Jane Lindskold's Blog, page 60
January 8, 2020
Projects Update: Wolf’s Soul and Others
Kel’s On Top Of 2020
About this time last year, I wrote a comprehensive update about what I was working on and what could be expected in the year to come. Seems like a good time to do the same thing again…
As promised, 2019 saw the release of Wolf’s Search, the seventh book in the Firekeeper Saga and the first new book in the series in about a decade. 2020 will see the release of Wolf’s Soul, the second part of the story. The manuscript is written, polished, and I’m getting feedback from my secret beta readers. After that’s in, I’ll give the manuscript a review, send the manuscript to my copyeditor, and shift into production. If all goes well, the book should be available to you in just a few months.
I don’t plan to delay the release of Wolf’s Soul for promotional hype, gathering pre-orders, or the like. The first announcement of availability will be via my newsletter. Then I’ll mention it here, as well as on my social media.
Another almost completed project are{is} three new e-book versions of the “Breaking the Wall” novels (Thirteen Orphans, Nine Gates, and Five Odd Honors). Each e-book will have new cover art by Jane Noel. There will also be extra content in the form of essays about how the idea for the series evolved, as well as quite a lot about how elements of mah-jong played a role in the development of the magic system. We’re working on cover art and design, then they’ll be ready to go. Again, the first announcement will be on my newsletter, but I’ll mention it here as well.
If you’re not into e-books, I still have copies of the hardcover print editions available at my newly revamped website bookshop.
Contracts have been signed for three new novels in the “Star Kingdom” (aka “Stephanie Harrington”) series that I have been writing with my long-time friend, David Weber. The series to this point consists of A Beautiful Friendship, Fire Season, and Treecat Wars. These books are prequels to the “Honor Harrington” novels and, unlike those, take place mostly planetside. For this reason, there’s a lot more about the treecats, their home lives, and culture. We’ve started writing the first (yet untitled) book in this new series, and writing this will be my first focus in 2020.
I also have some short fiction forthcoming, including “The Problem With Magic Rings” in DreamForge and “The Greatest Jewel” in a Masters of Orion anthology. And, yes, I’m continuing to work with DreamForge magazine, which has just completed its fourth issue and first year!
It’s possible that other books in my backlist will be made available as new e-books. Whether that happens will be a question of time and energy. I wouldn’t have been able to do what I have with the “Breaking the Wall” books without the help of my husband, Jim, artist Jane Noel, and frequent proofreader, Paul Dellinger.
I’d like to write more short fiction, and may well do so. There’s also a 150,000 word rough draft manuscript that I’m hoping to get back to and expand, probably into two books. I’d like to start with that before the year is over. We’ll see if that’s a bit optimistic on my part…
So, another busy year with many new stories being written. Any questions?
January 3, 2020
FF: Old Friends, New Year
Mei-Ling: Exhausted From Chasing The Moving Finger
We drove to the Phoenix, Arizona, area over the Christmas holiday, so a bit more fiction time.
The Friday Fragments lists what I’ve read over the past week. Most of the time I don’t include details of either short fiction (unless part of a book-length collection) or magazines. The Fragments are not meant to be a recommendation list. If you’re interested in a not-at-all-inclusive recommendation list, you can look on my website under Neat Stuff.
Once again, this is not a book review column. It’s just a list with, maybe, a bit of description or a few opinions tossed in.
And I really enjoy hearing about what you’re reading!
Recently Completed:
The Making of The African Queen or How I went to Africa with Bogart, Bacall, and Huston and almost lost my mind by Katharine Hepburn. Extremely chatty, reads as if it was narrated rather than written, with numerous asides. I wish this was available as an audiobook with the same reader who read Me. As Hepburn might say “Great fun!”
The Nine Tailors by Dorothy L. Sayers, Audiobook. This is an old favorite of mine, especially as read by Ian Carmichael, but Jim didn’t know it, so it was our audiobook on the drive. Magnificent in many ways, and as it starts during the winter holidays, perfect.
The Moving Finger by Agatha Christie. Audiobook. A dear friend gave me a copy of this old favorite, and I couldn’t resist re-listening!
In Progress:
Fearless Girls, Wise Women, and Beloved Sisters: Heroines in Folktales From Around the World compiled by Kathleen Ragan. I’ve been reading more than a few stories a day. We’ve finished Polynesia, Australia and are now into Sub-Saharan Africa. (The book is arranged roughly geographically, which is rather fascinating.)
The Age of Faith by Will Durant. Part Four of “The Story of Civilization.” Audiobook. Having finished off the Roman Empire, Durant has swirled back to focus on other prominent civilizations of the time. We did the Persian Empire, and are now looking at the rise of Islam within the context of Arab culture.
Also:
A few more issues of Grimjack. Holding up pretty well, but more episodic than I remembered. Oddly, the Munden’s Bar “filler” tends to have more continuity.
January 1, 2020
Oh, Cookie Tree…
This Past Week’s Creative Venture
Oh, Cookie-Tree, Oh Cookie-Tree… How clueless were those instructions. Oh, Cookie-Tree, Oh, Cookie-Tree. Lack of organization and clarity were obstructions…
This is just one of many carols that wandered through my mind as Jim and I struggled to make a “simple” cookie tree this Christmas Eve. As you can see from the picture, we succeeded. The end result even looked cute and, amazingly, tasted good, too. But there were times in the process when I seriously wanted to pull out scissors, tape, and start reorganizing the instructions.
I am, after all, a writer.
In those days of yore when I taught English Composition (aka, writing essays), I taught “process analysis” writing. I would have given these instructions a C. They didn’t fail because some of the component parts (like the recipe for the sugar cookies) were well-written.
But even those had problems…
As you celebrate the New Year, let me amuse you with the tale of our adventure.
The adventure of the cookie tree started when my mother bought a kit. The box showed an ostensibly simple project. Make twenty star-shaped cookies of graduated sizes (cutters included). Build a stack from the bottom up, cementing each cookie to the next with a dab of frosting. Add frosting embellishments using the included pastry bags and tips. Add a final star at the top. Tah-dah!
I’m one of those boring, methodical people who read instructions in advance, so the first thing I did was remove the accordion-fold brochure. Reading these instructions was an exercise in futility. In addition to the “basic” instructions, there were instructions for three different styles of tree. All the instructions were in three languages. However, the languages were not in separate sections, but in sequence for each stage of the process, so it was incredibly easy to miss a section in your preferred language.
Nonetheless, I read the instructions. Jim read them. Right off, we rejected “royal icing” in favor of the workhorse buttercream cookie frosting Jim has memorized. Not only didn’t Mom have the ingredients for “royal icing” (the kit didn’t list what extra items you needed on the outside, only on the inside; since this kit looked so easy, she hadn’t opened it in advance), but also any icing that the instructions warn you will break down in certain circumstances is not my idea of fun.
(No. I don’t remember what exactly would cause the disintegration. Butter, maybe? In any case, something incredibly common.)
First, I set off to make the cookie dough. The instructions said “Do Not Chill,” so I took a section of the dough and started rolling. I’m really, really good at rolling cookie dough thin and even. (Want evidence? See my Christmas WW for pictures of my cookies.) However, even with a floured rolling pin and all the usual precautions, the dough stuck. So I chilled it. That helped. But when the first round of cookies came out of the oven, rather than being the sharp-edged items shown in the photo, they were star-shaped blobs.
Deck the trays with vaguely star-shaped blobbies…
Even after being chilled, the dough was so soft that the larger cookies (say the first five sizes) had to be rolled directly on a cookie sheet. Because the dough spread when baked, this meant the largest cookies had to be baked one at a time, because more than one cookie would merge with its neighbor. At ten to twelve minutes per cookie, this meant hours of baking time, with someone (Jim usually) having to stay alert to the possibility of burning cookies.
Remember those “basic instructions”? They did note that rolling on a cookie sheet “might” be necessary. They did not include any hints on how to deal with all the flour left on the cookie sheet that would otherwise burn. I’m an experienced baker, so I knew to clear it away. I also found myself wondering how people would cope who did not happen to have (as we did) six or seven available cookie sheets and a selection of rolling pins that would fit within the confines of a rimmed cookie sheet.
After many hours, we had twenty-one cookies of graduated sizes and a few to spare. (More on spares later.) Jim had made the first batch of frosting and, using the delicate touch acquired from many years of archeological digs, he began assembling the cookies into a tree-stack. He also figured out that a lumpy dab of frosting would invite breaking cookies as the stack grew, so carefully spread the frosting mortar over the contact areas.
While Jim was mortaring the tree together, I was rolling and baking the surplus dough. That made at least three dozen more cookies, practically enough for another entire tree! I found myself wondering why the kit hadn’t included a smaller recipe.
When Jim was done, we had a tree-shaped cookie stack, but we couldn’t proceed to the next step because the “mortar” was still wet, so the cookies would slide. Thus, assembling the tree ended Day One.
Since we wanted the cookie tree to be ready for the evening of Christmas Day, Christmas morning, after coffee, presents, and breakfast, Jim and I mixed up frosting. The pastry bags included for the frosting were so flimsy that splitting was guaranteed. Happily, Mom had a couple of sturdier ones.
Jim tinted the icing (the kit recommended several very specific colors of food coloring but, of course, didn’t include them), and we took turns frosting the “branches” with myriad tiny icing stars. That part was fun, if distinctly messy! A scattering of ornamental jimmies (also not included, but Mom had some in slightly different colors) finished the task and we set the tree aside to dry.
I did resist, barely, my urge to edit the instructions…
That can wait for manuscripts, which I’ll be getting back to later this week.
Oh! By the way, Happy New Year! May your New Year be sweet and creative, whatever your chosen medium.
December 27, 2019
Christmas, Mah-Jongg, and More
Mei-Ling Wonders If She Could Be a Movie Star
More non-fiction than not right now. I’m not sure where folk and fairytales fall in that. Sometimes they’re more real than reality.
The Friday Fragments lists what I’ve read over the past week. Most of the time I don’t include details of either short fiction (unless part of a book-length collection) or magazines. The Fragments are not meant to be a recommendation list. If you’re interested in a not-at-all-inclusive recommendation list, you can look on my website under Neat Stuff.
Once again, this is not a book review column. It’s just a list with, maybe, a bit of description or a few opinions tossed in.
And I really enjoy hearing about what you’re reading!
Recently Completed:
Christmas: A Biography by Judith Flanders. A fascinating look at how Christmas has been celebrated from its inception to the early 21st century. Although the emphasis of the middle chapters is on European and American customs, the author does keep a global touch. Fascinating anthropological/sociological approach, well-documented, with additional material available on a dedicated website.
Mah-Jongg: From Shanghei to Miami Beach by Christian Cavallaro and Anita Luu. Beautiful illustrations. Some very sweeping, unsubstantiated statements, but still a nice book.
In Progress:
The Making of The African Queen or How I went to Africa with Bogart, Bacall, and Huston and almost lost my mind by Katharine Hepburn. Extremely chatty, reads as if it was narrated rather than written, with numerous asides. I wish this was available as an audiobook with the same reader who read Me.
Fearless Girls, Wise Women, and Beloved Sisters: Heroines in Folktales From Around the World compiled by Kathleen Ragan. I’ve been reading more than a few stories a day. Just moved into Hawaii. (The book is arranged roughly geographically, which is rather fascinating.)
The Age of Faith by Will Durant. Part Four of “The Story of Civilization.” Audiobook. Solidly into the Dark Ages. Justinian has died.
Also:
Archeology magazine. As often, I have some definite bones to pick with how they present some material. I realize this is for a general audience, but still…
December 25, 2019
Merry Christmas!
A Christmas Sampler
Hi Folks,Today is Christmas. Wishing all of you the best. I’m spending the day quietly. More noise next week.
December 20, 2019
FF: One Read Leads
Persephone Contemplates the Holiday Scene
Christmas prep led me to remember that I’d bought a book about the origins of various Christmas traditions, so I dug that from the to-be-read pile. And reading Me led to another Hepburn. All lovely.
The Friday Fragments lists what I’ve read over the past week. Most of the time I don’t include details of either short fiction (unless part of a book-length collection) or magazines. The Fragments are not meant to be a recommendation list. If you’re interested in a not-at-all-inclusive recommendation list, you can look on my website under Neat Stuff.
Once again, this is not a book review column. It’s just a list with, maybe, a bit of description or a few opinions tossed in.
And I really enjoy hearing about what you’re reading!
Recently Completed:
Me: Stories of My Life by Katharine Hepburn. I read this many years ago, and am enjoying again. Kudos to reader Bernadette Dunne who does such a phenomenal “Katharine Hepburn” voice that Jim went and picked up the box to make certain Hepburn herself wasn’t reading it.
In Progress:
Christmas: A Biography by Judith Flanders. A fascinating look at how Christmas has been celebrated from its inception to the 21st century. Although the emphasis of the middle chapters is on European and American customs, the author does keep a global touch. Fascinating anthropological/sociological approach, well-documented, with additional material available on a dedicated website.
The Making of The African Queen or How I went to Africa with Bogart, Bacall, and Huston and almost lost my mind by Katharine Hepburn. Extremely chatty, reads as if it was narrated rather than written, with numerous asides. I wish this was available as an audiobook with the same reader who read Me.
Fearless Girls, Wise Women, and Beloved Sisters: Heroines in Folktales From Around the World compiled by Kathleen Ragan. I’ve been reading more than a few stories a day. We’re into China now. (The book is arranged roughly geographically, which is rather fascinating.)
The Age of Faith by Will Durant. Part Four of “The Story of Civilization.” Audiobook. Solidly into the Dark Ages.
Also:
Read a few more issues of Grimjack, just because.
December 18, 2019
A Vision of…
Kel has Christmas Dreams
‘Tis the week before Christmas, and all through the house,
All the creatures are stirring, including the compost bin mouse.
The cats are nestled, snug on our bed,
While visions of catnip toys dance in their heads.
Jim in his cowboy hat, and me in my cap,
Aren’t able to settle for any sort of nap…
Everywhere there is such a clatter,
I find myself wondering what is the matter.
*
I could go on, but I’ll spare you.
Christmas is a week away. If you’re like most modern American adults, you’re feeling stressed, rather than merry.
(I don’t know how other nations celebrate these days. Feel free to let me know.)
Daily, my e-mail and social media remind me how little time is left to buy things. Buying gifts is apparently not enough. On one passing feed, a woman extolled the joys of elaborate wrapping, adding how the “package embellishment” would serve as an additional gift. Wow! Jim and I are lucky if we manage to get the wrapping paper more or less straight.
Hey, I like Yuletide celebrations. Jim and I don’t have kids, but we still decorate. We make seven or eight types of cookies. We provide gifts for both family far, and friends near.
I’ll admit, there are times I feel more like the Grinch than like Santa, especially because, being self-employed, I don’t get any paid time off. I’m squeezing my holiday preparations in between keeping ahead of my various tasks.
So, what to do?
For me, surviving holiday stress always goes back to counting my blessings. Here’s one. I can make seven or eight types of cookies, even the ones with expensive ingredients like nuts. I remember when I’d stretch the budget so I could make my family’s recipe of butterballs using real butter (not margarine) and walnuts. I’d look longingly at some of the other recipes and think “someday.”
And, guess what? It’s someday. Not only did I make the butterballs with butter, I used butter for all my cookies. I made maple pecan cookies and hermits, both of which call for nuts. It’s someday.
Today is your someday, too, even if this year hasn’t turned out quite as you dreamed. Why? Because we all dream bigger than it is possible to achieve. That’s what dreams are about, envisioning big.
Nightmares, by contrast, are about envisioning small. The monsters under the bed make you afraid to get up. The lost boarding pass keeps you from making your flight. The thing you can’t quite see that is chasing you keeps you from stopping, relaxing, assessing…
I’m sure many of you are having a rough time, feeling small, feeling stressed, maybe feeling sick or tired or something else that’s making all the sparkle dim, all the jingle dull.
Dream. Not just “I hope 2020 is better than 2019,” but about what you might do today, tomorrow, next week…
Remembering to dream big is why, no matter how busy my life is with the holiday season adding numerous new tasks to my day I’m making time to read. On the top of my list is the new DreamForge magazine. I’ve only dipped in, but I see that the theme for this month is “The Risks and Magic of Hope.”
Hey, that’s cool. That sounds like the sort of stories I want to read, the sort of stories I want to write. Suddenly, I can feel my personal winter solstice happening: the sun is warming, hope is born.
May you find a blessing or dream, no matter how small, and use it to kindle your holiday fire.
December 13, 2019
FF: Differently Dynamic
Persephone Says: She Stole My Autobiography Title!
My current reading is full of differently dynamic characters, just the inspiration I need to get me through my insanely busy schedule.
The Friday Fragments lists what I’ve read over the past week. Most of the time I don’t include details of either short fiction (unless part of a book-length collection) or magazines. The Fragments are not meant to be a recommendation list. If you’re interested in a not-at-all-inclusive recommendation list, you can look on my website under Neat Stuff.
Once again, this is not a book review column. It’s just a list with, maybe, a bit of description or a few opinions tossed in.
Recently Completed:
Witchmark by C.L. Polk.
In Progress:
Fearless Girls, Wise Women, and Beloved Sisters: Heroines in Folktales From Around the World compiled by Kathleen Ragan. I chanced on this and plan to give it a shot with a few stories a day. Tantalized by the multi-culturalism and that the compiler sought overlooked tales.
Me: Stories of My Life by Katharine Hepburn. I read this many years ago, and am enjoying again. Kudos to reader Bernadette Dunne who does such a phenomenal “Katharine Hepburn” voice that Jim went and picked up the box to make certain Hepburn herself wasn’t reading it.
Also:
I’ve temporarily put on hold The Age of Faith by Will Durant. Part Four of “The Story of Civilization.” Audiobook. Discussing the evolution of the early church into the medieval church, as well as the fading out of non-Christian religions and how their traditions persisted.
December 11, 2019
Endings Are Hard
Dandy and Coco’s Beautiful Endings
Last week, I finished making Jim’s corrections to Wolf’s Soul, then sent the manuscript off to my secret beta readers. When I told a friend this, she said, “You must feel really good to have reached this point.”
I sighed and shook my head. “Actually, after seeing all the typos Jim found in a manuscript I thought was clean, I’m beginning to feel as if this book is a mess. Actually, I’m relieved he didn’t find many continuity issues, but I still am more apprehensive than relieved.”
As the year ends, a lot of writers are trying to finish off projects before the holiday season interrupts creative momentum. On top of NaNoWriMo, which emphasizes speed of composition rather than quality on content, many writers end up feeling conflicted. After all, you’ve written the first eighty or ninety percent of the story. Surely the momentum is there. How can wrapping up the plot take so much effort?
I’m here to tell you: Endings Are Hard. Here are a few thoughts I’ve had over the years about why this is so.
So often one hears: “I had a great idea for my story, but now I don’t seem to be able to finish it.” When you’re stuck about how to end your story, go back to that first idea. What was it? Have you addressed the questions that first got you fascinated?
My novel Through Wolf’s Eyes began with two questions. One was plot-oriented. Who would be King Tedric of Hawk Haven’s successor? The second was thematic: How would moving from human to wolf society effect Firekeeper? Until both were answered, the story could not end.
Remembering your initial impulse works to keep you focused on your ending, whether you outline or, like me, are an intuitive plotter. A short note – sometimes as little as one word – can keep you on track when you start to wander off target. Get in the habit of writing this down at the very start so you can refer back when you get bogged down.
Can’t figure out what that initial impulse was? It’s possible you started off without enough thought. As Euripides said: “A bad beginning makes a bad ending” (Euripides, Aeolus). Either you need to figure out what you meant this story to be about or you need to scrap it as a bad beginning that isn’t going anywhere.
Don’t be discouraged that you can’t find your ending. You’re not alone. Author John Galsworthy said, “The beginnings and endings of all human undertakings are untidy, the building of a house, the writing of a novel, the demolition of a bridge, and, eminently, the finish of a voyage” (Over the River).
Middles have their relationship to the end, too. Author Walter Jon Williams has a good comment on taking ending into middles: “Inspiration will carry you through the first 100 pages. After that, you need a plan.” Walter has sometimes jokingly referred to the middle of a novel as “the fiddly middle bits.” Remember, though, there’s no such thing as “fiddly.” Every scene should move you along toward your end.
Again, the beginning – that inspiration – should be your guide. You may find it difficult to end your piece if you introduced too many subplots or extra characters, just to move the book along. How much research is too much? Simply put, if you’re more captivated by researching than by the actual writing, it’s probably too much. Another guideline is when you find yourself putting your research in because “I did it, so by God they’re going to read it!”
There different types of endings. Which one is yours?
Conclusion vs. Closure or “Only English Professors love stories with inconclusive conclusions.” This was one of my own first lessons, and I will be eternally grateful to my then editor John Douglas at Avon Books for teaching it to me.
The Cliffhanger? This type of ending is chancy – especially if your audience is going to need to wait a long period of time for the next installment. Even books in a series need some sort of closure.
When do you Need an Epilogue? My opinion is rarely. One of the pleasures of a story for a reader is speculating on what might happen in the on-going lives of the characters. An epilogue can make the story die. However, a good epilogue can remind the reader that the characters went on after the concluding battle.
Ending a short story presents its own problems. A short story must be easier, right? After all, there are fewer pages. Actually, it’s not easier because so much needs to be packed into a few pages. Roger Zelazny (who won a lot of awards for short fiction) said a short story should feel like the last part of a novel – give the feeling for what came before but focus on those final moments.
In other words, a good short story is one big Ending…
A few ending words on Endings… It is my firm feeling that the story must end – and this applies even if that story is part of a series. Writing a series that keeps postponing the ending is one reason why so many series are unsatisfactory or become weaker as they go on.
A strong ending is necessary for a book to be satisfying. Many times I’ve read a book with a strong start only to be disappointed by the conclusion. Conversely, I’ve read several so-so books that have risen in my estimation by having a solid ending that makes the rest of the book fall into place. A strong ending does not necessarily need to be shocking or have a “twist.” Indeed, an ending that “comes from nowhere” can be a huge turnoff.
Thinking back, I realize I was hard on myself when I told my friend I didn’t feel “relieved” to have finished Wolf’s Soul. My apprehensions belonged to the “production” side of the process, not the creative side. Creatively, I’m pretty pleased about the book… Of course I have questions as to whether I communicated what I was trying to communicate, but that’s what editors are for!
December 6, 2019
FF: Transforming Images
Kel Approves
This week the unintentional theme seems to be transformation of tropes and texts and time periods.
The Friday Fragments lists what I’ve read over the past week. Most of the time I don’t include details of either short fiction (unless part of a book-length collection) or magazines. The Fragments are not meant to be a recommendation list. If you’re interested in a not-at-all-inclusive recommendation list, you can look on my website under Neat Stuff.
Once again, this is not a book review column. It’s just a list with, maybe, a bit of description or a few opinions tossed in.
Recently Completed:
Angel Mage by Garth Nix. Homage to The Three Musketeers, more to the movies than the books, in that the protagonists are much nicer, less grasping people than in the novels. However, this is an homage, not a retelling. Plot, characters, and setting are Nix’s own, and so the overlap of some names is actually startling.
In Progress:
Witchmark by C.L. Polk. Just getting back into this one. The setting seems to be an alternate WWI. I’ve seen it called “gaslight fantasy” for that reason.
Fearless Girls, Wise Women, and Beloved Sisters: Heroines in Folktales From Around the World compiled by Kathleen Ragan. I chanced on this and plan to give it a shot with a few stories a day. Tantalized by the multi-culturalism and that the compiler sought overlooked tales.
The Age of Faith by Will Durant. Part Four of “The Story of Civilization.” Audiobook. Discussing the evolution of the early church into the medieval church, as well as the fading out of non-Christian religions and how their traditions persisted.
Also:
I’ve put Grimjack created by John Ostrander and Tim Truman on hold for a bit. The comics are somewhat fragile, and I am racing around right now.
