This page is where I am putting the transcripts from 2007 and earlier.<\/p>\n
By the way, it may be quicker to read these transcripts rather than viewing\/listening, but if you have the time I highly recommend you view\/listen as well as read.\u00a0 They say some large (IMO usually arbitrary) percentage of communication is actually contained in the tone of a voice and such, and in these cases, I’d say that a percentage of the\u00a0fun<\/em>\u00a0is distilled out when you only enjoy these in text rather than viewing\/listening.<\/p>\n 2006 Buzzy Multimedia Interview<\/a><\/strong> *Terry Bane<\/a>\u00a0introduces herself and Jim Butcher for the Buzzy Media Interview*<\/em><\/p>\n Terry: \u00a0Okay, I just wanna say I finished reading\u00a0Proven Guilty<\/em>\u00a0just a while ago and I have a real quick question before the serious interview: \u00a0“Justin’s behind everything, isn’t he?”<\/strong> Terry: \u00a0Dead, dead?<\/strong> Terry: \u00a0Very dead?<\/strong> Terry: \u00a0Are you ever gonna change your answer, dead?<\/strong> Terry: \u00a0Alright:<\/strong> Terry: \u00a0What was your reaction when you heard that James Marsters, better known as Spike of the Buffy and Angel series was going to be the voice for your books?<\/strong> Terry: \u00a0Do you like the way he’s doing the voices and giving different personalities to the characters.<\/strong> Terry: \u00a0Awesome. \u00a0What characters, if any, did you pull on from personal people in your life, like for instance is how close are Frost and Mouse to each other?<\/strong> Terry: \u00a0How do you flesh out a story, what’s your writing process?<\/strong> Terry: \u00a0 Now, this January, the Dresden Files made it to SciFi channel as a TV series, did you get to visit the set and take a look around?<\/strong> Terry: \u00a0Like three times, maybe… *smiles*<\/strong> Terry: \u00a0Who do you read, when you’re not writing?<\/strong> Terry: \u00a0What do you hope your readers take away from your books?<\/strong> Terry: \u00a0Oh, it’s awesome, I read them. \u00a0Honestly, when your books come out, if they came out at the same time as Harry Potter, I would automatically go to your book first. \u00a0I think your books are just a bigger world, a richer world to me.<\/strong> Terry: \u00a0I seriously relate to the characters better. \u00a0No, not me, seriously, I’m not just saying it. \u00a0I just…honest to god truth. \u00a0Where do you see your writing going in the future…like are there more Harry books coming up? \u00a0Are you going to finish up the fantasy series?<\/strong> Terry: \u00a0Alright. \u00a0Which character do you think, in the Dresden series, is the hardest one for you to write. \u00a0Like who’s the hardest mind to get in and out of?<\/strong> Terry: \u00a0And um, real fast, we heard that Sharon, your wife, has a book coming out next year?<\/strong> Terry: \u00a0Okay, do you wanna give us a name and release date, a little information about that?<\/strong> Terry: \u00a0Excellent, excellent. \u00a0And last question, just for fun. \u00a0Does Harry dress left or right?<\/strong> *Interview wraps up with a thank you to Jim for taking the time to talk*<\/em><\/p>\n 2007 FictionRight Interview with JB and his wife Shannon<\/a><\/strong> Part 1<\/strong><\/p>\n *FictionRight.coms intro of Alan Lickiss interviewing Jim & Shannon Butcher @ the Pike’s Peak Writers Workshop*<\/em><\/p>\n Alan: \u00a0Rather than giving a lot of introduction in my words I’d like to hear from their own words: \u00a0‘Who is Jim Butcher’ & ‘Who is Shannon Butcher’?<\/strong> Shannon<\/span>: \u00a0Lots.<\/p>\n Jim<\/span>: \u00a0Yeah, many books, several books, with more coming. \u00a0So I’m busy working and people seem to be having a good time and that’s pretty much what I do.<\/p>\n Shannon<\/span>: \u00a0And I’m Shannon Butcher. \u00a0I write romantic suspense for Warner which is now Grand Central Publishing. \u00a0I was an engineer, always wanted to be an engineer, and writing was kinda this detour that was unexpected, but wonderfully fun, and you know Jim taught me the craft and then I kinda figured out that writing was a lot like legos and I always liked legos. \u00a0So now I play with writing.<\/p>\n Alan: \u00a0Thank you. \u00a0You mentioned, Shannon, that Jim got you writing. \u00a0Can you tell us how that went about?<\/strong> Alan: \u00a0Came to the darkside, huh?<\/strong> Alan: \u00a0And Jim, you mentioned you were a nerd that started writing. \u00a0What caused you to start writing?<\/strong> Alan: \u00a0Well, I think a lot of authors go through that same experience, you don’t see the overnight successes that people\u00a0think<\/em>\u00a0you see. \u00a0Someone has a novel come out and it goes really big but it’s been 10 years in the making. \u00a0A lot of times….<\/strong> Alan: \u00a0But it sounds like for both of you…is that you’ve started out with novels, that you didn’t go the short story route?<\/strong> Alan: \u00a0They are?<\/strong> Alan: \u00a0What you said is very true, they’re two different entities, novels and short stories, and if you really want to write novels even though you can hone your craft faster on a short story, you learn to write something different.<\/strong> Alan: \u00a0What were your influences, who did you like to read when you were getting started?<\/strong> Jim<\/span>: \u00a0Me personally, one of the writers that was very influential when I got started was Laurel K Hamilton. \u00a0I got done reading ‘Guilty Pleasures’ the year it was released in ’93 and said “Wow, this author really had a lot of fun writing this book”. \u00a0It wasn’t until years later that I actually tried writing something that was sorta in the same vein, I was only writing “swords and horses fantasy” as I always like to call it, that’s what I want to write “swords and horses fantasy”. \u00a0So, authors in that genre that I loved reading were Tolkien and David Eddings, Lloyd Alexander’s “Prydain” novels which were actually young adult novels but are still very good books. \u00a0“The Chronicles of Narnia” of course, by CS Lewis, and then kinda the bigger books that are out like, um, Elfstones, the Shannara books. \u00a0Robert Jordan’s books, which I read for a while – until it became to much of a history lesson to catch up on the last book, you know, the last 5 books when he released the new one, it had been 5 years since I’ve looked at them. \u00a0But those were the authors I was looking at when I was getting started.<\/p>\n Alan: \u00a0How about now, do you have anyone that you favor, that you like to read because you maybe learn something of their works, from reading their works, or…?<\/strong> Shannon<\/span>: \u00a0You don’t see the strings attached.<\/p>\n Jim<\/span>: \u00a0Yeah, yes, it’s watching the production from the audience versus seeing it from backstage, and if I’ve gotta watch a book from the wings I don’t have as much fun as the people who’re sitting out front. \u00a0So I much prefer those others, like um, Lois Bujold does that for me a lot. \u00a0I, uh, professionally speaking, I wanna have Lois’s babies. \u00a0And then, I think to pick up new authors, Naomi Novik, I’ve really enjoyed lately. \u00a0Robert B Parker of the Spenser novels, I have to reread those at least once a year…those are probably the 3 big ones lately. \u00a0I always forget somebody who’s really important and then kick myself later, but that just happens every time, so…<\/p>\n Alan: \u00a0How about you, Shannon, in the realm of romantic suspense?<\/strong> Alan: \u00a0Ah, a treat for when you get to a point that you’ve done?<\/strong> Alan: \u00a0Are you like Jim that you like to be able to not see the strings?<\/strong> Alan: \u00a0You referred to those ‘second-read’ books, you read it the first time and really enjoyed it but you have to read it again to see “how’d they do that?”<\/strong> Jim<\/span>: \u00a0Exactly.<\/p>\n Alan: \u00a0What is your favorite part about writing? \u00a0There’s this whole huge process that goes into this, what do you like the most?<\/strong> Alan: \u00a0Cashing the checks…<\/strong>\u00a0*laughs*<\/em> Shannon<\/span>: \u00a0I really like the first draft, you know. \u00a0To just…I kinda go psycho when I’m writing the first draft and I do it 12-16 hour a day, every day, until it’s done. \u00a0I love that kind of…living in that creative world, you know, where my brain is all being on the right hand side and happy. \u00a0That’s probably my favorite part. \u00a0And then there’s\u00a0revisions…Dun, dun, dun…<\/em><\/p>\n Jim<\/span>: \u00a0Dun, dun, dun…<\/p>\n Alan: \u00a0I’m curious, how much you work – you write in different realms, how much do you help Jim<\/span>: \u00a0Yeah.<\/p>\n Alan: \u00a0What she said?<\/strong> Shannon<\/span>: \u00a0Yeah. \u00a0We wouldn’t know how to split the money in the divorce, so…<\/p>\n Jim<\/span>: \u00a0Yeah, exactly.<\/p>\n Shannon<\/span>: \u00a0It’s easier this way.<\/p>\n Jim<\/span>: \u00a0Yep.<\/p>\n *laughter*<\/em><\/p>\n Alan: \u00a0I noticed Jim that on your website that you have a podcast, can you tell our listeners about that?<\/strong> Shannon<\/span>: \u00a0Yay!<\/p>\n Jim<\/span>: \u00a0Yeah, and so, Fred has the podcast that he runs and Fred is one of these guys who is just\u00a0manic<\/em>\u00a0obsessive about everything he’s doing, so you know, every once in a while he’ll cycle around and\u00a0this<\/em>\u00a0time out it’ll be the podcast he’ll be manic obsessive about and\u00a0next<\/em>\u00a0time it’ll be back to the game manic obsessive, or back to the website – manic obsessive about that. \u00a0And he get’s a ferocious and fearsome amount of work done when he does that. \u00a0Lately, it’s the podcasts has been the new thing, so he’s put out several issues of the podcast with the (tv) show coming out and there’s been a big insurge of new fans, so he wanted to have something there that would be for all the folks that were new, something immediately available for them to kinda get into and listen to. \u00a0I’ve been on an issue or two talking about the show and he’s gone and talked to other folks and artists and some of his fellow gaming authors who are putting together the game … and so that’s “The Butcher Block” and you can find it at jim-butcher.com.<\/p>\n Alan: \u00a0We’ll be posting a link on our podcast website.<\/strong> 2007 FictionRight Interview with JB and his wife Shannon…continued<\/a><\/strong> Part 2<\/strong><\/p>\n Alan: \u00a0Actually, ’cause you mentioned the show and I’m sure a lot of people are interested, I’m curious. \u00a0Did Hollywood come to you or did your agent seek them out?<\/strong> Alan: \u00a0So do you have any involvement with the tv show?<\/strong> Alan:<\/strong>\u00a0*laughs*<\/em>\u00a0\u00a0I’ll have to go back and look for that.<\/strong> Alan: \u00a0Now, Jim’s\u00a0way<\/em>\u00a0too calm about this and I have to ask Shannon…so how far off the floor was he when the deal went through and they started doing all this stuff?<\/strong> Jim<\/span>: \u00a0Yes, I celebrated all my small triumphs when I was trying to get out and when I was trying to become a writer. \u00a0You know, I’d get a manuscript done and say “Let’s go to Burger King” ’cause that’s what we could afford. \u00a0So now it’s like “Hey, you’ve got a tv show” \/ “Let’s go to Burger King” you know? \u00a0I’m a creature of habit. \u00a0I probably should have been bouncing up and down many of these times but it’s always just been so…<\/p>\n Shannon<\/span>: \u00a0You’re too tired…<\/p>\n Jim<\/span>: \u00a0Yeah, really, of late, it really has been. \u00a0“You’ve made the NY Times bestseller list, how’re you gonna celebrate?” \/ “I’m gonna go home and put on my jammies and not take them off all day, that’s how I’m going to celebrate. \u00a0I’m exhausted from this tour.”<\/p>\n Alan: Okay, I’d like to close up by asking about your current projects. \u00a0I know that your 9th Dresden book is out, it just came out in hardback, your Alera series you have your 4th book is coming out in December…and Shannon, you’ve got 3 novels from your…I didn’t notice if they were a series…?<\/strong> Jim<\/span>: \u00a0She’s got a bent and twisted mind for the supernatural bad guy and I want to steal them and she won’t let me…<\/p>\n Shannon<\/span>: \u00a0Nope, you can’t have them, they’re mine, mine, mine…<\/p>\n Jim<\/span>: \u00a0Yep.<\/p>\n Alan:<\/strong>\u00a0\u00a0*laughs*<\/em>\u00a0\u00a0Jim, any current projects that you’re currently working on, aside from the tour?<\/strong> Alan: \u00a0Excellent.<\/strong> Jim<\/span>: \u00a0Yeah, I had to stop. \u00a0I had to stop the book with my hero having ejected from his ship whose core was about to explode, with a bad guy chasing him, in a decaying orbit over the surface of the moon, with a solar flare coming on that would roast him…and he’s been there for like two years…you know, just because I had to stop to be working on other stuff and so everybody’s screaming at me like “Jim, hurry up and get him out of orbit!”<\/p>\n Shannon<\/span>: \u00a0Yeah, I don’t even\u00a0like<\/em>\u00a0science fiction and it’s awesome. \u00a0It’s very cool.<\/p>\n Alan: \u00a0Any last words you’d care to share with the listeners?<\/strong> Alan: \u00a0That’s good, that’s fine. \u00a0I know you’ve covered a lot of ground and I know sometimes you’ll do a lot of interviews but there’s always a question you want to get asked but no one ever asks you.<\/strong> Jim<\/span>: \u00a0Right. \u00a0Well for the folks who are reading, who are the aspiring writers, “Write, write, write!” \u00a0Sometimes it takes a long time to get in, it took me nearly 10 years. \u00a0 I had to get all Captain Ahab about the whole thing. \u00a0Whatever it takes to keep yourself motivated, do it. \u00a0Get in there and keep going. \u00a0Writing is really one of those deals where you’re not really competing with the other established authors who’re out there, because the publishers have to put out new authors every year, because if they don’t they’ll run out of authors. \u00a0So really, you only have to compete with the other noobies. \u00a0It’s one of those situations where you and a friend are both running away from the bear and the friend says “We’re never gonna outrun the bear” and you say “I don’t\u00a0have<\/em>\u00a0to outrun the bear, I just have to outrun\u00a0you<\/em>“. \u00a0And really, that’s the kind of situation new authors are in, so if you hang in there long enough, keep honing your skills long enough, eventually you’ll be better than the other noobies who are coming out that year. \u00a0So…hang in there. \u00a0Keep practicing. \u00a0Keep writing.<\/p>\n Shannon<\/span>: \u00a0And the other benefit of writing a lot, which is kinda unexpected, is that you know, if you get rejected it doesn’t hurt nearly as much to get rejected on a book if you’ve got 3 more in the wings that you’re working on. \u00a0So that’s kind of a nice benefit to high quantities of output.<\/p>\n *Interview wraps up with Alan thanking Jim and Shannon*<\/em><\/p>\n 2007 Dragon Page interview with JB<\/a>\u00a0 Part 1<\/strong>2006 Buzzy Multimedia Interview<\/strong><\/a>\u00a0(youtube, well edited)<\/del>\u00a0Blampira
\n2007 FictionRight Interview with JB and his wife Shannon<\/strong><\/a>\u00a0(audio)<\/del>\u00a0Blampira
\n2007 Dragon Page interview<\/strong><\/a>\u00a0audio<\/del>\u00a0Blampira
\n2007 Cinemafreaks interview of JB and Fred Hicks<\/strong><\/a>\u00a0Audio (interview starts at 31:45)<\/p>\n
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\nTranscription by\u00a0Blampira<\/a><\/p>\n
\nJim: \u00a0Justin’s dead…look, look…he’s dead, he’s dead.<\/p>\n
\nJim: \u00a0He’s dead!<\/p>\n
\nJim: \u00a0D-E-D dead.<\/p>\n
\nJim: \u00a0Dead.<\/p>\n
\nJim: \u00a0*rolleyes*<\/em><\/p>\n
\nJim: \u00a0When I first heard that they’d confirmed it, I was on the phone and I pretty much jumped up and down and said “Yay!” \u00a0I did a Snoopy dance, and then learned later that at my age you really oughta stretch out before you do a Snoopy dance.<\/p>\n
\nJim: \u00a0Oh yeah, he does it really well, I really have enjoyed it.<\/p>\n
\nJim: \u00a0Oh, uh, my dog Frost is exactly like Mouse if Frost was huge and uh, really secure. \u00a0Frost is far tinier and he’s totally insecure and uh, he’s paranoid about everything, and he’s soft and fuzzy and useless in a fight, but other than that, he and Mouse are, uh, exactly the same thing.<\/p>\n
\nJim: \u00a0Normally I know where I want…normally I can see what I want the story climax to be ahead of time, so I know more or less where I’m going. \u00a0Normally I have three or four things that I want to be sure I hit\u00a0before<\/em>\u00a0I get to the story climax, and then there’s usually a bunch of little moments that get thrown in that I want, “Oh, I wanna make sure I get\u00a0that<\/em>\u00a0moment in”…You know, I wanna make sure I get that..the guage okay between Thomas and Harry, because that’s the only explanation that possibly makes sense from an outside observer. \u00a0Once I know all those things, then I’ll also have a general idea of what the plot will be and I’ll start figuring out what characters do I need, which of the on going cast will be best suited to showing up and helping. \u00a0Then after that I can design any new characters I need to get going and then start writing.<\/p>\n
\nJim: \u00a0Yes, I did. \u00a0In Toronto. \u00a0It was extremely interesting. \u00a0Although I will say that the movie business has got to be one of the most boring businesses to actually work in, in the whole world. \u00a0Because everytime they film something they have to film it, then they film it again, and then they film it again. \u00a0And then they move all the cameras around…<\/p>\n
\nJim: \u00a0And they film it again and again and again. \u00a0Yeah, like three times maybe. \u00a0And I was there in schedule for like six hours and I got to see them make about 45 seconds of movie. \u00a0It’s like “Oh my goodness, I can’t even imagine!” \u00a0So it was really interesting to get go see, everybody was really nice, I got to meet several of the actors, and the crew and producers and so on, and they just seemed like a really great bunch.<\/p>\n
\nJim: \u00a0Oh, well actually, I have to read while I am writing in order to keep things going, I read all the time. \u00a0Robert B. Parker is one of my favorite authors. \u00a0I really love Glen Cook’s writing. \u00a0Lois Bujold. \u00a0I still go back to the classics…I read Tolkien and David Edding’s ‘The Belgariad’. \u00a0I go back and read ‘The Chronicles of Narnia’ and Lloyd Alexander’s ‘Prydain’ books. \u00a0I still go back to those. \u00a0I loved a lot of the military-esque efforts out these days, John Ringo, David Weber, E.E. Knight. \u00a0I’ve had a good time reading all those authors and I keep up with new authors as well, it’s always great to find somebody. \u00a0The Naomi Novik’s ‘Temeraire’ series, for example, is totally wonderful, I’ve really enjoyed those.<\/p>\n
\nJim: \u00a0Well, I should probably have loftier goals, I should probably be striving for the betterment of the human condition, but mostly I want them to get done reading the book and go “That was great! \u00a0Where’s the next one?” \u00a0I want people to read my stuff and have a good time reading. \u00a0I want them to get to the end of the book and go “Wow, that was a really fun ride”. \u00a0I want folks to be able to escape into my fantasy world and to play the little movie in their head while their reading it and that’s pretty much what I’m looking for. \u00a0I mean, I know I’m writing popcorn, but I’m trying to write the best popcorn that there is.<\/p>\n
\nJim: \u00a0Are you kidding?! \u00a0I’d buy Harry Potter.<\/p>\n
\nJim: \u00a0IF they let me, I’ll write about 20 books in the Dresden Files and then finish it up with a big ole’ Apocalytptic Trilogy. \u00a0Who doesn’t love apocalytic trilogies? \u00a0And I’ve got another 3 books in my fantasy series that I’m doing right now. \u00a0I’ve got a science fiction series that I’m itching to write. \u00a0I’m still developing enough personal management skill to do three books a year, hopefully one day I’ll be able to do that. \u00a0Right now it isn’t working. \u00a0And I’ve also got a number of fantasy series, a got a pretty big epic fantasy series I want to write when I feel I’m a good enough writer to do it. \u00a0So, hopefully I can write a truly epic series. \u00a0The Dresden Files started out as a class project and now it’s this huge thing, it’s my main success. \u00a0I kinda stumbled over it by accident, almost, so I’ve just been a little bit lucky and worked pretty hard. \u00a0Hopefully, I’ll just continue to work as hard as I can and maybe get a little bit lucky and keep going into the future.<\/p>\n
\nJim: \u00a0Oooh, good question! \u00a0The hardest to get into is almost always Murphy. \u00a0Karrin Murphy, you know, is a female cop, and it’s a very different person than I am. \u00a0I’m not especially feminine, perhaps you can tell…*gestures to his beard*<\/em>…and she was always the most difficult for me to get into her head. \u00a0The person who’s the most difficult to get out of though is Bob the Skull, because once I unleash the snark, the inner demon of snark that is Bob the Skull, it’s awfully difficult to get my lips under control, you know, after I get done with it. \u00a0“Maybe I really should be saying that out loud and in public? \u00a0Oh yeah, I better reel back on Bob.” \u00a0It’s always awkward.<\/p>\n
\nJim: \u00a0Shannon, my wife. \u00a0Yes, indeed.<\/p>\n
\nJim: \u00a0Her first book is called “No Regrets”, it’ll be out in February. \u00a0It is a romance\/suspense book, it’s concerning a brave woman being pursued by terrorists because she’s the only one smart enough to unlock this information they need, and a Delta Forces operative who’s trying to protect her. \u00a0I really think she’s going to be bigger in romance than I am in fantasy, she’s a brave woman and a very talented writer.<\/p>\n
\nJim: \u00a0Oh, uh…it depends. \u00a0Before or after his left hand got horribly burned? \u00a0You know, I mean, since then…uh…right. \u00a0![\";)\"](\"http:\/\/www.jimbutcheronline.com\/bb\/Smileys\/default\/wink.gif\" "\\"Wink\\"")
<\/p>\n
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\nTranscription by\u00a0Blampira<\/a>
\nHad to split this interview into Part 1 & Part 2, due to 20,000 character restriction…\u00a0-Blampira<\/sup><\/p>\n
\nJim<\/span>: \u00a0Do we have to answer in third person? \u00a0Can we say I? \u00a0Okay. \u00a0I haven’t yet reached a point where I can talk about myself in third person. \u00a0I’m a gaming nerd who started writing and eventually after about 10 years of trying finally got sold. \u00a0Now I put out a series of books called the Dresden Files and there’s a tv show on SciFi, and I have another series…a more standard fantasy series, it’s out now. \u00a0And I did a Spider Man book too which was enormous fun, so I think I’ve got what, like 11 books out now? \u00a0Something like that…<\/p>\n
\nShannon<\/span>: \u00a0Well, uh, he would be looking at a scene or something and pounding his head against the wall saying “This just isn’t right.” \u00a0And I’d read and go “it looks good to me” and so he’s like, “no, you just don’t know what your’e doing” and I’m like, “well, okay, teach me” ya know? \u00a0If I don’t know what I’m doing, tell me what to do. \u00a0And so he started teaching me writing craft so that I could help him when he got stuck or whatever and eventually it just got to the point where it finally dawned on me that “I” could do this. \u00a0And so I turned the craft around, instead of doing what Jim does, the fantasy and urban fantasy and all that, I write romance because that’s what I dig.<\/p>\n
\nShannon<\/span>: \u00a0Yeah.<\/p>\n
\nJim<\/span>: \u00a0Oh, uh. \u00a0I suppose a couple different things. \u00a0My senior year in high school I was…this is kind of emblematic of me as a kid…I was cool enough to be skipping class, but I was skipping class to go to the library. \u00a0And so I happened to be in the library and Margaret Weis came in and was doing a talk at school and I hadn’t known she was gonna be there, but I was skipping class in the library anyway, so why not? \u00a0And I listened to her talk and thought, this whole writer thing might be a good time. \u00a0And I eventually, uh, when I turned 19, I wrote my first novel and it was terrible. \u00a0That’s alright, I didn’t know it at the time. \u00a0Then I started taking some other classes, I was going to the University of Oklahoma and I started taking some of the professional writing courses that were in their journalism department, you know, that were actually taught by novelists who had many novels to their credit. \u00a0Eventually, I started listening to those people and when I did I finally wrote a pretty decent book. \u00a0That was 7 or 8 novels later though. \u00a0So, you know, I’ve got a whole bunch of books that are uh, I’ve heard them called ‘drawer books’ & ‘garage books’ but I can’t find mine on purpose. \u00a0I suppose if I go raid some old hard drives that are in my computer morgue I might be able to find them, but I don’t know anybody I dislike enough to make read those books. \u00a0Anyway, I kept writing and writing and eventually got my work up to a publishable level and wound up going to a convention not unlike this one, only in Missouri, and hooked up with an agent there and she sold my stuff. \u00a0And that’s pretty much how I got started. \u00a0It took me about 10 years, though, from the time I wrote my first novel to the time that I actually sold something. \u00a0So I’m kinda the little author that could.<\/p>\n
\nJim<\/span>: \u00a0Yeah, exactly. \u00a0I think this year was the first year, if you count all the years from when I started writing, this year was the first year I’ve actually broken minimum wage. \u00a0So, yeah, it took a while to get set up.<\/p>\n
\nJim<\/span>: \u00a0No, no. \u00a0There’s really no…there’s so much less of a market for short stories than there used to be…and it really wasn’t what I wanted to write. \u00a0I’m not very good at writing short stories, they’re almost a totally different medium than novels.<\/p>\n
\nJim<\/span>: \u00a0Well, you have to do everything in a novel that you do in a short story only you have to do it in much less space. \u00a0So you know, I think it’s like trying to learn to dance ballet in a closet. \u00a0You know, it’s a much different thing, much different situation. \u00a0I’m sure there are some good closet ballet dancers but uh, you know, I don’t know of any. \u00a0And I know that I didn’t want to try it. \u00a0But in any case, I went straight with novels and started from there. \u00a0It took a long time to write, I mean, it’s not so much of an investment when you’re learning to write short stories and you write a terrible short story and you go on to the next one and you learn. \u00a0Perhaps that would be the smarter thing and then I wouldn’t have 8 books that I want nobody to ever see ever again.<\/p>\n
\nJim<\/span>: \u00a0It’s true, it’s a different set up.<\/p>\n
\nShannon<\/span>: \u00a0Julie Garwood was the person who made me believe romances rocked. \u00a0I mean, I’d always scoffed at them. \u00a0I started out reading historical romances and then, when I changed over to contemporary romantic suspense, um, a lot of Linda Howard and Elizabeth Lowell, yeah, I love their writing. \u00a0That’s when I got excited and thought “This is what I want to do”.<\/p>\n
\nJim<\/span>: \u00a0Actually, the authors that I love to read now are the ones good enough that I can get into their book and their story without breaking them down. \u00a0It gets really hard to try and enjoy a book when you’re doing a lot of thinking about of “well, how’s the author doing that, let me see, let me take apart how they made this happen” and I much prefer to read a book that is actually a good enough story that I don’t … that I can get out of professional thinking mode.<\/p>\n
\nShannon<\/span>: \u00a0Oh, in romantic suspense I love Suzanne Brockmann and Tara Janzen and Cindy Gerard are some of my favorites. \u00a0I’m also getting into paranormal romance and there I really love JR Ward and Sherrilyn Kenyon and Christine Feehan, some of her stuff is just awesome, so…those are some of the books that I hold as rewards to myself for getting my work done.<\/p>\n
\nShannon<\/span>: \u00a0Yes, exactly.<\/p>\n
\nShannon<\/span>: \u00a0Oh, absolutely. \u00a0If the book isn’t crafted well enough, or if it’s not necessarily my favorite flavor, then I spend too much time thinking about how they wrote it, rather than just enjoying it.<\/p>\n
\nShannon<\/span>: \u00a0Yeah, “how did they\u00a0do<\/em>\u00a0it?” \u00a0Right.<\/p>\n
\nShannon<\/span>: \u00a0Typing “The End!” \u00a0*laughs*<\/em><\/p>\n
\nJim<\/span>: \u00a0Yeah, getting ready to type out “the end” is a great pleasure, \u00a0Planning the book out is a great pleasure for me, I like to put ideas together, and there are many ideas in the books that I get to look forward to, “Oooo, I’ve been looking forward to writing this scene for ‘X’ number of years”, You know in Dead Beat where Harry gets to ride around on a zombie Tyrannosaurus and “Oh! \u00a0I’ve been waiting for\u00a0years<\/em>\u00a0to write\u00a0that<\/em>scene with the T Rex”. \u00a0Well, you know, I really think…how many of us don’t know at least one building that would be better for the introduction of a T Rex through the lobby, you know? \u00a0Perhaps even an entire campus? \u00a0But yeah, I like planning out the big scenes, the ones that I’m looking forward too, the one-liners I’ve been looking forward to delivering in print for a while. \u00a0That’s really kinda my favorite part is actually getting to do those bits that I’ve been wanting to do for a long time.<\/p>\n
\neach other out with plot or revisions, cause you’re one of those rare married couples who both write.<\/strong>
\nShannon<\/span>: \u00a0We swap…I mean, we talk about ideas over dinner and everything, but that’s…it use to be a lot more so, you know, Jim was helping me with my writing and he’d read it and was like, “Well, it was better\u00a0but<\/em>…” you know, but now, we’re both so busy there’s a lot less involvement between our writing than there used to be.<\/p>\n
\nJim<\/span>: \u00a0Yeah, what she said. \u00a0We kinda threw ideas back and forth sometimes when we were in the car or we’ll complain to one another about ‘how I can’t get this part to work right’ or ‘I can’t believe the editor wants me to change this’, but we don’t actually do a lot of the working together on books because we wanna stay married.<\/p>\n
\nJim<\/span>: \u00a0Uh, well, it’s not my podcast, it’s Fred Hick’s podcast. \u00a0It’s called “The Butcher Block” and it’s about all things Jim Butcher. \u00a0It’s an unfortunately named podcast but Fred liked it so, you know, his call. \u00a0Fred is a good friend of mine from my college days and was a Harry Dresden fan years before the books were ever published. \u00a0He’s also the one, the owner of Evil Hat Games, who’s putting out the Dresden Files Role Playing Game.<\/p>\n
\nJim<\/span>: \u00a0Oh, cool. \u00a0Thank you.<\/p>\n
\n
\nTranscription by\u00a0Blampira<\/a><\/p>\n
\nJim<\/span>: \u00a0No, they came to me. \u00a0Morgan Gendel sent me an email and uh, Morgan Gendel, of course he was a writer who one a Hugo Award for the episode of StarTrek: The Next Generation where Picard gets zapped by the probe and lives a whole life on another planet and then wakes up ten minutes later on the Enterprise. \u00a0You know, he got a Hugo Award without blowing anything up and\u00a0that’s<\/em>\u00a0impressive. \u00a0But he came, he was the one who said “hey, I wanna…I’d like to get this for a show, you know, I’d like to take out an option for that” and what I\u00a0heard<\/em>\u00a0was “I would like to help pay for your family’s health care” and I said, “Okay, I’m down with that”. \u00a0So I sold him the option and he went and took it to Saturn Films and Lionsgate and they liked it, so they took it to SciFi and they finally sold it to SciFi and now it’s a tv show. \u00a0Yeah, mostly my participation in that was to be on the other end of the phone and go “Okay”. \u00a0I do that alot.<\/p>\n
\nJim<\/span>: \u00a0Officially, no. \u00a0Unofficially, I get along really well with Robert Wolfe, I just kinda hit it off with Robert, so I helped him…when he was putting together the series bible, I was sending him information that I used as background for the books so he could use it as background for the show as well. \u00a0They were sending me scripts and I was sending back feedback and they actually made some changes based on my feedback, so you know, I actually participated. \u00a0I haven’t had, in some of the more recent stuff they’ve, I haven’t had as much work in but I was actually on the set for the pilot, I actually appeared in an episode of the show. \u00a0I play like Butter’s assistant, you know, help him carry in a coffin and open it up. \u00a0I don’t say anything. \u00a0I’m like Igor – but with no lines.<\/p>\n
\nJim<\/span>: \u00a0Yeah, I’m there for like, it’s a second and a half that I’m on screen, but there I am. \u00a0Anyway, I think the most insidious thing I’ve done is I sent up free copies of my books to the cast and crew, so that’s sort of my viral input, you know, have everyone read the books and it stay there.<\/p>\n
\nShannon<\/span>: \u00a0You know, Jim is funny. \u00a0He responds to these wonderful things like movie options and tv shows and NY Times bestseller with this kind of ‘calm – shell-shocked – not really sure what to do about it – trying to absorb it’ kind of way, and he says “Let’s go to Burger King!” because that’s his celebration restaurant of choice. \u00a0*laughs*<\/em><\/p>\n
\nShannon<\/span>: \u00a0Just two right now, the 1st one came out in February, it’s called “No Regrets”; the 2nd one comes out\u00a0next<\/em>\u00a0February, it’s called “No Control”; and then I’m working on the proposal for the 3rd one which will be entitled “No Escape” but that one hasn’t been sold yet. \u00a0I’m also working on a paranormal romance series, which I’m really excited about. \u00a0It’ll be a lot more the kind of thing Jim’s fans reads but still very firmly routed in the whole romance genre, so I’m really excited about that, that’s gonna be a fantastic project. \u00a0Most fun I’ve ever had was writing that first book.<\/p>\n
\nJim<\/span>: \u00a0Yeah, I just did my big multi-state tour, which I just got done with and which was very strange. \u00a0There were many hotels and airports and bookstores. \u00a0But I’ve got the next Dresden…uh, I’ve just got finished with the 4th Codex Alera book. \u00a0I’m working on the 10th Dresden book now and then I’ve got to get the 5th Codex Alera book done by December or so, so I’m kinda busy. \u00a0I’m also doing several short stories for some anthologies that I signed up for, so I’ve got that – like I did “The Big Fat Supernatural Wedding” anthology last year and it was so successful that they’re doing a follow-up called “The Big Fat Supernatural Honeymoon” anthology, so I’m working on that now. \u00a0And then after…there’s gonna be 6 Alera books and after I get the last Alera book done, then I’m gonna try my hand at some actual ‘science fiction’ science fiction, which should be fun.<\/p>\n
\nShannon<\/span>: \u00a0It’s an\u00a0awesome<\/em>\u00a0book, we’ve read the first half or so and he’s left us hanging…<\/p>\n
\nShannon<\/span>: \u00a0Uh…..No<\/em>?! \u00a0*laughs*<\/em><\/p>\n
\nShannon<\/span>: \u00a0Right.<\/p>\n
\n
\nBroken up into 2 parts due to character restriction…
\nTranscription by\u00a0Blampira<\/a><\/p>\n