Day 5 of the V. Arrow interview is finally here folks! Lets dig right into it, but remember to head over to our giveaways tab to get some free stuff after!
Question #17
Derpy: How long did it take you to research for The Panem
Companion?
V. Arrow: The project took fourteen months from the original contract signing until the release date, but I had made the original version of the Panem Map and the Lexicon before that and posted them on my LiveJournal. Altogether, the material in The Panem Companion was compiled over the course of about two years.
Question #18
Derpy: If you had to do it all over again what would you change of the book?
V. Arrow: If I had to change The Panem Companion? I would probably add a chapter that discusses alternate viewpoints on the series, such as the view that it is a libertarian manifesto against Big Government (although I don’t agree at all—at all—I think it’s an interesting alternate reading) or that events were meant to tie into specific revolutions in history, rather than revolution as a general idea.
Question #19
Derpy: How often do you write?
V. Arrow: Every day.
Question #20
Derpy: Did you just wake up on day and say, I want to write a book that looks into the aspects of Hunger
Games? Or how the idea come about?
V. Arrow: My friend, Meg, and I were discussing The Hunger Games and our love for Finnick, Annie, Mags, and District Four, and that segued into creating the initial draft of the “Map of Panem.” I posted it on my LiveJournal thinking that it might get a few hits from fellow fans, but eventually it made its way to the Fireside Chat, io9, the Daily What, and Entertainment Weekly online, so when the opportunity arose to work with Smart Pop Books on a Hunger Games companion, it made sense to me to focus on the world where the books take place, rather than on Katniss’ character’s story.
And I had always really enjoyed reading fan companions to the Harry Potter series, but I felt like most of them were very redundant or basic…especially since they were aimed at people who were already fans! I didn’t need someone to tell me that “Diagon Alley” was “diagonally,” but a chapter on how Quidditch culture and British football culture were alike really served me well as an American fan; a lexicon of name origins—“Diagon Alley” aside—also totally blew my mind when I was twelve and first reading the series (all three books that existed at the time, anyway). I felt like fandom itself did a lot more in-depth discussion and digging than the authors of most “fan companions” gave fans credit for, and I wanted to give back what I could.
Come back again tomorrow and I might have another part of the interview for you, lets say, hmmm, same place same time how bout?
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