“Gleamy as”

Those of you who spend time on Twitter will know that coffee (or perhaps I should say “coh-fe-fe” 😉 ), together with cat photos and gifs, is an essential part of the writing life.

Coffee, of course, has form in this respect since the 18th century coffee houses first provided focal points for literary discussion.

So I thought I would share the good news that my life literaire is back on track with a brand new and very (like Tirael in Daughter of Blood) gleamy stovetop coffee maker. 🙂

And prove it with a photo of both the new “shiny” (as the Buffy ‘verse would have it) and the very first brew — which was excellent, by the way. (Like all the others since.)

Let’s hope it proves to be ambrosia for the Muses as well as the author, scribbling and sipping in the metaphorical garret. 🙂

Mmmm, delicious…

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This year, I’ve resumed my “About the Characters” post series that focuses on the minor characters in The Wall Of Night series — because “I think it’s the presence of the smaller characters that “makes” a story, creating texture around the main points of view.”

Initially, the series focused exclusively on characters from The Heir of Night, but now I’m continuing on with minor characters from both The Gathering Of The Lost and Daughter of Blood simultaneously — in alphabetical order, of course! (The quotes will be the key to whether the character appears in both or only one of the books.)

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Audin Sondargent:  a young Emerian knight, nephew to the Duke of Emer
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Audin looked from one to the other as the captain strode away. His smile was pleasant, although his gaze, too, was measuring. “We had best be on our way if we are to reach Normarch before midnight. Although we should have good light once the moon rises, since it’s near full. Come with me, Maister Carick, and we’ll get you that horse.”

“Just Carick will do,” said Carick, limping after him. He had stiffened badly while they talked.

“Carick, then,” said Audin, with a quick smile. “Oi, Hamar! Bring out Mallow for Carick here. And bring your own horse with her. You, too, Raher. We are to escort our friends here back to Normarch.”

~ from © The Gathering Of The Lost: The Wall of Night Book Two, Chapter 12 — Nightfall

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The only weapon [Kalan] would not trade was the dagger that Lord Falk had given him, on the first anniversary of his arrival at Normarch. It was a fine weapon, with a blade of damascened Ishnapuri steel, a ball of Winter Country amber for a pommel, and Lord Falk’s own red fox device stamped into the scabbard. Along with the oak-tree buckle Audin had given Kalan for his last birthday, and the yellow tourney favor bearing Ghiselaine of Ormond’s lily insignia, the dagger lay at the bottom of his travel roll. All three were wrapped into waterproof cloth and stitched closed—underlining that the Emerian life, like Kalan’s armor, belonged in the past.

~ from © Daughter Of Blood: The Wall of Night Book Three, Chapter 5 — Blood Warrior

Photo Credit: Roger Czerneda Photography

Last week I hosted a guest post from award-winning speculative fiction author, Julie E Czerneda, with not one but two giveaways — the first was fully international and organised through my blog; the second is US only and run via the Penguin Random House website. (So if you were eligible for that, please keep checking there for the result details.)

In respect of Giveaway #1 — for a hardcover copy of the new-out To Guard Against The Dark and a mass-market paperback of This Gulf of Time and Stars — firstly I’d just like to thank you all for your fabulous comments.

It’s so nice to see some genuine author / reader interaction through the comments. So a big hand from me to all of thee, and to Julie, for that. 🙂

And now, as promised, we have the draw result for Giveaway #1 — and the winner is [pauses for Drum Roll and Trumpet Fanfare]:

Zara

Congratulations, Zara!

I’ll be emailing you directly, too, but ‘just in case’ you can also get in contact with me via my webmail: contact[at]helenlowe[dot]info

The Wall of Night Series map; design by Peter Fitzpatrick

The A Geography of Haarth post series explores the full range of locales and places from The Wall Of Night world of Haarth.

From January 25, 2013 to November 25, 2014, the posts traversed locations encountered in The Heir Of Night and The Gathering Of The Lost.

Now the series returns to gazette the geography of Daughter Of Blood (The Wall Of Night Book Three.)  The new series comprises updates of previous entries as well as new listings.

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Gate of Winds:  the main entrance into the Keep of Winds and a fortress in its own right.
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“But he was far away and Aikanor’s madness raged unchecked.  He flung Tasian and the other House of Stars dead outside the Gate of Winds for the carrion eaters…”

~ ©  The Heir Of Night: The Wall of Night Book One, Chapter 15 — The Darkness Of The Derai
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“The voice snuffed out as the flames had done and Malian breached the surface of the darkness like a diver, to find herself standing before the main gate of the Keep of Winds. The keep cleaved the dream realm like the prow of a great ship, yet the Derai world massed behind it was as closed to her now, even in the realm of dreams, as it was in the waking world.”

~ from © The Gathering Of The Lost: The Wall of Night Book Two, Prologue
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‘Briefly, Malian felt the fire from the path of earth and moon reignite along her veins… But her heart tugged toward her seer’s memory of the Gate of Winds, breaching mist and darkness with the vast body of the Derai world concealed behind it. Until the civil war, that world had included the Golden Fire, the core of the Derai’s Alliance and their bulwark against the Swarm—a lost legacy she had been raised to honor. Setting Raven’s account against it was painful, a blade that struck to the heart.’

~ from © Daughter Of Blood: The Wall of Night Book Three, Chapter 17 — Faces of the Moon

Photo Credit: Roger Czerneda Photography

Today I am delighted to welcome Canadian author Julie E. Czerneda with a guest post on her writing process, together with not just one but two fabulous giveaways — all part of her current tour celebrating the ninth and final novel in her very successful The Clan series.

I met Julie in 2009 when she was Guest of Honour at the NZ Natcon and we have stayed in touch ever since, which makes it doubly a pleasure to welcome her back to the blog today. So without further ado, here is her guest post. More information about Julie, as well as details of those giveaways, will come at the end. 🙂

~ HelenL

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Behind the Scenes of “The Clan” Chronicles, Take 2: The Process

Cover art by Matthew Stawicki

In a previous stop on my tour, with Rebecca Lovatt at the Arched Doorway blog, I began answering readers’ questions about the series. On this stop, thanks to Helen, I’m able to answer more. I’ve gathered a group about how. My process. Tricks, so to speak, of writing a series.

Corina asked: “How about the type of research you have to do to start a project?”

Julie: I LOVE RESEARCH!!

Ahem. Pardon my enthusiasm. I feel there should be some sort of program for authors who love their research to the nth degree. You see, there’s really no end to its allure. Finding relevant, maybe relevant, not-at-all relevant but SO COOL bits of information is part of the job, yes, but it’s also the single greatest time-sucking device ever created—

::pauses to breathe:: I’m good now.

I do try to be organized about it. Sort of. My research is split between the “Urgent Now” (U.N.) and the “Happily to Come”(H.t.C.)  types. U.N. isn’t fun, to be honest. U.N. usually happens mid-writing when I’m typing madly away then BOOM.

I need to know a thing.

It could be which way taps turn. It could be what a coin looks like (oh gods, that one took me away for days). It could be anything at all, but whatever it is, I need to know it before I can write another word. I try not to cheat about this and leave a placeholder. “They ran into the [where you wash if you’re a fish] and came out sparkly clean.” It seems helpful, until the actual information changes everything. Here? Fish don’t wash themselves. They rub on sand, or have other creatures nibble their slime. So rewriting ensues: “They paused for a good rub and nibble at the neighbourhood spa, shaking sand from their fins for an hour afterwards.”

And the new version is more interesting, being more informed, and if I’d had it in hand first, I’d have written right by here humming with joy. Lesson learned.

Doesn’t mean I don’t growl every time I hit a U.N. that interrupts me for however long the info takes to find. (Honest, ask Roger. There could be colourful metaphors.)

Now the “Happily to Come” (H.t.C.) research? That’s ongoing. That’s the shiny.

For example, right now, I’m researching for four upcoming projects. No, make that five. Fine, six. Giving me permission and encouragement to delve into everything from anvils to plate tectonics, from quantum physics to calligraphy, let alone ALL THE BIOLOGY…

Therein lies the issue. This is all important to do. My job. Just not more important than writing the stories, let alone deadlines and time with the living. Hence being organized. I take a notebook with me and write down things I learn. I buy reference books when I come across  particularly useful ones and do my utmost to shelve them before their covers can open and they slurp me inside—Same idea, I save articles of interest, and pictures, etc. I constantly touch information.

Then let go, trusting it’ll be there when the next U.N. strikes me.

I should add, in all seriousness, that I will immerse myself in what will be the core of the very next project before I start to write. For example, Search Image is my current project and I spent two months researching the relevant biology until my bones purred. Also, street theatre. Because it’s all important!

Ginette asked: “As a writer what do you enjoy more, following a character/story through several books or creating a whole new story/world from scratch?”

Julie: This is a great question. I can tell, because I had to step back to think about it. From scratch? One of the confounding things is the volume of work involved. I’ve said I enjoy research, but it’s in service of telling the story I envision and intense and time-consuming. Still, I’m thrilled whenever I learn something completely new. It inspires even more and better stories, and makes me happy. Worldbuilding is another aspect I enjoy—again, to help tell that story. But to do it well is—again—intense and time-consuming and I find I fuss over what I don’t know. (There could be colourful metaphors.)

It is pure joy for me to revisit a character such as Esen (first met in Beholder’s Eye), whose continuing adventures let me play with new ideas and slime. A vacation, of sorts. Yet I love discovering a new character as the story unfolds, seeing how they’ll rise or fall with the challenges I present. Wisp (from the Night’s Edge Fantasy series) is like that. I don’t know everything about him. That’s—startling—and I smile thinking what may be ahead for my rather odd dragon.

I think my answer is yes. There’s joy in all of it, with grind, and joy again.
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Douglas asked: “I always marvel at the internal consistency of your books and series. How do you map a book to keep it consistent? How does this change when it’s a series? Also, as a bonus, how do you decide the breaking / end points between books in a series?”

Julie: A bonus question! Yay! (I was one of those students.) I’ll get to that after the first. 

Internal consistency. Thanks, Douglas. It’s something I care deeply about—I get literally twitchy if I think there’s something I’ve missed. (Ask Roger. Yup, colourful metaphors abound, with stomping, paper flinging, and the consumption of chocolate.) There’s always something, by the way, no matter how careful or thorough or how many eyeballs check things. So long as it doesn’t break the credibility for readers, or blow up the plot, that’s, well, not okay, but you live with it.

Sigh.

To prevent as much of that as possible from happening, I keep journals like the one here (below). With tabs. Lists. With a standalone story or book, I don’t need much. I can just check behind me, in the file itself. (I write, by the way, in one file and save over previous versions. There shall be only one! Which helps keep things straight too.)

Here’s my journal for the Clan Chronicles, started with the Stratification series. There are maybe 10 pages unfilled inside. It’s been handy.

For the series, I had to train myself to be diligent with information and to record it at once, because the urge was to keep writing and fill in later. It didn’t take too many “how many live here again?” moments for me to appreciate the value of writing down anything about time, numbers, and names. If you wonder why this isn’t digital? In large part, it’s because I need a break from looking at the screen and because I think differently when I have to write on paper. Plus I scribble maps and drawings, as well as tape stuff inside, which is easier like this. A little bitty part of me? Still likes the sound of scrunchy paper.

Typical pages inside the journal. This table was an early one to help me keep track of the Om’ray in Reap the Wild Wind and what they did. There’s more now.

The bonus question! How do I decide where to break the plot within a series? When each book is long enough!

Sorry, couldn’t resist. There is a logic to it. I think in start/middle/end. I write that way too and you can see it in my books (until I became all manner of fancy in This Gulf of Time and Stars and had book 1/ book 2 inside one book. Ohh!). Within the Clan Chronicles, I made use of the same pattern.  Stratification starts the story of the Clan. The Trade Pact expands upon it, and sets up the climax. Reunification is all resolution/ending. In turn, each of those is a trilogy, each book a start/middle/end.

I’ll say start and middle are the easy part. To me, though, no book in the hand is complete without a satisfying ending, even if the entire plot rolls into a sequel and you just KNOW the bud’s coming. You need to read to the last page and be able to put it down with a sense of closure. (I’d say smiles, but many here have read Gate.) Thus I make sure to have endings.

While I don’t always outline, for Stratification and Reunification series it was essential. I may have known the endings, and in the former case, it was already out in print as the Trade Pact, but how to take readers there? That was the trick. Hopefully one I did well, but only readers can be the judge.

Heather asked: “Do your characters ever resist your original vision? I.e. You picture one ending but as you wrote they take you the other direction.”

No. However nice I may appear in public, I’m a bloody-minded omniscient goddess when I write. My characters are—not quite puppets, because that’s not fair to the thought behind them, but they’re certainly more tools in my hands than independent entities. I’ve put care into who and what they are. How they react better not be a surprise to me, or I haven’t put in enough work first.

Where the surprises come from, for me, is in the unfolding of plot. Moment by moment discoveries as I write. What was over the hill? Who steps in the room next? They come out of my head, clearly, but don’t feel that way when I’m in the zone. I’m as curious as if I’m reading someone else’s book, which is hilarious fun.

Does plot “resist” my intention?

No. I’m a…etc. I will let myself follow a tempting digression as long as it feels right. The moment it doesn’t, I delete and usually leave the writing to do something else for the rest of the day. Garden. Chase Roger.

I suspect my approach is because I write (a) quickly and (b) to a purpose. Every keystroke counts in my day. Not that I don’t daydream, but I leave those for when I’m not writing. (Taking notes in the bath being another topic altogether.)

Thanks to all for your questions, and to Helen for hosting!

~ Julie Czerneda

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About Julie E Czerneda:

For twenty years, Canadian author/ former biologist Julie E. Czerneda has shared her curiosity about living things through her science fiction, published by DAW Books, NY. Julie’s also written fantasy, the first installments of her Night’s Edge series (DAW) A Turn of Light and A Play of Shadow, winning consecutive Aurora Awards (Canada’s Hugo) for Best English Novel. Julie’s edited/co-edited sixteen anthologies of SF/F, two Aurora winners, the latest being SFWA’s 2017 Nebula Award Showcase. Next out will be an anthology of original stories set in her Clan Chronicles series: Tales from Plexis, out in 2018. Her new SF novel, finale to that series, To Guard Against the Dark, lands in stores October 2017. When not jumping between wonderful blogs, Julie’s at work on something very special: her highly anticipated new Esen novel, Search Image (Fall 2018). Visit www.czerneda.com for more.

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The ninth & final Clan Chronicles novel

About The “Clan Chronicles” Series:

The Clan Chronicles is set in a far future where a mutual Trade Pact encourages peaceful commerce among a multitude of alien and Human worlds. The alien Clan, humanoid in appearance, have been living in secrecy and wealth on Human worlds, relying on their innate ability to move through the M’hir and bypass normal space. The Clan bred to increase that power, only to learn its terrible price: females who can’t help but kill prospective mates. Sira di Sarc is the first female of her kind facing that reality. With the help of a Human starship captain, Jason Morgan, himself a talented telepath, Sira must find a morally acceptable solution before it’s too late. But with the Clan exposed, her time is running out. The Stratification trilogy follows Sira’s ancestor, Aryl Sarc, and shows how their power first came to be as well as how the Clan came to live in the Trade Pact. The Trade Pact trilogy is the story of Sira and Morgan, and the trouble facing the Clan. Reunification concludes the series, answering these question at last. Who are the Clan?

And what will be the fate of all?

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And Now For #AgainstTheDark Giveaway Goodness!

Giveaway #1 — A Duo of To Guard Against the Dark (hardcover) plus a mass market of This Gulf of Time and Stars (mass market paperback)

How to enter: Just enter your comment below any time between now and midnight Sunday 8 October (NZ time.) 🙂

Notification: The winning entry will be notified by email on Monday 9 October. If I have not received a response by midnight Wednesday 11 October, I will redraw and notify by email as soon as possible afterward.

Note: All times are NZ time.

Terms: Giveaway #1 is fully international. The books will be supplied by DAW.

NOTE: Giveaway #1 has now closed and the result will be posted on the blog on Monday 9, October (in a separate post at the top of the blog masthead.) The winner will also be notified directly by email on the same day.

Giveawy #2 — A Tour-Wide Giveawayof All Nine “Clan Chronicles” Novels!

How to enter: Click on the following link and follow the entry instructions there:

https://sweeps.penguinrandomhouse.com/preview/vg5pud

Terms: Giveaway #2 is for US readers only. The books will be supplied by DAW.

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This year, I’ve resumed my “About the Characters” post series that focuses on the minor characters in The Wall Of Night series — because “I think it’s the presence of the smaller characters that “makes” a story, creating texture around the main points of view.”

Initially, the series focused exclusively on characters from The Heir of Night, but now I’m continuing on with minor characters from both The Gathering Of The Lost and Daughter of Blood simultaneously — in alphabetical order, of course! (The quotes, below, are the key to whether the character appears in both or only one of the books.)

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Asha:  a Night honor guard in Garan’s eight-unit
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‘ The minstrel’s hands fell quiet on the strings, and Garan wondered if everyone listening felt the same way he did: like a prince in one of the old stories, waking out of a trance. “What song was that?” Innor asked finally, and the golden head lifted.

“It was composed by a minstrel of Ij who served a great lord, but fell in love with the lord’s wife. The melody was written for her and has endured beyond many works that were grander and more imposing.”

Simple tunes often did that, Garan reflected, like the marching airs of Night that were still sung by the guards, while the sagas and song-cycles of the great Derai heroes were only heard on special occasions.

“It would be pleasant to be loved like that,” Asha said softly, and the others grinned, because Asha was renowned in the barracks for always wanting stories about romantic vows and doomed love. She had been promoted from the Keep garrison after the Swarm attack five years before, one of the few guards who had managed to survive the ambush that killed the former Keep Commander and most of his troop.’

~ from © The Gathering of the Lost: The Wall of Night Book Two, Chapter 28 — Border Crossing
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‘ Still smiling, Asha’s fingers tapped out a tune on the tabletop. “Doesn’t this place creep you?” she asked Garan, “The only voice you hear in this whole wing, outside our rooms, is the wind.” ‘

~ from © Daughter Of Blood: The Wall of Night Book Three, Chapter 13 — Watch and Ward

Julie Czerneda; Photo Credit: Roger Czerneda Photography

Next Monday I’ll have  guest post from Julie Czerneda here on “…Anything, Really”, plus there will be not ONE but TWO accompanying giveaways!

Julie is touring to celebrate publication of To Guard Against The Dark (DAW), the final novel in her successful The Clan series, which falls into the category of “hard” science fiction.

I’m delighted to be hosting Julie here with a guest post and even more pleased that there will be not one but two giveaways: Giveaway #1 will be 1 x set (only) of Julie’s preceding The Clan novel, This Gulf of Time and Stars (mass market edition) together with To Guard Against The Dark (newly out in hard cover.)

BUT Giveaway #2 means that you’ll also have the opportunity to win the entire nine-book The Clan series as well — which all sounds pretty exciting to me. 😉

If you’re already a The Clan series fan, here’s a sneak peek at the new cover:

I’m looking forward to seeing you back here next Monday to give Julie a warm “…on Anything, Really” welcome.

BUT — just in case you can’t make it and are dead keen to hear from Julie in person and enter for the giveaways, she will also be appearing on the Supernatural Underground on October 6, with the same giveaway deal. Awesome, huh?

So — here on October 2nd (NZ time) and on the Supernatural Underground on October 6 (US EST): double guest-post goodness and an additional opportunity to be in to win. See you here, or there—or both! 🙂

The Wall of Night Series map; design by Peter Fitzpatrick

The A Geography of Haarth post series explores the full range of locales and places from The Wall Of Night world of Haarth—including those that exist in the psychic and supernatural realms.

From January 25, 2013 to November 25, 2014, the posts traversed locations encountered in The Heir Of Night and The Gathering Of The Lost.

Now the series returns to gazette the geography of Daughter Of Blood (The Wall Of Night Book Three.)  The new series comprises updates of previous entries as well as new listings.

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Gate of Dreams:  a supernatural realm that manifests between the planes of physical existence
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“He stood on a path surrounded by banks of fog that stretched between the stark trunks and branching black of a great forest.  The Gate of Dreams, Kalan thought— except that this forest seemed vaster, wilder, and infinitely older than the wood that surrounded Yorindesarinen’s fire. “

~ ©  The Heir Of Night: The Wall of Night Book One, Chapter 19 — The Huntmaster
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“It’s a portal, she thought, another pathway beyond the Gate of Dreams. The medallion beneath her shirt glowed, answering the moon and creating a golden nimbus with Malian at its center. The border realm between moonglow and dark water flickered and her breath quickened as visions spun into being around her.“

~ from ©  The Gathering Of The Lost: The Wall of Night Book Two, Chapter 44 — The Path of Earth and Moon
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‘Despite forming this resolution, it was near dawn before Kalan fell into a light uneasy sleep—and swift as a dam breaking, the white mists of the Gate of Dreams flooded into his mind. The hounds he had been hearing more frequently since leaving Emer were silent, but a woman spoke in Derai, her intonation exasperated. “I’ll be glad when we’re done with this nursemaiding detail.”

~ from © Daughter Of Blood: The Wall of Night Book Three, Chapter 9 — Sepulchre

On August 14, I talked about some of the “why’s” of being a writer, like wanting to tell great stories that capture something of the ache of the human condition, as well as entertaining readers, and also creating something that adds to the balance of positives in the world. (No pressure!)

A potentially counterbalancing reflection is that a considerable body of great literature addresses the world’s darker and seamier side, whether in terms of war (Catch 22, All Quiet on The Western Front, The Ghost Road), oppression (One Day In The Life of Ivan Denisovich, Lord of the Flies, Beloved), deprivation (The Grapes of Wrath, Oliver Twist), and more general social and cultural illumination (To Kill A Mockingbird, The Good Earth, Owls Do Cry), or straight-out dystopia (The Road,  The Handmaid’s Tale, Brave New World.) To name just a handful of books.

Unquestionably, from looking at even such a small handful, great books undoubtedly address difficult subjects. Which raises the question: can a writer tell a story that is dark, or grim (or even “grimdark” to quote a popular SFF subgenre) and still, to use my phrase, contribute positively to the world—even if the material their work canvasses is uniformly negative?

I believe the answer to that question is a resounding “yes.”  The sorts of stories I’ve cited above undoubtedly capture aspects of the “ache” of our human condition, as discussed on August 21. But I think they go further by illuminating our understanding of human nature and the world(s) we both create and inhabit. President John F Kennedy, in his eulogy for the poet, Robert Frost, alluded to this when he said that “we must never forget that art…is a form of truth.”

The poet, Emily Dickinson, also addressed this when she said that we must, “Tell all the truth, but tell it slant.” But also cautioned that, “The truth must dazzle gradually//or every man be blind.”

That gradual dazzling which results, nonetheless, in the telling of both Kennedy and Dickinson’s truth, is the business of literature. And telling all the truth, however gradual or slant, and however dark the subject matter, is unquestionably an addition to the positive side of society’s ledger, even if it not infrequently makes both the society and individuals within it uncomfortable.

Nobel Medal for Literature

Which may be why literature was the only one of the arts that Alfred Nobel selected for endowment as a Nobel Prize.

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This year, I’ve resumed my “About the Characters” post series that focuses on the minor characters in The Wall Of Night series — because “I think it’s the presence of the smaller characters that “makes” a story, creating texture around the main points of view.”

Initially, the series focused exclusively on characters from The Heir of Night, but now I’m continuing on with minor characters from both The Gathering Of The Lost and Daughter of Blood simultaneously — in alphabetical order, of course! (The quotes, below, are the key to whether the character appears in both or only one of the books.)

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USA

Aralth:  chamberlain to the Derai Alliance’s Earl of Blood
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‘As if that was not enough, Myr would have to wear two different costumes on the days when there were both contests and feasting—and possibly change a third time for the formal receptions. Aralth, as well as Ise and various of Myr’s siblings, had emphasized that each successive costume must be more elaborate than the last, because what the Bride wore reflected on Blood’s prestige. Consequently, Myr had spent long hours being draped in linen and sumptuous velvets from the River cities, together with the silks and frail gauzes of Ishnapur. An Heir’s ransom in fabric and jewels, she reflected now. She suspected that the cost of her wardrobe for these ceremonies, together with the wedding clothes she would take to the Keep of Winds, would keep Blood’s army in uniforms for a year. And Blood was the largest House in the Derai Alliance—larger even than Night…’

~ from © Daughter Of Blood: The Wall of Night Book Three, Chapter 20 — Emissaries Of Night