CHELSEA QUINN YARBRO: Yes. As of today, I am on Chapter 8 of Part I of Roman Dusk, which takes place in (surprise!) Rome from 218-220, during the short debauched reign of Heliogabalus, who became Caesar at 14 and was killed at 18, two years after the novel ends. It deals with some of the ways that the Roman Empire failed to support itself at a crucial time. It also shows the erosion of women's rights and the corruption of the civil service.
7. Since the books are written out of order, how do you keep track of the story details, since you do seem to refer often to what has happened before?
CHELSEA QUINN YARBRO: I have a chronology for Saint-Germain, indicating most of what he has said about his life. I put it together when I came back to the series after eight years away from it. I missed a few things, as my readers like to point out to me, but more than ninety percent of important events is on it, and I amend it as Saint-Germain reveals more.
8. Suzy McKee Charnas said in her preface to ADVOCATES that you are basically a one draft writer. How do you go about writing a novel? I can't conceive of writing a book or an article in one draft? And how have you been able to write so many? Certainly the Saint-Germain series aren't thin books. What is your writing routine?
CHELSEA QUINN YARBRO: Suzy's right. My work is about eight-five percent first draft. But I should add that I can't really work on a story until it is "hatched" in my head. I wish I could describe what the perception is like better than that, but I can't. Many writers use first and second drafts to "hatch" their stories; I've never worked that way, because that's not how I'm wired. If I didn't work this way, I doubt I could produce three books a year (in an average year). Occasionally I take essays and non-fiction through two drafts, because the information needs to be reviewed for accuracy and connecting content. I do outline longer works, and that helps "set" the work. Once I start on any writing project, it becomes extremely difficult to make changes because it has "set," which is one of the reasons I find collaboration tricky at best. In the planning stages I can be flexible, but once the characters start to talk back, that's it. From then on I listen and write. Yes, I know they're figments of my imagination, but if they don't come alive for me, they will be unable to come alive for the reader, so they get the respect that "real" people deserve.
