Kindrie, etc. and questions

[tagmeth]

I hear from Baen that the next novel will be published in October, too late, alas, for worldcon in Chicago which I intend to attend.  Maybe the concom will let me do a reading from it

Comments

berserkers

[anonymous]

Both peoples could have independent berserker strains?

If your new editor wants a quick orientation, tell him or her to check out TVtropes website for Kencyrath Saga.

Re: berserkers

[tagmeth]

I suspect that they are independent strains, but judging by Jame, Highborn are more deliberate about it. (cold rage)

I'll tell my editor about the TVtropes website, but he's also a writer. I expect he will recognize the basic templates. We seem to be clashing more because he wants this, the tenth novel in the series, to be accessible to new readers. I think it would drive my current readers crazy to have everything repeated.

Re: berserkers

[anonymous]

you don't need my advice about writing, but a preface or an appendix might be good for new readers and old ones alike.

Re: berserkers

[pyoro_2]

I'm certainly no expert but I've yet to know of any writer / series that has anything but declining readership numbers for each novel within a series. As far as I'm aware that's true even for stuff like Harry Potter. And obviously it makes sense, if only 5% of people aren't interested in the next book anymore, each book will have that 5% less, and there's clearly less people willing to start somewhere in the middle

[rhodielady_47]

I have no idea how anyone could edit a book when they haven't read the previous books in the series.
Talk about something being a major red flag.....
And now you tell us that this new editor wants you to "dumb it down" so that new readers of the series can readily jump on board???
I swear this sounds like a disaster in the making.
:^{

[rhodielady_47]

I would be apprehensive about another author trying to be my editor - writing and editing use totally different skill sets. Why is he an editor if he can write successfully?

[rhodielady_47]

You've brought up an excellent point!
Writing and editing really are totally different skill sets.

Having a writer as an editor has you taking the risk of this person "remaking" your book in their own image rather than simply keeping the grammar correct and making sure the book's been properly structured.
You still wind up with a good book BUT--
the book you wind up with is subtly not entirely your own any more.
And while that's not always a bad thing for a fledgling writer to have happen (you can learn a lot from this process) it's a cluster-f@ck of a disaster for an experienced writer whose fans HAPPEN TO LIKE THE WAY THAT WRITER PUTS THEIR BOOKS TOGETHER.

I've talked to too many other book fans who tell me that they are willing to read LAUNDRY LISTS provided that they are written by their favorite writers.
Heck, I even know of one guy who wrote a novel that was partly structured around a laundry list.
What's more, it was a pretty good story.
:^)

[mneme]

I also think Brust is a good writer

That said, there are plenty of good authors who also make good editors (for example, Terry Windling, Ellen Kushner). Others do not.

[docstrange]

Urates (the crystals) are salts. Uric acid's salt in pure form is going to melt around 572F according to the charts I looked up. I think it's much more likely to just dissolve in the body's hot water, and either get left behind as dust or go up in the smoke, rather than to melt, even in an immolation. I'm not sure what you're looking to achieve story-wise with someone seeing melted uric acid salts. Gout itself can present with very obvious joint distortions (usually big toe). It does not take physically all that much, either - this (squick warning) may give an idea of how little there is in even a very serious case of gout. https://voices.uchicago.edu/grosspathology/bone-soft-tissue/crystals-gout-pseudogout/

[tagmeth]

"In the smoke"? It smokes when exposed? This was a weird question. I'm looking for a soul-image equivalent when, on that level, the acid drains out of Caldane's foot at Kindrie's touch.

[docstrange]

Ah, ah, no it doesn't itself smoke - sorry, I was unclear on "melted" - I took that as by extreme heat, as in immolation (where it would go up in the smoke with other water-carried particulates), rather than (it sounds like) you want it brought forth somehow without um, anyone going up in smoke. If it were to come out, say, in a concentrated solution (i.e., dissolved in water), it would reek of ammonia, but be clear unless there's substances other than it and water in the solution.

[tagmeth]

I thought it might be something like that. I, of course, was looking for real details to enhance a fantasy situation (on the level of the soulscape, no less, where everything is a metaphor). I'll certainly use the facts that it would reek of ammonia and be clear. Thanks!

New editor?

[ext_5964655]

New editor who doesn't know your work? And they're trying to get you to dumb it down for new readers? Yikes. I hope they're not trying to "streamline" and take your voice out of it so it sounds more 'accessible' and exactly like dozens of other mainstream novels. I've done editing work on a high fantasy series (as a freelancer, via UpWork) and my biggest concern was keeping the author's voice during the process while still doing my job. I'd hate to see your work (or anybody's, honestly) get flattened that way. I know there's a formula that works and yadda yadda, but the monotony of that same generic voice drives me nuts

Re: New editor?

[tagmeth]

Hopefully it doesn't get that bad. There are only some of the new editor's suggested revisions I can't accept without rewriting the novel. Its structure has been a problem thoroughout in that, for once, I didn't know where I was going until I got there. Much of it is a prelude to the next, last book and a tying up of as many loose ends as possible while still giving the current work a plot arc of its own.

I'll be nervous until it clears the new editor, though, and I get paid.

Re: New editor?

[ext_5964655]

Ah, well it makes even less sense to spend a bunch of time rehashing anything that isn't relevant to what you're wrapping up. You've got years and years of background and lore, you can't be expected to basically summarize the entire series again right at the end. Definitely not easy to tie off a bunch of loose ends during a whole new arc, either. I think a bit of chaos is to be expected, especially with discovery writing. Hopefully the new editor helps the structure fall into place and everything turns out in a way you're happy with!

[mneme]

I don't think you've differentiated between Highborn and Kendar berserkers. I do think it's a shanir trait...but maybe it's not.

WRT whether shanir can show up in Kendar...it could certainly be a touch of Highborn blood, but also, isn't shanir the magic of their god running directly in the Three Peoples? Much more common in Highborn than Kendar, of course, but are the Kendar entirely devoid of their own magic (certainly the Arrin-ken have some)? I do think there's enough burried history regarding the shanir bloodlines that you could add new stuff, even this late in the game, without it sounding completely out of left field.