There is much to admire in Peter Brett's writing, and his concept is brilliant. There's action and suspense all the way.

If you don't think there is magic in writing, you probably won't write anything magical.

What kind of world permitted such terrible injustice, where good men were stripped of everything and soulless creatures of malice and hatred survived to glory in their pointless death?

What I want to write about has changed somewhat, and the scope of the storytelling has changed accordingly.

Herein lies the heart and soul of the nations. Their right to be free men, Their desire to live in peace, Their courage to seek out truth, Herein lies the Sword of Shannara.

On the other hand, I still approach each book with the same basic plan in mind - to put some people under severe stress and see how they hold up.

In bad weather, I spent hours drawing action figures on paper, coloring them, backing them on cardboard, then cutting them out and creating whole stories around their lives.