Perhaps because I’d tried to be an artist as a young man and even won an award in a small scholastic art competition, I came up with the idea of visualization magic, and then went to work codifying how it might work in a society and what kind of society would develop and how that society would be affected and/or constrained by that ability. I was looking for a different kind of magic. What was the original idea that led to Solidar and the Imager Portfolio?

The shortest book I ever wrote on a full-time basis took four months, the longest eight. I’ve averaged about 2 ½ books a year for the last eighteen years or so, essentially since I became a full-time writer. I can’t say that I have a standard time for writing a novel. I have a solid idea, usually in my mind, of the overall story arc…and where I’m going, but not necessarily all the details of how I’ll get there. For every fantasy series, I have a basic map before I begin, and some description of the main characters. Modesitt: As I’ve noted elsewhere, my initial “outline” generally tends to focus on the background of the society, the culture, the government, the geography, some of the history…and, of course, the factors comprising the problem facing the protagonist. How do you work-do you use an outline? Do you know the entire story before you start writing? Do you have a pretty standard time for writing a novel, or does that vary from book to book? Elena Nola: I always like to ask writers about their writing process, so let’s start with that.

Imager modesitt