Wednesday, May 20, 2020

THE VELOCITY OF REVOLUTION

So, last week I finished the draft of THE VELOCITY OF REVOLUTION, cleaned it up and delivered it to my wonderful editor. Now we’ll wait for her thoughts, and in the meantime, I want to unpack a bit about this process.  This was one of the hardest experiences writing a book I’ve had, and that was for a number of reasons.  First off, let’s talk about on a Worldbuilding level.

THE VELOCITY OF REVOLUTION is set in a completely different world from the Maradaine novels. Not just “this is a different world”, but a radically different setting on many levels, worldbuilt from scratch. I had been playing with worldbuilding new settings, less for “This is for a new book” and more for the exercise in and of itself, teaching myself HOW to worldbuild better. A mindset that also led to the Worldbuilding for Masochists podcast.  (More on that in a bit.)

This book was a random idea that just HIT me, and even though I was finishing SHIELD OF THE PEOPLE, still had FENMERE JOB and PEOPLE OF THE CITY to write, the idea just clawed its way in and didn’t let go. So I wrote some notes, and then those notes became an outline and a proposal, which I sent to my agent, and all of a sudden I had a contract and a due date. All without yet doing the level of worldbuild that I “usually” do.

By which I mean, the world of Maradaine had been fermenting and mellowing for YEARS before I started writing THORN, including two trunk novels in that setting. Here I had less than a year between selling the idea and needing to start drafting.  If you’ve listened to me on WFM, you know I like having a good sense of the whole sandbox as a way to find the story.  Here, I had to take a completely different approach. And thankfully I had the podcast to help.

There’s a thing we talk about on WFM, about Choosing Vs. Presuming. Which is roughly: choose what you want for your world, but make it a choice. Don’t just presume “this is how things are” without interrogating it.  So much of the worldbuilding in this book is putting that philosophy into practice. Why does the culture do this? How do I show that? How do I make it clear to the readers what I’m doing without it feeling like an infodump?

And that Choice vs. Presumption came right from the very concept. Why not a secondary world fantasy with motorcycles and raw denim and radios and tacos? Why not a fantasy culture that draws inspiration from Mexico and Latin America?

And you may ask yourself, should a white boy from upstate New York be writing a secondary world fantasy that draws inspiration from Mexico and Latin America? And, yeah, maybe not. Maybe I have deeply screwed up in trying this.  I’d rather try and fail and learn. Writing this book has been a learning process, and working with Alex Rowland and Rowenna Miller on the podcast has been a critical aspect in furthering my learning process.

Though, also: as a food in fantasy person? I wanted to do something I hadn’t seen. Namely: tacos. Maybe that was a little thing, but it felt huge to me.

(Also, for the record, I’ve had insight and advise from latinx alpha/beta readers from the beginning, and if you have specific concerns or thoughts: my email is open and I welcome the conversation.)

Also this was a hard book to write because my outline really failed me this time. I’ve always said that A. I love my outlines (and outline process), but B. No outline fully survives contact with the writing process.  This book?  The outline REALLY did not survive the writing process.  The writing was a constant cycle of stopping, reassessing and finding new directions. I regularly felt like the plot was slipping out of my hands. That meant it was always a process of challenging my presumptions. Questioning why I was doing things a certain way. Trying to find my own blindspots. Writing this was putting myself through a crucible.

There’s been a lot of talk of late of “everything is on fire, so write whatever you want”. And: hell yes. I certainly didn’t write a secondary-world dieselpunk latinx pansexual fantasy filled with tacos, motorcycles and psychic mushrooms because I thought it would be a bestseller. But I did write it, and the wonderful folks at DAW Books had enough faith in me to say, “Yeah, do that”. So I did. Maybe you all will love it. Maybe I’ll faceplant horribly.  Either way, I’ll get back on my feet, wipe the blood from my nose, and get back to work.  Try something else new. Challenge my presumptions. Learn to fail again tomorrow. 
But the proof is in the pudding, and said pudding comes out February 9th, 2021, and you can pre-order today.  If this sounds like it could be your jam the way it was mine, go check it out.
From the author of the Maradaine saga comes a new steampunk fantasy novel that explores a chaotic city on the verge of revolution.

Ziaparr: a city being rebuilt after years of mechanized and magical warfare, the capital of a ravaged nation on the verge of renewal and self-rule. But unrest foments as undercaste cycle gangs raid supply trucks, agitate the populace and vandalize the city. A revolution is brewing in the slums and shantytowns against the occupying government, led by a voice on the radio, connected through forbidden magic.

Wenthi Tungét, a talented cycle rider and a loyal officer in the city patrol, is assigned to infiltrate the cycle gangs. For his mission against the insurgents, Wenthi must use their magic, connecting his mind to Nália, a recently captured rebel, using her knowledge to find his way into the heart of the rebellion.

Wenthi's skill on a cycle makes him valuable to the resistance cell he joins, but he discovers that the magic enhances with speed. Every ride intensifies his connection, drawing him closer to the gang he must betray, and strengthens Nália's presence as she haunts his mind.

Wenthi is torn between justice and duty, and the wrong choice will light a spark in a city on the verge of combustion.
Goodreads Page for The Velocity of Revolution
Pre-order at AmazonBarnes & NobleIndieBound and more!

 

Saturday, May 2, 2020

Maradaine Reading Order

I've been asked about this a lot, and I've been dragging my heels on giving a definitive answer here, but with People of the City just a few months away (pre-order!) it's high time for me to put out the answer.

There's three basic ways you could read Maradaine:
  • Release Order
  • Chronological Order
  • By Series
First off: none of those are bad ways to read it.  Release Order, of course, was your only choice if you've been with me from the beginning (and if you have: hey, you're awesome, I love you).  (But also, if you're just jumping on now: you're awesome, I love you.)  And, of course, I had to make certain creative choices based on the fact that Release Order wasn't going to be Chronological Order, and therefore to some degree, release order is perfect in terms of how revelations unfold.

So that would be:
Thorn of Dentonhill
Murder of Mages
The Alchemy of Chaos
An Import of Intrigue
Holver Alley Crew
The Imposters of Aventil
Lady Henterman’s Wardrobe
Way of the Shield
A Parliament of Bodies
Shield of the People
The Fenmere Job
People of the City

However, I think the strongest method-- and grain of salt in that it's literally impossible for me to gauge how a new reader would react to the events of the books unfolding-- would be in-world chronological.  There is a very specific chronology at play, and there's a foreword in People that spells that out (and gives you a handy recap of the previous eleven books), but here's how that goes.
Thorn of Dentonhill
Murder of Mages
Holver Alley Crew
Way of the Shield
The Alchemy of Chaos
An Import of Intrigue
Lady Henterman’s Wardrobe
Shield of the People
The Imposters of Aventil
A Parliament of Bodies
The Fenmere Job
People of the City

Now, I can see how if you read one of the first books, you'd want to stick with those characters instead of transitioning to other people.  That makes a lot of sense.  So I did think of this method where you read a whole trilogy, and then step back in time to another trilogy.  Now, there's a bunch of ways you can do this, but here's the way I like most:
Holver Alley Crew
Lady Henterman's Wardrobe
The Fenmere Job
Thorn of Dentonhill
Alchemy of Chaos
Imposters of Aventil
A Murder of Mages
An Import of Intrigue
A Parliament of Bodies
Way of the Shield
Shield of the People
People of the City

What I like about this is you read three books with one cast, which ends with their crossover with a major character from the next series.  So, you follow Asti & Verci and the rest of the crew up until they interact with the Thorn, and then go, "So let's find out more about the Thorn" and do his adventures, and so on.  Is that the best way to do it?  I'm not sure-- see the above caveat-- but I think it's interesting, and it might suit how some readers engage best with stories.

So there's my definitive non-answer about reading order: I would nudge you toward Chronological, but that might not be right for you. 

Regardless, I hope you get a chance to read them all and love them your way, and that you're safe and well.