A House With An Annoying Number Of Doors
Greetings from a very damp Ireland.
No apologies for the lack of a newsletter last month - I was surviving a holiday.
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I’m currently about 50,000 words into Book 3 of Lands of the Firstborn, which was called The Sword Triumphant until that probably became the title of Book 2, so Book 3 is now The Sword Something Something (working title).
Writing a book at this stage is like wandering through a huge mansion in the dark with only a small flashlight. It’s not quite a maze - you know that the house must have wings, a kitchen, a stair - and you sometimes come upon a window from which you can glimpse another part of the structure you’ll traverse at some point in the future. Every housebook is different, but they're all roughly house-shaped.
But even though you know the approximate shape of the place, getting from the front door to the exit is still tricky. The rooms are filled with interesting things, some of which are keys needed to open locked doors on the path, and you play your torch over the piles of treasures, looking for the ones you must carry with you (and sometimes picking up one just because it’s shiny). Sometimes, rooms that look like should lead onwards turn out to be dead ends, or just lead back the way you came. You can hear distant voices, echoes of your future self, but it's hard to tell which room they're coming from. Sometimes, your flashlight flickers and you've got to walk through the dark, hoping you're still in the house and haven't wandered off down some path into the endless trackless woods.
Also in this metaphor, you’re herding some animals. Alf, for example, is a dependable old warhorse who trots along contentedly and generally does what the plot requires of him. Olva’s a bird, capable of sudden flight. The Sword is... a sarcastic rockfish? (he says, as the metaphor creaks under the strain.) I’d hoped to be a lot further along with this book, but ended up taping two cats, a wolf and a ferret to Olva, and there’s a bear lurking in the darkness. I’m currently looking for some treats to lure them closer to the horse. And there’ll still two-thirds of the house to go. I know what’s waiting at the back door, and I know they go upstairs for a bit, but there’s a trip through the cellar first and while I think I know how to get down there, I need to make sure the animals stick together in the dark.
Book 3's a lonely house right now, as no-one else has entered it yet. I tried drawing a map of it, but I’ve never been much of a cartographer.
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Book 2 - and I’m sticking with this metaphor, goddamn it - has been thoroughly traversed and explored, and I’m sweeping the halls and touching up the paintwork above the lintel before the first visitors arrive. It's already showing up for pre-order in a few places...
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Cymera was thoroughly lovely. It's my second time there - the first was just after The Gutter Prayer came out and I knew very few people. Four years of marinading in writing-twitter meant I was somewhat more able to put names to faces. I'm very much looking forward to the Glasgow Worldcon now.
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Next up is GenCon in Indianapolis. I’ll be on the Pelgrane Press booth for virtually the whole con, bar a few panels. Come by the booth (515) to say hello. Also, I’m nominated for about 1/10th of an Ennie, as I wrote a chapter of the Drakkenhall sourcebook that’s up for best setting. More on the Pelgrane-aspected awards here.
Also on the GenCon to-do list - line up more freelancing for next year.
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Currently reading: Neurotribes, Gods of the Wyrdwood.
Currently listening to: The Rest is History.
See you all post-GenCon.