LOIS TILTON

CarolCastellanos:Do you pattern your characters after any real people?

Lois: No.

CarolCastellanos:What authors do you admire?

Lois: Jane Austen. Patrick O'Brian. Tanith Lee.

CarolCastellanos:What authors or genres do you read?

Lois: I read the genres I write in, which many writers don't. Also history and related subjects. I'm particularly interested in military history.

Actually, I'll read about almost anything, as long as it's good. The more I write, the more I learn, the more I've come to appreciate well-written prose. I have much less tolerance for badly-written stuff these days. I don't read many best-sellers in any genre for that reason.

CarolCastellanos:What do you see yourself doing in 10 years? Do you see yourself ever not writing? What books do you have planned in the near future?

Lois: I'd be surprised if I were still writing in another 10 years. Only the fact that I can't see myself doing anything else, either, keeps me still working on short fiction, since I have no trouble selling it. But I have decided to write no more novels, since it is clear that the editors who buy novels from writers don't want any more of mine.

CarolCastellanos:How did you get started writing, and what age were you?

Lois: When I was young I wrote a little poetry, but fortunately this didn't take. I really started as a science fiction reader, and when I was in my 30s it finally occured to me that I could do this, too. It wasn't quite as easy as it seemed.

CarolCastellanos:Was there any author or authors that helped you get your in start writing, or helped you break into the field?

Lois: No.

CarolCastellanos:What do you feel makes your books unique or stand out from others in your genre?

Lois: I think each of my books is unique. I don't like to write the same thing in the same way, over again. My SF is quite different from my fantasy, for example. Each work demands its own voice.

Of my current books, DARKSPAWN is quite unique in that it's really the first novel to place a vampire into a heroic, epic fantasy story, the first vampire war-lord. The world is a creation I'm proud of, with its own history and religions, although there are certainly echoes of our own world's history.

CarolCastellanos:What made you choose the genres you write?

Lois: I write in the genres that I always liked to read.

CarolCastellanos:Do you have a favorite place you like to write?

Lois: I can really only write in my own office, in front of the computer. I think at some point my brain got grafted to the keyboard.

CarolCastellanos:In what order do you write? For example starting beginning to end, combining parts, in random order or in development cycle?

Lois: Almost always from beginning to end.

CarolCastellanos:Do you feel that the e-books afford authors a bit more freedom of expression in their books?

Lois: Not really. People are always quite free to express themselves; the trick is to get someone else to read one's self-expression, and e-books aren't particularly good at that.

CarolCastellanos:What do you feel is, or isn't being done to promote authors?

Lois: To promote me: damn little.

CarolCastellanos:Do you feel that the marketing departments have their finger on the pulse of readers?

Lois: [sound of hollow laughter]

CarolCastellanos:How do you feel about reviews rating system?

Lois: Not much. Who are these anonymous people doing the rating and what criteria are they basing their ratings on?

CarolCastellanos:Through what venues do you feel most of your books are being sold?

Lois: Currently, since no bookstores are stocking them, my books are being sold entirely online.

CarolCastellanos:What do you feel is the best part of the publishing industry?

Lois: This is like asking what is the most pleasant aspect of having a case of the plague.

CarolCastellanos:What do you feel needs to be changed about the industry?

Lois: They should publish my books.