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After multiple false starts, the braid is well on its way…and it gets easier as it goes along. It would have been nice to be here a month ago…no, two months ago…but all the braids back then tangled into impenetrable knots. And all because I kept starting at the wrong point. If you mistake the beginning, nothing else fits.
You would think, after twenty-five previous books and more stories than that, I would have this beginning thing down. But no. Experience does not prevent me from making elementary mistakes. In fact, it can generate mistakes. I knew months ago that the beginning I had then wasn’t the right beginning. But I thought I knew that the real beginning of must be chronologically later.
Usually it is, when a beginning is misplaced. Usually writers–including me–start too early, chronologically…in the past history of the story, not where the story itself starts. So usually, when a story has sort of floppy beginning, it makes sense to look beyond the beginning and find the place where the story firms up, gains momentum–where the trouble starts, where the important question is asked, when the first plot-relevant decision is made. It may be half a chapter or five chapters on down the road.
But not always. And (hindsight tells me) never when a scene has been stuck in your head, and keeps playing in your head at night before you go to sleep. If that happens, do NOT tell yourself that the scene can’t fit because (in a group of books) it came before what happened at the end of the previous book and ignore it and try to start the book somewhere else.
The real beginning of Crown of Renewal starts before the end of Limits of Power because it has to. Because this time there’s a spiral progression, so that following the way from Oath of Fealty to Crown of Renewal means that you are always in some odd relation to a straight line of chronology drawn vertically on the side of the cylinder. So the real beginning is now in the book, and the real endings are now in the book, and most of the space between those is now full of chapters, in the right order. The gaps are annoying, but being filled .
I cannot thank you all enough for taking over the job of amusing yourselves in this space while I rattle the keyboard getting those gaps filled. You are wonderful guests and–when I snatch a little down time to read what you’re doing with the children and the extras and so on, I’m delighted.
And now…back to the current gap being filled.
Comment by Nadine Barter Bowlus — May 13, 2013 @ 11:23 pm
Channeling cheers, encouragement, and strong fingers. Do you suppose Rapunzel ever had trouble getting her hair braided? And did Paks hair grow out untangled after The Lady healed that part of Paks’ injuries (Oath of Gold)?
Comment by Richard — May 14, 2013 @ 1:56 am
Elizabeth,
Ah yes, case in point? (of being tempted to start before the real beginning): two-three years ago you alluded to a scene you had in mind then for Echoes in which Arvid found the corpse of the person who’d taken the necklace from Fin Panir.
Fascinating insight. Without you I’d never have appreciated how much trouble it is to write a book well.
Comment by Naomi — May 14, 2013 @ 4:49 am
I’m counting the days to the arrival of Limits… goig for a reread of Echoes right now…more power to you Elizabeth
Comment by Sharidann — May 14, 2013 @ 5:09 am
Beginning my reread soonish….
To be ready to do the happy dance once I get the HC in my greedy hands!
On a side note, got my copy of Moon flights last week for an absurdly low price (was cheaper as HC than in PB, go figure)…
And in my not so big spare time, I am doing my best to try and convert new readers! 🙂
Comment by Jenn — May 14, 2013 @ 7:50 am
I just unravelled a ball of yarn like that. It was a beautiful synthetic that constantly twisted and twisted the twists into knots to the the n-th degree all the while slipping off the ball. I eventually wrapped it to a hammer handle and it took me 7 collective hours to unknot it. It is beautiful though.
Comment by Daniel Glover — May 14, 2013 @ 9:38 am
Well, now we know why there was the discussions about the prolog earlier. This cylindrical approach means the correct beginning is sort of a prolog. It just was coming out in a different manner in that earlier discussion. Oh, well, as you mentioned, hindsight is …. 😉
Comment by GinnyW — May 14, 2013 @ 10:07 am
With so many parallel stories it is not surprising to have a time overlap between two books.
We are glad you enjoy the by-play. I have been grateful for the humor and imagination of my comrades. But you deserve to be entertained once in a while more than any of us. After all, it is generally the other way around.
Congratulations on unsnarling the story-line, and likewise to Jenn for the ball of yarn. Both are encouraging examples of patience and persistance to the rest of us.
Comment by Caryn — May 14, 2013 @ 2:41 pm
Like music, pulling up the leitmotif to set the scene.
Best wishes!
Comment by elizabeth — May 14, 2013 @ 7:17 pm
The braid is done. Except for the bits I thought I wouldn’t have room for, like two subplots…that now can go in. Only partly written, though, because I thought…no room, no room. Only while doing the braid I kept tossing other things out that didn’t fit.
If you ever wanted lessons in how not to write a nice neat goes-together-easily book…you’re getting them.
Jenn, I’ve dealt with yarn like that, too. Or you get a center-pull ball that kinks and kinks, or (as happened with the purple heather) once you disembowel it and find the end, the end wasn’t started right and it’s a constant horrible tangle…yes, had to take the whole thing apart and rewind it. And yes, this book behaved just like ornery yarn.
Comment by Richard — May 15, 2013 @ 1:46 am
To paraphrase Oakhallow, some books are like flowers in safe pots along a path, others like flowers wild in the field and woods. The flowers have their virtue, either place, but ..
Hurrah for the subplots.
Comment by Jenn — May 16, 2013 @ 6:23 am
I hope you were not in the storm path yesterday. Prayers for those effected in your state.
Comment by elizabeth — May 16, 2013 @ 6:50 am
We’re fine, and I’ve had reports from other friends in the DFW area (about200 miles from us, but also thundered and rained on.) Our storm came after midnight, with a lot of sizzling lightning, wind, and–very welcome–rain. A rancher friend about 10-15 miles away got “a frog strangler.” I don’t know yet how much we got, but the backyard lily pond is full, so I’m guessing over a half inch and maybe more than an inch.
Comment by GinnyW — May 16, 2013 @ 4:42 pm
Hooray for rain! But I am still a bit concerned about the clear warning about violent weather. I am glad you weren’t in it, and sorry for the people who were.
We are looking forward to the subplots, and perhaps to seeing some of the bits that don’t fit, eventually.
I appreciate the way you convey that the story tells itself, and am growing to appreciate that the natural feel of your stories comes from you being willing to let it – even it means discarding some hard work.
Thank you!