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Kings Rising at Galaxy Bookshop
Mar. 13th, 2016 12:24 pmA couple of weeks ago, I visited Galaxy Bookshop for CS Pacat's talk and signing for Kings Rising. I wish I had taken notes during it, but this is what I could recall after, from my imperfect memory.
* The three short stories that follow the books?
- The first is about Jord and Aimeric, called "Green But For a Season". It's from Jord's POV, set during Prince's Gambit. Interesting to see Damen through other POVs.
- The second is about Damen and Laurent, and will be similar to Chapter 19 and 1/2. (Which is sadly not included in my print edition.)
- The third can't be revealed yet.
* Commercial publishing versus online publishing? If she had been writing for commercial publication to start with, she would not have written this book. "The gatekeeping would have started in my own mind." Between online publishing and self-publishing, she sought out commercial publishers, but was told there was no market for it. Now, it's on the USA Today bestseller list.
* Who is harder to write? Damen. He's very different to herself. Also, Laurent drops conversational bombshells, but Damen has to come up with rejoinders. That's why in Book 1, there's lots of "Damen was silent" - often after she had struggled to come up with a response, for hours or days. "Living with Laurent is difficult. Being Laurent is easy."
* Which character came first? Damen came first. He arrived fully formed, a heroic archetype. He's put into a situation where he's powerless, and his abilities can't help him, so he has to find another way.
* Influences?
1. Books
- Dorothy Dunnett: control of plot, unwritten text, mastery of set pieces.
- Iris Murdoch: 30 books she loves, 30 no.
2. Online spaces - fanfiction, web comics, and web serials.
3. Media in Japan - better at epics than Western media, especially use of archetypes - individual humans with the power of archetypes behind them. Also, less inhibited, from the unconscious - that's very appealing. (Which was one of the most elegant ways to say "iddy as hell" that I've heard.)
* In Kings Rising, Nikandros is like how Damen used to be - was this intentional? There was a need for Damen to show how much he has changed. To go through culture shock. She was in Japan for six years, and after she came back to Australia, it took two years to adjust again.
* What was the most fun to write? Lots of Kings Rising, like the hijinks at the border, and the okton. Inventing a sport was great fun - now she knows how JK Rowling feels, and why she put Quidditch in every book.
* The hardest scene to write? The first sex scene. Usually, sex scenes are about catharsis, but the romance and action plots still needed to hold tension, so it needed both catharsis and tension. Also, Laurent himself was still tense in the scene. Every word mattered to get right, or it would all blow up. It took five months to write.
* Will there be more female characters in her new work? It was a conscious decision for Captive Prince to have a mostly male cast, for particular reasons. If she had to choose again, now - she'd choose the same, but she'd be unhappy to do it. It's important to question it, and to critically examine it. She loved Jokaste and the Vaskian women. Her new work, a YA project, will have more female characters.
* Re "Does Laurent Know"? - when did she know the answer to this question? From the beginning. She had to, to write it.
* Changes along the way? Originally, Book 1 was planned to be more sensual and sexual than it was. But Damen was not into that, and would have been very violent if placed into that situation, so that changed. Also, the romance was much more slow burn that originally planned, so the way it was paced against the plot had to be adjusted.
* Writing without the online community? The third novel was a lonely process. Writing depletes you - you're making something out of yourself, and need to replenish when you're empty. Feedback was this. Alternative strategies she found:
1. Writing group - for talking about a work's progress, rather than workshopping.
2. Blue sky writing - brainstorming and writing down everything that would be cool to include, eg sharing a horse and riding pillion.
3. Routines.
* The three short stories that follow the books?
- The first is about Jord and Aimeric, called "Green But For a Season". It's from Jord's POV, set during Prince's Gambit. Interesting to see Damen through other POVs.
- The second is about Damen and Laurent, and will be similar to Chapter 19 and 1/2. (Which is sadly not included in my print edition.)
- The third can't be revealed yet.
* Commercial publishing versus online publishing? If she had been writing for commercial publication to start with, she would not have written this book. "The gatekeeping would have started in my own mind." Between online publishing and self-publishing, she sought out commercial publishers, but was told there was no market for it. Now, it's on the USA Today bestseller list.
* Who is harder to write? Damen. He's very different to herself. Also, Laurent drops conversational bombshells, but Damen has to come up with rejoinders. That's why in Book 1, there's lots of "Damen was silent" - often after she had struggled to come up with a response, for hours or days. "Living with Laurent is difficult. Being Laurent is easy."
* Which character came first? Damen came first. He arrived fully formed, a heroic archetype. He's put into a situation where he's powerless, and his abilities can't help him, so he has to find another way.
* Influences?
1. Books
- Dorothy Dunnett: control of plot, unwritten text, mastery of set pieces.
- Iris Murdoch: 30 books she loves, 30 no.
2. Online spaces - fanfiction, web comics, and web serials.
3. Media in Japan - better at epics than Western media, especially use of archetypes - individual humans with the power of archetypes behind them. Also, less inhibited, from the unconscious - that's very appealing. (Which was one of the most elegant ways to say "iddy as hell" that I've heard.)
* In Kings Rising, Nikandros is like how Damen used to be - was this intentional? There was a need for Damen to show how much he has changed. To go through culture shock. She was in Japan for six years, and after she came back to Australia, it took two years to adjust again.
* What was the most fun to write? Lots of Kings Rising, like the hijinks at the border, and the okton. Inventing a sport was great fun - now she knows how JK Rowling feels, and why she put Quidditch in every book.
* The hardest scene to write? The first sex scene. Usually, sex scenes are about catharsis, but the romance and action plots still needed to hold tension, so it needed both catharsis and tension. Also, Laurent himself was still tense in the scene. Every word mattered to get right, or it would all blow up. It took five months to write.
* Will there be more female characters in her new work? It was a conscious decision for Captive Prince to have a mostly male cast, for particular reasons. If she had to choose again, now - she'd choose the same, but she'd be unhappy to do it. It's important to question it, and to critically examine it. She loved Jokaste and the Vaskian women. Her new work, a YA project, will have more female characters.
* Re "Does Laurent Know"? - when did she know the answer to this question? From the beginning. She had to, to write it.
* Changes along the way? Originally, Book 1 was planned to be more sensual and sexual than it was. But Damen was not into that, and would have been very violent if placed into that situation, so that changed. Also, the romance was much more slow burn that originally planned, so the way it was paced against the plot had to be adjusted.
* Writing without the online community? The third novel was a lonely process. Writing depletes you - you're making something out of yourself, and need to replenish when you're empty. Feedback was this. Alternative strategies she found:
1. Writing group - for talking about a work's progress, rather than workshopping.
2. Blue sky writing - brainstorming and writing down everything that would be cool to include, eg sharing a horse and riding pillion.
3. Routines.
