New story is up!

[pen37]

A story that I co-wrote with Brad Sinor  for the 1632 universe is up at the Grantville Gazette website.  They've got about 1/3 of the story up as a free preview, and the other 2/3 of the story is available with a subscription.  The story is called Still Life With Wolves and Canvasses.

And the Grantville site is here.

Comments

[pen37]

They come out with a web-based anthology four times a year, I think. And then they take the best of those every two or three years and do a perfect bound anthology. My co-writer, Brad Sinor, wrote a couple of short stories for the universe. He created the tabloid 'the Inquisitor' in the short story 'Second Issue?' And he introduced the person that D'artagnan of the three musketeers was based on to the universe.

Brad introduced me to the editor of the anthologies, Paula at SoonerCon in Oklahoma City this summer, and then told me that I should write a story for the anthology. I was reluctant, because there is so much backstory to catch up on (which is why I usually stay away from shared world anthologies), and because the process for submitting the story is through an online workshop (which can be a brutal process).

Brad said he would be willing to help if I came up with an idea. Right there I said 'What about a Mutt and Jeff reporter duo investigating the Beast of Gévaudan for the Inquisitor?
Paula was intrigued, and Brad said that if I wanted to do that, he would co-write with me.

Of course, then I found out that the setting was about 100 years too early for the Beast of Gévaudan. And if you want to use a Grantville downtimer (from the future) who isn't already established, you have to check them out from the 'grid'. (It's a lot like the way a group of programmers checks out code to work on where my husband works.)

The only character that was the right age and could fit with our story idea was a girl. And she's distantly tied to established characters who will take part in events that are plotted, but not written yet.

So first we had to check the character out. Then our Mutt and Jeff characters became Lucy and Ricky characters. And instead of investigating a conspiracy involved in faking wolf attacks, we had them investigating an art forgery ring. Then we had to write around things in other stories that are both written and not written.

Then we went through the workshopping process, and while I thought the other writers would pick apart my historical reserach, or hit on the name of another character (who is historical, but shares a name with a famous writer), instead they picked up on details like whether the character would have diamond earrings or not.

So we fixed things, and the story is up, and it's a lot more painless than I ever thought it would be. And it's taught me a lot about collaborative writing, shared universe and the evolution of the creative process.

[strangevisitor7]

Sound like it was an amazing experience. I can understand how daunting the 1632 universe can be. I find just reading the novels requires a bit of a playbook for all the characters. And I have to say I am impressed that they work that hard to keep the stories true to their canon