I’m absolutely gobsmacked to find that The Rogue is included in the opening round of the Goodreads Choice Awards – fantasy division. You can vote for it, or one of the 15 books, or even nominate a book not on the list.
I’ll be watching this one go through its rounds, because not only am I excited to have a book in there, but it looks like a good list of books to try. (I did buy Patrick Rothfuss’ first book while I was in the UK, but it was in the one parcel that never arrived.)
The Traitor Queen is going well. Last week I passed the big conclusion and this week I’m writing the aftermath and consequence chapters. I managed to squeeze in a bit of work on the Sekrit Projekt and write an outline for short story set a few years after The Traitor Queen, but otherwise I’m not getting much done but writing, writing, writing.
Aussie Post has been working hard, though, bringing me this:
Indonesian readers can now read the conclusion to the Age of the Five trilogy. I hope they enjoy it!
Things are getting busy here now. I’m aiming to have The Traitor Queen first draft finished by the end of October, then have it all polished up and ready for delivery by the end of November. Writing the final chapters of the final book in a series has got to be the most exciting part of the process. I can finally bring together all the elements and plot lines I’ve been building. As I head towards the big conclusion the writing gains an irresistible momentum.
At the same time, ideas for the next series, Millennium’s Rule are simmering away at the back of my mind, occasionally demanding to be written down. That, too, is one of the best parts of creating a story. I can’t wait to start writing it and get to know the characters Tyen, Vella and Rielle. And I can’t wait to introduce you to them, their worlds, and the new system of magic that I’m developing.
I had an idea a few months ago, which sprang from some discussions I had with people I met while on the Tour, as well as a few thoughts that had been swimming around in my head for a year or more. Actually, I had several ideas, but this one looked like the most do-able within the time I can put aside for a side project.
I’d like to tell you all about it, but this idea has a core of do-ability, and an expanding aura of ‘well, if that works and I have time then maybe I can do this as well’. I’d love to share some of the fun with you along the way, but I’m keeping some details to myself because if I set a specific goal and don’t reach it… well, embarrassing public failure is not something I relish.
That’s why I’ve called it my Sekrit Projekt. At the very least, it’ll be a fun adventure I’m sharing with readers of my blog. If it amounts to something more, then that’ll be a bonus.
So, what can I tell you about it? Well, some time before I wrote the Black Magician Trilogy I did a pattern-making course. I used what I learned, and what I knew about some traditional clothing construction, to design the top part of the magician and novice robes. I made the novice version, which I got a friend to model for the cover illustration I did for The Novice.
The first step in the Sekrit Project was to design a pants pattern, make a pair to go with the novice robes, then make a set of magician robes. I started with the pants pattern, which I based on Japanese farmer pants. I did a test version with some bargain priced fabric which, while not glamorous or fashionable, turned out well enough to be comfortable around-the-house pants:
Then I finished the novice robes by making pants and a longer sash:
I wanted the robes to look like a cross between a martial arts uniform and something more ‘wizardly’. In my 20s I used to walk past a regalia shop on my way to work, and I wanted that sense of drama and richness in the robes. And they also needed to be comfortable and uni-sex. I figured, at the time, that if I didn’t like how they turned out at least they would be good pajamas.
Well, the novice robes would. Not the full-length magician robes. The formula is supposed to work for all heights and sizes, male or female, so I used a friend’s husband as my test subject. That way I got to try out the formula on someone tall and male. Unfortunately they’re much too big for me to model:
So you’ll have to wait to see a pic of someone wearing them. I was very happy with the way they looked, last time I subjected my friend’s husband to a fitting. They look exactly like I imagined. And my friends have given me some great suggestions, like how to tie the sash (thanks Kerri).
Will I make this pattern available? I’d like to. My main concern is that it is nothing like a modern commercial sewing pattern. It’s a formula. It’s not for beginner sewers. I don’t have time to tackle emails asking for help working it out. I’ll definitely seek out test sewers before putting it online. Then perhaps someone might set up a discussion group somewhere so people can help each other work out the pattern. For the moment, however, it’s just a few sheets of drawings and notes:
Turning them into something decipherable will have to wait. Stage Two has greater priority. But that’s for another post.
I love Twitter. I love its brevity. Currently it is the easiest and most efficient way to keep up with what’s going on Out There, through following links tweeted by people who are interesting in the things I’m interested in, without it taking up a whole lot of writing time.
There’s a lot of information, opinion, advice and fun to be had. But its way too easy to go from one article to the next blog entry and forget to take a step back and ask ‘says who?’. This is probably most important with advice. It takes me back to the days when people first realised they could type their symptoms into a search engine and get a whole lot of medical advice. The best advice then was: make sure the website is a good source. The same should apply to writing advice and opinion. Though obviously what one person regards as a good source will vary from another’s, and nobody’s life or health is at stake.
Keeping this in mind that has made me spot a peculiar little problem with the way some authors present themselves and their books on the internet (and I’m talking about book/short story authors here). It’s as if they’re concentrating so hard on being cool and interesting and opinionated in their blogs, weighing in on the latest scandal, and writing up lists of five or ten or twenty pieces of advice, that they’ve forgotten that what makes them an author is the fact that they’ve written stuff like, well, books.
I’ve lost count of the times I’ve followed a link to an author’s blog, or read an article by or about them, and thought, ‘this person is interesting: what have they written?’ and then can’t easily find any information about their work.
Oh, I can go look them up on an online bookstore, but online bookstores don’t necessarily tell me what series the books belong to and what order to read them in. I can go to Wikipedia but, well, much as I love Wikipedia it isn’t always accurate or up to date. I can go to a publisher site, but I may not know what the author’s publisher is, and they may have more than one publisher, or the publisher doesn’t keep their site up to date. Maybe the author is self published. Even more reason for information to be easily available.
Obviously, there are authors sites (and blogs and twitter feeds) that just scream LOOK AT MY BOOKS! It’s possible to take it too far in the other direction. I’m just saying that if a person types an author’s name into a search engine they shouldn’t remain mystified about the books that author has written. It’s really not hard for an author to have basic information like titles, covers, series, and maybe a bit of a blurb up on a web page, or somewhere obvious on their blog. (Doesn’t have to include a release date – believe me I know how hard it is to get accurate release dates.)
So here’s my list of five effective ways to be an author on the internet:
1. Makes sure when someone looks for you they immediately find clear information on your books
2. See no 1.
3, 4 & 5. See no 1.
Once you’ve covered that base, go on with being cool and interesting and opinionated and writing all those top ten lists of advice. They might be the reason someone wanted to find out about your books in the first place, but at least make sure that person comes away armed with the information they need to actually buy your books.
(Oh, and if you came here looking for info on my books, it’s all under the Books menu above.)
I know, I know, it’s only August, but since I don’t plan to make any big overseas trips next year, I decided to look at what’s on the local sf/f event calendar in 2012. It’s quite a list:
Perth, Apr 5-9: Swancon 37: Doom-Con
Melbourne, Apr 13-15: Supanova
Gold Coast, Apr 20-22: Supanova
Sydney, May ?: Aurealis Awards
New Zealand, Jun 1-4: Unconventional
Melbourne, Jun 8-11: Continuum 8: Craftonomicon
Sydney, Jun 15-17: Supanova
Perth, Jun 22-24: Supanova
Canberra, Oct ?: Conflux 8 (This is currently showing Conflux 7, but will switch to 8 when 7 is over.)
Oh my. What a list. If you wanted four fun weekends in a row you could start in New Zealand and visit three Aussie cities.
I don’t think I have the stamina, and there’s a small matter of getting the next book written, so I’m going to have to pick and choose. I’d love to go to another Swancon, want to frock up for the Aurealis Awards, and do at least one Supernova, and there’s no way I’m missing Craftonomicon – not just held in my own city but, well, you had me at ‘craft’.
Looks like next year is going to be a lot of fun.
Yesterday morning I woke to some amazing news: Orbit has officially broken the 1 million mark for total sales of my print books through UK Bookscan!
Thanks to everyone who bought them, gifted them, sold them, borrowed them from libraries and recommended them. And a tip of the hat to the Orbit crew, who really put themselves behind my books from the start.
You can read about it here at the Bookseller.
One of the things I like about Twitter is how, by following people with professions or interests similar to my own, I’ll see links to websites that are more likely to interest me. The down side to this what I call the Latest Uproar on Twitter, where someone says or does something and suddenly all the compulsive bloggers have to weigh in on it. (And more often than not it’s blown all out of proportion.) It’s too easy to get caught up in it, offend somebody by being too opinionated, and waste valuable writing time.
I’m hoping I’m not succumbing to anything like that here, but I suspect I am just a little.
You see, I’ve seen a couple of blog posts lately about how authors shouldn’t talk about their own work on panels at conventions, festivals, etc.. I have to say, while I agree that some authors overdo talking about their books, I disagree with those posts.
These bloggers are assuming that what they want out of panel is what everyone else wants. Without having interrogated every audience member as they go into or out of a panel, I’m going to stick my neck out and say that the reasons people go are varied. Some may be there only to hear discussion of the topic, and don’t care who discusses it. Some may want to know why they should care about the panelist’s opinion, and knowing about an author’s work may reveal their expertise in that area. They also may want to know where to get that author’s books, which is particularly helpful if those books aren’t widely available.
Of course, an overly pitchy pitch may put people off too. However…
How pitchy the pitch is may depend the cultural differences of the place where the panel is held. Australians are chronically embarrassed about self-promotion, and we tend to cringe when people in other countries are more forward about it. But who are we to say what is appropriate or acceptable to an audience in another country? It may seem pushy to us, but *not* doing the pitch may be considered rude to locals – as if you think everyone ought to know who you are and what you write already, and just google it, duh!
Surely a portion of the audience came to the panel to hear an author or authors speak – to hear their perspective on the subject and, if a writing-related panel, how they write what they write. To have them waffle on about other people’s books, no matter how interesting they are, is going to be pretty disappointing to those audience members (as well as possibly coming across as an insufferable name-dropper). It’s also a little unfair to new authors who, banned from speaking about their own work, don’t get to both enthuse about it and add their new voice to the discussion on whatever subject the panel is about.
It makes me wonder… at, say, a accounting convention are accountants forbidden to talk about accounting?
I guess what worries me about these anti-writers-talking-about-their-work-in-public blog posts is that is seems to be one side of a polarised issue. Clearly all promo all the time is bad, too. I’m sticking to somewhere in the middle: trying to find out what the expectations are where I’m speaking, going with the flow, hopefully avoiding offence, and trying to be interesting about both my books and everything else.
The mailman delivered these recently:
Spanish editions! I love that people all over the world can enjoy my stories.
The main reason I decided to reread all my books set in the Kyralia world was to refresh my memory and lesson the chance of writing inconsistencies into The Traitor Queen. By that I mean details of the world, characters and magical system, as well as plot, that don’t agree across the books. Of course, if I find any big inconsistencies in the already published books there isn’t much I can do about it, but I might be able to explain them away in The Traitor Queen. Sometimes doing that actually leads to some good ideas, just as the answer to really thorny plot problems are often already there in the story.
Fortunately, and to my great relief, I found no major inconsistencies. There are a few minor inconsistencies, however. Most of them nobody else has ever noticed. (No, I’m not going to point them out!) They annoy me, of course. I suspect every author wants their books to be perfect, but we have to settle with ‘as good as we can get it in the time we have’.
Some errors can be fixed when reprints are done of print books. I’ve yet to see how easily they can be fixed in ebooks. I’ll be letting both of my publishers know what I’ve found and hopefully it’ll be easy for them to make changes.
One piece of good writing advice is ‘write the book you’d like to read’. Ironically, if I do go back to read them I don’t fully enjoy reading them, and there are two reasons for that:
Firstly, stopping to mark errors and make notes constantly breaks the flow of reading. I can’t let myself get carried away with the story, or I might stop noticing problems.
Secondly, I get a terrible itch to tweak things. Partly this is just wanting the freedom to play with words – to shape them into even better sentences and paragraphs. Partly it’s because I’ve written many, many words in the ten years since writing the Black Magician Trilogy, and it’d be a bit sad if I hadn’t got better at it.
Now that I’m reading through what I’ve written so far of The Traitor Queen, I’m enjoying the freedom to play, the chance to avoid inconsistencies, and coming up with ways to explain those small ones from previous books. Also, to wind in some of the little details I enjoyed picking up on – like that the servants bring food to the magicians in lacquered boxes.
And surely there’s some way I can follow up on, in some small way, one fact I’d completely forgotten about: in The Novice Regin’s father was no less than advisor to the Elyne king! It’ll have no impact on the main plot, but it’s such an interesting fact that I have mention it somewhere…
Trudi Canavan is an Australian fantasy writer and the author of the international bestseller, the Black Magician Trilogy.
The Traitor Queen is the final volume of the Traitor Spy Trilogy, which takes up the action a generation after the events in The High Lord.
The Rogue is the second volume of the Traitor Spy Trilogy, which takes up the action a generation after the events in The High Lord.
The Ambassador’s Mission is the first volume of the Traitor Spy Trilogy, which takes up the action a generation after the events in The High Lord.
Set hundreds of years before the events of Black Magician Trilogy, this stand-alone novel can be read as an introduction to, or an addition to, the story of Kyralia and its magicians. Learn More
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