AMA [June 10] Margaret Weis, Author (TSR, Dragonlance, Margaret Weis Productions, Cortex, Firefly RPG, Star of the Guardians)

[joshinminn]

I'm still around if you have anything you'd like to ask!

Cool! Thanks for being so generous with your time! I have a couple of questions.

I've always wondered about the intellectual property aspects of Dragonlance. You obviously knew you were writing for a company that would retain the rights to the world and characters. It sounds like there were many people involved in the story development. Even so, is it hard not having final say-so (or maybe even ANY input) on what goes on in a world and with its characters that you played such a big role in shaping?

Do you follow what other authors "do" with your characters and storylines? I haven't read the Lost Chronicles yet, but when you came back to those characters, did you feel that any of the work of other authors had regrettable impacts on them that were hard to deal with?

Thanks again for sharing your thoughts with fans! I just reread Chronicles and Legends, 20-some years after my first read. I loved them just as much, especially Legends, which is just excellent.

 

[margaretweis]

Cool! Thanks for being so generous with your time! I have a couple of questions.

I've always wondered about the intellectual property aspects of Dragonlance. You obviously knew you were writing for a company that would retain the rights to the world and characters. It sounds like there were many people involved in the story development. Even so, is it hard not having final say-so (or maybe even ANY input) on what goes on in a world and with its characters that you played such a big role in shaping?

Do you follow what other authors "do" with your characters and storylines? I haven't read the Lost Chronicles yet, but when you came back to those characters, did you feel that any of the work of other authors had regrettable impacts on them that were hard to deal with?

Thanks again for sharing your thoughts with fans! I just reread Chronicles and Legends, 20-some years after my first read. I loved them just as much, especially Legends, which is just excellent.

We knew when we writing that TSR owned the rights. We were writing at a precarious time for TSR, with people being laid off, including at one point most of the marketing department. Rumors that the company was going bankrupt surfaced weekly. We loved Dragonlance and Tracy and I concentrated on seeing the book in print, our characters come to life. We didn't think much about the future because we had no idea if there would be a future!

As for sharing the world with other authors, I worked with them on the short story anthologies and they were a great group of writers who really cared about the world and kept it alive. Thanks!

 

[Jiggawatts]

Margaret, if you could revisit the setup for Dragonlance in 5th edition that you had during the 3rd edition days, would you? Or have those days passed and you would just prefer to do your own thing?

Also, I love Raistlin, that is all.

 

[margaretweis]

I'd love to go back to Dragonlance. I don't care which edition!