https://www.reddit.com/r/dresdenfiles/comments/8vf412/transcript_for_2018_jim_butcher_tysons_corner/Thanks Knnn for transcribing it.
Original link by u/serack (the Dresden Files guru) here:
Video uploaded by Myyrdneopia (the Alera Guru) here:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OZJiv_GT-Jc&feature=youtu.beIn Proven Guilty, the first time Harry encounters "Daddy Scarecrow", his arm is chopped off by Thomas' saber and hit by a van, etc. Why is he not hurt by iron?Part of that is because of the nature of how phobo-phages work, they are not actually there. They are projecting energy into a body. When he was in Faerie, that was a different story. When they are coming over to Earth, nobody wants to drive their own car in the demolition derby. You get a junker car. That's what he's doing.
When a Scion is deciding to embrace their supernatural parentage, how much of that can they do before it gets locked in as a choice?An infinitesimal amount. To get the power you make the Choice. Otherwise you don't get it.
Sarissa lived for a long time, but she never made a choice?Yeah, she never went one way or the other. She was just floating along. ... and her mother was Queen of Faerie. That carries.
When Harry died at the end of Changes, did that count against the Death Curse [That Cassius put on him in Dead Beat]**?**No, not really. Because he more or less wasn't actually dead. He was just on life support and so far gone that his spirit was out there floating somewhere. Basically Mab was just maintaining the silver cord that entire time until the wizard metabolism could start healing him back up.
Will Ebenezer ever learn of his relationship with Thomas?I built it like that so that it would be awful when it happens one day. I have to plan that, I'm like this wannabe god of mayhem. Basically it's my job when I'm putting the story together to ask "and how can I make this worse?" "and how can I make this even worse". Like that. Yeah. It's coming up.
Mab had sex with a bunch of people and Maeve did...Maeve didn't.
Lily and Fix?No, they don't do that. Well, they don't have intercourse.
I thought it was implied in the other book.Yeah, very strongly implied. It was kinda ugly for Molly when she finally got there. You could have been thinking "well at least she'll finally be having lots of sex". Turns out no. Not even that.
Because she's Clotho [youngest of three Greek Fates]**?**Yeah, in that particular triad she's the Maiden figurehead.
Are we getting more backstory on Mac?At some point, probably. Because he's got some stuff to contribute to the story before we're done. Mostly he's just like "No. No. This is not me, man. I'm out of here. I live on 101 No-Way lane in screw-this-istan". That's sort of his attitude.
Could Harry have summoned Molly as a Faerie Queen to the island between Cold Days and Skin Game?Yes he could have. I'm not sure that would have gone well, but yes he could have.
Why did you choose to voice John Marcone in the audiobook?Because it was going to save some money? They were all "we're trying to find an actor for this", and I was "I'll do it if you want. You won't have to pay me anything". And they were "oh, that a great idea". That's mainly it.
What kind of beer do you like to drink?Bear this with a caveat in mind that I did not have alcohol until I was 44, something like that. I can't drink it right now because I'm having issues, but my favorite drink right now is Swedish Cider.
You get pear cider from Sweden, one of their big companies is Rekoderlig and it's like their Coca-Cola company. There's like two competing ciders there like Coke and Pepsi, and their Coke is available here in the US and that's my favorite, that's the drink I drink. Beautiful thing. It's sweet like a really good draft soft drink except it's alcoholic. But you can't taste it after the first couple of sips so it's evil. So I like it.
Have you considered writing a philosophy book based on Mouse?No. Not at all. Because at the end of the day I am not a philosopher. I'm an entertainer. I think that would be kind of arrogant to go "here's a good way to live your life everybody, based upon my awesome choices." I wouldn't wish that on other people.
Will you have a story from Mister's perspective of Harry Dresden?If I did, it would be a fairly short one. It would basically be Mister going in and batting Harry on the nose until he wakes up and feeds him and then going "yes. I am the king". That would be about it.
Why did the Archive allow Harry to name her?It had never come up before. She was born and her mom was gone, there was nobody to give her a name. Nobody actually did give her a name. She was the Archive. That's a horrible thing to do to a child. Talk about child star issues, that's where the Archive is too. It was the first time that somebody had given her something that was of her own identity and that's a big deal.
Do you intend to touch upon the Jade Court?No. <snip the usual Jade Court answer>
How did most of the creatures in Demonreach get trapped up there and does it have anything to do with the circle on top of the island?Second question, I'm not telling you. First question, the Warden of Demonreach put them there. That's how you get in there. That's some place that it was fairly ballsy of Mab to step on to the island and say "give it your best shot kid". She's that kind of person.
Do you plan on having any spin-offs with Knights of the Cross or Butters and their backstories?No, but after I'm done with this, what I'm planning on doing is spinning of into a series based on Goodman Grey. I'm going to call the series "Monsters LLC." because there are times when only a hero can help you, but when you're in real trouble you need a monster. And that's what he is, a monster for hire.
Then I can still recycle old characters and stuff like that. And Dresden can make occasional appearences and whatever I want to do with it. Plus, he's really old, so I can skip back and forth through time and do the Highlander thing as part of my storytelling. I think that sound fun.
Are we going to find out what Kincaid is?Probably eventually. He's a Scion, but you'll see eventually.
At the beginning of Cold Days you picked the Foo Fighters' "Walk" as the music of the montage. Was there a reason you picked that song?Yeah, because he couldn't walk. I'm not terribly sophisticated.
Is the hit that Harry took out on himself still in effect because he survived it?You'll have to talk to Kincaid about that. Depends what his professional ethics are like, I don't know. I'll say this, you don't know the backstory of what happened during that. I'll have to write it in as a vignette somewhere. Or I'll just write it and put in online, you guys can just read it then.
Why are all your female characters tall, hot, athletic, blond, etc.? Do you plan on adding more diversity?I'm planning on writing the story that I want to write. and the story that appeals to me and a story that I think will sell well. So no. That's not something I start planning into my writing process. That kind of thinking is, when you're trying to put your political priorities in, you can't tell the story as well. You should never preach harder than you entertain, and I don't like preaching.
Is the character Binder based on Charlie Stross?He's more based on Badger from Firefly.
Why did Vaderrung take the form of Kringle?He's always Kringle when Kringle is around. When he's acting in his role as Kringle, he takes on the Kringle aspect. and when he's doing that he's got all the power of a major lord of faerie, but he's also beholden to Mab while it's going on. Mab's no dummy though, so she knows not to go ordering him around, but they do talk and have strategy sessions and stuff like that. Kringle is what Odin does to keep from dying of old age.
What's your writing process like?Confused. Generally, the way I work is I sit down and I will start working on an outline. I'll get that all done and I'll be sure that I know the beginning of the story, the end of the story and a big flashy bit in the middle, and usually there are some one-liner I'm going to drop along the way. When I sit down to write, I write a chapter at a time in order.
The real problem that I have is that I've got this backwards writing process. Other people just get it on the page and edit it and refine it. It doesn't work for me. Instead what I do is just kind of sit and think until I can see the whole chapter in my head and then I write it down - it comes out pretty quick. I find that I avoid lots of major edits that way, if I can do it like that. After I get that done, I'll send it off to my beta readers and based on their comments I'll try and diagnose how well that chapter worked or didn't work and make whatever fixes I need and move on from there.
How much of what Maggie sees in Zoo Day is she really seeing and how much of this is something that's coming out because she's suffered so much?It's the Dresden Files. All the monsters are real. Nobody is crazy - they're there. It's real stuff, it's something I'm kinda setting up for the Young Adult series. Probably five or six little books of Maggie going off to the school where all the supernatural kids go.
<snip usual SMAGT story with kid-only monsters>
An online synopsis of what happened till now?I'm sure there's fans that can do that a lot better than me. I've got no idea what happened. I go to the fan Wikipedia when I need to look up something for the books.
You've seen only one version of the books. By the time I get done writing, I've seen 8-10 slightly different versions of the same story and I don't always remember what things got changed and what things didn't. Over fifteen books, 15*9, I've got to keep track of that many. In my head, it's not one storyline like you guys have. It's this cloud of alternate universes running along together and I'm not sure which one we're in at any given time.
That's why I have beta readers to help me out. It's the most frustrating thing. I'll get done with a good scene and then the beta reader will say "this was awesome, except you killed this guy two books ago."
Did you play any part getting James Marsters to voice Harry in the Audio books?<snip usual story>
Do you hear James' voice when writing Harry?I don't hear James. I've listened to maybe half of the audio books because it's less enteretaining for me.
Are we ever going to find out how Margaret La Fey became Margaret La Fey?I'm kind of opposed to it generally because prequels suck. Because you take all kind of drama right out of them. It's difficult in the prequel trilogy to be concerned about Obi-wan's health when you know he makes it. It hard for him to be in the middle of action and for us to wonder "hmmm. I wonder how this one will turn out?"
I don't think that serves the story very well. I think the story is served by having all these sort of imaginary things on the edge of what you know that just says "here be dragons". I think it's more fun for the readers to do it like that. That said, in the spin-off series, if we're going back and forth through time with Goodman Grey, she might be able to show up.
If Harry was more Lawful Evil, what would his day job be?There's so many thing you can do as a wizard to set yourself up... I'm pretty sure he'd be Marcone's enforcer.
What do you read for fun?My very favorite auter hands down is Robert Lee Parker. He wrote the Spencer private eye novels. They were all lean and quick and very good books. Plus, he kept writing and writing and died at his keyboard "like a man". That's how I want to go. That's awesome.
Not before you're done.
Well... We'll see about that.
We've done the Fae and the Fomor, are there going to be any other folk from other part of Celtic mythology like the Firbolg?
You may have noticed in the course of the series that those things are popping up more and more. Maybe it means something...
Do you have any plans for including ideas from Hindu mythology?I want to mention them, because I want to be sure that that's in the world, but that is a belief system that people follow and I don't know a whole lot about. Until I know more about it, there's no way I can write about it respectfully. They are in the background right now.
My own upbringing was on the "fun" end of Fundamental Christianity, as opposed to the "mental" end. I studied the Bible a lot when I was a kid. I memorized books of the Bible at Bible summer camp to get more points for my team. I'm real comfortable with Christian theology and how it interacts with a lot of different Western philosophy. That's where I'm writing, because I want to be able to do it respectfully. It's really hard to do that unless you know what's going on.
Hinduism is so huge and so complex, the various stories that get woven into it. It's amazing. I don't want to run over something that somebody really believes because I was too stupid to notice that I was insulting them or deriding what they think. So I haven't included it that much directly, although they will still be showing up, especially as the series goes on.
Are we going to see the[current] Merlin do some heavy hitting in future books?I'm not sure why you would think that would happen. He's probably just a functionary, kind of a bureaucratic guy who just failed up until he finally couldn't fail up any more. I'm sure he won't accomplish anything anytime.
Are we going to find out who Cowl really is?We will found out who he is eventually and <singsong> I'm not gonna tell you </singsong>. I can't answer questions that will ruin fun stuff for you.
Is Harry ever going to find out more about about his mother, is that ever going to make him snap?Seems like he's gonna snap at some point. I don't know if that would specifically be what would set him off, but the thing is, for humans, when you're dealing with your parents, once they're gone, they are gone. That's that. You don't get to know things about them. My dad died when I was 22. I can't ask him things. It happens.
Is the Blackstaff Mother Winter's cane?Oh come on. It's a coincidence.
Are we ever going to see what other people see when they look at Harry and Soulgaze?I don't know. It's all first person point of view. That's kind of the limit for all of us though. What do people think about us. When they look at us, what do they see? You can look in a mirror, but that doesn't tell you what kind of person they think you are.
Billy and Georgia can talk about what they saw?Eavesdrop on it? That's cheap. I suppose that could get it done. I know what it looks like, I'll see if I can figure out some way to put it in there. That seems like something that would be towards the end of the story.
Have there ever been any fights where you were excited to show how much stronger Harry has gotten?No, that's never been one of my concerns. I don't know if you've ever read [John] Sclazi's book, "Old Man's War"? There's a section in that book where they are talking about soldier and they say "soldiers never go to war with the equipment that they need. They only go with as much as they can get". It's sort of the same way with Harry. The extra power that he's got, all it's doing is getting him deeper in trouble. Which was the plan.
How much has the first chapter of Peace Talks changed since it got released in the Kickstarter?I don't think it has. I wrote it. You're welcome. There's no guarantee it won't by the time it goes to the editing process but probably it will be fine unless I find something that would just be really awesome to make sure that is in chapter one, in which case I'd change it.
Will Sandra Marlin {from SplatterCon!!} show up in future books?<thinks for a while> Oh yeah, that's right. I'm not going to tell you. It's way better to find out the other way.
Is officer Murphy named after the officer in the Richard Scarry books?No. Murphy was named after Murphy from Robocop. The short, cute, looks like your favorite aunt, blond girl who is like "Murphy, it's you!". I'm not sophisticated guys, when I see a character I want -- gimmie that.
When Lacuna and Toot-Toot were hanging around, do you make them a mirror of Harry and Murphy on purpose?I didn't do it consciously, but there might have been some English Major stuff happening when I wasn't looking.
How much of your dialogue do you get from LARPing?My LARPing kind of informs the books. For example, I know what its like to be crouching in the frost-covered brush at six in the morning waiting for someone to come down a trail so I can ambush them. Mainly the only overlap between LARP and the Dresden Files is the snark, because I will snark at people there. When I'm playing a different character I can do that. When it's me, not so much. Like right now, I'm not actually being me, "Jim Butcher". Right now I'm being "famous guy Jim Butcher", there's like a costume and everything. It makes it easier for me to deal with people because in real life I'm kind of like a hermit who just wants to be at home and gets nervous when the phone rings.
Why did you choose to set the Dresden Files in Chicago?<snip the usual story>
Does the short story for the Monster Hunter series take place in the Dresden Universe?No. You know how much PUFF {government bounty for killing supernatural creatures} Harry would be worth? My god. He wouldn't make it long - he'd have a bounty on him.
What made you decide to write Tavi as a disabled character?I was writing a fantasy novel, so it starts off with somebody on a farm that's actually royalty but he doesn't know it, because that's where fantasy novels start. I don't make the rules - that was Tolkien. But then, while we were doing that, I also wanted to change the formula a bit, and so instead of him being more awesome than everybody, I wanted him to be less awesome than everybody and for it to make him a strong and better person because of it.
That was why I chose that for Tavi, so that by the time he's finally First Lord at the end of everything, he's been all over, where people are. He knows it's like to suffer. That's something you kinda want in a king.
How do you generate a character?I use a Dungeons and Dragons character sheet. Not the new ones. One of the old ones that you had to write very tiny and had a shield for your armor class. Occasionally I will dice for their attributes. "Who is this guy? Oh, he's not quite as bright as I thought he was. OK, that will be fun." For me, I'm taking these random pieces and sort of creating him and then seeing how I can fit them together because I have a good time with that. I was one of those kids who in grade school and junior high was always rolling up D&D characters for fun. It wasn't broke, so I didn't see any reason to fix it. I know it's not terribly sophisticated.
Are the monks who hired Harry to bring back the puppies (and left Mouse behind) going to come back and set that straight?You're assuming the monks weren't intending that from the very beginning.
Can the three Queens give Harry conflicting orders?They can now!!
What is your favorite role-playing system to play?Warhammer fantasy role-playing, the original edition, not the Green Ronin edition. The original edition is dark and weird and oddly quirky funny in some instances. I started playing it when I went to college and just never gave up. It's a wonderful game.
Do you commit to a specific book or do you work on multiple at the same time?When I work on multiple at the same time, they end paralleling each other very strongly so I try and only do one book at a time. I'm also not super OCD, but "just do it in order. Get it in the right order". For crying out loud, it should be CDO -- that's in alphabetical order.
Have there been scenes that are difficult for you to write?A lot. Harry talking to his dad, that was hard. Harry meeting Maggie, that was hard. Stuff like that, yeah, it tears you up when you write it, but there's no other way to get it into the book. You've kinda got to do it.
What's it like writing in a different universe and would you be willing to let other people write in yours?It sort of depends. I wrote the Spiderman book for Marvel. That was a very frustrating process, because anything that I did to change the book after I'd sent in the initial outline had to go to this committee and be approved. It took the committee like ten days to make time and meet and come back to me.
Writing for Larry [Corriea] was easy. That was a lot of fun. I loved writing that short story. It's a good character and I had a good time with him.
As far as folk writing in my world, I don't know. Why are you asking? I guess it's possible I could, but these are my toys. These are my action figures. Play with your own. I suppose I might at some point. I would be willing to do a short story anthology or something like that possibly if other people want to come play. That might happen some time in the future.
Will we find out who else has been a Warden of Demonreach in the past?I hadn't really thought about who has been there in the past. The White Council really likes it when nobody is the Warden of Demonreach, because the Warden of Demonreach can apocalypse things real fast if he wants to. The original Merlin was. He was the one who built the place.
The last time Harry had a date, you put a bullet in him. Is he ever going to get out on a Saturday night?No! Because he doesn't want a bullet in him. At this point he kind of just looks out at the world and go: "Yeah, no. That's not going to happen."
