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- Interview with Tanya Huff
Interview with Tanya Huff
- By Megan Harrell
- Published 04/10/2007
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Interview with Tanya Huff part 2
Harrell: If you could rewrite any part of your books now, would you? If so, what would you change?
Huff: I've mentioned in a number of places that I think Peter Mohan -- the Blood Ties showrunner, creator, executive producer -- making Coreen Vicki's assistant was a brilliant idea so if I was writing the books now, I'd do the same thing but... I would never rewrite one of my earlier books because I'm not the person I was when I wrote them and I have to trust that person knew what she was doing. If you start second guessing your earlier work, you'll drive yourself crazy. All you can do is go on and keep producing new work that allows you to express where you are now.
Harrell: What made you decide to base your vampire on an actual person, and why did you choose Henry, Duke of Richmond?
Huff: I was reading a Tudor history and came upon a paragraph about Henry Fitzroy, how he went from a perfectly healthy, robust seventeen year old to pale and wan to dead in three short months and I thought, wow, that certainly sounds like he ran into a vampire. He wasn't a particularly well known historical figure even though he comes from one of the most analyzed periods in English history, and that gave me a lot to work with.
Harrell: Is there anyone specific who helped inspire the characters of Vicki and Mike?
Huff: Vicki is more like me than any of my other characters. We have the same sense of humour, we have the same tendency to swear too much, we have the same commitment issues and prickly emotional barriers -- so at core, she's a bit like me. But overall, she's herself. Mike was always himself, right from the start.
Harrell: Why did you decide to give Retinitis Pigmentosa to Vicki?
Huff: I needed to give Vicki a reason to have been forced off active duty as a police officer so it had to be a serious condition but it couldn't impede her too much as a PI. I saw a PBS program about RP and I thought her having lost her night vision and therefore not being able to function at night was a terrific parallel to Henry's not being able to function in the daytime.
Huff: I've mentioned in a number of places that I think Peter Mohan -- the Blood Ties showrunner, creator, executive producer -- making Coreen Vicki's assistant was a brilliant idea so if I was writing the books now, I'd do the same thing but... I would never rewrite one of my earlier books because I'm not the person I was when I wrote them and I have to trust that person knew what she was doing. If you start second guessing your earlier work, you'll drive yourself crazy. All you can do is go on and keep producing new work that allows you to express where you are now.
Harrell: What made you decide to base your vampire on an actual person, and why did you choose Henry, Duke of Richmond?
Huff: I was reading a Tudor history and came upon a paragraph about Henry Fitzroy, how he went from a perfectly healthy, robust seventeen year old to pale and wan to dead in three short months and I thought, wow, that certainly sounds like he ran into a vampire. He wasn't a particularly well known historical figure even though he comes from one of the most analyzed periods in English history, and that gave me a lot to work with.
Harrell: Is there anyone specific who helped inspire the characters of Vicki and Mike?
Huff: Vicki is more like me than any of my other characters. We have the same sense of humour, we have the same tendency to swear too much, we have the same commitment issues and prickly emotional barriers -- so at core, she's a bit like me. But overall, she's herself. Mike was always himself, right from the start.
Harrell: Why did you decide to give Retinitis Pigmentosa to Vicki?
Huff: I needed to give Vicki a reason to have been forced off active duty as a police officer so it had to be a serious condition but it couldn't impede her too much as a PI. I saw a PBS program about RP and I thought her having lost her night vision and therefore not being able to function at night was a terrific parallel to Henry's not being able to function in the daytime.
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Comments
Comment #1 (Posted by an unknown user)
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Great interview!
Comment #2 (Posted by sandra)
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Fascinating interview. Loved the range of questions - everything I've wanted to know and lack the opportunity to ask
Comment #3 (Posted by LovinHenry)
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Great Interview!
Comment #4 (Posted by an unknown user)
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Great interview, you covered a range of questions on the author herself and the book series; it was a lot of fun to read and very interesting. A good job all around.
Comment #5 (Posted by Kelly)
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I'm glad to see the books getting onto television. I've been a fan for years. Can't wait until we can actually see it in Canada on a Canadian channel?
Comment #6 (Posted by Michael Short)
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None
Comment #7 (Posted by Natalie)
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My daughter loves these books and Megan did a great job with the interview. It gave a great insight into the storylines.
Comment #8 (Posted by Matty)
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It has been years since I have felt so passionately about a show.
Although I respect gays and, indeed, have good friends who are, I am very glad the writers decided to make Henry hererosexual. I could not feel the same way about him if they had not.
Comment #9 (Posted by Sara Harrell)
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Great Interview. There were a lot of well thought questions. A friend of my has never watched the show or read the series and said that the interview was enough to make her read the series and watch the show.
Comment #10 (Posted by SandraLynn)
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What a terrific article. It's really nice to get Tanya's view on her books and the series and I'm even more a fan of the show after reading this than I was before it. Great interview!
Comment #11 (Posted by Trix)
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Matty, you say you couldn't have "felt the same" about Henry, if they had made him *bi* as he was throughout the novels?
Which "feeling the same" is this, because I'm confused?
Comment #12 (Posted by lavenia crosley)
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Will there be a DVD released from the TV series??? Lots of the fans from the books who are now watching the series really want to know.
Comment #13 (Posted by bloodtiesfangirl)
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I REALLLY liked insight into Ms. Huff's opinion of the show.
Comment #14 (Posted by an unknown user)
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Great article. A lot of questions were answered and I can't wait to see Blood Ties in Canada!! I definitely hope it goes to a second season and is released on DVD.
Comment #15 (Posted by KEA TENNANT)
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I really like reading anything about the show/books and getting as much info as possible because I just adore the show. I didnt know anything about the books until the show so I am now looking at getting the books to read them. It was great getting the author's take on how her vision has developed into the basis of the tv series. I cant wait to see them all!!
Comment #16 (Posted by Stephanie)
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I love the questons asked! there what i wont to know and plus. its the perfice interview.
Comment #17 (Posted by TVDIVA)
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This is a great author interview. Thanks to the interviewer and Ms. Huff for providing interesting background information on the blood book series and the show.
Comment #18 (Posted by Sahara)
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I loved the series even before I knew there was a series of books, which I haven't read yet b/c I have to find them in audio format.
At first, after finding out this was an adaptation of a book series, I was afraid the author had RP. The character Vicki (Cox) portrayed so realistically the way it changes you & how hard you have to fight to remain the person you were before the disease as well as knowing without a doubt where the disease will lead you in the end. I'm thankful to know now that Tanya Huff DOESN'T HAVE RP! I've fought the downward spiral of RP unsuccessfully as there is no cure; contrary to Mike's suggestions on vitamin A therapy, it doesn't work. I've been at this for a little over 20yrs since my diagnosis but had the disease much longer though so mild I didn't know I had it until the night blindness became so bothersome. I fought my husband for my independence. I raised a younger brother after leaving home as a teen b/c of an abusive alcoholic father & a mother who enabled his actions. So I had nobody to depend on but myself. It wasn't easy allowing someone in my life to share it as an equal but then when RP became a factor, I had to deal w/a spouse who wanted to fix the problem without a fix available then the arguments broke out b/c he treated me like a child made out of glass. This was not the person I was at birth and it surely wasn't the person who would allow it as an adult. It's been a long road for us and after 20+ yrs of marriage, I think we've sort of figured out our roles as to what is acceptable and what isn't. I just find it amazing at how Tanya's ideas of Vicki with RP played out so truthfully with equal venom as Vicki works so diligently to retain her life, her ideals, and keep everything as normal as it was before while at the same time realizing her life would never be the same again. The undercurrent of anger at the disease itself is so overwhelming and shows through so well, I was literally afraid that Tanya had personal experience with the disease as only someone who lives with it day in and day out as it progresses over time could understand it; I was wrong. Tanya doesn't have the disease yet she understands the force inside us to retain the person we are despite such a change in our health that has no cure.
As for me, I'm at the severe stage of RP now. My peripheral's gone and now my central is fading too. It is not all RP's fault though. Approx 10yrs ago I was diagnosed with Lupus (SLE) & Sjogren's Disease. These autoimmune diseases attack the body starting with little things like joints and tissue b4 moving to vital organs. Sjogren's is now in my eyes causing inflammation of the corneas so I have to use drops to reduce the inflammation in order to avoid corneal abrasions, which won't reduce my sight anymore than it is now but it will leave scars and with it that foreign body sensation. It's something you want to avoid at all costs.
Way to go Tanya! You did a wonderful job in researching as well as considering how an independent person, esp a cop, would react to living life with an incurable eye disease like RP. I was so full of "piss & vinegar" as they say here, for the first 10yrs after my diagnosis that I had people literally back away from me relationship-wise b/c they knew I was volatile when it came to accepting help but I found & made other friends who were great about it and allowed me to go about my way bumbling and falling with the bruises and everything until I found my niche & without the pity-party attitudes.