As True Blood enters its fourth hit season and the Sookie Stackhouse series continues, Charlaine’s earlier series are experiencing a rebirth. Fans who have been enchanted with Sookie are now turning to Aurora, Lily, and Harper, and finding that these other stories are just as compelling and the characters as fresh as they were when first introduced. Charlaine continues to develop new characters and offer new pleasures for readers all over the world.
Recollections Around the Duckpond
The Fans of Charlaine Harris
BY BEVERLY BATTILLO
Fan clubs are very dangerous things. I should know; I started one, and my life will never be the same.
My story began fifty years ago with my best friend Ellen and I playing our favorite game—school. Since Ellen was four years older, she got to be the teacher, and a terror she was! As the hapless student, if I didn’t learn my spelling words, Ellen would energetically apply her ruler to my backside. I was soon a most exemplary student and kept my excellent study habits for the remainder of my life. The greatest tribute to Ellen’s tenacious teaching style was that by the time I was five years old I could read at first-grade level. Doors began opening in my mind, and reading became my greatest pleasure and one I pursued voraciously. Ironically, Ellen now works for the IRS and continues, at least metaphorically, to apply her ruler.
Reading became my addiction. I took another quantum leap in junior high when I registered for a speed-reading course. Now I not only read a lot, but I read a lot really fast. In addition, my ability to completely block out all activity when reading was a talent that drove my parents totally crazy. If we ever have a nuclear war, I doubt I’ll know it until the universe is completely annihilated and I complete whatever I happen to be reading and find angels playing harps all around me.
My taste in literature has always been rather eclectic. If it’s in print, I’ll read it, whether biography, romance, mystery, cereal boxes—I’m sure you get the idea. I can’t say my reading has led me to any great revelations or astounding insights. My life in general has remained boringly normal. I have discovered many friends in books—ones that I revisit again and again with great pleasure—and I marvel at the talent and imagination of those who can create worlds within worlds for us to enjoy. It wasn’t until late in life that I discovered something that led me to stray from my steadfast and steady existence.
My first breach into a different world came in 1964 when a favorite teacher introduced me to the works of J. R. R. Tolkien. The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings were literature the likes of which I had never experienced—a realm filled with astounding characters and a new language of its own. Dipping into fantasy a bit in later years, I happened upon a book by a new writer named Laurell K. Hamilton. Hamilton’s first book, Nightseer, caught my fancy, and I still believe it to be one of her best works. I discovered Hamilton’s Web board and began to explore her Anita Blake series. These books were part of what was being described as an emerging new fictional genre. Booksellers didn’t quite know where to put them—some placed them in horror, some in fantasy, and even a few in the romance section. Identifying their place in literature became something of a conundrum. Although I enjoyed the early books in the series, I found the later ones not to my taste and began to look for something new. While I was perusing the horror section in a nearby Barnes & Noble bookstore, my eye was caught by a book with a charming, almost folk art, cover. The book was Dead Until Dark by Charlaine Harris. The rest is, as they say, history.
Dead Until Dark was unlike anything I had read in my long history of reading. Since it was written in the first person from the perspective of the heroine, I felt that I actually became Sookie and experienced events through her eyes. I had read first-person perspective in the past, but these books seemed completely fresh, and the world was new and absolutely believable. Following my usual pattern, I visited the author’s website, searching to find other readers with whom to discuss the wonders of this new universe. I did not expect to meet the author there!
Charlaine established her website in 2001 and updated it in March 2004 to handle the ever-increasing usage. Charlaine was an active participant, who encouraged discussion and became involved on a personal level with the readers who visited her site. I first visited her board early in 2004 and was able to share in the development of the new site. Imagine my thrill and astonishment the first time Charlaine commented directly to me on the board.
A fan board is an interesting organism. It constantly changes as members come and go and as friendships are forged and cemented. In the early days of the new board, an active core of members was established, and these new friends became closer to me than many of the people whom I had known for decades. As we became more engaged with one another, a sense of community grew among members who were geographically far apart but close in interest and viewpoint. Charlaine was the glue that held us together, but in a very real way we were all a part of something that was much larger than any individual. It is not hard to imagine that many of us were curious to discover whether the friendships we had forged with one another as strangers would carry over into the reality of actually meeting.
As more information became available regarding Charlaine’s touring schedule, board members began to plan to meet at these events. My first opportunity came in May 2006 at the Romantic Times Convention in Daytona Beach, Florida. I attended the Saturday author book-signing session and will never forget the first time I met my favorite author.
I approached Charlaine’s table shyly, not at all sure how to greet her. Charlaine took matters into her own hands by leaping to her feet, hugging me with apparent delight, and inviting me to sit beside her and talk as she signed books for fans. As we sat together that afternoon, I felt a true friendship form and realized there were ways that fans like me could help bring her terrific books to the attention of new readers. Ideas from that first convention were spinning in my head as I returned home and shared with my family the wonderful experience of meeting Charlaine and several of my online friends.
Returning to the board after my experience at RT, I approached the members with the idea of developing an official fan club whose stated purpose would be to help Charlaine become a number one bestselling author. Members of the board were interested, so I approached Charlaine for permission to pursue the fan club idea, and with some bemusement she agreed. Officers were nominated and elected, and a contest was instituted to choose a name and a logo for the club. During this time, it was announced that the rights to the Sookie Stackhouse books had been sold to producer Alan Ball, who was to develop them into an HBO television series tentatively titled True Blood. Excitement was high on many levels, and on June 1, 2006, Charlaine’s Charlatans became the official fan club of author Charlaine Harris.
The sale of the merchandising rights to the Sookie series prevented the fan club from using any of the images associated with the Sookie books as we began to discuss what to use as a logo for the club. Charlaine’s Web moniker was Duckpond, and we decided to develop identification around that name. Fortunately, a talented artist member and her equally talented husband created the two-ducks-on-the-pond logo that is now recognized wherever we go. Incorporating the motto “Follow me to the Duckpond,” our specially designed logo T-shirts soon became familiar to fans and authors alike. Charlaine told us she loved the shirts because wherever she saw them as she traveled she knew she was among friends.
Toward the end of 2006 another idea was gaining ground on the Web board. The Romantic Times Convention was to be held in Houston, Texas, in April 2007, and the club leadership decided that this would be the perfect venue for our first official fan club gathering. Sixteen Charlatans from around the world traveled to Houston to join Charlaine there. I can’t express the excitement we felt as the time drew near. I’d never traveled alone so far from my home, so it was a special time for me; as president of the fan club, I felt a real responsibility to make this a memorable event for all of us. I can only say that Houston had never seen anything
like the Charlatans! The event was literally one of the high points of my life. The camaraderie we felt was instantaneous; the friendships we had forged as strangers on the board became a face-to-face reality. I can now go almost anywhere in the world and be near a friend who I can call on in need and be absolutely sure will answer. It is an empowering and comforting idea. I won’t recount here all the pranks and laughs we shared. Never had so much fun been had with a set of waxed fangs! Before we left, several authors asked Charlaine if they could buy the club from her. High praise indeed!
Our leadership took seriously the pledge to help Charlaine reach new readers. The year 2007 was busy as we continued to design items such as bookmarks and bookplates to distribute to fans at conventions and signings. Charlatans acted as “commandoes” in bookstores, moving Charlaine’s books to more advantageous locations. Membership in the fan club steadily increased as new readers came to participate on the board and as Charlaine began to make more personal appearances. The board was buzzing with speculation as reports began to come of progress in the development of True Blood. We were especially pleased to learn late in the year that Charlaine was selected to be the guest of honor at the Malice Domestic Convention in April 2008. This was a great honor for her, and the fan club leadership decided to support Charlaine by having our next official gathering at Malice Domestic. The Charlatans were ready to take on Washington, D.C.
Another event that took place in 2007 would institute a new tradition for the fan club. Charlaine shared with the board that one of her most popular characters, Eric Northman, was inspired by a character she had seen in the movie The Thirteenth Warrior. She was surprised and delighted when actor Vladimir Kulich contacted her to let her know how pleased he was to have been her inspiration and that he was a great fan of her books. A germ of an idea formed, and I contacted Charlaine to ask if we could invite Mr. Kulich to become an honorary member of Charlaine’s Charlatans. On July 25, 2007, Vladimir Kulich was pleased to become our first Honorary Charlatan. Since that time we have recognized many others who have contributed in some significant way to Charlaine’s writing.
Excitement was somewhat dimmed by the writers’ strike in late 2007, which set back the expected premiere of True Blood from March to September 2008. There was a great deal of buzz already about the show, however, when the Charlatans came to Malice, where Charlaine was guest of honor. A very different venue from Romantic Times, Malice Domestic is a mystery writers’ convention and was a new experience for the Charlatans. The Charlatans were definitely a new experience for Malice! Few mystery writers have organized fan clubs, and we were a curiosity for the authors who attended. The Charlatans enjoyed meeting them and sharing our experiences as a group and our support for Charlaine. We were very proud of our author as she received this important recognition from her peers. I was particularly proud of our club during the recognition banquet at which Charlaine spoke. We were all dressed to the nines, and as Charlaine came to the podium, we held up small lighted ducks so that she could see our support in the dim light of the banquet hall. Charlaine later told us how much it meant to have us in attendance.
Few members expected the events of September 2008. Familiar with what transpired on Jim Butcher’s board when the Dresden Files television show premiered, I had spoken online with our webmistress about what might happen on Charlaine’s board after the premiere of True Blood. None of us, Charlaine included, were prepared, however, for the explosion that actually took place. Within a day of the September 7, 2008, debut, the board was overwhelmed. True Blood fans flocked to the board to discuss the characters and the story, and many came to join the fan club. New readers sought out the books on which the series was based, and soon all eight of the published books in the Sookie Stackhouse series were simultaneously in the top twenty-five paperbacks on the New York Times bestseller list.
This tremendous influx of new fans soon made it evident that the fan club could not continue in its original form. By the end of 2008, Charlaine’s Charlatans became a completely online club and ceased to operate as a conventional fan club. Our support for Charlaine continued, though, and the Charlatans were thrilled in May 2009 when the ninth book in the Sookie series, Dead and Gone, premiered at number one on the New York Times hardcover bestseller list. Charlaine’s Charlatans initial stated goal had been achieved.
Several of us met again at the 2009 Dragon Con in Atlanta, Georgia. Charlaine was appearing, and we planned a gathering in which many new fans would be in attendance. The night before the event, a group of old friends were sitting around a table on the sidewalk outside a busy restaurant long after dinner was eaten, sharing memories and laughing. We were compiling a trivia contest for the meeting the next day and having a few beers and a lot of fun. It was warm and comfortable and absolutely right. Soon I would leave to return to Florida; another member would return to Texas; two each to Maryland, Pennsylvania, and California; and one would remain in Georgia—so many friends brought together by admiration of one special person. Charlaine Harris is the catalyst that brought us together and the inspiration that forged us into a formidable unit. As the Charlatans move forward into the future, we will continue to support Charlaine and enjoy the opportunities that arise to strengthen the bonds of friendship that have come to mean so much to us all.
Charlaine Harris Answers Questions from Her Fans
Thanks to all of you for your enthusiastic response to the opportunity to ask me questions. If I didn’t get to answer your specific question, I apologize in advance for your disappointment. Here’s the selection process we followed: BFF Paula, my invaluable best friend and assistant, sorted the questions into categories. She discarded some of the duplicates, since obviously there was no point in my reading the same thing over and over. I read all her choices, and I narrowed the field down to about fifty questions. Then I eliminated a few more after a second winnowing. This wasn’t an easy process, so let me explain why I chose to answer some and not others.
First, if I thought the answer was already in the books, I felt it would be a waste of my time to reply to the question. Second, if I knew the answer would be included in future books . . . I put those aside, too, for the most part. Third, if the question was based on the television show mythology rather than the book mythology, of course I wasn’t going to venture my opinion.
Some questions I bypassed simply because I didn’t know the answer, or because I hadn’t made up my mind yet. In some cases, the development of the books’ mythology hadn’t led me to a conclusion on the correct response, and in other cases, I simply don’t know yet if (for example) Eric’s other child will be a factor in Sookie’s story.
I’ve corrected some of the spelling and a bit of the punctuation in some of these questions. I’m compelled to do that.
So, here goes.
Since the True Blood TV series began, do you picture your characters as the actors? I mean, when you’re writing about Sookie, do you picture Anna Paquin? Or in your head do they just look the way you’ve always thought of them?
—KIM HAMBLETON
They look the way I’ve always thought of them. I’ve been writing the books much longer than the show has been on the air.
Here is my big general question for Charlaine. I’m curious about her plotting. How much of it does she do in advance and how much of it is spontaneous? It just amazes me how some seemingly minor details in one book turn out to be huge later on. For example, Sookie mentions her cousin Hadley, but Sookie has no idea what happened to her. Now, many books later, we find out that Hadley mentioned Sookie to Queen Sophie-Anne, which started her whole relationship with vampires. Not to mention that Hadley had a child and that boy is now in the books—yet to be determined whether he becomes a major character.
—DENISE DUNNELL WELLS
I don’t plot much in advance. Many of the big turning points in the books have been the result of spur-of-the-moment revelations. I’m always scattering seed in the field, though I’m never sure which will spring up and which
will die in the ground. To me, that’s the fun of writing. Of course, sometimes instead of scattering seed, I’m planting land mines to blow up in my face in the future.
How much of Sookie’s personality is a reflection of yours, or is she more like an alter ego?
—JESSICA SMITH
There are definitely elements of Sookie in me—or, more correctly, there are elements of me in her. I think there’s a sliver of me in all my characters. I wish I were as brave as she is!
Is there any limit to the animals Sam can shift into? Can he shift into creatures that are more than one animal (like a hippogriff, perhaps)?
—PATRICIA RUOCCO
Sam can’t shift into mythical animals, and he refuses to shift into the form of another human being. To a true shifter, that’s a disgusting perversion. True shifters almost invariably stick to mammals when they choose their animal form, and most of them have a favorite.
Are some of the minor characters based on people you know/knew?
—SANDRA RUSSELL