Blog Without A Name

Blameless, Gail Carriger (e)
Changeless, Gail Carriger (e)
The Quiet Gentleman, Georgette Heyer (read aloud w/Steve)
Unbroken, Rachel Caine
The Talisman Ring, Georgette Heyer (read aloud w/Steve)
Sylvester / OR, The Wicked Uncle, Georgette Heyer (read aloud w/Steve)
Death and Resurrection, R. A. MacAvoy
The Unknown Ajax, Georgette Heyer (read aloud w/Steve)
Black Sheep, Georgette Heyer (read aloud w/Steve)
Stealing the Elf-King’s Roses, Diane Duane (e)
The Reluctant Widow, Georgette Heyer (read aloud w/Steve)
Friday’s Child, Georgette Heyer (read aloud w/Steve)
Dragon Ship manuscript, Sharon Lee and Steve Miller (e)
Kim, Rudyard Kipling (e)
Regency Buck, Georgette Heyer (read aloud w/Steve)
Pollyanna, Eleanor H. Porter (e)
Chimera, Rob Thurman (e)

So, a while back I promised two blog entries — one having to do with a…reader complaint of the Crystal books, in which science and technology inconsistent with the “future,” bad grammar, and an inadequate understanding of principles of advanced math and physics are cited as reasons why the books are “bad” — and another question buried in a blog thread I can’t put my hands on at the moment, asking, in essence, “How did we learn to write like that?” (In which “like that” was not necessarily a bad thing.)

For this blog post, I’m going to focus on the questions “bad grammar” and “how did you learn to write like that?” — along with a dollop of genre history.

This may get long, so bear with me.

* * *

History first:  Steve and I started writing together in 1979.  Our first collaborative short story was “The Naming of Kinzel:  The Innocent,” written, it says here on the card, in June 1980.  Our first collaborative novel was Kinzel the Wanderer, sold to Donning in 1981.  It looks like it was planned as an illustrated novel — there are prelim sketches from Colleen Doran in the recently unearthed file.  At this point, I no longer remember what exactly happened, that the project never went forth.  I’m assuming an editor-scramble at Donning, or maybe a lack of money to follow through, either or both being possible, given the dates.

I’ve been saying for years that Agent of Change was our first completed novel (there having also been the first…20 grand of a romance novel also written in the early ’80s, which convinced us that we weren’t romance novelists) — but apparently I’ve been saying wrong.  It looks like the Kinzel novel was complete at least in first draft.

The things we forget.

Anyhow, we’ve been writing together for a long time.  The first Kinzel stories, having some passing kinship with High Fantasy, were written in the language of fantasy.

You of course know that writers use. . .techniques. . .in order to signal readers, gently letting them know what sort of experience they should expect.   A prominent technique is the use of genre-appropriate language — High Fantasy reads differently than Hard SF, which reads differently than Urban Fantasy, all of which reads differently than Mystery.

Back a few years ago, some writers decided to step over the lines, and started doing genre mash-ups.  Part of the fun of that, besides the obvious fun of, say, making your hard-boiled private eye a magic-user on the outs with the White Council, is that writers of mash-ups get to mash-up the genre language(s), too.

I’ve mentioned before in this journal that writers are weird, right?

Related to this, and pertinent to this particular writer, is the fact that spoken English is my second language.  I really didn’t get the whole talking out loud thing until very late in life, and when I did start speaking, in more-or-less complete, but almost utterly randomized sentences, people couldn’t easily understand me.

Because I had this. . .difficulty, I studied, and one of the things my study revealed to me is that even mono-lingual folk routinely speak different languages, depending on the situation in which they find themselves.

So it was that, by the time I graduated high school and took my first job as a secretary, I spoke three distinct languages:  Business English, Street, and House/Familiar.

I read many more:  High Fantasy, Folk Tale, Romance, Mystery, Regency, Scientific, Business Report, Business Courtesy, Literary, Technical, Fairy Tale. . .

. . .you get the idea.

Fast-forwarding to the present — for the last — what? quarter-century? — Steve and I have mostly been writing space opera.  Our particular flavor of space opera is cross-cultural, multilingual, and character-driven.

One of the challenges — and I mean one of the biggest challenges — in writing a story in which some characters speak Language A — let’s call it “Liaden” — and some characters speak Language B — let’s call this one “Terran” — and still other characters speak Language C — let’s call that one “Clutch” — is portraying the different languages.

Think about this:  We have to write in English!  This is the only option we have, because our (primary) audience are English-speakers and English-readers.  How on earth are we going to cue the reader which language the character is speaking?

You might — as some have done — ask, Why does it matter?

That’s a good question, and the answer is — it matters because language reflects culture.  It also illuminates, to some degree, the sophistication of thought that may be available to a particular character.  Language does present some interesting boundaries to thought.  The Liaden language(s), for instance, encourages its native speakers in subtlety, and offers a framework for very complex ideas, such as melant’i.  Terran — at least, port Terran — is a lot more straightforward; an action language in which subtle thought is possible, but not top-level.

So, in order to cue the reader, and place them correctly within language and culture, the languages need to read differently.

Yes, Miri speaks “ungrammatically,” when she speaks Terran.  Yes, Cantra’s sentences have an. . .odd cadence.  Yes, Liaden is quite formal, and prone to rolling periods.

Yes, yes, yes!  When Miri is speaking Liaden, her sentences are quite formal, and prone to rolling periods!  Yes!  You noticed!  We meant to do that!  It’s a feature, not a bug.

The other thing we do, deliberately, is that we play with the narrative voice.  Since we’re head-hoppers — yet another of our bad habits — we need to let the reader know which character is describing the action/scenery/bold plan of attack.

This means that scenes told from Val Con’s viewpoint (for instance), and scenes told from Miri’s viewpoint (for instance), will read differently.  More! They notice different things, and, because of that, they may draw different conclusions.

This approach does mean that yes, you will get “bad” grammar, not just in dialogue, where the conventions of genre fiction allow it, but in the narrative.  I’m not an English teacher; I’m a storyteller; grammar is just going to have to take a back seat to the story’s proper telling.

So, to recap:  “Bad” grammar — yes, fair cop.  “Where did we learn to write like that?” — by reading, and by listening.  “Why do we write like that?” — for you, our readers, so you’ll know whose head you’re in, and what language they’re thinking in.

* * *

So ends Part One.  Part Two will address the notion that science fiction is the fiction of “the” future.  That will be, I suspect, some days down the road.

Changeless, Gail Carriger (e)
The Quiet Gentleman, Georgette Heyer (read aloud w/Steve)
Unbroken, Rachel Caine
The Talisman Ring, Georgette Heyer (read aloud w/Steve)
Sylvester / OR, The Wicked Uncle, Georgette Heyer (read aloud w/Steve)
Death and Resurrection, R. A. MacAvoy
The Unknown Ajax, Georgette Heyer (read aloud w/Steve)
Black Sheep, Georgette Heyer (read aloud w/Steve)
Stealing the Elf-King’s Roses, Diane Duane (e)
The Reluctant Widow, Georgette Heyer (read aloud w/Steve)
Friday’s Child, Georgette Heyer (read aloud w/Steve)
Dragon Ship manuscript, Sharon Lee and Steve Miller (e)
Kim, Rudyard Kipling (e)
Regency Buck, Georgette Heyer (read aloud w/Steve)
Pollyanna, Eleanor H. Porter (e)
Chimera, Rob Thurman (e)

Upcoming Travel

Hey, we’re going places!

Realsoonnow, for instance, we’ll be in Kansas City for ConQuesT, along with fellow GoHs Ursula Vernon, Gardner Dozois, Tim Miller, and Toastmistress Susan Satterfield. Read all about it here, and hope to see you there Memorial Day Weekend.

On June 14, we’ll be in Blue Hill for an interview on the WERU Writers Forum, with Ellie O’Leary, but you’ll be able to listen in on that from the comfort of your very own computer

Then. . .we’ll be home, writing, like good writers, and possibly watching with interest and, on my part, at least, chortling glee as our bathroom is destroyed and resurrected.

Due to the grid-lock of a number of factors — see “bathroom,” above — we won’t be attending the Chicago WorldCon — y’all have a really good time; we’ll miss you!

The next convention we’ll likely attend is Boskone, in February 2013, though Steve might be off somewhere in September — watch this space for details.

Reminders

If you’d like a signed copy of the hardcover of Dragon Ship, which will be published in September, Uncle Hugo’s has been promised another 100 copies — so you don’t need to be shy about ordering here.

In case you missed it, there’s a very nice interview with us here

The Eternal To-Do List
(numbered for ease of viewing, not necessarily in order of urgency)

1. Sort through email and Deal with various bidness and webmistressly issues addressed therein
2. Finish transferring music onto various devices
3. Read, read, read
4. Schedule follow-up vet visit and rabies shot for Socks
5. Buy tire(s) for Binjali; re-inspect
6. Carousel Tides t-shirt
7. Turn in novel proposals (3) to Madame the Editor
8. ConQuesT — May 25-27
9. Record word lists first two books (at this point, we’re guessing the “first two books” are Agent of Change and Fledgling) — June 10 (approx)
10. Interview at WERU Writers Forum with Joan Clemens & Ellie O’Leary, June 14, 10 a.m.
11. June 15 — quarterly taxes due
12. July — Excise tax due — both vehicles
13. Turn in short story to Baen — July 1
14. Turn in Trade Secret — July 15
15. Prep and write Carousel Sun, and Carousel Seas, due early and mid 2013
16. Get Liaden Weird Word lists onto web
17. Stage Two feasibility study: bathroom remodel
18. September 4 – October 4 Lee on-site at Archers Beach
19. Ongoing — locate new site for Cat Farm and Confusion Factory.
20. Finalize 2013 travel, if any

Things to be done in-between the things to be done:
1. Autograph 1,000 pages
2. Proofread galleys: Ghost Ship mmp, Dragon Ship hardcover
3. Write new stories for Splinter Universe

You thought I’d forgotten, didn’t you?

Here’s where we stand, as of today, Sunday, May 6. Please check the lists below; if you have sent in your list and I haven’t included it in the “received” list, please drop me a note at rolanniATgmailDOTcom. Thanks!

I have received completed lists for the following novels:
Agent of Change, jessie_c
Saltation, micheledear
Scout’s Progress, sb_moof
Ghost Ship, Alon Ziv
Crystal Soldier, redpimpernel
Local Custom, eoma_p
Mouse and Dragon, eoma_p
Local Custom, Deborah Fishburn
Fledgling, marniferous
Carpe Diem, Deborah Fishburn

I have received a partial list for the following novel:
Crystal Dragon, capricchio

The following titles are in the hands of Wranglers:
Crystal Dragon (partial), capricchio
Conflict of Honors, silverdragonma
Balance of Trade, Elaine Bushore Fisher
Plan B, Jennifer Briggs
Dragon Ship, Alon Ziv
I Dare, spiritdance

I have emailed the editor of the audio editions, asking if he has deadlines, and which words lists he would prefer to have first.  Still waiting for a reply.

Thank you!

This blog post is brought to you by the recent, and very gratifying, reception of the electronic Advance Reading Copy (eARC) of Dragon Ship, by frequent offenders Lee and Miller.

Dragon Ship is the Fourth Book of Theo Waitley, but it is not the last book of Theo Waitley. I believe that I may say without spoilage that it is an exciting read, and some of those who indulged in the eARC came out of the experience, um, eager to find out What Happens Next.

Now, it’s a sad fact that readers, even very slow readers, read faster than writers, even very fast writers, write. It’s also true that Traditional Publishing, even in these days of e-pubbing, takes some time.

How much time depends on a number of factors that are only vaguely relevant to the discussion of Books Between, so let’s just say, barring eArcs, and things like a manuscript falling behind an editor’s bookcase and remaining unmissed for a decade — between six and and 18 months.

All of us here are savvy and sophisticated Persons of the World, so I’m not going to be popping anybody’s balloon by stating right up front that professional writers write for money (cue Samuel Johnson).

Because we write for money, we don’t write a book, wait for it to be published, gauge the critical reaction, if any (cue laugh track), before deciding what our next project will be. If we did that, we’d starve. (I speak here of those of us who are attempting to approximate a middle class living while standing freelance, not of the superstars of the field.)

So, what writers try to do, is that we pitch several books at once when it comes down to submitting proposals. Of course, nothing says the publisher will accept any particular proposal, all or any of the books proposed.

Sometimes, though, the publisher takes the whole deal, as offered.

This happened to us, in 2010. We proposed three books to Baen — all of them Liaden Universe® novels; one that was wanted (and requested) by the publisher (the sequel to Ghost Ship), one that had been requested many times by fans (the sequel to Balance of Trade),  and a story that one of the team (that would be me) particularly wanted to write — and Baen said yes to all three.

Yes, there was dancing in the streets — it’s a good thing to sell three books on proposal (“on proposal” means that the books have to be written — I know you all know that; just making sure we’re all on the same page), and to get half of the advance money for all three upfront.  I am not complaining that we sold three books on proposal (in fact, I’m not complaining at all, really — just explaining why it is that Between Books are necessary, and perhaps inevitable).

However, as we’ve discussed here previously, one of the realities of books purchased on proposal (as opposed to books written “on spec”) is that contracted books acquire constraints.  Delivery deadlines, that’s one.  Word count limits, upper and/or lower — that’s another one.

The order in which the books will be delivered — that’s another one.

For this contract, the publisher wanted Dragon Ship delivered first, thus preserving the momentum of Ghost Ship.  This is perfectly reasonable.  We made sure that it was known that Dragon Ship wasn’t the last Theo Waitley book, and asked to deliver the Weird Book — working title George, now titled Necessity’s Child, delivered at the end of March and scheduled for publication in May 2013 — we asked if we might deliver that book first, which would, yes, have put a book between Ghost Ship and Dragon Ship, but would only put one book between Dragon Ship and  its sequel — Books Between; that’s what we’re talking about, after all.

The final decision was that Dragon Ship would be delivered first, Necessity’s Child second, Trade Secret last.  Again — this is perfectly reasonable, in fact, more than reasonable.  I was extremely happy that Baen took a chance on a “side” novel, because, let’s face it, I would’ve written it anyway (cue Samuel Johnson, rolling in his grave).

To recap:  We had three novels under contract, with a contracted delivery schedule of:  Dragon Ship, Necessity’s Child, Trade Secret.  We have, as of this writing, delivered two of those three books — Trade Secret being due in July.

Now, you’ll notice that the discussion between the publisher and ourselves didn’t revolve around us immediately writing the Fifth Book of Theo Waitley  after submitting Dragon Ship.  It was purely in the realm of how the between-books ought to be distributed.  In other words, there was a tacit agreement that there would be books between.

But why?  ask the folks who want the Rest of the Story right now.  How could you possibly leave us in such an exciting place and go off and write something else?

Well, the answer to that is. . .multifaceted, but simple.

First — contract, remember?  Three books, in an order determined by the publisher (see above to refresh yourself on the books and the submission order).

Second — While writing an exciting novel is, sometimes, exciting (though possibly less exciting for the authors than for the book’s eventual readers), what it mostly is?  Is tiring.  You — or, say, we — have to rest up a little after such an outpouring of effort — but — see above — writers don’t make money unless they write.

The answer to the conundrum, the balance between have to write and have to rest is?  Anybody?  You there in the back — Yes, thank you.

A busman’s holiday.

You write, because you want to eat, but also because you want to write.  Trust me, you’re not a writer unless, at some level which is, yes, sometimes rather deeply buried, you want to write.   You can, however, write something a little less…fraught, something a little off the wall (in my case, with George) or something that you’ve been meaning to write for some few years now (in Steve’s case, with Trade Secret).  This gives the story brain some time to. . .play. . .to revivify, to generate new ideas, and to rev on up to speed for the next exciting! installment! of the so-called “mainline” series.

Now, yes, there are writers who write their series, Book One! Two! Three! Four! Five! Six!  They’re awesome, and I’m in awe.  But the truth is that Steve and I have never yet done that — I mean, look — we wrote the second book first at the very start, and we’ve continued in that vein ever since.

What that means for our readers is that — you guys don’t always know what you’ll be getting next, and you won’t always get the direct sequel directly — though chances are good (see Mouse and Dragon, see Trade Secret) that you’ll get it eventually — and you’ll be getting our best work, written not only because writers write for money, but because we’re writing what we  want to write, pretty much when we want to write it.

That’s pretty awesome, too, in this day and age.

Got the September sublet in Archers Beach Old Orchard Beach. YAY!

The garage had originally quoted a price to replace the muffler just one point south of Five Bills, but! When I got to the shop to pick up Binjali (two minutes shy of closing time, thanks to Steve’s expert driving and knowledge of back roads), the bill was for half of that, because the front pipe was able to be re-used. YAY!

OTOH, Binjali failed inspection. Needs to get outfitted with a new pair of back tires inside of two weeks, and try again. Sigh.

On the way home from The South, we stopped at Target and scored chairs for the new, covered deck, on sale! YAY!

Came home and watched Tin-Tin, which was just a touch slow in the middle, but enjoyable overall, so — YAY!

Which makes four YAYs and one Sigh; according to our Rating System — a Very Good Day.

Today is catch-up-on-all-kinds-of-crazy-things day, including a blog post about writing stuff.

See you later.

Well, so — today thus far.

Since I had a return to make to eBags, and, as was established on Monday, there is no public FedEx drop-off in the Waterville environs save a self-serve box too small to take the parcel that was being returned. . .deep breath. . .this morning I drove twenty miles to nearest manned — or, in this case womanned — FedEx office, in the Great City of Augusta, and got rid of the damned box.

That accomplished, I stopped at the Augusta edition of Staples and bought a USB stick/thumb-drive/whatevertheheck they’re called this week. It is, in fact, slightly smaller than my thumb (my previous stick was as long as my forefinger) 16 gigs for $15 — almost a buck a gig! — while the former stick packed a whopping 128 megs and cost somewhere in the vicinity of fifty clams.

What an age we live in.

Those two minor errands accomplished, I headed back to Waterville, aiming for the post office, the drug store, the grocery store, and the Cat Farm, in that order, driving happily through the grey, damp day, singing along with Warren Zevon, when suddenly! without warning! the car began making a Horrible, Horrible Noise.

Yeah, the muffler had come uncoupled and was dangling by a slender thread.

I made it to Mr. Smith’s repair emporium in a roar of, err, power, checked Binjali in — hey, he needs to be inspected this month, anyway, right? — called Steve to come get me, as Mr. Smith can’t get to repairs until tomorrow — and we did the rest of the errands together, which was nice, but unplanned.

So, home now, and doing catch-up, since tomorrow we’re needed down-coast on bidness of the house. And! I just realized that, if that bidness goes forth, I’m going to have to learn how to cook.

Oops.

But enough about me!

You may not know that today is a very special day. Indeed! Today is the day that my neighbor in Bangor, Mr. “James A. Burton” sees his book Powers published by Prime Books. Available at Amazon, Barnes and Noble, and all the Usual Suspects. Check it out; you won’t be sorry.

I was going to write a longish blog entry about why there have to be Books Between, but…I’m tired, and the dishes need to be done, and after that I wanna curl up and read one of my geisha books, so…maybe later.

Today was cleaning, early, and getting bread started, and then the visitation of the Bath Guy, Stage One in our intention to remodel the bathroom, replacing the bathtub with a shower enclosure.

This consultation took much longer than I had planned on, and the execution of Stage One will be somewhat more expensive than I had anticipated — Balancing the under-budget work we had done in the fall. We signed the contract, gave a deposit and sometime in mid-June we’ll have a brand-new shower. Upon which time we will commence in saving for Stage Two.

Does it strike anyone else as Completely Unfair that the least glamorous room in the house will cost the most to redo?

Anyhow, I also finished compiling the second volume of short stories, and writing the foreword for that, so everything’s ready for an orderly transfer, just as soon as the contract’s ready.

Oh! And exciting news, for those who didn’t hear it elsewhere: We heard from David Mattingly this afternoon; he’s finished reading Necessity’s Child, and is excited about doing the cover. Can’t wait to see it!

Before I answer the siren call of the dishes, I want to assure fans of Silversocks that he’s settling in nicely. Here’s a picture Steve took of him yesterday afternoon, while he communed with a box:

Since this has come up in discussion several times:  No (that’s NO), Necessity’s Child, a Liaden Universe® novel scheduled for publication in May 2013 is not (that’s NOT) the sequel to Dragon Ship. 

Necessity’s Child is the book that bore the working title George, snippets of which were posted in this journal through late 2011 and early 2012.

Further to the sequel of Dragon Ship — It has not (NOT) been written yet; we are not (NOT) in the process of writing it; it hasn’t even been pitched yet.

Writing projects currently on the Lee-and-Miller plate are:

1. Short story for Baen website, due July 1 — Steve
2. Trade Secrets, sequel to Balance of Trade — Steve
3. Two sequels to Carousel Tides, tentatively titled Carousel Sun and Carousel Seas — Sharon
4. Write and submit proposals, one of which will be for the sequel to Dragon Ship.  We have discovered that we need to let our brains rest before we start in proposin’ agin, so that’s what’s happening.  *Looks at list above.  Falls over laughing*