Q&A Thursdays #13: Ashley’s Question

Over the past year, I’ve been reprising a Daughter of Blood (and by extension The Wall Of Night) Q&A series that featured in 2019.

Today’s question came from Ashley, who asked about how, or whether, the Christchurch earthquakes influenced the writing of the books. A very pertinent question, I think.

USA

Ashley: You were writing Daughter of Blood during the Christchurch earthquakes. Did they influence the story in any way?

I began writing Daughter during the period of the earthquakes themselves, which extended from September 2010 through until December 2011, with the last big earthquake on 23 December of that month (although aftershocks always continue for a period afterward, but that’s the generally accepted endpoint of the major events.) Mostly, though, I would say the book was written during the period of initial aftermath when everything was still in devastation mode and generally at at sixes-and-sevens for a long time. The insurance and rebuild phase had momentum by the time I finished in early 2014 but really only kicked off for me at the end of that year. That period, which continued for me until 2017, was also hugely disruptive, just in a different way—but any influence would be on WALL #4 (The Chaos Gate) rather than Daughter.

As for whether the earthquakes and the initial aftermath period had an influence on the story of Daughter of Blood, as opposed to the writing process, I find it really hard to point to any direct correlation. However, the Wall of Night story is about people under pressure, in circumstances that are often traumatic, so having “lived” that (albeit in a particular circumstance—i.e.natural disaster—that is not reflected in the book), it may help the characters responses to feel more authentic. One point I made in an Australian interview, though (after The Gathering of the Lost was published), was that it may be years before the full effects of the earthquakes are known, so may also take a more objective observer, looking back, to identify influences in my writing.