A Few Little Updates

I am trying to get my schedule back into shape so I can continue my exploration of the Urban Fantasy genre and get caught up on posting reviews of things I've read recently. In the meantime, here are a few quick updates:

Vixen
You may or may not have noticed that the paperback is currently unavailable. This is temporary. We've uploaded a new version of both the interior and the cover, and are now just waiting for the proof. The changes were very minor, so if you already bought the book, don't worry. There were a very few typos corrected, and we re-paginated the sample chapter of Hexen at the end, so it wouldn't look like it was an accidental repeat of chapter one. As for the cover, it just got a couple of cosmetic tweaks that were things we thought were fixed the first time around, but snuck through anyway. Without seeing the two versions side-by-side, they may not even be noticeable.

Hexen
I had really hoped to at least have the e-book version of Hexen available by now, but I have someone copyediting, and she's quite busy, and I think it will be worth the wait. I'm aiming for the end of this month for the e-verison and the end of June for the paperback, but I'll post updates as I have them. We have been through one round of edits, so with luck once I get this one back it'll be ready to go.

Book 3
I had been calling Book 3 of the Others Series Koldun, and the Su/Evgeny storyline was going to be a trilogy, after which I'd either delve more into Cara (of the short story "Cara") and her developing relationship with Magne, or I'd dip into the story of Alex's ancestor Rose-Perle and her relationship with Su's ancestor Sigrún. Or possibly, I though I might explore the mysterious Karasu, who you'll meet near the end of Hexen.

Alas, my characters and stories don't always do what I think they will. Su and Evgeny's story is going to be two more books, the second of which (the fourth in the series) will be Koldun (though it actually takes place at the same time as the first (the third in the series)). So the book I'm now writing is what happens to Su right after Hexen, and will probably incorporate a lot (or all) of what was going to be the story of Su's and Alex's ancestors. The working title is Familiar.

Hurtling Madly Through a Story

So here's the thing, when I write, I tend to hurtle through the story at top speed, figuring it's better to get the story out while it all makes sense, and then fix whatever problems come up later. And when I say top speed, I mean top speed.

I never learned touch-typing in school, and though I've ben able to learn to type pretty fast on my own, I still write faster in longhand. Though my writing does become less legible the longer I write. So I draft in a notebook, with a pen (and owing to a gimpy wrist, I use fat pens, because those thin little elegant things hurt after a fairly short time).

I prefer cheap dollar store notebooks. Not because I don't appreciate good bookbinding--I do, very much. It's because a cheap notebook isn't precious, so it doesn't matter if I write crap in it. And that freedom to write crap is important. It means I'm not held up by insecurities over the quality of my writing, and I can hurtle through the story and maybe, almost keep up with it.

And that's the real reason I write fast. I seldom plan stories at all, except to have a general idea of their trajectory, and maybe a few scenes I know need to happen somewhere along the way. I write to find out what happens, just like a reader reads, and the faster I write, the sooner I know. And the faster I write, the better chance I have to keep up with the story as it spills out of my brain. because I have this weird notion that if it gets away from me, I might never catch up. I might lose the story. And for me, there's no point in starting a story if I'm not going to finish it.

The surprising thing, even to me and I've been at this a while, is how complete the story is when I get to the end. I always think I'm going to have to go back and add all those subtle details and hints that really tie a story together, but when I go start to edit, I very often find my brain was way ahead of my conscious thoughts, and those things are already there.

On The Mechanics of Writing

Instead of the post I intended to write, continuing my quest to define this genre I write in, I'm giving you this one: a thing about why I write longhand. It's because I haven't had enough sleep, and I have to teach later, so my brain is a bit rambling.

I once wrote an article about longhand versus typing for composing creative writing. It presented both sides of the issue (if you can call it an issue), and had examples from actual writers that people have heard of, and it was all very neat and organized. This one is going to be less organized (and mercifully not as long) and is not about other writers at all, but only about me.

So, a confession: I write longhand.

Actually that's not entirely true. I freelance a variety of non-fictional stuff as my "dayjob" and that I pretty much always type right into a word processor, though I may make longhand notes. And some of my fiction I do compose on my computer, in Word, or more recently in Scrivener (if you write, you should get the trial version and check it out). But writing as Nic Silver, I compose longhand.

I've thought a lot about why (I think, a lot, which is why I often don't have enough sleep--my brain just won't shut off). I don't really write any differently when I write longhand, and I don't really write any better. I could argue that the longhand version is a draft, and then I'm sort of doing a not-quite-second draft as I transcribe, which improves the flow a little and lets mecorrect minor problems as I go. And that would be true.

But it's not the real reason. The real reason I compose longhand is much simpler. It's less precious. And it's easier to get myself to curl up on the couch with a notebook and pen at the end of the day than it is to sit for another couple of hours at the computer.

Yes, I still have to do the sitting at the computer later, but by then I have something I'm excited about, and I want to know how many words I've actually written, so it's not that hard to get myself to work.

But some days, no matter how much I love writing, I just don't want to face the blank page. But scribbling in a dollar-store notebook while sipping tea with my cat purring at my feet is relaxing.

Plus, I write a lot faster longhand than I type, and most of the time it's hard enough to keep up with the story as it is.