I spoke with Lyn Thorne-Alder about her genre-bending web serial Addergoole.
LT: Tell us about Addergoole.
Thorne-Alder: At its core, Addergoole is a story about self-discovery. Set in a strange underground boarding school, it follows three new students as they descend into the unconventional world of the Addergoole School. In learning about the school, they learn a great deal about themselves, their absent fathers, and the world.
It’s a dark contemporary fantasy, set in the modern world, with magic entering the story in a slow trickle. Morality is mostly in varying shades of gray, with very little black and white, and this isn’t the sort of fairy tale that is likely to end with “and they lived happily ever after.”
Then again, since it’s a serial, it’s unlikely that it will end at all.
LT: What came first - the concept for the school or the characters?
Thorne-Alder: Hrmm, that’s complicated.
First game Regine and Ambrus’s (the headmistress and her assistant) relationship.
Then the school, as a justification for such. Then Shahin and Emrys’ relationship and, separately, Kailani. Then the rest of the school, with the idea to make it into a web-serial instead of just something in the back of my head.
LT: According to the feedback you’ve received, which character (s) is the most popular?
Thorne-Alder: Luke, hands down. People have their favorites and least favorites among the protagonists, and that’s pretty evenly split. But Luke wins. He’s the gruff, plain-spoken gym teacher/porter/guard/etc, and I think his earthy chivalry wins people over.
LT: How did you come up with their names?
Thorne-Alder: A couple of them I made up whole cloth - Jamian, Ty, a few of the teachers. But most of them came from a google search = “name meaning xxx,” like Kailani and Conrad. A lot of the characters are built around the characteristics their name suggests, sort of like a morality play.
LT: Are any of the characters hard to pin down?
Thorne-Alder: Addergoole sort of invites difficult-to-pin-down characters. The setting creates inherent dualities - not only the physical duality, the Masks people wear to appear human vs. their inhuman, Changed appearances, but social and political dualities.
Crews formed out of convenience, necessity, and proximity give people a social backing that isn’t necessarily in tune with their own morals or beliefs. The Laws require a level of thinking-before-you-speak that isn’t typical of kids in their late teens or early twenties.
The generally combative social structure means that characters keep their cards close to their chest.
LT: Why did you chose web fiction as opposed to other venues?
Thorne-Alder: I chose to publish online for two main reasons - I wanted an immediate publishing venue, something without any barriers between the audience and I, and I wanted immediate feedback. I wanted to know what readers thought of the story as it was being written.
LT: Can you tell us about some of your upcoming plans for the serial,
without giving too much away?
Thorne-Alder: Well, Book Four, which is upcoming, is entitled Beware the Jabberwork, and it will take the story from the getting-to-know-you stage into more of a fantasy/adventure story.
LT: What has been your favorite part of the story so far?
Thorne-Alder: There’s been a few really good moments.
Shahin and Emrys at the dance is one of my favorites, but there are a couple just-about-perfect moments with Kailani and Conrad. Ty and Jamian’s first meeting really ranks up there.
Really, any time I can nail a moment perfectly is one of my favorites. The character gets the perfect twisting line, and everything feels just liked I hoped it would.
LT: In your spare time, what do you like to read?
Thorne-Alder: There’s a number of other weblits I read regularly : Above Ground, Peacock King, Shadow Unit and Strange Little Band.
There are several dead-tree authors I read whenever I can find time: Terry Pratchett, Jim Butcher, Elizabeth Bear. My shelves are full of sci-fi and fantasy novels; right now I’m working my way through David Eddings’ Belgariad series again.
LT: If you could cast a movie version of Addergoole, who would be in it?
Thorne-Alder: I had a thread about that on my forums! Some are harder to cast than others, but from my own thoughts and others suggestions :
Scarlett Johansson as Kailani
Alexis Cruz as Jamian
Lacey Chabert as Shahin
T.J. Thyne as Conrad
Ken Leung as Taro
Jaye Davidson as Ambrus
Kate Hudson as Regine
My friend K as Tya 
LT: What advice would you give to other writers?
Thorne-Alder: Write, and keep writing. Find a reason to keep writing and use it. Find other writers to critique your work. Your friends will often be too kind; other writers won’t be afraid to tell you when something needs to be changed.
LT: Is there anything you’d like to add?
Thorne-Alder: I couldn’t do this without the support of my friends, my husband, my family, and the online web-lit community. They deserve more thanks than I remember to give them. To everyone who has made Addergoole possible - thank you once again!
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©2010 Lori Titus
Tags: Addergoole, Lyn Thorne-Alder
February 14th, 2010 at 12:20 am
Readers, you can find Addergoole here: http://addergoole.com/
February 28th, 2010 at 12:23 pm
Great interview! I’ve been reading Addergoole for quite a while now, and it just keeps getting better.
But I have to say more than Luke’s earthy chivalry winning me over, it’s the fact that he’s so sexy.