Posted in: Comics | Tagged: Comics, dejah thoris, dynamite, entertainment, irene adler, leah moore, Swords of Sorrow

"Stories Tend To Veer Off When You Least Expect It" – Leah More On Swords of Sorrow: Dejah Thoris / Irene Adler

Writer Leah Moore talks about wrapping up Swords of Sorrow: Dejah Thoris & Irene Adler #3. Cover art by Jay Anacleto

BYRON BREWER: Leah, it is obvious you are having fun with this team up. Are you telling the story you started out to tell?

LEAH MOORE: I think so, although stories tend to veer off when you least expect it, so I think possibly I had a more rigid story in mind, and then it kind of took over. I think I planned it to be more fighty than it turned out, but that was because every time I got the characters nearly into a fight, they kept talking instead. Not sure what it means, but I really enjoyed writing it. I'm a lover not a fighter, so maybe that's the thing. My hands just refuse to type it.

BB: What is the most surprising thing to come out to you about either one of these characters while writing the story.

LM: Dejah Thoris being totally unflappable and cutting right to the chase. I think I'd possibly written her off as a rather shallow decorative character, but then I wrote her, and had to think what went on inside her, and then she wrote herself. She's totally self-assured, and not overwhelmed by interplanetary travel. Who knew?

BB: Do you think participating in a crossover event like this will influence the way you structure stories in the future? Is this your first "event"?

LM: It's my first proper "event,"yes. I've written a lot of crossovers, and lots of crazy Victorian romps, and even lots of books with women as the leads, but this was all three, and thanks to all the other fantastic books in the event, it's been a bit higher profile than some of our other stuff. It might change how I structure future stories, by making me ensure the structure is all there at the start, and leave less to chance. I have a habit of nailing down a bunch of points and then finding my way between them, with varying degrees of success, so maybe I need to be more meticulous up front. Maybe not. Maybe I'll do the next book by the seat of my pants!

BB: You've expressed an interest in doing an Irene Adler solo book. Could you give us a little taste storywise of what that would be like?

LM: Irene gets a hastily written note from Mycroft to come to the club, but looking at the writing, she can see something's up. She takes a bag with her, but we don't see what's inside. When she gets there, she has to let herself in, and she finds his rooms in disarray. There are papers everywhere, drawers pulled out and blood on the carpet and chair. His map table has pieces knocked everywhere. She finds a cufflink under the desk. Mycroft is gone. We follow her as she chases down her usual sources across London, using all her persuasive powers and her fists to coerce them, but she gets very little. Eventually she gets a lead to Dover. Was he put on a boat? She has no evidence. She decides to catch a train back to London and stands on the platform, with all kinds of people milling around her. She is looking at a poster urging travelers to "Explore the Continent in Luxury!" There is a grand steam engine, rattling away from us along a high mountain track with the sun setting behind the mountain and steam billowing up into the starry sky. On the highest peak, there is the shape of a turreted castle, in silhouette. She stares at it, and then runs to a cab. "Get me to the dock before she sails and I'll pay you double! Hurry!" and they clatter off away toward the jetty. We see a man with a scarf pulled up over his face and dark glasses step out of the crowd Irene was standing in, and get in the next cab which follows her.

Fore more on Swords of Sorrow: Dejah Thoris & Irene Adler #3, click here.

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