James Islington

I generally don't get sad when, you know, celebrities or whatever, you know, I don't feel a lot of personal connection.

But when Robert Jordan died, that was like a, oh, no.

That's terrible.

Yeah, amazing.

Never read Raymond Feist?

Yeah.

I mean, Magician.

Magician especially.

I think that's the classic one.

Yeah, sure.

So it's a Roman-inspired epic fantasy, and the entire series is kind of dealing with themes of power and control and right to rule, and also, I guess, how our different experiences shape how we interact with those themes.

Yeah, look, it's...

I'm very much a planner and I definitely get ideas as I write as well.

But I have the outline of the series pretty much nailed down before I start.

So I knew where book one was going to finish.

I knew where book two was going to finish.

I know a lot of the key events along the way and where I want the characters to end up.

For me that's really important because I've got to have a –

I've got to have a goal in mind when I'm writing.

I've got to write towards something.