. He spent ten years working as a screenwriter and director for programmes including The O.C. and Gilmore Girls. He was also executive producer of Gossip Girl and has said, "My years in television gave me a great deal of experience writing evil, heartless teenage girls. It's well known in Hollywood that if you want someone to write a conniving, back-biting seventeen-year-old, you get John Stephens on the phone."
He is now the author of the trilogy, The Books of Beginning. The first book in the series, The Emerald Atlas, was published in 2011 and the second book, The Fire Chronicles, was published in 2012.
Interview
THE FIRE CHRONICLE
PUBLISHED BY DOUBLEDAY
DECEMBER 2012
The Fire Chronicle is the second book in The Books of Beginning series, which started with The Emerald Atlas. The Emerald Atlas is focused on Kate, the oldest of three siblings, and her search for the magical book of time. The latest story is about her younger brother, Michael and his search for the Fire Chronicle.
In the latest adventure, we see Michael confront elves, trolls and even a volcano to uncover the whereabouts of the magical book, the Fire Chronicle.
Author John Stephens tells us more.
Q: How hard was it for you to switch your focus from Kate in The Emerald Atlas to her brother, Michael, in this story?
A: I found it quite difficult because I felt I had got to know Kate so well. Also Michael was hard because he is closer to my own personality and shares my disinclination to look at my emotions. In the end I found I was forced to think about my own issues; that was key to getting the book done.
This book is much more emotional than Emerald Atlas, which was more of an adventure, and Fire Chronicle was harder to write for that reason.
Q: What does Michael learn in his journey to find the Fire Chronicle?
A: For me, Michael was the character that was lacking 'life spark' so I needed to build that up for him during his adventures. Fire Chronicle is focused on the idea of empathy and I wanted him to understand the emotions of others.
Q: What do you enjoy about writing a series rather than a one-off book?
A: I found that when you finish one book you are ready to start on the next and you have a treasure trove of ideas that you know you will use. The overall story has a trajectory so you are exploring new territory but you know something of the landscape before you begin.
Also I am used to writing serialised stories as I used to write for television for programmes like Gossip Girls, so I know how to keep the same story going and it felt like second nature to me when I started on these books. But even though it is a series I want each book to be a complete emotional experience, even if the plot line continues.
Q: Does that mean someone can read this book even if they haven't read book one, The Emerald Atlas?
A: Children have told me that after reading this book that they will go back and read Emerald Atlas! So you can read this book on its own, although you might enjoy it more after you have read the first one.
I put a lot of information into the first chapter of The Fire Chronicle in case people don't remember what happened in the first book, or haven't yet read it.
Q: The book follows two separate story lines - was it hard to structure it?
A: We follow what is happening between Kate and a boy called Rafe that she meets in another time, and then Michael and Emma as they try to locate the Fire Chronicle, before they all meet each other at the end. I actually wrote each story line separately before I wove them together as chapters.
Q: The magic in these books sits very close to the real world, do you like that idea?
A: In the story, you have a time when the magical world and real worlds literally lived side by side so trolls and dwarfs rubbed shoulders with humans, but that changed in 1899 when the two worlds 'separated'. That part was a lot of fun to write and I really enjoyed the idea of magic and reality existing alongside each other.
Q: Your character Michael doesn't like Elves much - what about you?
A: I ended up writing quite a bit about elves in this book and they were much funnier than I expected! This section got longer and longer because elves tend to rabbit on a bit....
I actually feel a great affection for the elves in my book but the elves in other books are so serious and humourless that I don't. I knew that if I was going to write about elves, I had to create elves that I could enjoy!
Q: You have a big battle scene in this book - was it hard to write?
A: It was difficult to keep the battle scene moving very quickly but also keeping the emotional attachment going. Writing a battle scene is a bit like doing maths, not just in the numbers but in making it a proper battle scene as well. I didn't just want people being chopped into pieces and you don't see a lot of that!
Also, once the battle started, I realised I didn't know how I was going to get my main characters out of there. It wasn't until I was half way through writing it that I realised I even had an exit strategy!
Q: Can you tell us more about the bad guy, Dire Magnus?
A: He is that kind of archetypal evil character and it was hard trying to make him something so I had to work on what it was about his true nature, his personality, that sets him apart. He has lived a long, long time but we find out more about him and what drives him in book three.
Q: So what can we expect to happen in book three?
A: It opens with Emma, the youngest sibling, in the power of the bad guys and her brother and sister are trying to liberate her. I am in the process of writing it and have a huge chunk of the draft done, but things always chop and change before I finish it.
Q: There is a prophecy that once the children have found the three books, they will die - have you plotted the actual ending yet?
A: I have, yes, because I didn't want to write myself into a complete corner....
Q: Where do you like to do your writing?
A: My preferred writing place is in my office at home but I don't mind writing on the road, I have done a lot of it when I was writing film scripts - but it's harder to write with jet lag!
