10 Years of Beloved Books
Karen Traviss
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Karen Traviss

Goodreads Author


Born
The United Kingdom
Website

Twitter
karentraviss

Genre
Thriller, Science Fiction

Member Since
June 2014


#1 New York Times best-selling novelist, scriptwriter and comics author Karen Traviss has received critical acclaim for her award-nominated Wess'har series, and her work on Halo, Gears of War, Batman, G.I. Joe, and other major franchises has earned her a broad range of fans. She's best known for military science fiction, but GOING GREY and BLACK RUN, the first books in her new techno-thriller series RINGER, are set in the real world of today. A former defence correspondent and TV and newspaper journalist, she lives in Wiltshire, England. She's currently working on SACRIFICIAL RED, the third book in the Ringer series, and HERE WE STAND, book three in the NOMAD series. ...more

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Popular Answered Questions

What’s your advice for aspiring writers?
Karen Traviss 1. Don't blog/ FB/ Tweet about writing. (Unless you're marketing an actual book, of course.) Just write your novel and get it finished.
2. For those of…more1. Don't blog/ FB/ Tweet about writing. (Unless you're marketing an actual book, of course.) Just write your novel and get it finished.
2. For those of you still in education: pay attention to your grammar teacher but ignore everything the Eng Lit one says. (Well, except what you need to parrot to pass exams.) Whatever they tell you a writer "means," they're almost certainly wrong.
3. You can't teach someone to write, i.e. to tell a story. You're either a storyteller or you aren't. But you can develop your technique, only part of which is your language skills.
4. Don't confuse writing style with story. The words are just tools. The aim is to write only what the reader needs to enable them to feel they're involved in the world you've created, not to jerk them out of it with groundbreaking use of adverbs or sentence fragments.
5. Writing fiction is about people. Invest time in talking to them and having your own experiences. Live a bit. Observe a lot. The actual writing bit is just the output, and only part of the overall process.
6. Do proper research, and not by relying on wikis or what other writers have written. Get out and talk to people who've done the stuff you want to write about – nothing beats primary sources. And you *will* have to do research, because writing about yourself and your anxieties might be great therapy but it's probably only good for one book, if that. The best stories are all outside yourself.
7. Ideas are ten a penny, and ideas aren't stories. Every idea has been done before, one way or another. The real story is in the execution – the way you tell it. (less)
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Hi, Karen. I know I'm late to the party (by about a decade) but I'm reading through the Republic Commando books and loving them. It seems to me that the clones and squaddies in the book act and sound like a British unit, with loads proper British, dry humour it them. Just wondered, did LucasArts pick up on this and ask you to American-ise them at all? If I'm honest I was expecting the clones to talk like US Marines.
Karen Traviss No, they didn't.

I'm *very* picky about dialogue because it's a pillar of characterisation, so if I write an American character, they sound American b…moreNo, they didn't.

I'm *very* picky about dialogue because it's a pillar of characterisation, so if I write an American character, they sound American both in dialogue and narrative. (All of a scene is the character's POV, not just the dialogue.) The same goes for all nationalities in my fiction. In this case, the characters weren't bound by nationality, so I made them sound like the blokes I was used to talking to in the British armed forces. That wasn't just the jargon, it was the attitude and mindset as well.

I have occasionally been asked by editors on other books to make those kinds of changes and I've refused. The characters are the way they are for a reason, and readers are smart enough to cope with differences between cultures, whether they're based on nationality, age, or whatever. It's part of the colour and texture of storytelling. Editors try to dumb down books too often, which is a bit insulting to the customer. In my experience, readers are intelligent and also more than capable of using a dictionary to look up terms they've not understood! :)

And thank you for the kind comments. I'm glad you're enjoying the books.(less)
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Combine Editions

Average rating: 4.11 · 105,144 ratings · 4,704 reviews · 121 distinct works • Similar authors
Hard Contact (Star Wars: Re...
4.23 avg rating — 10,339 ratings — published 2004 — 27 editions
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Legacy of the Force: Sacrif...
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Order 66 (Star Wars: Republ...
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More books by Karen Traviss…

132 posts
Karen Traviss's Blog

KINGS OF THE MASTAN – cover reveal

Here you go. The cover for Nomad book 4, Kings Of The Mastan, and a few details. It won't be out for a while yet, but I wanted to get the cover sorted early to make sure the excellent Thomas Wievegg was free to do the art again. He's a busy guy!

(Newsletter subscribers – you've already seen this one last year. I haven't changed anything, but I've added a slightly longer synopsis.) Read more of this blog post »
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Published on January 08, 2024 03:19
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Series by Karen Traviss

Hard Contact Triple Zero True Colors Order 66 501st
(34 books)
by
4.10 avg rating — 618,844 ratings

Hard Contact Triple Zero True Colors Order 66 501st
(5 books)
by
4.24 avg rating — 35,380 ratings

Halo: Glasslands Halo: The Thursday War Halo: Mortal Dictata
(3 books)
by
4.12 avg rating — 13,624 ratings

Aspho Fields Jacinto's Remnant Anvil Gate Coalition's End The Slab
(8 books)
by
4.17 avg rating — 12,352 ratings

City of Pearl Crossing the Line The World Before Matriarch Ally Judge
(6 books)
by
3.95 avg rating — 6,256 ratings

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Karen is Currently Reading

Falklands War Her...
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Apr 28, 2016 11:50PM

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Karen’s Recent Updates

Karen Traviss answered Ryan Thornton's question:
Hi Karen. First off let me just say that you are my absolute favorite Star Wars author of all time and i have read the first of the gears of war and loved that just as much. But I did have a question that i have all ways wondered ever since starting the commandos series years ago . who is your favorite trooper out of the bunch. Also Is there a way to get any signed copies to add to my collection ?.
Karen Traviss
Hi. Thank you for the kind words – I appreciate it.

I don't actually have favourite characters in anything I write. I think that's the inevitable result of writing *as* each character rather than *about* the character – it's entirely their view of the See Full Answer
Sep 25, 2024 04:41AM  · 1 like · 
Karen Traviss answered Jessica Simmons's question:
Hello! I'm a fan of your SW work, and I'm currently reading The Best of Us and it's amazing so far! I was wondering, do you have any favorite sci-fi authors or films?
Karen Traviss
Hi. I'm glad you're enjoying the books – thank you!

I don't have a favourite author, I'm afraid, because I don't read novels. I read non-fiction, mostly because any love I had for prose fiction was killed at school. When it comes to other media, I'd h See Full Answer
Sep 24, 2024 03:20AM  · 1 like · 
Karen Traviss is accepting questions on their profile page.
Feb 07, 2024 12:38PM  · Be the first to ask Karen Traviss a question
Karen Traviss made a comment on KINGS OF THE MASTAN – cover reveal
" I'll resend that reply now because if it isn't in your junk folder, it's gone AWOL. ...more "
Jan 09, 2024 09:24AM  · see blog post
Karen Traviss made a comment on Is there a librarian in the house?
" Hi Lindsey. Thank you for getting back to me. Someone in the Librarian Group sorted me out a few hours ago – my apologies, I forgot I'd posted here to ...more "
Jun 02, 2023 01:21PM  · see blog post
Karen Traviss made a comment in the group Goodreads Librarians Group — Add book to Nomad series topic
" Thank you! I really appreciate you doing that for me.

I was convinced I'd filled in a series field when I added it as a new book, but I must have miss ...more "
Jun 02, 2023 03:00AM
Karen Traviss joined the group Goodreads Librarians Group
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Jun 01, 2023 03:33AM  · 
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Quotes by Karen Traviss  (?)
Quotes are added by the Goodreads community and are not verified by Goodreads. (Learn more)

“Ugliness is an illusion, gentlemen. Like beauty. Like color. All depends on the light. The only reality is action.”
― Karen Traviss, True Colors
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“If you take a shot at someone, you keep firing until they can no longer return fire. Wound them, and you have an angry enemy who knows your position.”
― Karen Traviss
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“Gar taldin ni jaonyc; gar sa buir, ori'wadaasla. (Nobody cares who your father was, only the father you'll be.) - Mandalorian saying”
― Karen Traviss, Order 66
tags: clones, father, mandalorian, star-wars
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Topics Mentioning This Author

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SciFi and Fantasy...: This topic has been closed to new comments. January Sci-Fi Book Noms 36 128 Dec 14, 2009 06:33PM  
The Sword and Laser: Top favorite authors! 129 806 Mar 06, 2011 02:38PM  
SciFi and Fantasy...: May Science Fiction Nominations 12 39 Apr 26, 2011 11:06AM  
The Sword and Laser: Video Game Based Novels 31 83 Aug 11, 2011 10:28AM  
Brain Science Pod...: Books and Ideas 44 : Karen Traviss 1 7 Nov 12, 2011 06:58AM  
The Seasonal Read...: This topic has been closed to new comments. Fall Challenge 2011 Completed Tasks - DO NOT DELETE ANY POSTS IN THIS TOPIC! 2264 779 Nov 30, 2011 09:05PM  
100+ Books in 2024: Aga is reading also in 2011 202 370 Dec 31, 2011 05:59PM  

Karen’s Quotes

“I know genes are a big deal, son, but they're not the be-all and end-all." Rob slowed to a halt at the lights, wishing the dickhead behind would back off. "If they were, you'd be in a seafood salad and I'd be in prison.”
― Karen Traviss, Going Grey
tags: destiny, genetics, identity, self-belief
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220 Goodreads Librarians Group — 259332 members — last activity 1 minute ago
Goodreads Librarians are volunteers who help ensure the accuracy of information about books and authors in the Goodreads' catalog. The Goodreads Libra ...more
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