Interview with Ryan Span
Featured Author for October 2001

Would you introduce yourself and give a little personal background?

"I'm Ryan Span, 17 years old, living in the Netherlands, and your regular Fantasy and Sci-fi-loving socio-outcast. I've lived in this (miserable) country all my life, and still desperately want to leave. :P My first contact with the fantasy/sci-fi worlds was through Commodore 64 games and a comic - and an excellent one at that - called ElfQuest."

How long have you been writing? When did you start writing fantasy and science-fiction?

"I've been writing since I was a kid, but always in poor Dutch and with little talent; I started on English fantasy about 15 or 16 months ago, and for a rather silly reason. One afternoon, I was bored to desperation once again, so I thought about what to do. I'd almost decided on what I usually do - play games, watch TV, generally slack off - when I thought "Hey, why don't I go write a fantasy novel?" Of course, that story crashed and burned due to pure suckiness, but it launched a profound interest in writing and I like to think I've gotten very far in these short months."

What are your inspirations and influences?

"Inspiration is everywhere. Influences are everywhere. Whenever you think "Hey, I'll remember that," or "That's cool, I should do something like that sometime," you're inspired and/or influenced. Basically, anything can change your style, for better or for worse - though most of the time it's just too minute to notice."

Who are your favorite authors? Why?

"My favorite authors have to be Tolkien, Feist and Herbert. "Lord of the Rings" is a story so deep, so enchanting, so real that in my book it's pure brilliance. Even though the "Silmarillion" bored me to tears - but I blame that on his son. :P
Herbert's "Dune" was pure brilliance; sociological Sci-fi at its best. It makes you feel involved with the characters and the many sides of the story. EVERYONE has an agenda, and Herbert's interwoven all of them magnificently. Feist is awesome. Even though I've only read his Riftwar Saga, he crafted not one but two believable fantasy worlds and made them connect in an immensely compelling way. His characters are alive - with a few exceptions, but those can be found in every story - and his style just plain feels good."

What do you want the reader to get from your work?

"I like to make fresh stories that give a new perspective on something, to inspire people and to make an imprint on them. If a reader tells me "Ooh, I really liked that", "I'll be remembering this" or "Hey, I never thought about it that way before...", then my work's been worthwhile. :-)"

What makes a good story, in your opinion?

"Nothing that hasn't been said a thousand times before - Plot, Characters, Consistency, Scope, Enjoyment. You can't have a story without plot, and it's very hard to relate to a story without characters. Many will spend endless hours nitpicking if there's no consistency, or will just throw it away. And if the ending's hyped up though anticlimactic, then you've lost track of Scope. Once you've taken all these things into account, you have to make sure your story's enjoyable; enchanting, gripping, whatever - as long as it inspires emotion and leaves the feeling that the time taken reading your story was time well-spent."

Can you describe your writing process? How do you develop and refine your ideas?

"When I feel like writing, I sit down and take my story (or in the case of a new story, a blank Notepad file with my own HTML-code template) and ask myself two questions. First, it's "What happens next?" - and if an answer doesn't just pop into my mind, I ask "What would you like to write about?" In that case, I let my mind wander to cool things I've done/seen in the last few days, and I'll always find something inspiring."

If you could be a character from a fantasy novel, movie or game, who would you be?

"Oh, there's only one possible answer I can give to that question - the Nameless One from Planescape: Torment. ;) "

Finally, what cartoons did you watch as a kid?

"Heh, where cartoons are concerned, I'm still a kid. I'll always turn an eye to The New Adventures of Spiderman, not to mention The X-Men and War Planets: Shadow Raiders. When I was younger though, I religiously watched Transformers and First Somerset Strikers (a.k.a. BattleTech: The Animated Series - the very show that turned me into a BT nut ;P), and a myriad more on and off... Too many to name, really."