© Judine Brooks

A Conversation with Terry Brooks
from Del Ray Books
September 2000

Q: It's been four years since the last Shannara novel. How does it feel to return to this world after so long? Did you miss it?

A: It really feels as if it has been longer than the four years since First King, which was a prequel and a stand-alone book. My last sustained Shannara effort was with the four books in Heritage, ending in 1993. I always miss this series when I'm not working on it, but I still feel I do better work by leaving it alone every so often. Like taking a vacation.

Q: What can you tell us about The Voyage of the Jerle Shannara?

A: It's the first of a three book series which chronicles a quest undertaken by the Druid Walker and a handful of others. It begins in the Four Lands, goes to a country well beyond their boundaries, and then returns—one book for each part of the journey. The quest is for a magic from the Old World, from before the Great Wars. Walker knows what it is, but he keeps it to himself. The members of his company are a diverse bunch and not all of them are what they seem. Tracking them is the Ilse Witch, who has a personal vendetta against Walker and knows as much as he does about the nature and value of the magic they compete for. Waiting for them both is an entity of enormous and deadly power who wards the magic and has plans of its own.

Q: In The Word and the Void series, you told the story of John Ross, a man who in many respects reminds one of the Druids of the Shannara books, men like Allanon and Walker Boh. Is there a connection between these men and these two series?

A: It was always my intention to suggest that there might be a connection without actually revealing the details. Both series make reference to the Word as the creator of all life. John Ross, in the Word and the Void series, serves as a Knight of the Word, a Druid-like figure. He is trying to prevent a collapse of civilization into complete anarchy. In the Shannara books, the collapse has already happened with the Great Wars, and it has taken more than a thousand years for humans to reform society in any meaningful way. In both worlds, magic has been a unifying force, wielded by men like Ross and Allanon, who are trying to accomplish much the same thing—the advancement of mankind and its civilization.

Q: At the time you wrote The Sword of Shannara, how much of the saga did you have plotted out? How has the series evolved with the years?

A: When I wrote Sword, I wasn't thinking about where it would all go if I was successful. I never thought about doing another book until afterwards. That said, in order to give a reader a good feel for a fantasy world, you have to develop it fully, at least as a backdrop. So I always had the background story of the world of the Shannara well in mind. What has happened with the series is that I have chosen to focus on the books as generational sagas which chronicle one family's story as a metaphor for the evolution of magic as a force in the world at large. How the Ohmsfords come to grips with their legacy of magic, how it affects them as individuals and as family, and how it furthers their involvement in the affairs of their country, is a mirror of the progress of the Four Lands and the Races in general.

Q: Which book in the series is closest to your heart? Which characters?

A: You might as well ask me to choose between my children. Each of the books means something special to me because of what it took to create it. Same with the characters. But my attitude about both books and characters is that once they are fully formed, they don't belong to me anymore—they belong to the readers. So the readers have to make those decisions for me. My favorite book (and the characters in it) is always the one I am working on now.

Q: How do you keep the well of inspiration from running dry after eight books ... nine including this latest novel, with more planned?

A: Inspiration comes with time and distance. Lester del Rey taught me years ago about the importance of dreaming your story first, of letting it percolate in your brain for a sufficient amount of time for it to take shape. So the trick is not writing too much too quickly in a series, but giving it time to grow. That's why I don't just keep writing Shannara books. Stepping away from the series for a few years at a time lets me dream about where it needs to go. It lets me recharge my writing batteries for those stories.

Q: How many more Shannara novels will there be?

A: That's hard to say. Of course, like most writers, I intend to live forever. At present, there are a total of five new Shannara novels in the works, one to come out each September for the next five years. Three are in the Voyage sequence. Two come after, but deal with characters and issues established in the first three. It's a different approach, but then I like to change things around each time I commit to another set. I think the readers like that.

Q: When you're working on a book, do you follow a daily schedule, writing a set amount each day, or do you work by inspiration?

A: If I worked by inspiration alone, I would starve to death. I follow a loose sort of schedule that involves mostly morning writing. These days, my creative energy dries up shortly after lunch. Usually I set a goal for myself of X number of chapters a month. I try to stick to that as much as life allows.

Q: With the new movie of Lord of the Rings being shot in Australia, has there been any interest in a Shannara movie or television series?

A: Yes. But then there was interest before, too, so I won't hold my breath. I did sell movie rights to Magic Kingdom for Sale recently to Fox Studios, so maybe it's the start of something.