I figured I’d try it and see what the reception was like for making memes of quotes from my books. This one went out last night. I’ve got more for Written in Water, and if it goes well, I’ll start pulling from the backlist.
What do you think?
Yes, I know there was no week nine. We had just gotten back from NecronomiCon, and I was tired. Also sore — I managed to break my toe on Wednesday the 17th… two days before we left for Tampa!
Ashes and Light
Swords of Charlemagne, Book 3
The convention was amazingly fun, and I had an awesome time. Saw some friends, met a bunch of new people, got to sit with Mickey Zucker Reichert for our mutual signing, and succeeded in not fangirling at her.
And, amazingly enough, some writing happened last weekend. I wrote nearly 2K words longhand for Written in Water. And I find myself in the very odd position of being able to see from my chair the ends of two simultaneously written books. Patrons will see the end of the first part of Heir to the Firstborn in about three months, more or less — chapter 12 went live this past Friday, and I’m working on 19 now with a projected end by chapter 25 or so.
Then what? Well, then I put in the sex scenes that at the moment fade to black, polish it up, and publish the book. Patrons who get the ebooks or print books will see that first book probably at around the same time that the last chapter goes live in the Patreon.
I can also see the end of Ashes and Light from here. I’ve discovered that I have a favorite character who isn’t one of my main characters. I mean, really, I love Roland and Olivier and Turpin in the 800s, and Douglas and Margaret and Mystere in the 1890s. But I’ve had one character step forward and just win me over. He’s a Frank in Charles’ court, and his name is Engelier. His is one of the names that came straight from The Song of Roland — he’s one of the Twelve Peers. We first hear his name in Hidden Things, but we don’t meet him until The Lady and The Sword.
He’s a bit of a character. He has been a retainer in Charles’ court for a while, so he has, in his own words, seen some things. (In a more modern setting, he’d been the stoner in the corner saying “I’ve seen some shit, my dude. You would not believe the shit I’ve seen.”) He’s a bit of a smartass, too.
“Roland?” Olivier touched his arm. “Now what?”
“Now?” Roland leaned down and kissed Olivier. “Now that.” He turned, and saw Engelier standing with Nasir. The other Frank held his hands up.
“You don’t have to kiss me. I’m fine,” he said. Roland burst out laughing.
When I’m writing Engelier, I’m never quite sure what’s going to come out of my fingers.
So, what now?
Writing all the words. Same as always.
I can’t say I’ve never written a creation myth before. I’ve done it once or twice, for projects that never really got off the ground and that I might someday go back and revisit. So I know basically what I’m doing. And yet…
I homeschool my son, and one of the things that we discovered and incorporated into our homeschool day was Crash Course. There are Crash Course series for just about anything — the History of Games was very popular in our house.
Then we discovered Crash Course Mythology. My son is already very interested in mythology (thank you, Rick Riordan!) so this seemed a logical choice of next series to watch. Hosted by Mike Rugnetta, it’s a fantastic overview of a variety of myths from a wide range of cultures.
Why is this a problem?
It isn’t, really. It’s just that I’ve heard so many myths told by Mike Rugnetta that now I’m hearing his voice narrating the creation myth I’m in the process of writing!
After the initial “Why do I have your voice in my head?” reaction, I decided that this was a good thing. If I’m writing a creation myth on par with the ones that were presented in Crash Course, I’m clearly doing something right.
Right?
So… wanna see this creation myth?
Come join me on Patreon.
A very good word week indeed.
The Lady and the Sword
Swords of Charlemagne, Book 2
I can see the end from here. There are maybe five chapters left. The book won’t be a full 100K words, I don’t think. I’m thinking something between 80K and 90K at this point. I’m going to go out on a limb and say draft by mid-June.
I wrote one scene this past week that I’d been waiting to write since I started the book. Not going to give that one to you, though. Not yet. Instead, I’ll give you the fruits of my research into the macabre — the Paris Catacombs.
This was something I put on Twitter this week:
"You know how the catacombs in Rome are all niches, and there are one or two skeletons in a niche? The catacombs in Paris aren't that organized. The bones are neatly stacked along the walls, but you don't know whose bones are whose." (2/?)
— Elizabeth Schechter (@EASchechter) May 2, 2018
There are estimated to be six million sets of bones in the tunnels below Paris. And Douglas gets to go down there in search of (spoilers):
***
He’d keep going until full dark, he decided, and cast the spell again. It swirled around him for a moment, then led him on across the intersection, and up to a building. Douglas blinked, peered up at the sign over the door.
Entree des Catacombes
“Catacombs,” Douglas murmured. “Oh, that’s just lovely.” He shuddered, then tried the door. To his surprise, it opened easily. He stepped inside, and conjured a light, passing by a desk that he assumed usually was occupied by a clerk of some kind. At the far end of the room was a staircase leading down. He stopped, and looked around. “Map. I need a map. If these are anything like the catacombs in Rome, they go on for miles.” He searched the room until he found what he wanted — a leaflet with a rough map. He studied it and whistled. “Just like Rome,” he murmured, folding the map and slipping it into his coat. He swallowed, then started down the stone stairs, sending the light on ahead. He started counting stairs, but quickly lost count as he descended deeper and deeper underneath the streets of Paris. Finally, he reached the gallery at the bottom. There was only one way to go, and he took a deep breath before setting off down the dark tunnel. It was eerily quiet — only his footsteps and a soft, distant dripping sound. The air was damp, and cold, and there was a sickly draft. In places on the walls, there were signs set into the walls, marked with names. Street names, he realized, and wondered if the passages marked the names of the streets above him. There were others signs, these marked with numbers and letters that made no sense to him. The passage ended at a junction, and Douglas cast his seeking spell once more, taking the right turn and following the path written in dust and magic. Another long, dark tunnel, with only echoing footsteps to keep him company. There was no signs of any other living being in the tunnels, and he wondered if he’d been sent astray. No. No, this spell had never failed. And as far as he knew, there was no way to fool it, no false trail that would circumvent his ability to find who and what he wanted to find. So he kept walking, passing through a series of rooms full of the most glorious an fanciful carvings of elaborate buildings, then passing a stair that seemed to end at a well of some sort. Finally, he reached a pair of columns that flanked a door. The columns were decorated to look like crenellated towers. He passed between them, and stopped outside the door that they framed. There was a sign: Arrête, c’est ici l’empire de la mort!
“The empire of the dead,” Douglas murmured, his voice seeming unnaturally loud in the silence. “How bloody romantic.” Slowly, he passed through the door, finding another gallery on the far side, with stone pillars and a large stone carved with a long inscription. He didn’t stop to read it, but kept walking. Only to stop short as he suddenly identified the the odd pattern of the walls in the tunnels ahead of him.
The catacombs beneath Rome were orderly things. Long tunnels with niches carved along the sides, two or three high in places, and each niche occupied by at least one former Roman. Here, though… the bodies were no longer bodies. The walls here were made up of stacked bones and skulls. They were very neatly stacked, but there were no complete skeletons. No signs of which bones belonged to which skulls, or of who any of these bones had been in life.
Douglas stared in creeping horror, trying to calculate how many bodies were just in this section. There was no way to know. He swallowed and started walking again, trying not to think too hard about Parisians of the past who might have objected to having their eternal rest as being part of a wall. He knew a little about unquiet ghosts, but not nearly enough to deal with one. Nor did he have the time.
***
I’m trying to decide now if I want to take the Catacomb tour, should I ever have the chance to visit Paris. It’s supposed to be 45 minutes and cover about a mile of the I’m-not-sure-how-many-miles of catacombs. I’m not sure though — given how much research I had to do for the chapter and a half, I might have already seen the entire tour!
I’ve decided that once this book is done, I’m going to do two things. Proofread Morrigan’s Heir, and start worldbuilding on the Elemental project. My book-plan doesn’t have me starting Ashes and Light (Swords of Charlemagne 3) until August. Given the calendar, I was thinking I’d wait until after Indie Bookfest to start. I might just follow that schedule.
Think I can keep from working on this world for that long?
In other news, the rerelease of Tales from the Arena is in June. I don’t have a date yet. As soon as I do, I’ll let you all know!
My word counter broke. I went to go and grab the code so I could update it, and discovered that the site where the image originates is gone. I’ve been using that word count code for practically my entire novel writing career.
Time for a change, I suppose.
The Lady and the Sword
Swords of Charlemagne, Book 2
Official a quarter of a novel, and things are coming along nicely. This past week was a little slow, because of Spring Break, but we go back to school tomorrow, and my wordcount will go back up accordingly.
My brain tried to feed me a new plotbunny this week, and I’ve been successful in telling it to knock that off, I’m busy. But I’m going to have to file that one, once I can figure out what the story is. All I have are a couple of characters, a watercat named Melody and a firemouse named Trinket.
Yes, I had those two first, if you’re interested.
In other news, I found out this week that I’ll be a guest at Necronomicon in Tampa in October. I’m looking forward to that — I’m always been meaning to get to that convention, but it’s never worked out.
Right. let’s have an excerpt:
“What did you do?” Mystere asked as Douglas came out into the sitting room. “Are you coming up with original spells?”
“I needed to get Margaret into bed. Which meant undressing her without waking her. So, I made her float.” Douglas dragged the other chair over to face Mystere. “Now, it’s your turn. Strip. I want to see how badly you’re hurt.”
“Very nice. Very smooth usage of power, as well. And yet you still insist you’re a piss-poor mage?” Mystere sipped his brandy slowly. “Never mind me. I’ll be fine, Doogie.”
“Yael,” Douglas growled. “Take your damned clothes off.”
Mystere looked at him, and grinned. “Oh, Doogie. You have a way with your lovers, don’t you?” He drank some more brandy, then stood up and took his topcoat off. “Part of my problem is that I’ve forgotten, I think, how to deal with multiple opponents. It’s been a very long time since I’ve done so magically.” He took off his waistcoat, then tossed down his braces and starting undoing the buttons on his shirt. “I haven’t looked myself, to be honest,” he said as the shirt joined his waistcoat. “I haven’t had the privacy.”
“Where have you been sleeping, then?” Douglas asked. “Or have you not been?”
Mystere smiled slightly. “I’ve been running on my old habits, I’m afraid,” he said. “I know you don’t approve.”
“It’s unnatural, to go without sleep for days at a time,” Douglas said. “I know you can, but you always pay for it later. You have to sleep.”
“I think I’m paying for it now,” Mystere said with a groan. He sat down and took off his boots, then rose once more and shoved his trousers down. “To the skin, Doogie?”
“Yes, I want to see how badly you’re hurt. Once I’m done, if you want to get clean, there’s a nice standing shower. I’ve heard of them, but this is the first I’ve tried, and I like it. I want one for the townhouse,” Douglas said. “And there’s a good, deep tub.”
“I might take you up on the both of those.” A few minutes later, Mystere was stripped naked, and Douglas could see how much weight he’d lost, which only made the bruises and welts that crossed his skin that much more prominent. He winced as Mystere turned in a slow circle.
“Yael, you look as if you lost a fight with a train!”
“Honestly, Doogie, I feel that way.” Mystere looked down at himself. “It was a mistake to come here alone.”
Douglas rose. He rested his hand gently on Mystere’s shoulder and peered at the worst of the welts, parallel stripes that looked like the marks of a whip. “Why did you?” he asked. “Why leave us behind?”
Mystere sighed. “I had two reasons, really. The first was because I thought it would be good for you both to have some privacy. What I told you in Aachen. You deserved to have something of a honeymoon.”
“Which we have had, when we weren’t worrying about you,” Douglas said. He ran a gently finger over a bruise, saw Mystere wince. “Does it hurt to breathe or laugh?”
“I’ve not been doing much laughing since I left you. And no. I think it’s a deep bruise only. No broken ribs.”
“No, but perhaps bruised ones. We’ll treat it the same. What was the other reason?”
Mystere turned to face him, and Douglas straightened. “I needed time,” Mystere said softly. “To absorb this. I wasn’t ready. Honestly, I don’t know how I could have been ready. I was surprised enough, to find you. Having the both of you return to me, it was something I’d never even considered. And to find out that you could regain your memories, that you should remember our first lives together, and our first love, as I do? That was… I needed some time to believe that. I made a horrible mistake in leaving you. I’m sorry.”
Douglas sighed. “It’s done. I accept the apology, and I forgive you. You had good reasons.” He looked Mystere up and down, then leaned down and kissed him gently. “You’re far too thin. You haven’t been sleeping. You haven’t been eating, either. Have you?”
“Not so you would notice,” Mystere admitted. “I’ve gone practically feral. I’ll have that shower. Then perhaps a soak. Could you order up a light supper for me, do you think? You know what I prefer.”
“Of course. I’ll ring while you’re in the bath. Enough for all of us — we haven’t eaten either.” He rose and held out his arm. “Come on. I don’t want you to fall again.”
Mystere scowled at him. “I won’t. I overexerted myself with the portal. That’s all.”
“Sounds to me as if you’ve been doing that since you got here. Not sleeping, not eating. Living in the clothes you left us wearing. I should burn those. You shouldn’t have left us, Yael.”
“No, I shouldn’t have,” Mystere agreed. “I need you. I need you both. And I missed you both.”
Douglas escorted Mystere into the bath, where Mystere coughed. “That’s a standing shower? It looks like a cage.”
“The water comes at you from all sides,” Douglas said. “And from above. Did you decide anything?”
“What?” Mystere looked up from where he was looking at the knobs in the shower enclosure. “Decide anything about what?”
“You went away so you could settle your brain on what had happened. Any insights on why this is happening now?”
Mystere nodded slowly. “Show me how to use this. Is the water cold?”
“Warm,” Douglas answered. “Stand inside.”
Mystere arched an eyebrow, then moved into the shower enclosure. Douglas started the water running, setting the temperature. Then he pulled the curtain around so that Mystere was hidden from view. “Now turn that middle knob.”
There was a squeak, then a yelp as Mystere was doused with water from all directions. “Can I make the water warmer?” he called.
“Turn the left hand knob.”
A moment later, Douglas heard a sigh. “Oh, there’s something to this after all. Yes. I did.” The curtain twitched, and Mystere peered out. “I’m of two minds.”
“Well?” Douglas asked. Mystere disappeared back into the shower.
“First? I don’t care why. What I told you in Aachen? That’s still true. I have you both back in my life, and I don’t care for the reasons.”
“And what’s the second?” Douglas asked.
“The second,” Mystere repeated. There was a long silence. “The second has me terrified to my bones.”
“Yael?”
“For a thousand years, there’s been no need for a Warden. For a thousand years, whatever the Wardens were created to guard the world from has been gone. Now, it’s back. And now…” He looked out from the curtain again. “Now whatever it is, it’s coming, and it’s coming very soon. There can be no other reason.”
“Reason?” Douglas asked. “Reason for what?”
“Normally, I’d find the Wardens when they reached maturity, and I’d train them from the beginning, from the time that their gifts awoke. From their infancy, as it were. There was time. There was always time, because there were always older Wardens to guard while I trained the young. Now… something is coming, and there’s no time to train a new Warden from infancy. Something is coming, and the threat of it is enough for the Almighty to drag from their well-deserved rest in Paradise two of the finest Wardens I have ever trained, and have them reborn with their memories obscured but intact.” The water turned off, and Mystere opened the curtain. “That, Doogie, is what terrifies me.”
I’ll be a guest at Oasis in two weeks, and I’ve gotten my panel schedule. You can find the full descriptions and the rest of the schedule here.
Friday:
Beginning Writers Workshop
1:00 PM
Phoenix (room)
Publishing scams
02:00 PM
Orion (room)
Wait, Wait, Don’t Tell Me
(Just like the game show on NPR!)
08:00 PM
Galaxy II (room)
Saturday
What Makes a Series?
10:00 AM
Atlas
Midway Writers Workshop
12:00 PM
Phoenix
Head Hoppi-Loppin
07:00 PM
Phoenix
Genre Boundaries: Romance and Erotica
(This is the same panel participants as last year’s “Everything You Ever Wanted to know about (writing) Sex” Should be fun!)
09:00 PM
Orion
Sunday
Media Panel
10:00 AM
Phoenix
Yes, But Would You Date Them?
12:00 PM
Atlas
In addition, I’ll also have a table in the dealer’s room. So if I’m not on a panel, that’s where I’ll be.
No, not Global Thermonuclear War.
What we’ll be doing is more like a scavenger hunt.
Here’s the game: I’ll be at Chessiecon the weekend before the cover reveal blitz. I *will* have the cover art for Heart’s Master by then.
So come find me. Tell me The Magic Words ™, and I’ll not only give you a special sneak preview of the cover, I’ll give you a code for a free book from the Circlet catalog!
What are The Magic Words?
For that, you have to be following me on Twitter. I’ll post the Magic Words of the day every morning before I leave my room. Find me, whisper the words to me, and I’ll show you the cover art and give you your prize!
See you in a couple of weeks!
At Chessiecon!
I’ll be one of the writers guests at Chessiecon from November 25th to the 27th (yes, Thanksgiving weekend). In addition to hanging out and seeing people I haven’t seen in FAR too long, I’ll be on these panels:
Friday:
5:30PM — The Other Side of Over the Top: Writing Your Turkey Award Entry
Previous winners and judges give advice on how to make your bad writing the best kind of bad it can be. The deadline for entries is 9pm, so you still have time to write yours after the panel, or you can start planning for next year!
8:00 PM — Writing Outside the Lines
Writers live with a cast of thousands inside their heads, all vying to come out and play on the page. The dilemma comes when the writer must write a character outside their experience — be it race, gender identity or sexual orientation. How does a writer accurately portray a character with whom they can’t fully identify? Join us for a discussion of writing outside of your identity — how do you do it? What kind of research is required? Should it even be done?
9:15PM — Slash: The Card Game
Slash: Romance Without Boundaries is a game all about matching romantic partners from across the canons of pop culture, literature and history. Our panelists pick their favorite characters and pitch their love stories to a matchmaker in search of the ultimate One True Pairing.
10:30PM — Reading
Elizabeth will be reading “Layover”. Vampires exist, their ritualized society and strict laws allowing them to live peacefully alongside mortal men, feeding on the blood of those who chose to enter vampire service as bond-slaves. The ignorant believed that vampires were savages, that they would half-murder their bond-slaves with their brutality. Daniel, bond-slave to the vampire Itami Hiro, knows better. ADULT CONTENT
Saturday:
1:45PM — Turkey Awards Panel
Writers were asked to send in the best terrible paragraph they could write, as the beginning of the best terrible science fiction novel you (n)ever read. Finalist entries will be presented, and judged with humor and harshness. The panelists will decide who gets this year’s dubious prizes!
4:15PM — It’s Awesome, Well-Written, and Groundbreaking…But Do You Like It?
Sometimes the greatest thing since sliced bread isn’t your cup of tea. How do you handle it when everyone around you is singing the praises of something that just didn’t click for you? Is it OK to dislike something even if it’s changing the world? Can you appreciate it for what it tried to do even if it didn’t do it for you? Are there ways to still usefully participate in the conversation?
6:45PM — Group Book / Art / CD Signing
Authors, artists, and musicians gather in one room for signing/book-selling/chatting with fans.
10:30PM — Everything You Ever Wanted to Know About (Writing) Sex
We discuss the how-tos, the pitfalls, the throbbing purple prose to avoid.
Sunday
1:45PM — Stupendous Bollocks
Our host asks obscure questions which exist not as much to be answered as to encourage panelists to tell us what they know (or what they can make up) about the subject. Points are awarded for interesting answers, regardless of their correctness or relevance to the original topic.
Larry Smith will have some of my books in the dealers room (which ones, I’m not entirely sure — House of Sable Locks and Counsel of the Wicked, definitely. Possibly both Tales from the Arena books, in the soon-to-be-retired self-published versions. Anything else depends on forces outside my control.)
I know. I know. I’ve been under a rock. No posting since January? Bad writer!
To be honest, though, I’ve been BUSY! Homeschooling the Wonderkid is a full time job, and that’s added on to the full time job that is writing. Burden of Truth is in for edits now, and Sins of the Father is underway and is about a third done. (I’ll go update the word count in a minute.)
AND…. I have a convention in a week and a half! So, if you’re coming to see me at Oasis, here’s where you can find me. I won’t have a table, so I’ll be in and out and around the con-space. (I may not have a table, but my books will. You’ll find copies at Kathmandu Books in the dealers room!)
My panels are:
Friday 8:00PM — Wait, Wait, Don’t Tell Me! (Waterford B)
(I’ll be doing my best Carl Kasell impersonation.)
Saturday 11:00AM — Today’s Captain Janeways! (Waterford A)
Saturday 9:00 PM — All You Need to Know About Sex (Waterford B)
Sunday 10:00 AM — Fantasy (Waterford A)
You can get descriptions for the panels here, and register for the con while you’re at it!
(And yes, for those of you who were at SF:SE, the cutest kid in the universe will be with me, at least on Friday and Saturday during the day.)
Late Saturday afternoon, I was interviewed by the lovely people from Hangin’ with Authors. The interview just went live on their YouTube page.
If I sound like a dork, don’t tell me, okay? Thanks.
