This was broadcast on the internet on October 26th 2000. It is not the full transcript, I'm only mortal! However I took notes and got the best bits and have arranged them into under sub headings, listed in alphabetical order. There are some direct quotes which you will note as marked with *
After life
She said she is fascinated by near death experiences but has never experienced one herself depsite coming close to dying once. She said that the after life is beyond our understanding, she would like to believe what they say about an after life but she has a continious fear that there is no meaning.
Aids
She said there is no obvious aids allegory in her vampire novels but it may have had an influence on her as she lost many dear friends to this disease.
Audience expectations
She says she keeps making her audience angry and she causes controversy among them but that she expects this.
Beauty
She sees beauty everywhere and she sees it where others do not. She finds most people beautiful and feeds of the beauty of New Orleans, she missed it terribly when she was away. She found the emotional chill of San Francisco got to her.
Characters
When she writes in the first person she becomes that character. She is however very close to all of her characters, it is a simple and total identification. She mentioned the character of Mona who she loves a lot. She said Lestat's voice never leaves her alone, it obsesses her, almost bullies her and that he is the male vampire she would want to be.
Childhood
Anne talked about her childhood and how wonderful it was to her. She says an important moment for her was when she saw 'Dracula's Daughter' - she found the female vampire character to be tragic and she never forgot it. This fixed in her mind the idea of vampires as tragic figures.
Creative writing courses
Anne said that although many people find them helpful, she did not as she was considered an outsider and a weirdo.
Darkness
She says the darkness in her novels is related to her personal loses. She says she is not resigned to losing people, she still grieves for her mother and doesn't ever want to let those she has lost go. She says her writing is soaked in darkness.
Do you accept the existing rules of the vampire world or do you make them up as you go along?
She said she makes them up and has to refer to previous novels as she wants it to be coherant. She really wants to be a coherant writer who writes unforgetable characters.
Do you yearn for immortality?*
'Yes! Would you be able to refuse?' She said there is no way she could refuse.
Fans*
'I love them, they are loving to me.' However she said those who are goths and wear fangs are not the only part of her audience. She thinks the goths live a romantic life and they are in search of romance in an America which is often secular, materialistic and sterile. However she said anyone who drinks blood is a fool!
Gay fans
Anne acknowledges she has lots of gay fans but says she has very few gay character with David being an exception. She writes from instinct and many of her characters are bisexual. She says gay people have written some of the best essays on her work. Her books are not allegories to homosexuality, she did not write them with this intention. She finds bisexuality attractive because it offers so few impediments to people. She doesn't know why gay people like her work exactly but she is glad they do.
Historic research
Anne said her historical details are 100% correct and that she does an enormous amount of research. She said she loves doing research and reads about archaeology and mythology for fun as well as for her novels. For example in Pandora, the details about the politics of ancient Rome were accurate however perhaps no one cared about this. She is pleased with her progress in writing about political history because when she started in Interview with the Vampire she could not write any.
How long it takes her to write and when does she write?
Interview with the Vampire was written entirely at night. She usually writes at the weekend but her writing patterns are varied. When she was writing the Vampire Armand she shut everything out for 5 weeks and worked very fast.
Humour
She said there was no humour at all in Interview with the Vampire and that it was a challenge for her to include humour in the Vampire Lestat. She said as Lestat has returned to her there will be more humour in her future novels. Blood and Gold will not have much humour, it is much darker than Merrick.
Influences
The Bronte sisters, Charles Dickens, Shakespeare especially Othello, Virginia Woolf, Tolstoy - especially Anna Karenina, one of her favourite novels, Nabokov especially Lolita.
Inspiration for hell in Memnoch
Near death experiences and everything she has read.
Memnoch
Lestat was a real evolution, he continued to grow and grow for her. Memnoch is her absolute favourite novel and she believes it will take several years to catch on and for people to understand it fully. When Memnoch was released so many people were furious with her but now it is a very popular novel. In the novel she was trying to figure out everything she had been taught as a Catholic.
Music
She finds music intoxicating but she can't listen to it and write at the same time. She wanted to be a musician but had no talent. She tried to play the violin but was told she had no talent and would never be a success. Cry to heaven expresses what she feels about music. She said Matthew Wilder has written the score for a cry to heaven musical and they hope to trying to put this in production.
New Orleans
She says she is deeply routed in the magnificent gloom of New Orleans, that it is a haunted city and that she loves it deeply.
Novels as a series
She does not conceive her books as a series when she begins writing them. There is no map for her. She says she does an enormous amount of rewriting and revising on her computer.
Outsiders?
Anne was asked if she identified with the vampires as outsiders.
She said she has always felt like an outsider, a freak, like a gay man in a woman's body. She said the vampires are metaphors for the outsider and the predator, Lestat used to be a more lustful character but now he is more concerned with the metaphysical.
Relationship with God and the church
When she was 18 she left the church and lost her faith in God. However she returned to catholcisim in 1988 and attends mass regularly now which is very important to her. However she doesn't agree with everyone the church says and she certainly would never condemn her gay readers. She finds great beauty in the church and its rituals. She believes that you can still fear that life is meaningless but attend church, that just because of the fear you should not deny the tradition.
Talamasca
Dream organisation of scholars, looked on as keepers of history. The Talamasca was dreamed up as a secular order of scholars who do not judge and take in orphans like Merrick. At some point she is sure she will write a Talamasca novel.
Teenagers
She said she loves writing about precocious teenagers and that all her writing is done by instinct and is spontaneous so she does not plan to write about them.
Violin*
'Violin is about finding redemption in the arts, music and writing and how they can save you.'
When will you write a sequel to the Mummy?*
'I'll get to it, there are many things that I will get to.'
Which novels are being developed into screen productions?
The Feast of all Saints has been made as a mini series to be spread over 2 nights at 4 hours each. She has met the actors of this production and says it is wonderful and very true to the book and the director is wondeful.
'Warner Brothers are filming a Queen of the Damned movie in Austarlia.'*
(then there was an uncomfortable silence and laughter)
Will you and your son (Christopher) colaborate?
No, but he may work on the screenplay for the Witching Hour as he likes that book.
Will you ever rewrite your old novels?*
'No, I would rather break new ground.'
Will you ever write another erotic novel?*
'No, I'm very proud of them but they are finished.'
Will we hear from Dora again?*
'I think so, Lestat will have to deal with what happened with her, many elements will be dealt with now that Lestat has returned as a fully fledged character.'
(I have yet to meet someone who wants Dora to return)
Quick comments from me
I am very concerned with her response to the Queen of the Damned movie. You should have heard it, she sounded as if she was going to laugh. It was a very very uncomfortable silence. That is my favourite novel and it is amusing her!? Why is it she cannot stop praising the Feast of All Saints mini series? Do any of us care so much about that? No, I doubt it.
Forgive my rant. Obviously what she posted on her web site was not what she was really feeling.
By the way I submitted a question which she did not get round to answering. I was waiting on edge (to put it mildly) and I really thought she might answer it. Oh well there's always next time...
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