Image by John Howe
Frequently Asked Questions

      Questions and answers posted here will not deal directly with the plot lines or the characters in the books. In other words, no spoilers. I try to refrain from discussing specific plot lines or character developments in an open forum like this. I know that as a reader, I am very disappointed when a plot twist or an ending is revealed to me while I am still reading a book.

Where can I get a signed book?
University Books of Seattle often has signed copies of my books in stock. If you contact them and request one, they will see that you get it. These books are simply autographed, not personalized. Go to their website at www.bookstore.washington.edu or call them toll free at 1-800-335-7323. They will ship the book at Fourth Class rate for free, otherwise you pay shipping.
When does the next book come out?
Renegade's Magic, the final book of The Soldier Son Trilogy is already available in the UK and Australia. It will appear in bookstores in the US in January. This volume concludes The Soldier Son Trilogy. Book one was Shaman’s Crossing. The second book, Forest Mage is currently available in paperback.

I am frequently asked if this trilogy is connected in any way to The Farseer trilogy, The Liveship Traders trilogy or The Tawny Man trilogy. No. New world, new plot, new characters.

Why are your books published in the UK before they are published in the US?
In different countries and in different languages, my books are published by different publishing houses. They set their own schedules for the publication of the books. If you think about this, you'll see it makes perfect sense. No one publishes a Christmas book in June, for instance. The publisher picks the date he feels will be best for the book and schedules it to be launched then.

Is Fool's Fate the last book about Fitz and the Fool?
I think it is. Many readers probably recall that at the end of Assassin's Quest I was certain that I had finished writing about Fitz and the Fool. Then I found out I was wrong. So this time, I'm only saying that I think the story is finished. If a truly compelling plot set in the Farseer universe suddenly came to me, I wouldn't hesitate to write it. But I don't want to write another Farseer or Liveship story simply for the sake of writing a Farseer or Liveship story. I don't want to take a story that could be set anywhere and force it to be a Farseer story simply for the sake of 'branding' it. That would be cheating, and my readers, I am sure, would not only know immediately, they'd let me know that they knew.

I love games. The Stone Game described in The Farseer Trilogy intrigues me. Can you give me the rules for it?
Unfortunately, no, I can't. The Stone Game is imaginary, a game concept based loosely on Go, Fox and Hounds, and several other old games. I never created a specific set of rules for it, though if I close my eyes, I can see the game cloth in my mind and I know the sort of strategies that I'd want it to have. Someday, when I'm old and retired to a nursing home and have lots of time to myself, I plan to work out all the rules for it. Unfortunately, by that time everyone will consider me a bit barmy and I probably won't be allowed to have pencils.

What are you currently working on?
I’m currently (November 2007)beginning work on a stand alone book. The working title for it is Dragon Keeper, but I think that is likely to change as I get more pages. This book is set in the Rain Wilds, and chronologically, the events in it happen after the events described in Fool's Fate. It will not be a direct continuation of any character's story line, however. At this point, I don't want to say too much more than that.

When I visited Amazon, I noticed that the page count for the Bantam edition of Fool's Fate is a much smaller number than the page count for the UK Voyager edition. Did Bantam cut the book? Should I order it from the UK to get a complete copy?
Bantam did NOT cut the book. The difference in the number of pages is due entirely to choices about font sizes, white space and other production values. The US Bantam edition does have the full text of the book.

Do you base your characters on real people?
Not intentionally and not consciously. I never take a person from my acquaintance and say, "She'd make a great heroine," or "I'm going to model a villain on him." It just would not work. Characters have to be a product of the story they are in. They have been molded by their cultures and shaped by their circumstance. To take a person I know and try to write him into one of my stories would feel false. The flip side of that coin is, of course, that all the characters in my stories are a product of my experience combined with my imagination. So, undoubtedly some of my characters share traits with people I know. But I never transplant any whole person into a book.

Do you know how your books are going to end when you start writing them?
I always think that I do. Sometimes I am wrong. I do rough out an outline of each story, but as I write I find that things change. Characters don't react as I expect them to, events don't move as swiftly, or what seemed likely now seems contrived. If at any time a different plot path seems more likely, I allow myself to follow it. So far, I have not regretted it. Oddly enough, books often end just as I expected them to, after taking a very round about path to reach the conclusion.

Would you read something I wrote and tell me what you think of it?
No. Sorry. For me to do so is a waste of time for you and for me. I'm a writer. I'm neither an editor nor a publisher. In other words, I cannot truly advise you how to fix something to make it publishable, nor can I offer to publish and buy it. All I could tell you was whether or not I liked it, or how I might have written the story, if it were mine. These might be good insights, but the best places to get such information about your work are in a writer's workshop, or from an editor. If you are working on technique, learning how to write, then feedback from other writers can tell you if you are achieving your goals. If you think you have a saleable story, then you should be sending it off to an editor to see if you can sell it. Please do visit the Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America site at www.SFWA.org for more information on writing. There you can find information on agents and workshops and scams that prey on new writers. I especially recommend a wonderful writing guide on the site called The Turkey City Lexicon. No aspiring writer should be without it.

Why do you write as both Megan Lindholm and Robin Hobb?
It isn't that uncommon in the writing world to have more than one pseudonym, especially if you write in more than one genre. In my case, Megan Lindholm and Robin Hobb both write fantasy, but in very different styles and in different 'slices' of the genre. By using two different pseudonyms, I am able to let the reader know which voice they are getting in a book. Some readers like both styles. Others most emphatically do not.

I want to become a published writer. What should I do?
The first thing you have to do is write. There is no easy shortcut about that. Having a great agent or your cousin being best friends with an editor won't change that. First, you have to write the book (or story) beginning to end. Then you have to make it the best story you can possibly create. I've always preferred to work alone, not sharing my work with anyone until it goes off to an editor. That's my quirk. Many professionals attribute a lot of their success to workshops and writers' clubs. For more information about these, go to the SFWA site or ask your local library, YMCA or bookstore for information. The second thing you have to do to be a writer is to keep on writing. Don't listen to people who tell you that very few people get published and you won't be one of them. Don't listen to your friend who says you are better that Tolkien and don't have to try any more. Keep writing, keep faith in the idea that you have unique stories to tell, and tell them. I meet far too many people who are going to be writers 'someday.' When they are out of high school, when they've finished college, after the wedding, when the kids are older, after I retire . . . That is such a trap You will never have any more free time than you do right now. So, whether you are 12 or 70, you should sit down today and start being a writer if that is what you want to do. You might have to write on a notebook while your kids are playing on the swings or write in your car on your coffeebreak. That's okay. I think we've all 'been there, done that.' It all starts with the writing.

But what about the 'getting published' part of being a writer?
To become a published writer, you submit what you have written. The best detailed guide that I know about on how to do this is still Writer's Market. Go to your library and get the latest copy from the reference section. Read the sections on how to submit your manuscript. Then follow the advice about studying your markets and preparing your manuscript. And finally, polish the story and submit it. This is the unartistic, business end of the writing profession. It's a very necessary part of being a published writer. Again, there are no short cuts that I know about. If you find any, let me know!

Do you get to control your cover art?
I believe in the old saw, "If it's not broken, don't fix it." I've had extraordinary cover art from artists such as Michael Whelan (the cover of Assassin's Apprentice, US edition still leaves me smiling), the amazing John Howe and Stephen Youll. I've been very pleased with the cover art I've received, and see no reason to try to tell artists how to do something they obviously do very well. I recommend a visit to Whelen's site at http://michaelwhelan.com and John Howe's site at http://www.john-howe.com for wonderful art. John's site has a special section of art that he has done for the books, in his 'portfolio' area.

Are your books available as E-books?
Yes. Check the listings at places like Fictionwise.com, BN.com, Gemstar, and RandomHouse. I'm afraid I have no control over what formats they are available in.

Are any of your books available as audio books?
As of this writing, no, I'm sorry. Making a book into an audio book is not a decision an author makes usually. It depends on an offer from an audio book publisher.

Can I send you a book to autograph?
No. I am sorry to be so definite on this, but I simply can't. Tacoma is a rainy place. Packages left outside my door get wet, especially when I'm away for a weekend. And to send an autographed book back to you, I now have to go stand in line at the post office, even if the postage is on the package already, because of the new postal security rules. I've also begun to get boxes of books from people, who say, "These are for gifts. Would you please just autograph each one, no personalized inscriptions, and return them all to me?" I feel that's taking advantage of my time. I will occasionally make exceptions, such as books for charity auctions, if you get prior permission from me. But if you send me a book without getting my permission to do so first, be warned that it will simply come back to you.

Would you ask your assistant/intern/secretary to . . . ?
There is no such person. It's only me and the keyboard on the other side of the screen from you. So something that might be a reasonable request if I had the resources of an extra person on call can become a hardship for me. Especially if it involves standing in line at the post office.

How (or where) can I get hardback copies of your books?
The best way to be sure of getting a hardback copy of the book is to buy it as soon as it comes out. The hardbacks are allowed to go out of print when the paperback copies come out approximately one year later. If you are looking for hardbacks of the older books, then you may find them in used book stores, on Amazon, on E-bay or on Addall.com. If you are looking for hardbacks of the US editions of the Farseer Trilogy, they simply do not exist. In the US, the first two books (Assassin's Apprentice and Royal Assassin) were only issued as Trade Paperbacks (those are the oversized ones.) Only Assassin's Quest appeared in hardback. In the UK, the entire trilogy came out in hardback, but they are difficult to find now.

Your website is awful. Can I make a new one for you?
Why, thank you. But no thanks. I'm actually enjoying learning about html, and having complete control of my own website. I have several friends to consult on difficult questions, and actually have a new site in the works right now. I only work on it in-between books, so it sometimes goes quite a while between updates. And I currently have enslaved a great and powerful wizard (Wes the Tall and Sane) who, by virtue of his mind-reading prowess, can actually discern exactly what I want and then make it happen.

May I create a game based on one of your books?
Please discuss purchase of these rights with my agent.

May I write a screenplay or movie based on one of your books?
Please discuss purchase of these rights with my agent.

May I write fan-fiction based on your characters or set in your world?
No. I do not permit fan-fiction.

I've created artwork based on your characters or world. Can I display it on my website?
Yes.

I read that you allow fan art but not fan fiction. That's not fair! Why do you do that?
Fan art can never be confused with my writing. Art is pictures (or sculptures, etc.) It isn't words on a page. No one will look at a picture of a wolf and say, "That is Robin Hobb's work." Even if you Google for Robin Hobb and Nighteyes, and that image comes up, no one will think it is a page of text from my book. It's that simple.

I have a great idea for a book. How about I tell it to you, you write it and we split the profits fifty-fifty?
No. But thank you for thinking of me.

Are you really this cranky in person?
No. I'm much worse.

Can I make a Role-playing game based on your world or books? It's only just for fun, not profit, for this role-playing group on the Internet.

Or, Can I make a little film from your books? It's only for a contest, or just to share with my friends or only to put on my website. I don't plan to make any money from it.

Or, may I self-publish a little graphic novel I made from a scene in your book? I'll make sure to say that I don't own any of the rights.

 Rights are a rather tricky thing for a writer. You simply want to set up an RP or make a little movie and have some fun. You are not expecting to market a game or to profit from a movie.

It probably seems like it would be fun and simple if I simply said, "Sure, go ahead."

But if the writer gives official permission, it can have unintended consequences in the future. If a game developer approaches the writer and wants to purchase the rights to make a game based on the books, the writer has to say, "I already gave someone else permission to do an RP of that." Then the game developer may simply end the negotiation.

Or if the game developer purchases the rights and markets the game, the game developer may later take issue with someone else doing for free what he has paid for. The game developer may see it as a copyright infringement on the rights he has purchased. Or the person who has made the RP may look at the game developer and say, "You took a lot of the ideas that I first came up with for my RP and used them in your game that you sold for money. That's not fair!"

Often, when an author sells a publisher the right to publish a book, the contract will specify that the publisher can sell 'sub rights' as in movie rights or merchandise rights or gaming rights. If the publisher does sell those rights, then the author and the publisher share in the income from those rights. The publisher might not be happy to discover that the author had already given someone those rights for free.

This is why all rights permissions have to go through my agent. The agent keeps track of what rights have been purchased and by whom. If a writer gives someone permission to make a comic or an audio book version and at the same time the agent is negotiating a sale of those rights, things can get very messy for everyone, with possible law suits.

This is a long answer to what was probably seen as a fairly simple question. But often a writer is seen as stingy or selfish if he or she simply says, "No, you can't do that, even if you are not planning on making money from it."



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