K.A. Doore's Blog, page 6

[image error]

#TFOB, my #TFOB, how I love thee so.

When we moved to Tucson, the Festival of Books was still in its toddlerhood. We went during its 3rd year and it was already huge and drawing in ginormous crowds and interesting/well-known/actual authors. I wandered between tables of books and lecture halls of guest speakers under a brilliant blue sky, taking in the scent of citrus blossoms along with the cinnamon almonds, and found home.

I volunteered the next three years and somehow fell in love with TFOB a bit more each time.

It’s an amazing celebration of books. Every year I’d find new authors – I credit TFOB 100% with my Seanan McGuire collection, since that’s where I first paused and picked up Rosemary and Rue. Every year I’d sit in on an interesting panel. And best of all – it was all free. You could wander in and wander out at will (ideally not the panels, at least try to be courteous geez). You could drop in for some fresh donuts and the University tent or you could plan your weekend around panels and talks and signings.

They even have bees.

I mean, Science City, the other half of #TFOB, has bees. To look at. As well as other science-y activities. I’m sure there are wild bees throughout because of all the citrus blossoms, but I digress.

This year was the 10th anniversary of the Festival of Books and I dropped in for a bit because we were in Tucson for the week and I was delighted to see that it was still the same old TFOB. So many books. So many people. So many bees. I mean books. I mean bees. I mean both?

Oh Tucson, how I miss thee.

So all that’s to say that recent progress on Book 3 aka working title The Unconquered City is, uh, nil. Because I was frolicking amongst the cacti and well, it’s hard to type and frolic is what I mean.

But! I did manage to finish Book 1 aka The Perfect Assassin‘s copyedits and turn those in so, yay?

Yay.

Okay going back to dreaming of cacti and books now.

[image error]

Things that I have been unduly excited about since I discovered they were a Thing:

– Flannel sheets

– Bat boxes that have the Batman logo

– Copy edits

One of the things I’ve realized I’m good at over the years has been picky details. Since learning the exact nature of copy editing, I’ve been more than a little eager to see them in the inky flesh. Going through a novel line by line, hunting out spelling and grammatical errors, as well as continuity errors, sounds like my kind of party.

But ohmygoodness, was I not prepared for the style sheet.

See, in order to catch those continuity errors, a copy editor must first figure out what the continuity is. Which for any book can be a load of biscuits and fun, but for fantasy novels gets even trickier. All those made up terms and systems – aka worldbuilding – become Real. And the copy editor must not only understand those terms, but make sure they’re used consistently within the established rules of the world.

So they make a style sheet. And in it, they list all of the characters, major or minor or sub-minor, and their relationships to the other characters. They also list all the bizarre terms you made up. They also create a timeline. It’s meticulous and it’s picky and it’s beautiful.

If this whole writing thing doesn’t work out, I think I’ll try my hand at copy-editing. Just saying.

If it’s weird to see all your made-up people and terms treated like Real, it’s even weirder to see the copy edit document itself. I knew it’d be marked up. What I didn’t realize was that it’d be formatted to look like a book. Guys. This is getting legit.

I did a first pass of the copy edits already, and it doesn’t look nearly as frightening or intimidating as I’d feared/expected. I’ll take my time going over each change, but so far it breaks down to:

– 94% changing an en dash to an em dash

– 2.7% saving my bacon by catching continuity errors

– 1.2% fixing typos/homophones

– 2.1% highlighting echoes*

Bless you, Copy Editor. And bless all copy editors everywhere, because it takes a very keen and practiced eye to catch this stuff.

Progress will slow a little on book 3 while I go through my copy edits, but I planned for that and also one of these is due MUCH sooner than the other, so.

Here’s current progress on Book Three, working title The Unconquered City, the story of an assassin turned monster hunter who’s really sick of people threatening her city. Now with more! terse conversations, monster hunters, and quiet cups of tea.

Project: Book Three, Draft 0.5

Deadline: August

Current word count:

Fancy bracelets: 2

Awkward conversations: 4

Broken glass: All of it

[image error]

The forecast predicts we’re gonna get 40s from here on until March, the trees are budding, the bulbs are bulbening, and the river has claimed most of the nearby park and golf course – which means we can officially call it. Winter is fading. It’s Spring-inning.

I can’t lie. I’m going to miss the snow and the painfully cold 10 degree days. But time keeps churning and soon we’ll be eyeballs-deep in bugs and humidity, so it’s best to enjoy each day as it comes.

That’s my mantra in general lately. 2019 stills seems painfully far off, but I will only get to live through the pre-pub debut process once, so I’m gonna enjoy it. So far it’s been pretty calm and chill, with just the occasional inkling of the excitement (and terror!) that is to come and the occasional context-free flailing. I appreciate the slower-than-usual ramp up, because I’ve been able to stick my toe in and begin mentally (and physically) preparing for the Actual Thing because wow, if the last month has been any indication with its softballs, I am Not Prepared.

Wow, how is that for vaguebooking/subtweeting/whatever it is the kids are calling it these days?

 

Here’s current progress on Book Three, working title The Unconquered City, the story of an assassin turned monster hunter who’s really sick of people threatening her city. Now with more! rioting, Shocking Revelations (TM), and one-on-one rooftop “lessons.”

Project: Book Three, Draft 0.5

Deadline: August

Current word count:

Knives thrown: 7

Double-entendres made: 3

Times that I have made myself blush: 11

[image error]

I started Book Three back in July and got a sizeable chunk done (50k words! woo!), but then edits for 1 & 2 intervened and months passed and now here I am again. Staring into the abyss.

I’ve spent the last two weeks grappling with this book, the plot I have, the words I’ve written. I started and stopped and started again where I’d left off. But I finally realized I needed to just go ahead and start from the very beginning (it’s a very good place to start [now it’s stuck in your head too {you’re welcome}]).

Since I didn’t even reach a Rocks Fall Everyone Dies ending with that draft, I don’t officially get to move on to draft one. But it’s not really a draft zero, since I’ve got a pretty solid handle on what’s gonna happen. So let’s compromise and call it Draft 0.5. Still nowhere close to the finished product, but also not flailing alone in the dark with a blindfold and a basket of chips.

You know the drill by now. I’ll report back here once a week (or month) with progress updates as a way to shame myself into maintaining said progress. ‘Cause I’ve got a deadline to make and a story to wrap up and a whole lot of teeth to gnash. My teeth? Maybe yours. Whose teeth are these anyway? Why am I holding teeth??

 

Here’s current progress on Book Three, working title The Unconquered City, the story of an assassin turned monster hunter who’s gonna keep her city safe no matter the cost. Now with more! monster fights, healing magic, and tragic backstory.

Project: Book Three, Draft 0.5

Deadline: August

Current word count:

Body count: 0

Monster count: Baker’s dozen

Sand?: Everywhere.

[image error]

I have had a love-hate relationship with Twitter right from the start. Its ephemeral and impermanent nature is both a draw (no obligation to understand context or scroll back for days!) and a drawback (everything exists in the void!). I initially joined to assist in my search for agents, and then I stayed because of the thriving writing community.

But while Twitter’s writing community is a good place to start, and very useful (it’s how I found out about Sirens and ConFusion and where I find all my agent sibs), it’s certainly not everything. It’s like the enticing display in the shop window – all cupcakes and glitter, but with very little substance. And as delicious as they may be, one cannot exist on cupcakes and glitter alone.

Alas, my personality is such that if the cupcakes and glitter are right there, then I will attempt to subsist on them anyway despite all of my knowledge and experience to the contrary. I am not very good at moderation.

So I’m going to give Twitter up entirely. Well, at least for the next 46 days. Aka, for Lent*.

It’s not like I’ll be bored. I have the draft zero for Book Three to complete by April and I’d been planning/hoping/dreaming to also get the synopsis written by then, too. This will give me a chance to focus and see if Twitter really has been sapping my creative energy as much as it has been sapping my time.

I also intend to recommit to blogging/reading blogs. I grew up on LiveJournal (gasp!) and enjoyed the community born and grown there, fueled by longer posts about everyday minutiae. I migrated to WordPress over the years and have likewise enjoyed the community here. There is far less glitter, but a considerable amount of honest sandwiches. I miss the longer form, the context, the gritties. Twitter has allowed for longer tweets, but it’s still a forum for Public Displays of Being Clever.

This is not intended as a screed or rant against Twitter. It has its uses and I fully intend to return to all the glitter and cupcakes. But in the meantime, I need to step back, breathe, reconsider, and refocus.

Hopefully, that means I’ll get to see more of you guys here.

* I’m not Catholic, but the idea of occasionally giving something up that you feel you can’t live without is a good exercise, IMNSHO.

[image error]

First, write a book. Then, realize there’s a perfect part of said book that could be expanded into a short story.

Sketch out a short outline. Think: this will be easy. Feel: this will be hard.

Finish revising your book. Come back to the short story idea. Realize you kinda maybe need to write it because what happens in it will largely inform your next book. Check your schedule. Find some time to commit wholeheartedly. Two weeks should be enough. It’s only a short story, right?

After one week, google: how long is a short story supposed to be anyway?

After two weeks, google: how long is too long for a short story?

After three weeks, google: how long is a novella?

After four weeks, google: why is everything I touch a novel?

Set it aside unfinished because you have other projects with Actual Deadlines. Hit those deadlines. Celebrate.

Gradually become aware of a general sense of unease. Realize the short story is watching. Waiting.

Metaphorically (and literally, because you don’t want flu do you?) wash your hands. Return to the short story. Accept that the short story is not really a short story by any stretch of the imagination.

Pretend you were writing a novella all along.

Rewrite the not-so-short story from scratch. Despair when it keeps growing longer.

Rewrite the novella with an eye toward trimming some of that verdant verbiage. Growl in frustration when it somehow gains words.

Rewrite again. Keep it within the realm of believability re: word counts and re: novellas.

Finish something that could be called a draft.

Dig a hole in the backyard.

Yes, through the two feet of snow.

Bury the draft. Pat that snow back into place.

Practice saying: I never write novellas. What novella? I was home with my cats at 8.36pm on the 21st of January and you can’t prove a thing. I’ve never seen a novella in my life.

Wait for spring and see what grows.

[image error]

Between holidays and travel and dayjob and a baby quickly becoming a toddler, I somehow managed to finish the edits on the Impossible Contract aka Book Two. For those keeping score, that means I now have two out of three books done* in this trilogy, and book one isn’t set to be out for, oh, another year.

It’s quickly shaping up that I’ll be finished with Book Three before One’s pub date, as well, which is astounding. I doubt I’ll ever have that sort of luxury again, and I doubt few others have. It’s a strange place to be in; for one, I won’t have to worry about reader reactions messing with plot. But for another, I’ll have completely moved on to a new and entirely different project by then.

Looking back through my blog posts, I realized I never really explained how I got here. Here being: having written the second book first. Here being: still another year to publication, even though I signed the contract over a year ago. Here being: planning on having three books done before the first ever sees the light of day.

I didn’t plan to write the second book first. I set out to write a standalone. And I did. So thoroughly that I’d never intended to write a sequel, let alone several sequels. Which, in retrospect, was a bit silly of me, but I was still reacting to being blindsided by a cliffhanger in a book I’d thought was standalone years back (*tiny fist of rage*). So.

So I intentionally did a Thing in the plot that pretty much negated the possibility of a sequel. And then I got an agent. And then my agent suggested I come up with some sequel ideas.

Cue panic.

Eventually, I did come up with an Idea, but it would only get me through another novel. With some gentle nudging from my agent, I came up with a few prequel ideas as well. Fast-forward to Tor asking for a trilogy and me being severely sleep-deprived from life with a newborn, and I asked – nay, insisted – that I give them a prequel and a sequel.

They thought this was a fine idea. And lo, the Impossible Contract became Book Two and I was on the hook for writing Book One, and yesterday. My potential publication date was pushed from 2018 to 2019, which is reasonable since the book didn’t exist yet.

But despite a bit of teeth gnashing and grumbling impatience on my part, I am so, so glad things fell the way they did. I got to go back and really dig in and understand the world in book one, and doing so only made book two that much stronger. I also got to lay the groundwork for a lot of the things that happen in book two (and eventually book three), which was decidedly satisfying. And it will probably make me look like a wizard, not gonna lie. Plus, future readers will get two** standalone books that nevertheless play off each other and are stronger for it.

Phew.

So if you like book one and Amastan, the historian turned assassin turned detective who is really tired of this shit, you’ll probably like book two and Thana, the overly ambitious assassin who regrets helping the man she’s supposed to kill and is really tired of all these undead camels.

To continue a tradition I started when I turned in Book One the first time, here’re the

Ending Stats for Book Two

Started writing: June 1, 2014

First Query Sent: April, 2015

Heavily-edited “final” manuscript sent: January 15, 2018

Number of rewrites: Two

Number of rounds of revision/edits: Six

Number of edits just to cut words: Three

Original Wordcount: 130,000

Current Wordcount: 104,000

Number of times I’ve hated this book: Twenty-seven

Number of times I’ve loved it: Thirty-six

Number of mug cakes eaten in celebration: 1

Expected pub date: Late autumn 2019

* Technically, book two isn’t done done, but the next round of revisions won’t require a total rewrite nor take three months. Unless I seriously miscalculated somewhere along the line. Which is possible! But doubtful.

** Book Three is technically also a standalone, but boy will it spoil you on the first two. Not even gonna try not to, there.

If you ask any writer (or artist [or human being]), they’ll say that 2017 was a rough year. Full of distractions and worry and dread. Yet despite all of that, we kept on keeping on. I’m not exception – while I wasted countless hours on what-ifs and not sleeping, the work still had to be done. And it got done.

But man, am I exhausted. Hopefully 2018 will be a little less emotionally draining.

But 2017 wasn’t all bad. Personally, it was pretty great. My highlights:

– Wrote the first draft of Book One

– Wrote the second draft of Book One

– Revised Book One

– Sent Book One out to betas

– Revised Book One based on beta feedback

– Sent Book One to my editor

– Revised Book One based on my editor’s feedback

– Turned in Book One (

[image error]

After quite a few nights/days spent rocking a sleeping baby and reading a book, I thought I’d also rock my to-read list this year.

Ahahaha.

Turns out, sleeping newborns turn into not-sleeping infants turn into crawling, interested-in-what-you’re-reading babies. And if they’re not trying to pry the book from your hands, then you’re trying to pry the cat bowl from theirs.

In short, I quickly realized I wasn’t going to read as much as I’d like. While humbling, this was also freeing. Since I have so much less free time between baby, dayjob, writing, and well, generally keeping the house from descending into cat hair chaos, I was much pickier about the books I read. And – surprisingly! – I ended up loving almost all of the books I read this year.

Also interesting how this list is much more solidly fantasy than previous years… hmmm…

Because I don’t have as much time as I used to, I’m going to cheat and use/expound upon the tweet thread I already made for my #2017InBooks. Sorry/not sorry.

So here are (almost!) all those books, in no particular order, for you & for posterity & for a better year-in-review than I can ever do, in 140 (280?!) characters or less:

A Darker Shade of Magic * by V.E. Schwab – Fun! You’ve probably read this! I was late to the game but I can see what everyone was talking about. Pirates, magic, doom & gloom & good gay times. Honestly, the whole Shades of Magic series.






Hellspark by Janet Kagan – linguistic sci-fi will always always be my jam. What is sentience? What is language? Why is that spider-thing crawling up my leg?






The Hate U Give by Angie Thomas – timely YA insta-classic take on police brutality that pulls NO punches. We’ve got racism, riots, and class tensions with subtlety and nuance in >80k words.






The Nightmare Stacks* by Charles Stross – because Stross’ Laundry Files will always be my curl-up-with-hot-cocoa-and-Lovecraftian-nightmares series.






The Prey of Gods by Nicky Drayden – Demigods! South Africa! Robot revolts! Dik diks! Positive trans potrayal! Wholesale destruction! Need I say more?






Amberlough* by Lara Elena Donnelly – dear god I’m still having dreams about this book. Disturbing. Delightful. So gay. Do you like spy thrillers and cabaret and too-parallel politics? Then yes.






The Stone Sky by N.K. Jemisin – Stone magic meets astronomy with apocalyptic adventure and a mother-daughter relationship that friggin shattered me. This whole series is definitely core SFF canon now, by the way.






Seven Surrenders by Ada Palmer – I honestly still don’t know what to think about the Ignota Terra series except that it’s a) full of intense worldbuilding and b) not even slightly what I expected. Did I mention it’s intense? It’s… intense. But rewarding.






Winter Tide * by Ruthanna Emrys – You got some social commentary in my Lovecraftian horror and I like it.






The Guns Above by Robyn Bennis – Airships! Explosions! Adventure! Snarky fops! No central romantic plot!! Honestly just a lot of fun and a great way to end the year.

* – Consumed in audiobook form.

[image error]

November 1st last year, I started writing draft zero for Book One of what we’re now calling the Assassins of Ghadid trilogy. I had a character and a scene and a vague idea of where it was all going.

Several rewrites, revisions, and now an editorial letter later, I think I can safely say Book One is done. Of course, we’ve already touched on what “finished” means, so I suppose we should define “done.”

Done, right now, for this book, is a book that has been cleaned up on both the line level and the plot level, is a book that has been tweaked and finessed and had most of its problems excised or otherwise fixed. It’s still not perfect, but the bits and pieces of doubt that hung on after it was “finished” have largely been shed.

Of course, this is just another step in the process. There may (will) be another round of edits. There will (definitely) be a round of line edits. I hope for and expect as much, because I – and my publisher – want this to be as close to 100% as we can make it, without, you know, having to sacrifice our souls and selves.

So in a way, it’s not done done, but on the very long road that is publishing, I thought it significant that almost exactly a year after starting a book that was little more than a scene and a character at the time, it’s now become this: a rewritten and revised and edited and re-edited and tweaked and thoroughly-loved book, about many characters and with many scenes, that even has a plot.

As for when it will be out – assuming there are no Super Major Oh God No edits on the horizon – the current word on the street is March 2019. So we’ve still got some time yet. And I’ve still got two more books to finish.