BY G. CONNOR SALTER

Kristen Britain’s first fantasy novel, Green Rider, published by DAW Books, debuted in 1998. It was nominated for the Locus Award for Best First Novel, the Compton Crook Award for best first novel, and the William L. Crawford – IAFA Fantasy Award and started a writing career that continues today. To date, there are seven novels and two novellas in the Green Rider series, which have been nominated for such prizes as the David Gemmell Legend Award and Goodreads Fantasy Award.

Kristen Britain was kind enough to answer a few questions.

Interview Questions

Do you remember a particular moment when you knew you wanted to write, or was it more of a gradual realization?

Reading Beverly Cleary’s Henry and Ribsy books in grade school sparked my initial interest in writing books. I think it was the realization that being an author was an actual thing one could do. When I was a pre-teen, I was intent on becoming a cartoonist, but then a friend introduced me to The Lord of the Rings, and that’s when the dream to be an author really hit. I continued dreaming and finding ways to work on my craft into the ’90s when I finally sat down determined to complete a fantasy novel and see, as an adventure and a challenge, if I could make my dream come true and get it published.

Who are some authors who inspired you growing up?

Walter Farley with his Black Stallion books. I was a crazy horse girl and borrowed any books about horses from my school library that I could get my hands on. Like many kids, I read Nancy Drew–a very important female protagonist for girls when there weren’t so many female main characters involved in exciting adventures. As a pre-teen and teen, J.R.R. Tolkien led me into the world of fantasy, where I was inspired by Tolkien himself, as well as Lloyd Alexander, Anne McCaffrey (technically SF), Barbara Hambly, and Mercedes Lackey, among others.

You wrote your first fantasy novel in the fourth grade, which you’ve said wasn’t right for release but was an important step. How did you know Green Rider was ready for release into the wide world?

I am not sure if I knew that Green Rider was ready for release, except that I had worked on it for quite a while and revised it to the best of my ability. I sent it out to editors at various imprints in the genre and received some quite nice rejections. An author who lived near me suggested I seek out an agent and I queried one of the top agents in the genre. He requested the manuscript, but rejected it, providing me with several useful points that I could improve. So I underwent another round or two of revisions. It was that process of getting feedback and revising over four years that finally polished the book into good enough shape to be picked up by an agent and sold to DAW.

You’ve alternated between publishing novels and novellas in the Green Rider universe. How do you know when it’s going to be a longer story?

Well, I am contracted for the novels, so they necessarily have to be a longer story. Also, the novels fit into an overall arc, so I know I have to write them to complete the arc. The novellas were written by choice, and then received approval for publication. It is very satisfying to produce a shorter work of 40,000 words when you’ve been writing exhausting 264,000 word behemoths.

You spent many years working as a park ranger in various national parks, and have talked on your website about how it allowed you to experience many places. Do you feel the work inspired your writing?

Working in national parks inspired me in several ways. The forested, natural settings of Acadia National Park are reflected in the world I created, and the resource industries of Maine, such as logging and shipping also inspired aspects of my world. If one is building a secondary world for their fantasy, it helps to provide depth concerning everything from economy to religion. It is also helpful to the reader, in a story full of fantastical elements, to leave at least one foot on the ground where a tree can be just a tree. Of course, it is possible to make a purely fantastical world work and other authors do this wonderfully, but I took the tree route.

From working in national parks I learned about alpine ecosystems (Rocky Mountain National Park), the development of industry (Lowell National Historical Park), what true dark is like (Mammoth Cave National Park), and what life was like 100 to 200 years ago (Clara Barton National Historic Site, Women’s Rights National Historical Park, and all the above). As a ranger, I learned what it was like to wear a uniform daily and work within a hierarchical chain of command originally derived from the U.S. Cavalry, the first protectors of the parks. I experienced what it was like to work in an atmosphere of esprit de corps, and when that atmosphere was lacking. All that I learned and experienced in the National Park Service made its way into my writing one way or the other.

Do you think it’s beneficial for writers to take jobs that allow them to travel and experience the world?

It benefited me. Experiences are everything to open one up to ideas about setting, architecture, languages, and all the details that can add depth and make the writing come alive.

As far as I know, other than short fiction published in anthologies, you’ve written all your stories in the Green Rider series. Has that been a practical choice, or just that all your stories seem to fit into that universe?

It’s been a choice of trying to fulfill an arc begun in the first book. Each book is a chapter in a larger story. Also, I have quite enjoyed building this world and living with its characters, so it’s not a hardship. Writing short stories have allowed me to stretch my horizons, however, visiting other characters and other places.

2023 marked 25 years since Green Rider entered the world. What do you feel when you look back at your career?

Old. That’s my natural answer! Especially when I see the up and coming generations and what they are bringing to the genre. I wrote the first book in a time when female main characters heading out on an adventure was not common. Epic fantasy was a male-dominated part of the genre, and I got blowback from some reviewers who did not like the idea of women being capable of handling swords. Shows like Buffy the Vampire Slayer and Xena: Warrior Princess had not yet hit the airwaves. Now it’s amazing to see how much has changed in this regard. Some of the stalwarts of epic fantasy remain male authors, but there are many female and nonbinary authors making waves, and there are people of color also trending in what was once a traditionally white genre. Writers have moved away from the typical European setting and culture for their books and have introduced readers to other settings and cultures. Happily, there is room for everyone, and now there are more choices than ever for reading fare.

Any upcoming projects you can tell us about?

My last book was the novella Spirit of the Wood, published by DAW in November 2023, which takes place in the world of Green Rider, and currently, I’m working hard to finish book 8 of the series (not titled as yet). On April 5-7, I’ll be appearing at Texas A&M’s Cushing Memorial Library, where my archives are kept, to celebrate the anniversary of Green Rider with panels, presentations, fun, and an exhibit of my archives and fan contributions to the world. The exhibit will be up for several months for those who can’t make it to the event, and the presentations and panels will be livestreamed. I am looking forward to meeting many Riders!

More information about Kristen Britain can be found on her website and official Facebook fan page.