Rook and Rose Book 2, Chapter 8
May. 23rd, 2020 01:04 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
swan_towerIt's the return of the progress-blogging!
When we last left our intrepid pair of authors, it was October and I was about to spend a bunch of time traveling. We'd gotten stuck on a scene in Chapter 8 because the setup for it wasn't quite there yet in the earlier chapters, so we figured we'd take a break to sort that out before proceeding. Then . . . well, as some of you know, Alyc got injured in a way that required two surgeries to fix. And we had to handle revisions on The Mask of Mirrors during that time. Then I was traveling some more. Then a pandemic happened, and also me having to write a different book very fast, and also copy-edits for the first volume, and also page proofs. What with one thing and another, it wasn't until early this month that we were able to pick ourselves up off the floor and take another look at Chapter 8.
Whereupon I promptly noticed that multiple things would be improved if we kicked that scene into Chapter 9 -- so yay, that isn't a problem we have to solve yet! We warmed our brains back up again by doing revisions on the earlier chapters, some of which were necessitated by changes in The Mask of Mirrors; we also added in a new scene that, per my comment on Twitter, involves a plot-relevant strip-tease. Then we dove back into Chapter 8, now with added breathing rooms for the major scenes happening there.
Because oh yes, there is some major shit here. Both of the fun, caper-y sort, and of the "we're going to have to steel ourselves to do this to the characters" sort. (Except that once I get into a scene like that, it's usually very easy for me to twist the knife. It's the run-up where I'm all, "uhhhh, do I really want to do that . . . ?")
So: the story is rolling forward again, and at speed. We still need to fix the setup for that one conversation, which will necessitate revision on a few scenes we skipped over in the initial pass, and there are some other plot tangles to sort out before Chapter 9 will be ready to go -- but we've got a semi-complete outline from here through the beginning of Chapter 16, so the forecast is good for us to make steady progress for a while. And by the time we get through all of that, we'll have sorted out more of what's to happen after it. In the meanwhile, it feels good to be back on this bike!
Word count: ~61,000
Authorial sadism: Ren's monologue. There were just so many options for where to stick the knife in; we used as many of them as we could.
Authorial amusement: UNLEASH THE RATS! (and one very confused cat)
BLR quotient: So very much blood. Some wounds are the kind you need to lance before they can heal. Though that . . . probably wasn't the best way to do it.
When we last left our intrepid pair of authors, it was October and I was about to spend a bunch of time traveling. We'd gotten stuck on a scene in Chapter 8 because the setup for it wasn't quite there yet in the earlier chapters, so we figured we'd take a break to sort that out before proceeding. Then . . . well, as some of you know, Alyc got injured in a way that required two surgeries to fix. And we had to handle revisions on The Mask of Mirrors during that time. Then I was traveling some more. Then a pandemic happened, and also me having to write a different book very fast, and also copy-edits for the first volume, and also page proofs. What with one thing and another, it wasn't until early this month that we were able to pick ourselves up off the floor and take another look at Chapter 8.
Whereupon I promptly noticed that multiple things would be improved if we kicked that scene into Chapter 9 -- so yay, that isn't a problem we have to solve yet! We warmed our brains back up again by doing revisions on the earlier chapters, some of which were necessitated by changes in The Mask of Mirrors; we also added in a new scene that, per my comment on Twitter, involves a plot-relevant strip-tease. Then we dove back into Chapter 8, now with added breathing rooms for the major scenes happening there.
Because oh yes, there is some major shit here. Both of the fun, caper-y sort, and of the "we're going to have to steel ourselves to do this to the characters" sort. (Except that once I get into a scene like that, it's usually very easy for me to twist the knife. It's the run-up where I'm all, "uhhhh, do I really want to do that . . . ?")
So: the story is rolling forward again, and at speed. We still need to fix the setup for that one conversation, which will necessitate revision on a few scenes we skipped over in the initial pass, and there are some other plot tangles to sort out before Chapter 9 will be ready to go -- but we've got a semi-complete outline from here through the beginning of Chapter 16, so the forecast is good for us to make steady progress for a while. And by the time we get through all of that, we'll have sorted out more of what's to happen after it. In the meanwhile, it feels good to be back on this bike!
Word count: ~61,000
Authorial sadism: Ren's monologue. There were just so many options for where to stick the knife in; we used as many of them as we could.
Authorial amusement: UNLEASH THE RATS! (and one very confused cat)
BLR quotient: So very much blood. Some wounds are the kind you need to lance before they can heal. Though that . . . probably wasn't the best way to do it.
no subject
Date: 2020-05-23 08:28 pm (UTC)I was absolutely hyped for this book pre Foundry, simply on the strength of y'all's enthusiasm. And then, I heard you read the chapter 3 excerpt--was Nick in the zoom chat--and my hype went through the roof into unadulterated glee. So these progress reports have become the most delightful of pre-book teases, esp with the release being pushed back. Just these lovely glimpses into a world I can't wait to inhabit.
The idea of that monologue, especially. Ren's this character who thinks everything through, who keeps herself so! tightly wound--you can tell that in the excerpt you read, how methodically she thinks out every one of her plays, even as she's struggling not to go under. All that rage getting released, my GOD it'd have the force of steam out of an improperly vented pressure cooker, and would leave just as many metaphorical burns. Just...wow.
(am also just. haunted! still, days after, by your reading of This Is How. Your use of inflection and well-timed silence was a master-class.)
no subject
Date: 2020-05-23 08:37 pm (UTC)Thank you so much! We really are so excited for this thing -- I genuinely think it's an amazing book, in ways I couldn't have achieved working entirely on my own. And we've got some really cool ideas for things to do between now and the book release; in some cases I'm holding back only because I don't want people to hit peak excitement in, like, July. :-P
(am also just. haunted! still, days after, by your reading of This Is How. Your use of inflection and well-timed silence was a master-class.)
<bows> I really like having the chance to read that one in a context where I don't have to worry about too much ambient noise. Because yeah, the silences are a huge part of it -- I have to let them last as long as they need to, and not hurry along because I'm worried somebody will start talking in the hallway outside.