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Bookday for Jim Hines, with Interview
Today is release day for Jim C. Hines' Goblin War! It's the third and final book in his Goblin trilogy, which started with Goblin Quest and continued in Goblin Hero. ![[info]](http://p-stat.livejournal.com/img/userinfo.gif)
jimhines is the kind of guy who doesn't mind laughing at himself or his darlings. To wit, the man willingly endorsed (nay, created!) a contest for people who wanted to LOLfiti his new book. The result?
Here's Jim himself, answering some questions I threw at him the other day about his goblins, goblins in the media, and odds and ends about writing fantasy and science fiction...
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What's in store for Jim C. Hines after Goblin War has swept the awards and you've declared yourself King of the World?
Jim: My first act as king will be to make someone come fix the counter behind our kitchen sink. The water damage is getting nasty back there. Writing-wise, once Goblin War is out, I'll be devoting my time to a new series of butt-kicking fairy tale princess books. The first one, The Stepsister Scheme, should be out in early 2009. These books will surpass even my Nobel prize-winning goblin tomes, propelling me to galactic levels of fame and glory. But despite it all, my children will still roll their eyes at me and tell me I'm crazy.
Have you had any interest yet for Goblin adaptations, on stage or screen? Would you consider writing the screenplay for Jig's cinematic debut?
Jim: When Goblin Quest first came out from Five Star, back before DAW picked it up, a copy somehow managed to make its way into the hands of someone from Dreamworks. Don't ask me how that happened. But he liked it, and I'm told the book went all the way to a meeting among the Dreamworks folks, who decided it was too close in tone to the Shrek movies. It's one of those stories that makes me simultaneously proud and bitter. (You think it's coincidence that the ogres in book two have such a hard time of it?)
How would you feel about seeing Jig on the Wii, XBOX 360, or PS3?
Jim: I would describe it as freaking awesome. Particularly the Wii. I want a chance to flail about with those controllers like a panicked goblin.
What do you like most about writing fantasy with humor?
Jim: I get a huge kick out of making my wife laugh when she's reading one of my books. And there's the sheer glee that comes from sitting at the computer thinking, "I'm getting paid to write about a nose-picking injury. I have the best job in the world!"
Why did the goblin cross the cavern?
Jim: Better to cross a cavern than to cross Golaka the chef. Really, most goblin behavior is motivated by one of two things: killing things, and avoiding being killed.
What one piece of advice would you give to aspiring fantasy writers?
Jim: I think the best advice I ever received was someone telling me it's okay to write crap. I can't count the number of stories I started but didn't finish because I decided they were crap. The thing is, most first drafts are crap, and that's okay. If you saw the early versions of Goblin Hero or Goblin War, you'd kick me right off your blog. Giving myself permission to screw up takes away so much pressure and allows me to experiment and try new things. Sometimes they fail, but sometimes I end up with a story I really love. And the best thing about writing is that you can always revise. If the words on the page aren't right, you go back and change them.
Any easter eggs in Goblin War? Tips on what we should watch out for?
Jim: There are references to both J. R. R. Tolkien and Shel Silverstein. The latter was particularly fun to write. Oh, and the crest the humans wear on their tabards is based on the one my Russian publisher uses for their fantasy line.
Are there any connections between the Goblin universe and your upcoming Stepsister books?
Jim: The Stepsister Scheme includes a brief scene with a goblin named Diglet. There's no official connection between the books, but I like to think of Diglet as a very distant descendant of Jig Dragonslayer. They're certainly kindred spirits, even if there's no canonical relationship.
Everyone's writing YA these days. Do you think the Goblin books are a good point of entry for new fantasy readers? Will you ever write anything explicitly targeted to the YA market?
Jim: Years ago, I wrote a few short stories for a YA magazine called Spellbound. For the most part though, I write for me. I first started writing about goblin underdogs because that's the story I wanted to read. Same thing with the princess books. Of course, there are those who would argue that I've got a 12-year-old sense of humor, and that writing for myself is pretty much the same thing as writing for YA....
What stupid blunder do most new writers tend to make?
Jim: Looking at my own stupid blunders ... you only want one? Let's go with impatience. Twice now, I've leapt in to sign a book deal rather than waiting and working to find something better, and both times I'm pretty sure I could have done better for myself and for those books. I think the waiting is one of the hardest things about being a writer. It took me ten years of practice to get to the point where I could sell to some of the pro markets. Ten very long, very frustrating years. Waiting for publishers and agents to get back to you is even worse. Unfortunately, it's how things work, especially for new writers. We've just got to keep submitting, keep waiting, keep learning, and most important of all, keep writing.
Do you agree with the folks out there who say that most, if not all, of your profits from your early fiction sales should go to publicity?
Jim: Depends on your profits. If you get a $1 advance from a certain scam publisher, you're going to need to put all of that and a lot more into getting the word out about your book. For most authors though, I think we're limited in how much we can do and how effective our efforts are going to be. DAW can publicize the goblin books much better than I ever could, because they have professional publicists, marketing folks, designers, and so on working for them. That said, I still do my share of promotion. I've probably put between 5% and 10% of each advance into things like bookmarks, tattoos, and other goblin goodies. If you count conventions as promo, you should bump that to at least 20%. Your mileage will vary, of course. There are some authors out there with the golden touch when it comes to marketing. But I think the best promotion any author can do for his or her book is to write the next one.
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And there you have it, folks! Jim C. Hines, author and goblin impresario. Want to get a taste of Goblin War before you plunk down your hard-earned ducats? Read a sample.
