True Blood Season 4

I don't quite understand why I have come to like True Blood so darn much. Admittedly, the show has quite a few issues when it comes to the whole writing and character development department. The show does in fact seem to be getting better with each passing season and the more the show separates itself from the books the better off it will be. I'm terribly excited for this next upcoming season because the show seems to be putting more and more focus on how vampires are treated like some kind of race/minority in the human world. I'm also excited to see to see that Godric and Alcide are returning to the show. Season 4 will start on June 26th.

Due to the fact that there was in fact an interview with Charlaine Harris in Boulder Weekly, which is a newspaper that I'm able to pick up at my college. Pretty interesting even though I'm not really fan of the book, but it's interesting to here what opinion the author has on the show itself. I'll post some of the highlights on here, but those who are interested in the books themselves can check the rest of the article out here.

BW: Do you watch True Blood?

CH: I do. They are nice enough to send me — almost always — an early screener, so I get to see it before it’s on TV.

BW: Lucky you! Do you find it strange to see characters that came from your head on the television screen being developed in ways that didn’t come from you?

CH: At first it was, but I think I’m used to it now. It seems like every season — we did just finish the third season — it seems like with every season the two paths diverge a little more, so it’s really not like watching my story so much.

And that’s OK. I knew that was going to happen. Alan [Ball, who created True Blood based on Harris’ books] discussed that with me before he even started filming, and actually I’m content with that, because if they were just filming the books, that would be boring for me. This way, I don’t really know what’s going to happen, and I find it quite exciting.

BW: I asked for questions from Sookie Stackhouse fans on Facebook and Twitter, and this question comes from LisaRenee1234: “Has the HBO series made it harder for you to write these books?”

CH: Not really. At first I was scared there was going to be a conflict, but I’m so far ahead in the story that it really hasn’t turned out to be a problem. They’re filming book four, and I’m writing book 12.

BW: There are some significant differences between the series and the books. For one, Lafayette dies early in the series, but HBO and fans loved Nelsan Ellis’ performance, and so he’s alive in True Blood. I’m really happy about that, because I adore his character.

CH: Me too. Nelsan is just great.

He is really fabulous, and he owes his survival to his talent.

BW: Do you think it’s easier for people to read the books and then watch the series or watch the series and then read the books? Either way, they develop expectations.

CH: I don’t know, because I’ve never been in the position of just watching the series and then trying to read the books. I did get a lot of readers from the series, and I like to think the series got a lot of watchers from the book. So I think from that point of view it’s been a very successful cross pollination. And there are people who would never read the books anyway, and likewise some of my readers just don’t watch television, so I think it’s been as good a cross-pollination as we could get.

BW: The message of the books seems to be, “Be yourself, and be tolerant of others,” with the vampire community’s struggle for acceptance seeming to parallel the civil rights and gay rights movements. In fact, both the books and the HBO series have a strong gay theme. Was that intentional?

CH: Sure. I mean, I’d have to pretty dumb not to realize what I was writing. That was a conscious decision.

-Horrorwood Doll