Research, Travel | November 2024
A blog post about writing and living because the lines blur for me.
It’s a little over three months until A Fix of Light enters the world. I have carried that book with me since I was a teenager so it’s absolutely surreal to think that it will soon be in the hands of strangers. Already the ARC reviews have made me double take. Even though everyone has been very kind, I think I usually prefer to wriggle away from being in the spotlight. Hilarious, as I work in theatre, but I suppose I am usually facilitating others to be in the spotlight. And even if I am in the spotlight in theatre, it isn’t really me, it’s a character, so…whatever the case may be, I am excited and also terrified.
I should also say, you can pre-order A Fix of Light. What a wild and wonderful thing to say.
While A Fix of Light is prepping to get out there, I am writing something else. It’s been interesting being in the final stages of one book and the beginnings of another. Mostly I’ve actually enjoyed it, because it requires two distinct parts of my brain. Polishing versus generating. And it’s exciting to apply what I’ve learned about my writing process or style or whatever you want to call it to a new project. Look at that! I think I’m actually getting better at this!
Earlier this month, I spent a weekend in Leiden and Utrecht, taking pictures of trees and architecture and weather. My next project is set in a fictional city-state in mainland Europe, so I’m stitching together a sort of Frankenstein’s setting whenever I’m abroad.
If I remember to observe my surroundings, I find everything can be folded into what I’m writing. So, I try to observe with all my senses, even proprioception. The littlest things can lead to snippets of dialogue, or character relationships, or settings for a scene, or a whole other thread of someone’s backstory. Sometimes it just solidifies the atmosphere of a particular scene. All of it is useful.
I left some A Fix of Light tarot cards behind me in noodle bars and canal-side libraries. Partly because I am trying to get accustomed to promoting my work, and partly because I think finding little pieces of art is exciting.
The cards read:
II of Foxes
Do not be afraid of the darkness; the vixen will guide you through.
It’s a little bit like the traditional tarot card, The Moon, except you get a friend to brave the shadows with you.
And that, I think, is mostly what my writing’s all about.