A Tuyo World Companion

Okay, so, when I said I was thinking of adding notes about the world of Tuyo on the series page, Sandstone (@quartzen on Twitter) pointed out that some authors put out a World Companion type of book, with notes about the world and characters, maybe a couple interviews with the author, plus a story or two that aren’t available anywhere else.

Whoa, I said. That is a fantastic idea, I said.

So, I still think it’s a good idea to put general world notes and a clickable list of characters — maybe one by novel, one by country, and one strictly alphabetical, or something — on the series page. But there is a pretty good chance I will put more extensive notes and other material, plus a story or two, into an actual World Companion, and publish that.

Naturally I have been working on that off and on because what else have I got going on, right? Actually, making alphabetical lists of characters has been about my speed now and again, when I’m distracted or tired or just don’t want to work on other things. Some characters get a brief but clear description, such as:

Rakasa inGeiro: son of Naroya, the inGeiro warleader, and Lutra, an inGeiro singer. We first meet Rakasa and his partner Bara in TUYO; they appear again in TARASHANA.

Other characters get spoiler-free comments, such as:

Harapta: A Lakasha man with a complicated backstory.

That’s so that people can in theory flip through the World Companion after reading TUYO, without being seriously spoiled for any of the other books.

But I’m also writing up notes about time and measurement, and just general notes about each of the peoples that we’ve met so far. The inGara vs the taiGara, for example; and the completely different meaning of Lakasha-erra vs Lakasha-asei. Stuff like that. The different kinds of wives and widows in Lau society. All that kind of thing.

I’m also writing a section on “interview questions” that I think might let me address the sorts of questions that readers might have. But I’m not telepathic, so hey! If there are any questions any of you would like to see answered, toss ’em my way. I will be quite interested to see what people ask, so please don’t hesitate.

And yes, I have started what should be a shortish story, hopefully around 15,000 words (fifty pages), which can be included in a book like this. It’s the story in which Garoyo returns Hokino’s knife to him, so it takes place during the warm season after TARASHANA. I had trouble starting it at first until I realized it should be from Arayo’s point of view. THEN I had trouble because I started it in first person, realized that probably it ought to be in third, and had to rework the narrative.

That story isn’t moving especially fast, not like TANO, but I think it will most likely get written. Arayo is fairly clear to me and I believe I have a reasonably clear idea of the plot, plus a crucial late scene. Tano and Raga are secondary characters in this story, along with Garoyo and Hokino, of course.

Hopefully this story will move ahead but cooperatively finish at about 50 pages. I most certainly do not intend to let it turn into a 400-page novel.

Ideally I would like to actually finish this project and bring it out before TASMAKAT, but no promises. Pretty sure I can get the world notes linked from the series page by that time, though.

Anyway, I would welcome suggestions for material that you might like to see in a book like this.

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