lenora_rose | (no subject)

I was disappointed in one major thing about how my plates ended up; after reglazing at least one THREE TIMES to get the right mix of coverage and detail, I then painted them with stains meant to leave vivid colour. On the white middle of the plate, they remained only slightly washed out (And made me regret the places I left more white space), but on the black borders... the colour up close i subtle, at any distance it's absent. I wanted all-but-garish. I wanted trees of fire and ice. I got - hints.

(The white majolica glaze also decided to be inconsistent about how much it would move; enough to blur lips or middle colours in a few places, in others so little there's still a visible patch on one hand.)

But the shows went well, all my art is packed up and taken home.

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We're far enough from the river to be safe (Our only problem is a spring sowbug invasion. Ugh, and I have taken to growling even more than usual, and killing every one in sight, including ones nowhere near my home, but not property damaging, and it does prompt me to clean more....) My workplace is right next to it, though, so I got to see the crest of the flood yesterday as it was; impressively close. I did wonder if the basement would hold, and found out today that they did meet earlier in the week to discuss possible protective measures and sandbagging.

But by today, it had dropped a good 9 inches at least, and likely more; there was a stake marker about 10 -12 feet past our parking lot fence that was partly submerged yesterday, and wholly exposed today.

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One of the things about what is effectively a long hiatus from writing (What with pottery), is I almost never end up back in the same story. It's always like that; if I cut myself off from the draft, no matter how justifiably, after a while, it does the same to me. I train my brain Not to go down That Path. So Bird of Dusk isn't calling me *at all*.

However, the long silence being done, and me poking at the computer, I am getting nibbles in about five directions. Literally*. I think the most likely is the Serpent Prince/Soldier of the Road, because they have the most substance and background, and are in many ways the closest to coherent story.

This is the one problem with posting teasers like the Armageddon intro I put up a few months back. ON the one hand, there's the germ of a cool idea or two in there, as well as some considerations of what their society really looks like, considering the differences between Earth and Tuathea, and it's stewing nicely. (Stewing: I have figured out some plot and background, have figured out a few things about characters, themes, events, worldbuilding {A term more ironic under the circumstances...}, and I've written enough of it down not to lose it.) On the other hand, I doubt I'll actually be writing even the playing-around-draft anytime soon. I didn't put it up to set up a false expectation; I honestly didn't think it would have any expectation.

My writing process is chaotic at best. I've proven I can, when I have to, stick to a specific story; I did to finish Raising the Storm. But things go more smoothly and I produce more if I pick a story I want to tell, and which is "speaking" to me in its turn. And even then, i tend to scribble notes or poke through files for other things, touching base. (I consider it a major sign that I don't know the characters yet if I worry that I won't be able to keep track of who's who or what they're like because I hopped drafts.)

Once in a while, touching base hijacks my head. But mroe often, i can redirect myself by rereading part of the draft-so-far.

This technique wouldn't help if I were anything like Elizabeth bear, and grew to hate my work. But - having just reread a truly execrable early draft of something from a decade ago - even the ones I know are crap, that make me think, "OMG this is crap" even as I read/write, I can't hate. They remind me of the story in my head, the one they were meant to be, and I know I can write that story better, for old stuff by writing a new version now, with new stuff by the editing process.

In short, I'm an optimist.

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Book Quickies:

Nation- Terry Pratchett

Made me laugh. Broke my heart. Made me think. Delighted me in many ways. Fed several of my narrative kinks. Progressed its plot weirdly, and sometimes to its detriment, but usually to its benefit. Probably well up there with his best works at its peaks, and there were peaks, not peak. But didn't quite pull off the landing. While I appreciate how he chose to close it, and the commentary on the strength of narrative closure in general and genre conventions in specific (the whole "How did they not *** ********?" and "There should be dolphins" bits), but in some ways, he undermined the closure and the commentary both too far, even as he answered all the necessary questions to satisfy.

Steward of Song - Adam Stemple

I liked so many things about this book (Bridie and Scott are fabulous protagonists, one prickly, the other damaged, and both working with, not against, their natures), except that there was no need for it. It sucked away the disastrous triumph of Singer of Souls. It started well, alternating between Bridie insinuating herself into a murder investigation where her grandmother is the victim and her wastrel junkie brother Douglas is the suspect, and Scott's clueless attempts to care for a baby left rather abruptly in his care, while coping with PTSD, Second Sight, and future-seeing. And the first appearances of Douglas seem to live up to the promise. But the closing leaves one unsatisfied; it's suddenly too easy, and the costs are implied, not accounted. In short, it looks like it left a ton of work for the next book.

Jim C. Hines - The Stepsister Scheme

I don't know what i can say. If the idea of the classic fairy-tale princesses teaming up to do a Charlie's Angels appeals, you'll probably like, possibly in spite of, but more likely because of, the ways the story doesn't fit that description. if not, then not. Of course, Jim Does with this what he did with his Goblin books; starts with a silly idea, plays up the comedy, and then surprises one with character depth, non-trivial themes, and some wonderful outside-the-box solutions. Danielle(Cinderella) isn't a classic brash confident Angel; she's worried about her missing husband, worried about the future, not nearly familiar enough with swordfighting or magic to be sure she's contributing anything but a small dose of information about the enemy. Talia (Sleeping Beauty) is hard, competent, violent, and martial - Snow is flirtatious, open, eye-catching, and forward, with some pretty hefty magic, and both of them end up something far more than that, too. it's easy to miss Snow's steely side (we always seem to look for the weak spot in the tough character, so saying Talia has hers isn't half so surprising, though it's made satisfying in how it really plays out.)

Fairy-tale retellings and after-the-happy-ever-after stories abound, but Jim's take still seemed to offer something new and uniquely his.

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* 1) The Serpent Prince etc, about which i've said a fair bit. My one heteronormative traditional high fantasy trilogy. 2) Gods in Flight, the first story about Tovay the Bastard and a girl called Dia, who thinks her only talent is marksmanship. 3) A story based loosely on one of my trunk stories, about feral foxlike creatures amd a secret slave rebellion. 4) Blood of the Woods, a rather weird novel about freedom-fighting, emancipation, and genderbending; especially as it's become obvious that a character who previously had his own story is going to wedge himself in here, using his other story as his angstful backstory. 5) That angstful backstory itself. This last is the least likely; there are a lot of reasons that particular thing is supposed to stay trunked.

Oh, and the small bonus of a shorter story (there's been one in my mind related to, but not identical to, the ballad I just spent copious amounts of time illustrating). But i could potentially do that and the novel-of-choice.