interview with Rui Cid (June 2007) - english version

RC: First of all, how does your interest in writing begin? What's the place it currently holds in your life? Is writing your favourite medium to convey stories (in opposition to videogames)?

RP: I can't really distinguish an interest in writing from any other of my many and varied interests. For me, writing is merely a medium... and I could choose to express myself through painting, or music, or gardening etc etc. However, I have now spent more than twelve years writing just about every day and so I have developed this skill to a greater degree than others. The similar decade or so I spent designing computer games continued the development of another skill, namely: world creation - by which I mean the creation of an integrated, closed and coherent imagined system. This was in itself a skill which I have been developing through childhood, and was the dominant one I applied as my first approach to writing books... as can be seen in The Chosen... I believe, as the Chinese do, that any skill is achieved according to 'time spent'. We all have a certain amount of time to invest in developing some skills; those we choose determine the kinds of people we become...

RC: Was Fantastic Literature something you've always been interested in? What do you usually read?

RP: My first love was probably fairytales... from which I developed a passion for mythology, concurrently with an obsession with ancient history... which then generalized to a love and continual study of all history. However, allied to this was a interest in many branches of science and thus science fiction. I don't generally now read a lot of fiction, mostly it is non-fiction books on history, philosophy and many other subjects. However, I am currently trying to read as much fantasy/ science fiction as I can as well as all kinds of older 'classics' - finally finished War and Peace recently - not only to learn from other writers, but also to get some idea of where it is that my books fit... something which somewhat confuses me...

RC: How (and when) did the idea to write "The Stone Dance of the Chameleon" come up? Did you know then what a massive task it would turn out to be?

RP: The initial story was really an alternative to something like Lord of the Rings or Dune which would provide me with subjects to illustrate... because at that time I was more concerned with making images than stories. I wrote the first version of what was later to become the Stone Dance in 1982 during the summer holidays while I was doing my degree in mathematics. Then I went into computer games and various other related activities and forgot entirely about my book. It was only later when I had become disillusioned by the computer games industry that I dusted off my story idea and, for some reason, decided to tackle it seriously. At that time I knew that it was to be in three parts, but assumed these would fit into a single volume... and had no idea whatever how massive this was all going to be. After all, I had not only a fully written version from 1982... and newer, more developed versions of the 2nd and 3rd part which I'd written off and on during gaps in my games career. These seemed to provide a guide for the newer work and were FAR shorter than what has now been published...

RC: Could you describe to us a little bit of the creative process inherent to a work with the dimension and profundity of "The Stone Dance of the Chameleon"? Did you start by building the setting, the different cultures, the different ways of life and the geology of the Three Lands? Or, on the contrary, was it the story and the plot that first started to take shape in your mind?

RP: Because of my experience in creating 3D computer worlds, I concentrated initially on the world creation for the books. Some of this covered up a lack of confidence I had about whether I could write characters at all. However, the story in its basic shape was there all the time. Only recently have I discovered how it has risen from the depths of my subconscious and why... The actual process of writing is really rather complex and I don't know if I could describe it in any kind of simple way. In some ways I have developed the structure of the whole book like the architectural plan for a cathedral. But in another way, the writing of it is a form of exploration. Following a kind of 'map' I travel through my story... and when I get there I actually 'see' the places and events... I hear the characters talking and I just write it all down. On another, I write scripts and then sort of 'film' them and what I write is what the camera sees...

RC: Given the amount of detail and complexity in the building of the world of "The Stone Dance of the Chameleon", did you never felt like just giving up? How much time do you actually spend in crafting the world itself (with research) in comparison to the actual writing process?

RP: I have often been in despair because I have found myself trapped in this project... which is like a very, very long tunnel which I have to go through to the end to escape. As I've said above, I had no idea whatsoever that it was going to take me anything like this amount of time. This brings with a lot of problems, not least that, of course, over so much time I was changing as a person and a writer and the, too some extent, shape of the 'tunnel' constrained these changes. On another, I have had a lot of other ideas for work which I have had to ignore for years. Also, I have put various things in my life on hold until the books are finished... There was a time in the middle of my 2nd book where a close friend suggested to me that I should just rush it and get the 3rd book out quickly... and get on with something else. I couldn't do that. I had started this in a particular way, and was determined to finish it properly. Additionally, I had a compulsion to do it... because it represents a kind of 'therapy' for me...

As for craft versus writing, I have to some extent already answered that. The project began with a very heavy bias towards the world building. To some extent this was determined by my skills and experience at the time... but also because the world needed - and I needed it psychologically - to make it as solid as possible. (At least one reason being that I had to make sure that I didn't find in my 2nd book, and particularly my 3rd, any nasty surprises when I should find that something I needed to do then was ruined by something in the books already published). This world creation was thus heavy at the beginning because it carried through to all the books... and consisted of years of research and invention... the amount of support material: geological, linguistic, economic, mythological, botanical, meteorological, anthropological etc etc is many times more massive than the books themselves... and even includes a number of large plasticene models in which I explored landforms and other structures to make sure they would all work... The five years I've been working on the 3rd book, however, have mostly concentrated on the complexities of the plot... and my major concerns have been literary...

RC: What were (if any) the works, maybe books, films, or videogames, that have influenced you, or the writing of "The Stone Dance of the Chameleon"?

RP: everything I've ever read, seen or experienced has influenced the Stone Dance. I'm quite serious about this. I have distilled the history I've been reading since I was 8 into a story and a culture which owes something to China, the Maya, Ancient Persia, Greece, Egypt, Rome, Carthage, the Incas, Japan, the Scythians etc etc... but also aspects of the 1st and 2nd World Wars etc... I really could go on in many directions but I don't want to bore you... More prosaically, I could point to Lord of the Rings and Dune in particular, and the books of Michael Moorcock in my formative years as being direct fantasy antecedents...

RC: "The Stone Dance of the Chameleon" is filled with moments of incredible cruelty and betrayal. The very culture of the people of the Three Lands seems to be harsh, and mutilation and atrocious punishments are present everywhere. Where did the inspiration for this come from?

RP: human nature, would be a short answer... just look around you... these things are happening ALL the time... I am after all formed by the 20th Century where there's no lack of cruelty, mutilation etc. Something of it is symbolic of my childhood... which was quite hard as an immigrant in a cold northern country which was a lot more brutal than it might be now. Additionally, I might point out that it is my distillation of a history of the West... and our repressive empires and the way we have plundered the world...

RC: The two main characters of the novels, Carnelian and Osidian, are very complex. Carnelian seems to be very naive and reluctant. While Osidian reveals his cruelty and hunger for power. Yet, we can understand his motivations. Was there an effort to endow these characters and their actions with all the motifs that make us human?

RP: I don't think I had any plan as to how they would develop... they just came into being as they are... and don't imagine that you understand them fully until you've read the 3rd book. I will say, however, that they represent two parts of my personality which are at war with each other and seeking a synthesis. Additionally, I think they represent the two aspects of our human culture: religion and its compassion against power hungry militarism and ruthless capitalism...

RC: Also present, are the themes of exploitation and repression, namely by an elite (the Masters) in detriment of the Plainsmen. But, given the opportunity, even they do to others what has been done to them. Is this an analogy to our own world? Do you believe that it is in the nature of men to be corrupted by power, to try and gain advantages for themselves in detriment of others?

RP: it could be seen as an analogy to our world... and to many times and places in human history. One way to read it is very much that the Masters are the West, living in a 'walled' paradise, supported by the exploitation and rape of the people outside... As for corruption, yes, I do believe we're all corruptible...and I try to show that, with the right skills, anyone can be persuaded to do anything, however wicked... and that all that this skill consists of is knowing how to feed the needs, desires and weakness of the person you want to corrupt...

RC: If there were any message underlying the story of "The Stone Dance of the Chameleon" what would it be?

RP: hmmm... I'm not good at answering this one: there are so many messages... Perhaps I might get away with saying that I hold up a mirror to humanity... much of what we do and have done is there... it is certainly about how easy it is to live badly... and the consequences of this... and, ultimately, how powerful and terrible compassion can be... but I have discovered recently it is also a myth about how one can survive childhood...

RC: Weren't you afraid (that it would displease some readers, or keep them for reading your novels) to place a homosexual relationship at the centre of "The Stone Dance of the Chameleon"? The whole theme of homosexuality doesn't seem to be a taboo throughout the cultures of the Three Lands. Was this another carefully crafted aspect of the culture present in "The Stone Dance of the Chameleon"?

RP: yes, I was... but I am gay myself and since the book is on one level about my life, that element had to be there. The importance to me of telling the truth as I see it far outweighs my desire to be successful... though I would like to be successful *grin*. I really do want my books to have the widest readership possible... which author does not?... but I will not attempt to gain that readership by trying to tell them what they want to hear... in opposition to what I feel it is I can say from my heart...

As for homosexuality not being a taboo in the cultures of my book, that is partially because it is not a taboo in my head... but, perhaps more importantly, because it also has not been a taboo in many cultures. It seems to me that it is a sign of true civilization that its members should be tolerant and even celebrate difference...

RC: And finally, what are your projects for the future? Do you plan to write other books? Is a return to designing videogames out of the question? Would you ever consider writing another book of the same scope as "The Stone Dance of the Chameleon"?

RP: I have ideas for at least another 20 novels... all of them very different from the Stone Dance. However, as I have said above, I don't necessarily see myself as constrained to write - though it is a skill I now have honed and developed... and it would be a shame not to use it... In an interview in the 80s I claimed that I believed computer games would perform the same function in the 21st century that film performed in the 20th. I still believe this, but the reason I got out of computer games was because I could already see the way things were going... that commercial goals were going to entirely stomp all over creative ones... Not that I'm saying there aren't computer games being made of high artistic merit... but less than it should be, in my opinion... and there is also the problem with a lack of proper, strong AI... So, I might consider returning to games, sometime... if I found something I wanted to do... and there was anyone out there who would ask me to do it *grin*

As for a work of the scope of the Stone Dance, I don't think I will ever try anything again so massive... I'm not going to live forever and want to produce a much greater variety of work... but who knows...?