Interviews

Author Brandon Mull writes the wonderful children’s series Fablehaven. The fourth book in the series, Fablehaven: Secrets if the Dragon Sanctuary, releases tomorrow in bookstores! SciFiChick.com recently had the chance to interview the author to discuss his latest release and upcoming endeavors.

In Fablehaven: Secrets if the Dragon Sanctuary, readers get a look at an entirely different sanctuary for magical creatures. Where do you get your ideas for your unique characters in Fablehaven?

Most of the creatures at Fablehaven and the other magical wildlife parks in the books come from different myths and legends. I borrow from Greek mythology, German and Scandinavian folklore, even Native American legends. My job as the author is to take these somewhat familiar creatures like dragons, trolls, fairies, centaurs, etc., and decide how they will behave in my books. Bringing the magical creatures to life, giving them personalities and establishing rules to help explain their natures and behavior is a blast.

Of course, not all of the characters are magical creatures. A good writer is usually a good observer, so I often create my characters using observations I’ve made of people around me. I’m not trying to transplant people I know onto the page, but rather take personality traits or quirks and combine them into new characters. And yes, part of it I simply invent. The goal is interesting, relatable characters.

There are some big secrets and twists in the book. Have you had those planned out from the beginning?

Most of the big twists are planned from the start. That way I can offer early clues. I love when a twist in book 4 can shed new light back on events in book 2 and 3. To me, those complicated set-ups and pay-offs help make stories feel deeply imagined.

According to Fablehaven: Secrets if the Dragon Sanctuary, the series will conclude with the next book. Can you tell us anything about it?

Book 5 will be called Keys of the Demon Prison. That’s all I’m revealing so far. I can say I have the story planned, and I’ve started writing it. Expect a fun, exciting conclusion.

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Here’s the latest conference call transcript with Tricia Helfer, who has a reoccurring role as Carla on Burn Notice.

Watch the Burn Notice Season 2 Finale on Thursday, March 5th at 10pm/9c on USA NETWORK! In the explosive season finale, Michael learns some surprising facts about Victor’s past, and is forced to take on Carla in a final showdown.

When you joined the cast of Burn Notice, was there instant chemistry when everyone came together, or did it take some time to develop?

T. Helfer I’d say there was instant chemistry, but it was really only, I really only worked with Jeffrey Donovan. I met Gabrielle and I met Bruce and worked with him a little bit. Bruce is just such an easy going guy it’s impossible not to get along with him, and Gabrielle is really sweet. Jeffrey had actually emailed me prior to going down there the first time to welcome me and say he was excited that I was joining the show. So I went down knowing it was going to be a great cast to work with and they didn’t let me down, they were just really wonderful to work with.

What have you found the most challenging aspect of your role as Carla?

T. Helfer I think the most challenging aspect was actually similar to sort of the first question about Battlestar, it’s kind of not knowing the end. With Carla, I didn’t know who Carla worked for. I didn’t know who management was the entire time I filmed, so you’re just kind of filling in the blanks yourself, but at the same time you don’t really want to say, okay, this is who it is or make too strong of a back story yourself in case it is revealed. But that I’d say was the hardest thing is Carla being pretty much as elusive to me as the actor as she is to the audience.

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SciFiChick.com recently interviewed Anton Strout, author of Dead To Me (2008) and Deader Still, coming February 24th.

Can you tell us a bit about Simon Canderous?

Anton Strout: I could, but then the Department of Extraordinary Affairs might send someone after me. Let’s see.. he’s just this guy with a retractable steel bat who wants to do good. Oh, and when he touches things, he can read the history of them. It’s called psychometry, and in Deader Still, he’s a bit better at it than he had been in the previous book. He was a psychometric hot mess in that one.

Where do you get your ideas for your characters?

AS: I think most are an amalgam of various traits I pick up from everything I read, watch or do. For instance, there are elements of the Simonverse that are very much inspired by Joss Whedon and his characters. I like that level of humor laughing in the face of danger simply because the only other path would lead to madness. Bits of people I know, things that I find fascinating in them, get fed into my characters and their personalities. To be particular, Simon comes from a story within John Irving’s The World According to Garp. It’s about a man who has magic gloves that let him fix the world, but he can’t feel anything. Something about that was so bitter and poetic, I had to explore the idea myself and what came out of that was Simon.

Who would you choose to play your characters in a film version of your novels?

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