Jim C. Hines

answers the Usual Questions

Jim C. Hines

Jim C. Hines is the author of nine fantasy novels, including the Magic ex Libris series, the Princess series of fairy tale retellings, and the humorous Goblin Quest trilogy. He's an active blogger, and won the 2012 Hugo Award for Best Fan Writer. He lives in mid-Michigan with his family.

Has your interaction with fans, for example, at conventions, affected your work?

I'm sure it has. Meeting and talking to fans helps to refresh my own energy and enthusiasm.

Hearing what people loved, what made them laugh, what might not have worked for them, it all gets filed away in the back of my mind, and I hope that kind of feedback helps me to continue growing as a writer.

Is there any particular incident (a letter, a meeting, a comment that stands out?

There's the fan who stepped out of the elevator, looked at my badge, and pounce-hugged me. At another convention, I remember finishing up a panel and having someone (who later became a friend) ask if she could talk to me about my princess series of fairy tale retellings. She was rather angry about some choices I had made with regard to Talia's character (Sleeping Beauty). It caught me off-guard, but she raised some good and valid points. Some of them were choices I had made deliberately, others were things I hadn't considered.

Do you have a favourite author or book (or writer or film or series) that has influenced you or that you return to?

Not really. I suspect pretty much everything I read influences me in one way or another. Sometimes it's deliberate and conscious, studying to try to figure out how an author accomplished something. Or picking out examples of what not to do...

Who is the person you would most like to be trapped in a lift with? or a spaceship?

The world's best elevator repair person. (Or for a spaceship, the world's best pilot and astronaut.)

Who is the person you would most DISlike to be trapped in a lift with? Or a spaceship?

The original Ronald McDonald. Clowns on spaceships. Shudder.

What would you pack for space? (Is there a food, beverage, book, teddy bear, etc that you couldn't do without?)

My camera. I'm not a professional photographer or anything, but if I'm going into space, I want pictures!

What is the most important thing you would like to get/achieve from your work?

I want my books and stories to makes people's lives a little better. To make them laugh or smile, to make them think, to give them a bit of hope... It doesn't have to be a huge, life-changing thing,

What is the special satisfaction of your work?

Smudge the fire-spider. Because no problem is so great that it can't be set on fire.

submitted by Jim C. Hines

30 June 2014

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Just the facts:
Born: 1974, in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.
Resides: Michigan.
Bibliography/Awards:
Bibliography is at http://www.jimchines.com/bibliography
Awards include:
"2012 Hugo Award for Best Fan Writer
"1999 Writers of the Future first place winner

Web site:
http://www.jimchines.com
twitter.com/jimchines
facebook.com/jimhines

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