To fantasy readers, Teresa Patterson is best known for her collaborative work with Wheel of Time author Robert Jordan and with Shannara author Terry Brooks. Diehard fans may have wondered, Who is Teresa Patterson? Why was she needed to write The World of Robert Jordan’s the Wheel of Time and The World of Shannara, and what was her role in the collaboration?
But Patterson, though best known to readers for the 'World' books, is no newcomer to fantasy. From fiction and art to conventions and decorating, she has walked the sci-fi and fantasy scene since her teen years. silklantern asked Teresa Patterson to tell us more about herself, writing, and collaborations with Jordan and Brooks.
 Patterson (center) at premier party for The World of Shannara, with floorplan artist Ann Burgess (left) and illustrator David Cherry (right). Photo courtesy of Teresa Patterson. |
silklantern: You seem to have a diverse array of talents and experiences. How would you describe your primary occupation? What is work, and what is hobby-- and is there a separation between the two?
Teresa Patterson: I actually have two "primary" occupations that, taken together, bring in enough to keep House Pegasus running. One is writing, and the other is working as a balloon sculptor. Believe it or not, there is enough work that I am on call 24/7 and usually put in at least a 40 hour week creating balloon decor and sculptures, for various events in my home area and across the country. Sometimes we even work in other countries. I also train show horses as a job, but that is usually put on hold when I am on a book deadline.
Working with the Association of Science Fiction and Fantasy Artists has often taken as much time as another full time job, but ASFA is a not for profit organization so any work done for them is on a volunteer basis. My hobbies include scuba diving, archery, historical reenacting, and music.
silklantern: 'Shannara', 'Wheel of Time' and other scifi-fantasy audiences are comprised of many young readers, a large number of whom express interest in professional art or writing careers. What advice would you suggest?
Teresa Patterson: The first piece of advice for a new writer is to read. I agree with the adage that you must read at least one thousand good books before you can write one story. I teach a writing workshop with Vampire Files author P. N. Elrod. The first thing we require is that our students read extensively, and analyze why the best pieces work for them.
The second thing is to write something every day, even if it is just a journal entry or an idea.
The third thing is to know what you write. This means that if you want to write fantasy, you must learn about the real life things that might relate to your fantasy world. For an example, Robert Jordan is an expert historian and student of cultural anthropology. This in-depth knowledge of how cultures grow, as well as a knowledge of historical warfare and ancient cultures, is a large part of the reason his world is so diverse and yet seems so real. All great fantasy worlds are based on a clear understanding of real historical cultures. To write about a culture that depends on Iron Age weaponry without an understanding of what is involved in an Iron Age culture results in a shallow and usually unsalable work, no matter how good the initial plot idea appears to be. Magic cannot cover lack of research. And even magic must have rules and consequences or it is not believable to the reader.
The last rule: Don't quit your day job. Few writers make enough money to survive without outside income. You must write because you love it, not because you want to be rich and famous. Only the most wildly successful writers can survive by writing alone, unless they are married or otherwise connected to someone who helps pay the bills.
silklantern: You said that writing "The World of Robert Jordan's The Wheel of Time" followed a similar research process to writing a non-fiction coffee table book. In spite of the book being completely about Robert Jordan's creations, are there ways in which the book reflects your own input and style?
Teresa Patterson Actually, the original manuscript included several short stories that were joint projects between myself and Robert Jordan. I was particularly proud of those pieces, but they were cut from the final manuscript because of space and cost considerations. The book was expensive enough and those extra 20,000 words of fiction would have required raising the price even more. The remaining part of the book reflects my attempt to find cohesive links between various pieces of Wheel "history" and legend.
My friends say that they can see my input in the final work. I cannot. I was just trying to make the subject as interesting and exciting as possible, which is difficult when you do not have a narrative story and character interaction. The hardest part was linking all the separate bits of history and information into a cohesive story of the world.
silklantern: Tell us about the experience of "adopting" someone else's world and audience this way. Are there perks?
Teresa Patterson: The main perk is getting to work with authors such as Terry (Brooks) and Jim (Robert Jordan). The challenge is in the fact that, unlike a fiction world of my creation, I cannot make things up to fill the holes. I have to treat their worlds as if they are real and factual places. When things do not make sense or follow logical progression, I have to try to fix it by using other parts of the existing works. Though there were times, especially with Terry Brooks, where he allowed me considerable creative license when fleshing out a culture or historical event.
With Jim (Robert Jordan), the discrepancies were incorporated as part of the fading of truth to myth that occurs in any society that does not have a way to precisely record events and keep them inviolate over time. Even our own culture tends to view historical events of recent decades differently over time-- such as those who claim that the Holocaust never happened, even though there are still people alive who lived through it.
silklantern: What in your collaborations with Robert Jordan and Terry Brooks can gaming and role playing fans relate to, when it comes to being someone else's world?
Teresa Patterson: The greatest challenge is to understand the world and its characters well enough to write them truly as the creator intended. We all put part of ourselves into our work, and that personal interpretation is what makes an authors or gamers work special, but in a shared world environment, you must first be true to the established world and characters. In my case, Terry and Jim checked my work to assure that it fit their vision. It is harder when you do not have that luxury.
silklantern: Once you have written an associate book to someone else's series, and immersed yourself in their ideas and literary form, how do you find this affects on your own abilities to develop fresh ideas and rediscover your own style?
Teresa Patterson: I never have any problem recovering my own style. But I hope to take away an understanding of each author’s strengths, so that I may incorporate such strengths into my own work.
silklantern: It is well known that 'The World...' contains a number of inaccuracies, covered by a contemporary setting for the volume that don't gel with details within the series itself, such as the number of Stedding, for example. Were these details intentionally created to confuse the readers?
Teresa Patterson: The idea was to write the books as though I was a contemporary historian who happened to get access to certain classified Aes Sedai documents. Like any actual historian, the details were only as good as that person's research. Jim gave me the numbers and details along with the understanding that there would be changes that would result in inaccuracies, and that they were in keeping with the constant shifting of truths and lies that were a part of the battle between Light and Dark throughout the series.
silklantern: What are you currently working on? After your work on companion works for both the Wheel of Time and Shannara, do you feel that you could engage another project of a similar kind for the field of Fantasy?
Teresa Patterson: At the moment, I am doing a project that is similar in quantity of research, but completely different in type. I am ghost writing an "autobiographical" book about a Navy SEAL Corpsman's experiences in Viet Nam. This is similar to researching Wheel and Shannara in that Viet Nam might as well be a fantasy world to me. And like Terry and Jim's creations, I have to get all the facts as accurate as possible. The down side is that I cannot fudge much, since all the people and events in the story are real.
The book will not have my name anywhere on it. For obvious reasons. Who would by a Navy SEAL's book with a woman's name on it, even as an assistant? But it will probably be the most difficult project I have taken to date.
After that is done, I hope to have time to finish an original fantasy epic in progress. I put it on hold to do Terry's book and had to go straight from that into the ghost project. Of course, if they wave money at me and ask me to do something different, I probably will put the fantasy epic on hold again to do it. I believe that the more varied my writing experiences are, the better a writer I will be in the end.
Related Links
Silklantern Store: Links to 'The World of Robert Jordan's the Wheel of Time' at Amazon.com and Amazon.co.uk
The World of Shannara (Amazon.com) | The World of Shannara (Amazon.co.uk)
Teresa Patterson: Living the Fantasy - Interview with Crescent Blues eMagazine
Association of Science Fiction and Fantasy Artists
