D. Barkley Briggs has worked in radio, marketing and new product development. He also pastored for eleven years. After losing his wife of sixteen years, Briggs decided an epic fantasy might inspire his four boys to live courageously through their loss. The Book of Names is the first in a series of adventures set in the Hidden Lands of Karac Tor. Briggs has since remarried and now has eight children.
Q: Thank you for this interview, Dean. Can we begin by having you tell us why you chose young adult fantasy to write?
A: I’ve always loved fantasy. I love the escape, the passion, the burning sense of mission that often comes with stories of this type. Everything is on the line, the world is faced with doom, and the odds aren’t good. What will you do? What will you sacrifice to save those you love? I’m drawn to the deeper questions that get raised by the demands of the hero’s quest. Treachery, redemption, magic. I love the process of transformation, where princes are exposed as petty or cowardly, and yet the humble farmer’s son rises to defy the looming darkness. It’s all or nothing. It’s fantasy, and yet it strips away the illusions.
Q: Did you outline before you wrote your book or did you just go with the flow?
A: Both. I create a detailed, chapter-by-chapter outline, but invariably my stories break loose of the plot from time to time. Sometimes, I’ll know (in advance) that I don’t know what needs to happen at a particular juncture in the story, but I know my characters will know by the time we get there. It’s strange, but I’m comfortable with leaving those parts intentionally vague. I want to see what new secrets they will discover for me.
Q: Who was your favorite character in The Book of Names and why?
A: I have to fudge with this question. My story is partially biographical, in that certain painful events from my own life inspired the tale. The Book of Names is about four brothers who, after losing their mother to illness, get swept away through a magic portal into another world. So the four brothers of the tale (Hadyn, Ewan, and the twins Garret and Gabe), are really mini-portraits patterned after my own sons, Hanson, Evan, Gatlin and Gage. So … I have four favorites. My boys are my heroes, and I’ve loved painting them into another world, watching them fail and succeed and grow. It’s like I’m raising two sets of boys. But for the purpose of the question, I suppose that might be considered cheating. For a purely fictional character, I’d say Cruedwyn Creed. He’s noble and funny and lives life on his own terms. But he’s a bit of a doubting Thomas, with a tendency to—how shall I say it?—stretch the truth. He’s fun.
Q: Who was your least favorite character?
A: Asandra the Mirling is a young woman with the power to catch demon spirits with glass and blessed water. She probably fits the bill, although she is not really my least favorite, just the most misunderstood.
Q: What was the hardest part to write?
A: The recollections my boys make about their mother were hard and cathartic, all at once. Those are hard feelings to deal with, but they must be faced. I wrote to give them a voice within the story by which to deal with their own lives. But loss and sorrow and hardship is universal. The interior conflicts the protagonists face will pretty easily connect with many teen readers.
Q: Do you plan on writing more young adult fantasy novels?
A: Absolutely! In fact, The Book of Names is the first book in a series called The Legends of Karac Tor. The second book comes out in Spring, 2009. It’s called Corus the Champion. I’m currently about halfway through the manuscript for book three, called the Song of Unmaking.
