DUNE 7 BLOG

Tuesday, April 4, 2006

A Matter of Style

Now that Brian and I have published seven DUNE books, our readers have had a chance to see how we write. After the three "Prelude to Dune" novels and the three "Legends of Dune" books, as well as the new short stories and "Spice Planet" novel in THE ROAD TO DUNE, we've gotten our collaboration set.

Over the years we have received a few comments that we don't write in the same manner as Frank Herbert, that our style and emphasis is different. One fan recently wrote that we should actively try to write HUNTERS and SANDWORMS in a fashion that closely imitates Frank Herbert's prose.

Indisputably, Frank Herbert was a genius. DUNE is the best-selling and most beloved science fiction novel of all time. From the beginning of our monumental task, we realized that it would not only be impossible, but also foolish, to attempt to imitate Frank Herbert's distinctive writing style.

In our formative years as writers, both Brian and I were strongly influenced by Frank Herbert's writing (and some fans have indeed remarked on the similarities in style). However, we consciously chose to write these books so that -- while they would capture the feel and scope of Dune -- the words and sentences cannot possibly be the same as what Frank himself would have written. Frank Herbert's life experiences and thoughts made up his creative mind. In the same way, Brian and I each have to draw on our own knowledge to write a novel. (We aren't gholas!)

Our emphasis may be different in individual scenes and in which parts we choose to dramatize, but HUNTERS and SANDWORMS, we are telling the story that Frank Herbert intended to be told, according to the outline he drew up.

In the next few days we will be offering Chapter 2, and Brian has also written some blog entries of his own. Keep reading.

--KJA