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truepennyQ: I'd always been skeptical of dual-author novels, but I loved A Companion to Wolves. What are the logistics of writing a novel with another author? Do you each write different sections? It all flows together so smoothly, I'm wondering how it was assembled.
A: The way collaborating with![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
matociquala works (and we've now written three short stories, one YA novel, and one adult novel together and are working on another novel) is that one of us starts, writes until she gets bored and/or stuck, and emails it to the other. Who then reads what's there, tweaking and fiddling as she goes, and then writes new material until she gets bored and/or stuck, and then emails it back. Lather, rinse, repeat. It looks seamless because our process is sort of like a rock-polishing tumbler; it polishes off all the quirks and rough edges and idiosyncracies.
(The exception to this rule is "The Ile of Dogges," in which Bear wrote the story and I wrote the Jonson pastiche.)
Other collaborative teams work differently. Certainly, our method works in large part because we can--and do--email each other back and forth several times a day.
Q: You've mentioned that you have a number of (writing) projects going at any given time, and you've also mentioned that this isn't always a good thing. How many projects do you generally have going at once? Also, if you could limit how many projects you work on, would you? Or do you think that that would interfere with your creativity?
A: Well, taking a snapshot at the moment--and with the understanding that I'm currently still really really burned out, and so I'm not actually working on much of anything--here's what I've got:
And that's probably about normal. I'm never actively working on more than two or three things at once--and that's on a good day--but I always have this overwhelming myriad of things I want to write.
Q: You've discussed your stance on fan fiction, but what about on fan art? Would you want to be alerted to fan art of your characters?
A: I have no objections to fan art; I'm flattered, if slightly puzzled, by it. If you want to show your fan art to me, you're welcome to do so, but there's no obligation there, either.
Q: Any chance you'd ever write a snippet of one of romance novels about Mélusine? Would it be as hilarious?
A: It would be very different. I don't think I could do it properly.
Q: Is there anything that we could do as fans to help you get "The Virtu" back in print?
A: Honestly, I don't know. I don't know what input Ace pays attention to.
Q: Assuming your readers had a great deal of time and money to spare, where in the world would you send them to get a better idea of the various types of architecture we've seen in your DoL series?
A: 1. Vienna. It and Athens are the only two major cities I've spent much time in (3 weeks in each case), and Vienna's architecture and ambiance made a much deeper impression on me than that of Athens. Also Vienna's subway system, the U-Bahn.
2. However, comma, the excavations in Athens, and particularly the work of the forensic paleoanthropologists, are what gave me the idea for the Mammothium.
3. Paris. Sort of around the edges of Vienna.
4. Daphni, Mystras, and Methoni (which, yes, is also where I got Methony's name).
5. Mont St. Michel.
6. Any time there's an archaelogical site, I'm probably thinking of the sites on Crete.
That'll do for a start. *g*
The next querent has asked me to explain the climax of Corambis. So really. Seriously. Spoilers ahead.
Q: How exactly does Felix get the engine under Summerdown to shut off, and get his magic back? I've got that it has something to do with sacrificing the fantome and forgiveness, but I haven't quite been able to piece together what happened magic-wise. (Or, rather, I'd thought I had it figured out, then I talked to someone who had a completely different interpretation and now I'm not sure anymore.)
A: Okay. The engine under Summerdown needs seven lives sacrificed to it in order to go off. At the beginning of the novel, it only gets six, and it spends the rest of the novel trying to collect enough vi to equal that seventh sacrifice. What Felix does is give it the fantôme, which--being already dead--completely besquatchulates the working and destroys the engine. In order to sacrifice the fantôme to the engine--or, more precisely, in order to fool the engine into accepting a victim who is already dead--he has to let the fantôme possess him, and the fantôme, of course, rips the binding-by-obedience out first thing. The nature of a fantôme means that it can only possess a person by doing that person's bidding (remember the wizard in Herminoe, way back in Mélusine), and the fight Felix has with the fantôme is over what, exactly, Felix's bidding is--the thing they've been arguing about all book. The fantôme--which in Caloxa is a rachenant, a spirit of revenge--wants Felix to want revenge on whatsisface with the Clock of Eclipses and all the other people who have wronged him, and the struggle between them is Felix insisting that what he wants is for the fantôme to sacrifice itself to the engine. Felix wins.
Does that help?
Q: What is Phoenix? I thought it was an opiate for a while, but now I'm not sure. And along those lines, how addictive is it? I'm guessing not very, because Malkar giving Felix some of it in the beginning of Mélusine didn't cause a relapse (though I can understand if his madness counteracted this in some way?), and he can still drink alcohol, later in the story.
A: It's a MacGuffin, for shooting tigers in Scotland.
It's like an opiate, yes. And it's actually quite addictive; part of the reason Felix is so exceedingly fucked up after Malkar betrays him back to the Mirador is that he's going through withdrawal. But he's in no condition to recognize it at the time, nor in any condition to describe accurately what he's going through.
[Ask your question(s) here.]
A: The way collaborating with
matociquala works (and we've now written three short stories, one YA novel, and one adult novel together and are working on another novel) is that one of us starts, writes until she gets bored and/or stuck, and emails it to the other. Who then reads what's there, tweaking and fiddling as she goes, and then writes new material until she gets bored and/or stuck, and then emails it back. Lather, rinse, repeat. It looks seamless because our process is sort of like a rock-polishing tumbler; it polishes off all the quirks and rough edges and idiosyncracies.(The exception to this rule is "The Ile of Dogges," in which Bear wrote the story and I wrote the Jonson pastiche.)
Other collaborative teams work differently. Certainly, our method works in large part because we can--and do--email each other back and forth several times a day.
Q: You've mentioned that you have a number of (writing) projects going at any given time, and you've also mentioned that this isn't always a good thing. How many projects do you generally have going at once? Also, if you could limit how many projects you work on, would you? Or do you think that that would interfere with your creativity?
A: Well, taking a snapshot at the moment--and with the understanding that I'm currently still really really burned out, and so I'm not actually working on much of anything--here's what I've got:
- A Reckoning of Men: sequel to A Companion to Wolves, with matociquala (and, hey! I am actually working on this one! 249 words yesterday!)
- An episode for Season 3 of Shadow Unit
- The Winter Emperor (used to be The Emperor of the Elflands, but I'm fiddling with the title): 3/4 completed novel, steampunk political intrigue with elves and goblins, which I am praying somebody is going to buy here RSN
- Cormorant Child: finished SF/Fantasy novel about identity and memory and derelict technology and being cursed with psychic powers, getting a white-page rewrite which is stuck at the beginning of Chapter 2. I am also seriously wondering if this sneaky son of a bitch is really a YA novel.
- A fantasy novel about what happens after the Evil Empire is defeated. No title yet, and not much idea about plot, but two of the main characters are named Moth and Ménéhoud, and I think this is the story the deaf wizard belongs in.
- Dark Sister: enormous, ambitious historical fantasy about what happens if the Puritans come to America and discover that angels and devils are real
- "Hollywood and Vine": a second-person, present tense story about all the clichés about Los Angeles that rachelmanija most hates
- "White Charles": a Booth story which really I just need to go ahead and submit already. ETA: have queried market. Am mighty.
- "Thirdhop Scarp": another Booth story which needs to decide what it wants to be about
- The House at the End of the World: fantasy novel about a ftm transsexual who in becoming a man becomes his father's seventh son, and everything that follows therefrom.
- a gender reversed Western about a retired gunslinger and her concubine
- there's this goofy thing about weretigers that won't leave me alone
- and then there's the elvish baseball book, and more stories about Mick & Jamie, and the retelling of The White Devil, and all sorts of other things
And that's probably about normal. I'm never actively working on more than two or three things at once--and that's on a good day--but I always have this overwhelming myriad of things I want to write.
Q: You've discussed your stance on fan fiction, but what about on fan art? Would you want to be alerted to fan art of your characters?
A: I have no objections to fan art; I'm flattered, if slightly puzzled, by it. If you want to show your fan art to me, you're welcome to do so, but there's no obligation there, either.
Q: Any chance you'd ever write a snippet of one of romance novels about Mélusine? Would it be as hilarious?
A: It would be very different. I don't think I could do it properly.
Q: Is there anything that we could do as fans to help you get "The Virtu" back in print?
A: Honestly, I don't know. I don't know what input Ace pays attention to.
Q: Assuming your readers had a great deal of time and money to spare, where in the world would you send them to get a better idea of the various types of architecture we've seen in your DoL series?
A: 1. Vienna. It and Athens are the only two major cities I've spent much time in (3 weeks in each case), and Vienna's architecture and ambiance made a much deeper impression on me than that of Athens. Also Vienna's subway system, the U-Bahn.
2. However, comma, the excavations in Athens, and particularly the work of the forensic paleoanthropologists, are what gave me the idea for the Mammothium.
3. Paris. Sort of around the edges of Vienna.
4. Daphni, Mystras, and Methoni (which, yes, is also where I got Methony's name).
5. Mont St. Michel.
6. Any time there's an archaelogical site, I'm probably thinking of the sites on Crete.
That'll do for a start. *g*
The next querent has asked me to explain the climax of Corambis. So really. Seriously. Spoilers ahead.
Q: How exactly does Felix get the engine under Summerdown to shut off, and get his magic back? I've got that it has something to do with sacrificing the fantome and forgiveness, but I haven't quite been able to piece together what happened magic-wise. (Or, rather, I'd thought I had it figured out, then I talked to someone who had a completely different interpretation and now I'm not sure anymore.)
A: Okay. The engine under Summerdown needs seven lives sacrificed to it in order to go off. At the beginning of the novel, it only gets six, and it spends the rest of the novel trying to collect enough vi to equal that seventh sacrifice. What Felix does is give it the fantôme, which--being already dead--completely besquatchulates the working and destroys the engine. In order to sacrifice the fantôme to the engine--or, more precisely, in order to fool the engine into accepting a victim who is already dead--he has to let the fantôme possess him, and the fantôme, of course, rips the binding-by-obedience out first thing. The nature of a fantôme means that it can only possess a person by doing that person's bidding (remember the wizard in Herminoe, way back in Mélusine), and the fight Felix has with the fantôme is over what, exactly, Felix's bidding is--the thing they've been arguing about all book. The fantôme--which in Caloxa is a rachenant, a spirit of revenge--wants Felix to want revenge on whatsisface with the Clock of Eclipses and all the other people who have wronged him, and the struggle between them is Felix insisting that what he wants is for the fantôme to sacrifice itself to the engine. Felix wins.
Does that help?
Q: What is Phoenix? I thought it was an opiate for a while, but now I'm not sure. And along those lines, how addictive is it? I'm guessing not very, because Malkar giving Felix some of it in the beginning of Mélusine didn't cause a relapse (though I can understand if his madness counteracted this in some way?), and he can still drink alcohol, later in the story.
A: It's a MacGuffin, for shooting tigers in Scotland.
It's like an opiate, yes. And it's actually quite addictive; part of the reason Felix is so exceedingly fucked up after Malkar betrays him back to the Mirador is that he's going through withdrawal. But he's in no condition to recognize it at the time, nor in any condition to describe accurately what he's going through.
[Ask your question(s) here.]
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no subject
Date: 2009-05-11 05:36 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2009-05-11 05:45 pm (UTC)(Also, trust Felix to turn forgiveness into a weapon.)
no subject
Date: 2009-05-11 05:56 pm (UTC)Oh that's the most delightful thing I've read all week!
no subject
Date: 2009-05-12 08:24 pm (UTC)Which reminds me, I was struck that we got that and the other showy magical bit from external perspectives, which particularly in the first case led to a lot of reader piecing-together. How do you pick POV characters for any particular scene, or these particular scenes?
no subject
Date: 2009-05-12 08:35 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2009-05-11 05:41 pm (UTC)I found what a MacGuffin (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/MacGuffin) is (thanks, Wikipedia!) but I'm not sure about the "for shooting tigers in Scotland" reference. Is that rather like the magic talisman that keeps dragons at bay?
no subject
Date: 2009-05-11 05:44 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2009-05-11 05:48 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2009-05-11 06:19 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2009-05-11 06:22 pm (UTC)Very helpful, thank you! :)
And it turns out my original interpretation wasn't too far off the mark, which just makes me feel better.
no subject
Date: 2009-05-11 06:22 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2009-05-11 07:19 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2009-05-11 07:26 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2009-05-11 07:28 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2009-05-11 07:20 pm (UTC)Thank you! Words like this make me grin wildly. Obviously, Felix's besquatulation caused a rumpus amongst all the engine's chingaderas, thingummers and whatchacallits.
no subject
Date: 2009-05-11 07:22 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2009-05-11 07:25 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2009-05-11 09:55 pm (UTC)~mc
no subject
Date: 2009-05-12 12:40 am (UTC)Oh dang, that sounds awesome.
no subject
Date: 2009-05-12 01:27 am (UTC)Or anything else you write. Really.
no subject
Date: 2009-05-12 03:50 am (UTC)Of all the bazillion courses I had to take as an undergrad in English Lit, only two really still stand out, and one of them was Puritan Literature, or something of that nature. We read things like "Of Plymouth Plantation" (I've probably botched the title, but I recall the contents), and I discovered that the Puritans were not at *all* boring... irritating, but not boring!
Anyhow, I ramble; but wow, it sounds great and I hope to read it one day.