Check in with Lee

What are you up to?
I've been doing a lot of writing lately, though not all of it has been Epic-related. I'm currently one of the staff writers for SaintsReport, where I write a feature called the "Bayou Bulletin." It's NFL satire with a sprinkle of actual sports journalism mixed in. I'm a huge New Orleans Saints fan and season ticket holder, so it's been awesome to be a part of what SaintsReport has going on. My columns are uploaded every Wednesday (and occasionally Thursday). Don't go looking for deep, complex analysis, now. It's all written in fun.


How is The Glorious Becoming coming along?
TGB has been coming along very slowly, which I kind of expected. I know some people might read the above and think, "why is he writing football satire when he could be working on book four?" Don't think of it that way. Hero completely burnt me out, to the point where I really had to take some time to step away. As a writer, I never really stop being creative, but my mediums for creativity are always changing. There was a time in the latter months of Hero when the book took up 100% of my creative energy. That's not a good thing.

Right now, I'm about 50% SaintsReport, 20% Epic, and 30% other projects, with Epic beginning to finally pick up steam. It's taken a little while to get "un-burnt," but right now I'm more excited about TGB than ever before, and I'm not saying that just to say it. I'm coming up on one of the preordained turning points in the series, and it's got me really excited about fleshing it out. I said from the day Hero got released that TGB was a long ways off, and that stance hasn't changed. But take my word for it - this book is going to be well worth the wait.


What are you reading at the moment?
Honestly, most of my leisure reading right now is from Sports Illustrated and ESPN. I spend a lot of time browsing sports message boards, too.

Haha, I can just hear Epic fans right now, reading these answers and thinking, "yeah, this guy's not as deep as I thought he was." What can I say? I live for football when Fall rolls around.


What are you listening to?
Here's something I can answer in-depth! I have been playing the tar out of Chris Cornell's Scream album over the past few months. That whole album is just an amazingly underrated project. I could do without the bits of profanity here and there, but that's why they invented the "skip" button.

I actually use that album as an inspirational tool when writing a certain character - someone who will be new to the story come TGB.

Most of the songs I listen to evoke some kind of Epic-related thought, usually about a character in particular. I'll write a list of characters and songs that inspire me about them below, in case anyone finds it interesting. I listen to music quite a bit when I brainstorm and write.

Don't read into these too much, and definitely don't take them literally. Most song identification is based purely off of how songs make me feel, not necessarily what the songs mean. Don't think of these as character "theme songs," either. I could probably name ten songs for each character in the series. This is just a small sampling of songs that have actually helped inspire character traits or scenes.

• Scott: Arrival to Earth (Steve Jablonsky)
• Jayden: Hillbilly Deluxe (Brooks & Dunn)
• Svetlana: Now Comes the Night (Rob Thomas)
• Esther: Supermassive Black Hole (Muse)
• Brent Lilan: In the Air Tonight (Nonpoint)
• Dostoevsky: Ruins (Bebo Norman)
• Oleg: Inside the Fire (Disturbed)
• Catalina Shivers: crushcrushcrush (Paramore)


What are you watching?
Obviously, football. But so far as television shows go, I'm waiting for the trainwreck-that-became-the-show-Lost to wrap up its final season, and for Chuck to hit NBC again. I have to confess, too, that since being married, I know more about the Young & the Restless than I ever thought possible!