Aidan Moher interviews Joe Abercrombie on his website, A Dribble of Ink. They talk about his debut fantasy novel, The Blade Itself,
“I wanted my readers to feel like they were right there with the characters – right inside their heads, if possible – part of the action rather than floating dispassionately above it. I wanted to tell a story as close-up as possible, so you can smell the sweat, and feel the pain, and understand the emotions. I want a reader to be nailed to the text, chewing their fingernails to
find out what happens next, not constantly flipping back to the fly-leaf to check just how far north exactly Carleon is from Uffrith, or whatever. The characters often don’t know what’s going on – they don’t have a conveniently accurate map to hand, why should the reader?”
Meanwhile, check out Joe’s new website, and lookee here, we’ve put the first 63 pages of The Blade Itself online!
Thanks for letting people know about the interview! Joe’s a terrific guy and was a blast to work with and I think that comes across in the interview.
I hope to be able to help out in any way to help Joe launch a successful career in the US!
~Aidan
A Dribble of Ink
It does indeed come across. Joe, with characteristic self-deprecation, described the interview to me as “Hilarious” only he wasn’t inflating the truth. Thank you!