Dear Authors... Prose: ft. Joe Abercrombie 

this trend of booktubers getting long interviews, more like chats even, with S-tier writers is pretty amazing.... congrats Merphy!

I love how he always puts his camera below him so it feels like he's looking down on us like the Lord Grimdark he is 😂

"Taking the magical thinking out of writing" - Joe is so right by saying we need to take away the mystique of writing, not waiting for a muse that may never come - and just sitting down and actually writing.

I like how Merphy is slowly becoming a reading AND a writing channel.

"The Blade Itself was my first book." Confirmed. Joe sold his soul to a crossroads demon.

"I like my thinkers clever and dead" - Joe Abercrombie (From the Daniel Greene interview) 🤣🤣

This was a surprise to be sure, but a welcome one. In the last few years Joe's become my absolute favourite author, the First Law series is phenomenal.

I'm so happy for you that this happened but also I'm seething with silent jealously.

"Call me sensei" - Joe Abercrombie

When your fav booktuber makes an author interview at the same time you are reading that authors book. ( I am currently reading The Blade Itself and loving it)

TIMESTAMP 00:00 Introducing the legendary Joe Abercrombie (who doesn’t like Grimdark) 01:36 The First Law series, where to start reading 02:57 What is writing prose? The intentional and beautiful prose in Joe’s writing 04:33 Balance the different cultures, customs and minds while maintaining your author voice? 09:07 Q - Your prose feels very intentional. Did that come through revisions, or does it come naturally? 10:02 Joe talks about writing through the lens of the character’s distinct perspective (and starts making sense) 11:16 Write humour and witty characters. 12:47 Merphy uses the term Joe said he didn’t like. Tools for writing Grimdark 16:21 Sculpting prose around a characters personality. 18:35 Meeting and learning your characters. 23:33 Struggling to figure out a character. 28:49 Joe’s writing journey (and not tired of being hyped) 33:04 Q - Do you have any fiction or non-fiction that was useful for honing your craft? 36:08 Thank you Joe!

...”it’s stuff I made up in the middle of the night for my own amusement”... That sounds like a fun approach to writing!

"Call me sensei" - Abercrombie. Those bookshelves though...So jealous. Haha

This is what everyone wants, the close, podcastish, conversational interviews, not the classic form of fast and boring interviews from TV. Mooore! Give us more

My husband is not a big fantasy reader, but I convinced him to read the First Law trilogy and now he's hooked. He's already up to Red Country. 🤣

One line that struck me and has always stayed with me from his First Law trilogy was his description of a character, I've long since forgotten which one, who was described as "ugly as incest." What a descriptive turn of words. Who writes like that? Just amazing.

"As I revise it and come to think more about who the people are, I'll try to make the descriptions more in their... in their Tone." This definitely makes your language stand out! Glokta describing Logen was one of the coolest moments in any scene, ever, because of this very thing. Thank you, Sensei!

The guy is funny without being condescending and yet sometimes i feel like he's mocking us all hahaha. Witty guy.

Omg shes getting so big 😭😭 merphy can we go back to 20k when u would reply to all my comments 😢😢

Imagine if people actually talked like fantasy characters

Murphy is getting into the interview game! I like it! Now we need to get her an interview with the man himself Mr Sanderson!

Look at Merphy getting all these author interviews!!

I found Joe's descriptions of his writing process incredibly useful. Plot and worldbuilding is one thing, but making the characters seem real is another. I am going to try to start writing the characters' dialogue first in every scene to "hear" their voices and then as an exercise describe the world around them as seen through their eyes to discover how they think, feel and react - and then build from there. Getting to know your characters through writing them seems like something that would suit me. I also appreciate how Joe says he does a ton of revision. If you''re getting to know your character as you're writing them I can imagine that you have to go back and change a whole lot. Thank you Merphy for asking the perfect questions and thank you Joe for being so generous with sharing your process. I find you both incredibly inspiring!

I mean Joes place looks so atmospheric, omg its so cool. And Merphy so proud of you to be able to do thisss!! this is amazingg!!

"I advise everybody to go out and immediately buy my books" To late already own them all 😂

I want a bookshelf like Joe has

He is such a class act.

As a beginner writer, I have learned more useful info from this interview than from hours of 'advice RU-vid'. Subscribed!

I love the "not a big fan of the term". So tongue in cheek and dry, it's what I enjoy a lot about his humour and characterisation. :P His writing is so intentional and clever, this was a wonderful interview! Joe's mother saying "get to the truth of it" when it comes to prose and description is almost the origin of Logen's iconic statement: 'you've gotta be realistic'. LOVE THAT. :D

Excellent interview! Great questions, and Abercrombie’s interviews seem to be nearly as entertaining and full of insights as his books. Thanks!

Love this interview! Thank you Murph and thank you Joe!

I am such a fan of where channels like yours are going with this type of content! Thank you!

I love this! Thanks for sharing this conversation with us, Merphy :)

This is an amazing interview! Just loved the questions and insight.

Merph - I'm SO HAPPY that you landed this interview!!! Congrats!!!

You did a great job on the interview Merphy! On behalf of all us viewers, congrats and thank you!

Neat interview - some insightful questions and great answers from Joe. Always fun hearing from the master.

I hope these interviews won't end after Covid goes away. They've been great

Thanks so much Marphy!

This is such an awesome opportunity for you, Merphy! I'm glad its you that interviewed Joe. I'm definitely enjoying The First Law trilogy so I'm excited to read the other stuff he's writing. Have a great day everyone.

I feel like those were perfect tips, thanks for a great interview

As a person with rheumatoid arthritis, I really appreciated Glotka :D

What a treat. Thank you so much. Intelligent questions, intelligent answers. Brilliant.

I love this discussion, thanks for bringing it to us!

Thank you Merphy and Abercrombie-sensei for the insightful conversation!

I loved the writing tips! Thank you for interviewing this author! Please interview more authors about the specific aspect of writing that you feel makes them notable!

This is absolutely golden. Much like Sanderson, I'm loving Joe Abercrombie and his engagement with the community/sharing of insights and I can't wait to read his books! Thanks heaps :)

Dosn't like the term 'grimdark' but is referred to as 'Lord Grimdark'.

This had great advice all the way through it. And I will be using it in my own work!

Holy moly Im proud as a fan to see Merph get so big to have an interview with someone like Abercrombie 🤗🤗

This was a great interview, very insightful. Great job! I have always want to read his books, after watching this I bought the First Law Trilogy. Can't wait to dive in.

I love the idea of doing "Dear Author" videos with established authors. Thanks for the content, and I would love to see more!

I really enjoyed the flow of this interview. I find too many youtubers like to interrupt a lot while the author likes to tell stories. You let him go on when he wanted to and you jumped into the discussion in really natural places.

best interview with Joe I've seen so far, going into an interview with a specific theme. Murphy is an amazing interviewer she was able to connect the best to Joe out of anyone I've seen

Awesome interview! Joe A gives a lot of great thoughts into his writing process and how character is the heart of any good story. Loved it.

He seems like a really nice and kind man 😃. And the interview was so good I wanted it to be longer 🥲👌👌😁.

This was phenomenal! Thank you!

Thank you both of you. This kind of content is what I alweays hope for when I turn on my computer. Excellent interview, excellent content. More of this, and Abercrombie, thank you for the boks, all of them. Napier, thank you for your channel. This was an amazing and interesting interview, more of these.

can we take a second to appreciate how impressed Merphy looks at Joe Abercrombie?? You genuinely deserved this interview

I’m finishing The Blade Itself today! Really enjoyed this interview!

Great interview, thank you!

Wow awesome interview, super insightful. One of my favorite authors. Keep em coming!! 🚀🚀🚀

Amazing interview. Love Joe’s books.

This is (perhaps unintentionally) the most helpful video I’ve ever watched about writing character voice !!

He is one of my favorite authors and I loved this!

The Blood Meridian influence on Red Country was very strong - and I think Joe has a homage to McCarthy's "legion of horribles" paragraph.

Didnt expect this but I love it :D

Great video, I always enjoy Joe Abercrombie interviews for some unknown reason. I have only listened to his first book on audial and was not blown away with it but continue to feel drawn back to his novels. I think I am going to try and "read" the first book again and see if it hits different.

ahhh i had a feeling you would ask great questions, bravo!

YOUR REACTION TO FINDING OUT TBI WAS HIS FIRST so, so pure!

I really like this interview

Favorite working author. Thanks for the interview Merphy.

been waiting for this since u first posted abt it- 😔👌💕💕💕

I stopped multiple times and just re/wrote full scenes and than came back to watch more. 👏👏👏

Love this kind of content!

What a great interview! I'll never forget the first time I picked up The Blade Itself, right after it had come out, when I was on my lunch break working at Borders. Wanted an entertaining read for the break, ended up buying the book before I went back to work, and I had to wait for the rest of them from there! Lucky people, those that get to have all three books off the bat! Loved listening to this interview, Joe is seriously such an incredible writer and I love hearing him talk about his craft.

real interesting, i found the Michelangelo's David comparison inspiring - thanks for this

Great interview!!!

That was really something. I read The Blade Itself on your recommendation, great read. He’s a nice guy.

All right, you convinced me! I will try his books… Also, thank you for recommending Jonathan Strange and Mr. Norrell, I really enjoyed reading it, even though I a not the biggest fan of the ending…

Great interview. I think it's the first interview where Joe's properly talked about his writing process in any depth.

He has become one of my favorite authors. Thanks for this interesting interview.

Also agree my writing is often affected by what I'm reading like I picked up I started switching between first and third person because the book I was reading was in first person

Hello Merphy Napier - Thank you for this interview. I picked the First Law series and I have to tell you that I love it. I know that you probably won't read this since it's a 2 weeks later but if you do. Honestly, thank you.

Thank you, Merphy. Mr. Abercrombie has become one of my favorite authors, no only in fantasy, in any genre.

Niceee. Did not expect a video today but this was a pleasant surprise

Awesome! Joe is the best. Super cool video. Thanks.

A really fascinating man ..... makes me more interested in picking up his books. (Also really nice to hear a northern accent)

This new addition to Dear authors, where you invite actual accomplished authors is amazing! Go Merph!

Right. I am floored. Awesome!

So glad to hear an established authors process. It is VERY similar to mine. Dialogue first. Build out scenes from there. Then hone in on revision. Gives me hope that one day I’ll also be professionally published.

I don't usually go for the fantasy genre, but a friend lent me the Blade Itself and I gotta say how much I enjoyed it. Very interesting, unique story and really did not feel like reading a lot at all. Again, very enjoyable! Definitely recommend!!

Amazing vid! Thanks!

300 pages into the trouble with peace so good its my favourite joe Abercrombie book

I’ve read the first law and age of madness trilogies. My favorite author by far

This video makes me so happy. I still haven't read The Blade Itself, but every time I see Joe Abercrombie existing in any context it bumps up closer to the top of my tbr list

9:37 this is where the magic happens, and I’m discovering that revising in chunks or sections that naturally mesh together has worked best for me. I recently re-read an old shelved project I wrote in 2014 and it was I think the 3rd draft, and I could see where I’d revised and rewritten parts as if spot-cleaning and actually soiled the work.

Watching Joe is always a pleasure. Watching Joe AND Merphy? That's a delight.

This made my day!

I know it is not the point but you look absolutely beautiful!