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Avalon is a very common theme in the fantasy literature. Why did you choose this topic and especially Merlin?s childhood as the main theme of your books?

In my books, Avalon is the same kind of place as the Avalon in those ancient books with the ideals that it stands for. So, in my Avalon, I have a world which has sprouted from a tree. It is a world tree which has sprouted from a seed. A magical seed, which the great wizard Merlin plants at the very end of the five books about his youth. And when it comes to the very end of the fifth book, he has finally saved this magical land, although it is in a surprising way. And it is triumphant and very happy, even heartbreaking, because while he has saved this world he must also loose it. He has to leave this place in order to go back to mortal earth to become the mentor to King Arthur and the famous mage of Camelot. And so, what he does is: he reaches into his tunic and takes out the magical seed, which looks like a heart. He can not stay to see what it becomes, but we get to find out, when we read "Der Zauber von Avalon?. In thousands of years the seed has sprouted to this wonderful world which connects earth and heaven.
But we also have a world which is in trouble, because at the very beginning of "Der Zauber von Avalon? all the stars go dark. No one knows why, but everyone knows the world is on the edge of destruction and it turns out, it?s only chance of surviving is three young heroes: a boy, a girl and an evil man have the slim chance to save this wonderful world, even though they would never call themselves heroes. Tamwyn, Elli and Scree have great big adventures and quests must summand huge obstacles both inside themselves and outside. Only then can they save Avalon.

Now then, Merlin is a very similar kind of situation as Avalon, where I?ve added new mythology to an ancient idea, but this time it?s with a twist.
Merlin was that great ancient wizard who was the mentor to King Arthur. He was always very very old, very ancient with a beard that goes down to the floor. And it made me wonder, what was he like when he was young, when he was your age? What was he like? How was it possible for him to become this great wizard? So I imagined there was this beautiful tapestry of myths around Merlin but it has a hole in it about his youth. My job as a writer was to weave a few threads into that hole. And that?s a great opportunity for any writer.
The books about Merlin by T.A. Barron are threads for that hole. And what happens at the beginning that is important to remember, we don?t have a wizard. We just have a boy. He is half-drowned, he is more dead than alive and he has no memory at all, so he doesn?t even know his own name, let alone that he has this great future as the wizard Merlin, that people (people like me) will tell stories about for 2000 years. It?s just a boy who is homeless and nameless, with no clue what he has down inside himself, this quality, this magic.
That?s how it begins. So you can see how, in the course of those five books, he has great big adventures and in the end saves the world that he loves but must leave. And yet, when he plants that seed, he begins another story, even though he can not stay to see it. And that? the fun thing about writing a story: I didn?t even know myself, when Merlin planted that seed at the end of the Merlin-books, I thought "oh, that?s no big deal? and then I came back after a few books "You know, maybe that world, Avalon, could actually grow out of that magical seed?. That?s where the whole trilogy began, a trilogy that has taken me five years to write. So that is a big idea, almost as big as that tree from a tiny little seed.

How did you plan Merlin?s character? Was it clear from the outset how he would be like, or did he develop throughout the books?

You must be a writer, or you must be an avert reader to ask a question like this.
Characters must grow and develop to feel true and alive; they have to have their own growth, just like we do as living people, to believe in the character. Especially a character as rich and as wondrous and as deep as Merlin.
When Merlin washed ashore, I knew he was just a blank page, nothing accept a boy, that washed ashore. And at the end I knew, he would be, only 17 years old, the great Merlin and could step into that role and myth and be the mage of Camelot. What happened in between totally surprised me, and that?s why there are five books instead of just three. It was planned as a trilogy, but it took five books for that boy who washes ashore to become somebody of such wizardry and mastery and depth of compassion and understanding and also just power and wisdom. Between those two places, he needed to grow a lot.
I had to listen to him really to find out the way he had to grow.

Do you have any special writing habits or rituals?

Ah, secret rituals, which I will tell no one, not even you. I?ll tell you this:
I write in the attic my house, which is a farm in Colorado, so I?m looking out onto the Rocky Mountains and much blue and green all around me. That really helps because nature is such an important theme in my books but also because nature is so inspiring for me as a writer. The ideas of nature and the wonders, the beauties and the dangers and the mysteries most of all, that I find in nature, that?s why I believe so strongly we have to protect and save our environment and respect this beautiful world.
At the same time, that same energy gives me inspiration for writing my stories.
Nature is in that place, windows at all sides. I also have books and piles and piles of papers and manuscripts. That?s the kind of place I write in.
Also I will tell you this: It will surprise you, but I actually write all my original manuscripts by hand. I know that sounds crazy, but I do it because that makes me go more slowly, makes me listen more to the music and the language of my characters. It also gives me a comfortable feeling which, I think, takes me back to my time as a child sitting under a tree on a ranch in Colorado, where I grew up. I know it makes me have to spend more hours and it slows me down, but I also think it makes better books. For me, it works. It?s only after the first draft, that I put it on the computer, and then I do my rewrites on the computer. Although sometimes, if it?s a big rewrite, I print out the pages and I work by hand because that chemistry works better for me.
All my books go through seven or eight or nine drafts. "Der Zauber von Avalon? took nine drafts, each of the Merlin books took seven drafts, but always the first draft I write by hand.

At what age did you discover that you had a special talent for writing?

You know, I have always loved a good story, ever since I was small. I loved campfire tales, I loved telling stories, I loved hearing stories ? My mother read aloud to us a lot when I was a child and I even started to write when I was in elementary school. I began to write my own little magazine and I wrote one issue about "The secret life of teachers? which was very popular but it got me in lots of trouble too. I didn?t know it, but I was much to close to the truth about my teachers. But, you know, it was a great experience because I could see if something was important to me to write about, that other people would enjoy it too. I kept on writing, but never anything big, until I won a Rhodes scholarship to study at Oxford University in England. I travelled a lot: I rode on the Tran Siberian Railway, I worked in Japan, patching roofs, like Tamwyn does at the start of "Der Zauberer von Avalon?, I travelled in Africa and hiked in Scandinavia and above the Arctic Circle. I travelled widely and during those years, I wrote my first novel. I thought it was pretty good, but the publishers didn?t think it was good. I sent it to forty-two different publishers and they all said no. Every one of them. This made me very sad. So, in fact, to try to laugh about that terrible experience, I put these rejection letters on the wall of my bathroom, just to try to make me smile. It didn?t work, but finally I got the courage to write again, but it took me seven years because rejection letters are hard to overcome.
But if you love something, if you really feel passionate about something it comes back, even when you get rejected. So I was very very lucky and it was seven years later that I decided, that I love that idea of writing so much, I wanted to try and do it the whole time.
I had a job in business and that time, I was the president of a company. Everything was going very well in the company, but I walked in one day and told my partners, I?m resigning as president; I?ll go back to Colorado and try to write books, mythic tales like the "Lord of the Rings?. And they were shocked! You know, I have never had one second of regret. It?s now fifteen years and seventeen books ago, that I did that. And I guess, when people ask me, if it was scary to leave a paying job, sure it was a little scary. But it was not nearly as scary as the idea of growing old and never having tried to follow my dream. That idea was very scary. Even if I hadn?t succeeded as a writer I would have wanted to try.
Today, as I look around and I see all the wonderful international editions at the Frankfurt Book festival and a movie is being made of the last years of Merlin, I know it never would have happened if I hadn?t taken the chance to follow my dream.

One last question: Could you give us any tips on good authors and good books?

What a wonderful question.
I would recommend to anyone who enjoys creating new worlds in their imagination: Tolkien. "The Lord of the Rings? is essential and I think that is a great place to go wherever you are in your experience as a reader.
I would also recommend the books of Madeleine L?Engle, she wrote books like "A Wrinkle in Time?, "A Swiftly Tilting Planet? ?
Other authors I know well are Susan Cooper ("The Dark is rising?) and I?m a great fan of Cornelia Funke, she?s written many books ("Dragon rider?), she?s a wonderful writer. Ursula LeGuin is another one of my favourites.
There is a man who wrote a book that is the modern edition of Camelot. It is a beautiful book called "The Once and Future King?, it?s T.H. White. He is a wonderful writer and he is the fellow who brought the elder Merlin to life. And when I started writing my books (I?m telling you for the first time), my secret goal was to make the young Merlin just as real and alive as T.H. White made the elder Merlin in his book.

I?m sure you have succeeded, thank you very much for the interview.