Richard A. Knaak Interview

Richard A. Knaak is an author who has achieved just about everything you could hope for as a writer of Fantasy. Over the course of his career – that extends over a quarter of a century, by the way – he has had a written within the renowned and much loved worlds of Conan and Dragonlance, created his own fantasy epic series (Dragonrealm) and been able to reach out to the masses through six novels for Blizzard Entertainment’s Diablo game and a further ten in set in their Warcraft universe.

Having just finished Diablo III I decided to, once again, pick up Knaak’s early Diablo books and couldn’t help but admire how Knaak’s books, which feature morally ambiguous characters and dark-gritty story lines, standup well when paired up side-by-side to fantasy being published today. This had me wondering what Mr Knaak was up to these days and I was excited to learn that in addition to continuing his work with Blizzard, he was also returning to his Dragonrealm world, which he’d taken a fifteen year break from (novel-wise that it; he did write a number of novella’s and short stories set in the world).

Quickly after discovering this fact I decided to drop the esteemed author an e-mail and, to my surprise, he replied that very same day saying he’d love to tell me about his future plans for Dragonrealm, his world with Blizzard and – bravely – answer any other questions I had for him. Here’s the result:

Interview with Richard A. Knaak

There are so many places we could begin, but I think to start we should focus on one of your own series, Dragonrealm. For readers who have never picked up a Dragonrealm novel, could you tell us a little bit about the series and why they should place it high upon their to-be-read list?

The Dragonrealm is a land consisting of thirteen kingdoms — sometimes also individually called Dragonrealms — that are each ruled by one of the shape-shifting Dragon Kings. Although technically allied and serving under the Dragon Emperor, they are not above following their own desires, even if it puts them at great odds with their ‘brothers’.

However, as quickly unfolds in the first novel, the Dragon Kings and their kind are only the latest in a series of races that have ruled the land, then fallen. The drakes, as their kind are called, have already nearly lost one war to a band of human mages and now face the discovery of the grandson of the leader of those wizards still alive despite two centuries. When one Dragon King decides to take measures of his own, his mistake casts Cabe Bedlam into a world of dragons, demons, and ancient races still trying to revive their own insidious glory. Worse, behind was seems obvious, the very land itself makes pawns of everyone…

The Dragonrealm is a place of twists and turns, of fantastic creatures both heroic and dark. I think that characters such as the faceless warlock Shade or the magical entity called Darkhorse are just two more reasons to follow the saga as it unfolds over each volume to reveal that nothing is what it seems.

Incredibly, this series began almost 25 years now – to put that in perspective, longer than the Wheel of Time! – for younger readers or simply those who haven’t come across the books yet, should they start at the beginning or can they jump in at any of the varying trilogies?

I generally recommend people start with the first collection, simply titled Legends of the Dragonrealm. It contains the initial three novels, which set up quite a lot. If a reader follows the four collections and moves on to Shade, that’s fine, although after the second collection I think anything goes. Some people have become so enthralled with Shade’s tragic situation that they have gone directly to that novel almost immediately.

One thing that could also be done is to start with the new novel, Dragon Masters. This book concerns the war between the Dragon Kings and the human mages and how it came about. We meet Cabe Bedlam’s grandfather, uncle, and father (Azran). Any reader already knows how troubling Azran is going to become to the Dragonrealm in general.

You will naturally see my writing progress as we go through the years! 🙂

There was about 15 years between writing your last book in ‘The Dragonrealm continued’ series (The Horse King in 1997) and the release of a new Dragonrealm stand alone (Shade in 2012). What was the reason for this hiatus? Did you find it difficult coming to a World after so long, especially having written in so many others during that time?

Actually, while there was a fifteen year gap between novels, there was not such a long one in general. Between those two novels I wrote six novellas detailing situations in the Dragonrealm after The Horse King. I kept the novels in print during that time, but was very busy with other projects. It’s thanks to interest from the readers that I’ve returned full blast to the series. Coming back to the Dragonrealm was like returning home and the moment I started working on new material, older material began to make even more sense. Things fell into place in manners that I’d never expected. It truly is for me a living world.

For readers who have read your earlier Dragonrealm books and are curious about Dragon Masters (the first book in The Turning War trilogy), could you give us a bit of – spoiler free – info on what can they expect?

The novel begins the tale of the Turning War, a significant part of the Dragonrealm’s history and very relevant to everything in the present timeline. What has been told before only scratches the surface. This is no simple rebellion. There are machinations going on that have nothing to do with Nathan Bedlam and his fellow spellcasters and their struggle to free humanity from the rule of the Dragon Kings, machinations with which the stories longtime readers know so well could never happen…

Dragons are really, really popular in fantasy and have featured either as major plot points or characters within much of your work (Dragonrealm especially, of course!). Firstly, why do you think dragons are so popular in fantasy literature and secondly, what is it that attracted you to include them in your work as a writer?

They are the epitome of fantasy, of magic. They are magnificent creatures and always take command of the scene. How could I not like them?

You switched publishers for this series – I believe you’re self-publishing much of it yourself? – first through PDF and then through ebook and print after that. Could you give us some details on your decision to do this? How has this process differed from the traditional route?

When I did the PDF novellas, I found a freedom I really enjoyed. I also had direct access to the readers. I’m very happy with the collections and novel Simon & Schuster have published, but now the series is going off in a different direction that I can handle independently. It’s been interesting and the fans have really embraced the new projects. I foresee a long future with the Dragonrealm utilizing this new publishing setup. The Gryphon Mage is just commencing and I already have notes for a major trilogy returning to the original timeline.

Again, I’m grateful to S&S’s part in this as it continues to bring in new readers through the material they’ve printed.

In addition to your own series, you’ve written in numerous shared worlds such as those of Diablo (a personal favourite of mine), The Age of Conan, Dragonlance and Warcraft. Could you tell us a little bit about how you got into writing for these larger franchises? Did they approach you? Did you approach them?

With each of the franchises, I was approached by the company. I had literally walked in off the street to TSR, the original publishers of Dragonlance, in the hopes of selling the sample as a novel. However, they were only publishing two series and nothing independent so when we talked a couple of weeks later, they asked if I would be interested in writing something for DL. Since then, the rest of the series that I’ve worked for have contacted me due to my reputation for being able to stay true to their worlds — be the fantasy or SF — and yet bringing in an individual quality to the story.

So, I imagine writing within a World that has already been creating is fairly difficult. Not only do you have to come up with your own story, but you also have to stay loyal to the lore that already exists or may come after. Could you tell us a bit about the pros and cons of writing like this?

The cons are having to try to create a story that will stay true to the feeling, the mythos of that world. Fortunately, it seems most people are satisfied with the results thus far. You are certainly not going to be able to please everyone, of course. Even the creators of those worlds have found that out. The biggest pro is that you have people who have your back, who will do their best to make sure that everything is as it should be. I can’t say enough good stuff about the people I work with at Blizzard, for instance. Their Lore folk are amazing.

In addition to novels, you’ve written a fair amount of Manga with Tokyopop (Warcraft and Ragnarok included). Could you tell us a bit about how that works, I guess you’re working even closer with someone than you would even in a shared World!!!

Much of the process is surprisingly similar. In both cases, someone familiar with the property was on hand at all times. In the case of Ragnarok, we had a finished volume and a translation. I rewrote the translation as needed in order to give it that epic feel the publisher wanted. With the Warcraft manga, the only difference was that, like Ragnarok, I was doing a script. Unlike Ragnarok, I was creating the entire script and trying to arrange the story so that the artist and I could bring Azeroth to life in the space we had.

Of all the series you’ve written so far which has been your favourite and which have you struggled most with (for whatever reason)?

Well, obviously, my own series is my favorite. I have the most freedom there. As for the others, I’ve enjoyed delving in all those worlds and would be happy to do so again. As a young reader, that was how I experienced stories. They became real for me. Happily, that’s still the way I read.

You’ve written so many books over the years, all of them within fantasy and almost all of them being what I would call ‘Epic’ Fantasy. What is it about this sub-genre that you enjoy so much?

I just enjoy the grand quality of the settings, of the characters. What’s not to like about wizards, knights, dragons, etc.? Even when I write novels in set in modern settings, I enjoy tossing an element of epic fantasy into it. It seems to work well with the readers, too.

Just to take a backwards step from your own work: what type of evolution have you seen fantasy writing go through over the years and how would you describe today’s fantasy writing stylistically?

I would have to say that it has gotten more gritty. While there is certainly enough violence in Lord of the Rings, it doesn’t compare with some modern trilogies. Today’s fantasy has more and more realism in it, which has its good points and bad. Sometimes, things get too gritty. If I want that kind of violence and gore, I can turn on the news. Still, in general much of the writing has matured, too, which can make for some very poignant sagas.

Character development has deepened, too. Again, that has its good points and bad. There should be places where the line is drawn, in my opinion. Overall, though, today’s fantasy market offers so much more that it ever did. I know that I can’t keep up with all the authors and books I want to read. 🙂

As we’ve already discussed, you’ve just launched a new trilogy (Dragonrealm: The Turning War) and also a new Warcraft collection (World of Warcraft: Dawn of the Aspects) come out. But, could you tell us a little bit about your other ongoing projects and your plans for the future? I know you are doing a lot of ‘online releases’ for example.

I’ve begun work on The Gryphon Mage (the sequel to Dragon Masters) which will be both subscription and publication. Some other projects I can’t speak about. I am also turning toward some more modern works, but with settings I think that will surprise people.

I’d recommend that those interested should go to my website www.richardaknaak.com or find me on Facebook or Twitter to learn even more. Or they can check out Fantasy Faction’s news page, too!

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