An Interview with Jackie Kessler by Chadwick Ginther - Sunday, Jun 14, 2009 at 10:42am Fantasy author Jackie Kessler was kind enough to answer a few questions in an email interview about her latest book Black and White (co-authored with Caitlin Kittredge), comics, and her Hell on Earth series.

CG: Can you tell our readers a little about your writing process? What kind of changes did collaborating on Black and White necessitate in your regular routine?

JK: I tend to write very linearly -- start with A, finish with Z, and don't skip around. (Well, except for the times when I do.) And usually, I don't work on more than one project at a time. But writing Black and White sort of blew all of that out of the water. In terms of changes to the regular routine? For one thing, it was neat to write only half of a book and still have a completed product! **grin**

CG: How was the writing split for Black and White? Of the two protagonists, Jet and Iridium, was one character more the responsibility of one writer?

JK: I wrote in the Jet POV chapters, and Caitlin wrote the Iridium POV chapters. We'd switch back and forth; Caitlin kicked it off by writing the prologue and the first chapter, then she emailed me the file. I wrote the next chapter and emailed it back to her. She wrote the next chapter, and so on.

While I have creative control of my chapters and vice versa, I have creative control of Jet, and Caitlin has creative control of Iridium. So even when Iri appears in a Jet POV chapter, Caitlin can change the Iri scenes if I write Iri in a way that isn't true to the character -- and vice versa.

All in all, it really was a very smooth process. Caitlin was terrific to work with. And we wrote the book fast -- about 10 weeks from start to finish. (See the previous comment about writing only half of a book!)

CG: The book's heroine Jet, in particular, seems to have a real Silver Age comic book feel to her dialogue while on the job. Was it your intention to invoke any particular era of comics writing?

JK: Heh, I'm so glad you picked up on that. Jet is a by-the-book hero, down to her public dialogue. Her internal and off-duty/non-public dialogue are very different than the "No need to worry, citizen" speeches. Part of that is a nod to the superheroes of yore -- I think Iridium even compares Jet to Superman at one point, along the lines of "Everything's a Superman for her."

But part of that is Jet's way of coping with her severe insecurity and her various fears. Well-founded fears, might I add. (Hey, no one said the heroes of yore had it too easy. And neither do heroes of today.)

CG: Now that you've written prose superheroes, would you like to try your hand at writing comic books themselves?

JK: I would LOVE to write comic books. That actually had been a dream job of mine when I was a kid -- write and draw comics. My parents even took me on a tour of Marvel Comics. And my bat mitzvah present? X-Men numbers 94-100 in mint condition. (Best parents ever!!!) CG: A number of fantasy authors have seen their work adapted into comic form lately. Is there any chance readers will see an Icarus Project comic or graphic novel? What about your Hell on Earth series?

JK: Hey, there's always a chance. **grin**

CG: Are the distinctions between Paranormal Romance and Urban Fantasy something you are concerned with?

JK: I think "concerned" is too strong a word. However, there are important distinctions between the two subgenres. Most important is the word "romance" that appears on the spine. If it's a paranormal romance, it's going to (most likely) be shelved in the Romance section of the bookstore, and that means readers are going to (most likely) expect the book to be a romance, complete with a Happily Ever After ending in which the hero and heroine ride (or fly) off into the sunset. If it's an urban fantasy, the question is less "how will the hero and heroine get to the end to get their Happily Ever After?" and more of "will the hero and heroine survive to the end of the book?" (Lots of monsters think heroes and heroines are very tasty after-dinner treats.)

In my opinion, if a book is not a romance, it should not have the "paranormal romance" label on the spine of the book. Period. The unfortunate truth is that many authors have no control over how their book is classified, let alone what appears on the cover.

My third Hell novel, Hotter Than Hell, is classified as a paranormal romance. But it's really a dark paranormal love story. There's no traditional Happily Ever After. (Sorry.) I have an author's note at the end of the book about that, and I have a "No traditional HEA" warning up on my website about it. While I've gotten many positive messages about the story and the ending, I've also read comments from readers who were horribly disappointed because they had expected a traditional HEA. The word "romance" on the spine brings a whole set of expectations to readers. The same can be said for all genre fiction.

That being said, the boundaries between paranormal romance and urban fantasy continue to blur. Romance, or at least romantic tension, is becoming more and more common in urban fantasy. And the world building in some paranormal romance just blows me away.

Whew. Did I prattle on with this answer, or what?

CG: Your Hell on Earth series features a Hell with districts named after each of the Seven Deadly Sins of Christianity. Did the Underworlds of any other mythologies influence the series?

JK: I did a lot of Hell research when I was creating that particular universe. There are nods in there to Dante and Milton, as well as Gaiman, and a lot of Christian and Jewish influences. When I was researching various demons (rock on, Wikipedia!), I picked names that either sounded right or whose meanings worked for me. The idea of Lucifer -- of Satan -- not as an adversary in the antagonistic sense but in more of a devil's advocate sense was very important.

CG: Can you tell our readers a little about what they can expect to see from you next?

JK: I have a YA novel coming out in fall 2010. Hunger is about an anorexic teenage girl who becomes the new Famine of the Horsemen of the Apocalypse. It's a very hard look at eating disorders, and a portion of proceeds will be donated to the National Eating Disorders Association to help raise awareness.

CG: Finally, I have to ask, if you had powers do you think you'd be the superhero or the supervillain? And what would be your dream power?

JK: Heh. While I'd love to be the supervillain, because let's face it -- evil is so cool -- I'm pretty sure I'd actually be the superhero. Damned ethics. **grin** As for my dream power? I'd love to be taller!

Categories: Interview, Authors, SciFi & Fantasy, Romance

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