What doesn’t fit

It’s strange what gets left out of a story.

I’m thinking about this now because I just finished the first draft of the sequel to Spiral Hunt. It’s in typical (for me) first-draft stage: central plot concept just fine, ways of getting there all over the place, characters stepping in and dropping out like bit-part players in a crowd scene, and a whole lot of bits at the end marked with XXX RETCON THIS SO IT DOESN’T COME OUT OF NOWHERE. I need these things when I’m writing a first draft, regardless of whether it’s a short story or a novel; if I go back and fix a chapter so it leads up to the current point in the plot, I’ll lose the momentum and end up fixing the back while the front’s still unfinished.  (This results in, among other things, a first draft that’s pretty much unreadable; the second draft pulls it together a lot more.)

But one of the things I’ve noticed when I revise is how many elements of the first draft don’t make it past that draft.  A lot of this is probably due to how I write that first draft, adjusting the outline as I go, staring at the screen and writing down whatever it takes to get the characters from point A to explosion B. I end up throwing a lot of things in there just to make it go.

And then they get cut.  Usually it’s for a good reason — the scene isn’t helping the plot, the character won’t appear anywhere else and so doesn’t need all five pages of backstory, the explanation for a minor plot point takes up more space than the plot point itself and so deforms the entire chapter, and so on.  I’ve had one scene that I’d originally written for Spiral Hunt, taken out of that draft, and added to the sequel — and it’s going to have to be cut here as well.  It’s a good scene, but at the moment it’s sitting there like a beautiful quilt square surrounded by the ingredients for a chocolate cake: an essential component of something, but not of this particular work.

It’s hard to put them away entirely, though (which may be why some of these linger on into later drafts until someone else points out the problem).  They’re so sparkly, and helped so much when I was slogging through that chapter, and now they’re unnecessary.

It helps to know that whatever got taken out made room for something even better.  So while you won’t find the iron purification scene in Spiral Hunt, or the three drunk magicians and their designated driver, or the gilded gentleman in the North End, you will find thorned spirals chiseled into a door, a car that looks like the result of a demolition derby organized by the Rosicrucians, the first rule of bargaining with nice little old ladies, and an explanation for the chant of “Yankees Suck!” that goes up at pretty much every Red Sox game regardless of who’s playing.

Not a bad trade-off, to my mind.

“Goosegirl” up as a podcast!

“Goosegirl” is now online as a podcast, read beautifully by Mary Robinette Kowal and with an introduction by Rachel Swirsky. (I’m listening to it now, but have to run off to work as soon as it’s done, so I’ll add more on this later.) Enjoy!

Update 4/24: Okay, that was just awesome.  It’s strange, but hearing someone else read it is a little like seeing an illustration, or some other interpretation — the characters sound entirely different from how I’d imagined, but they sound so right.  All of a sudden, I’m hearing different nuances, aspects of the characters that I’d never seen but that were there.  Or perhaps they weren’t there at all, until the reader brought them out into life.

I suspect I’m starting to tip over into either philosophy or literary theory, and I’ve promised myself I wouldn’t do that without at least two drinks in me.  So I’ll just wrap up by restating my opinion: that was awesome.

“Knight of Coins” is up!

I’ve got a number of excuses for not posting, none of which are very convincing. I promise I’ll have more up later this week, after my day job stops eating my brain. (Mmm…brains…)

“Knight of Coins,” a short story featuring Genevieve Scelan, is now online in the April 2008 issue of Jim Baen’s Universe, with an absolutely gorgeous illustration by Jared Blando. This is the second short story from Evie’s point of view, the first being “Christmas Apples” in Realms of Fantasy. Evie’s also the protagonist of Spiral Hunt, though “Knight of Coins” was written much earlier.

I haven’t had a chance to read the other fiction (see above re: brains), but judging by a cursory glance they look fantastic. Enjoy!

Boskone, with ancillary teapot

This is on short notice, but I’ll be at Boskone this weekend, mostly quietly geeking out in the background.  I will, however, be part of the Broad Universe Rapid Fire Reading at 9:00 on Friday night.  (That’s tonight.  Yes, really short notice.) I’ll also be helping out with the Viable Paradise brunch Saturday morning.

And, by popular if inexplicable demand, your Friday teapot blogging:

On the one hand, these teapots are so bizarrely cool that I want to get one right now.  On the other, I know that if I did have one, I’d wind up jamming bread in the spout and pouring water into the slots.  Mornings are not good times to be confused about technology.

“Goosegirl” up at Fantasy Magazine

My story “Goosegirl” from the Fantasy Magazine anthology is now up at their site!  Go take a look, and then enjoy the other excellent fiction on the site.  “The Yeti Behind You” and “Zombie Lenin”, both from the same anthology, are also up.

Heck, I can’t think of a better way to spend a Friday morning.  I mean, come on.  Yetis and Zombie Lenins!

I believe the appropriate phrase is “yee-haw!”

Well, I have the counter-signed contract in hand, so I think I can probably announce this without fear that it’ll all turn out to be a dream.

My agent Shana Cohen has sold SPIRAL HUNT to Kate Nintzel at Eos as part of a three-book deal. SPIRAL HUNT is an urban fantasy set in the undercurrents of Boston, tracing the intersections of myth and power and everyday life from Southie to Fenway Park and back again.  The two books to follow will continue in that vein.

To say I’m thrilled would be understating matters by several orders of magnitude. (Jumping up and down on Commonwealth Pier yelling and startling the seagulls was only a small part of my initial reaction.) I’m working on the second book now, readying myself for the edits to the first, and occasionally making little “woo!” noises.

The first book is tentatively scheduled to come out next spring. I’ll have more posts as I learn more details.

Woo!

A few updates

Astonishing Adventures #2 is up, including my story “Racing Against the Rose.”  It’s a pulp revival magazine, with all the glee that entails, currently available as a PDF for download.  It will also be
available in hardcopy from Amazon at some point in the future — I’ll link when it’s up.

My story “Goosegirl”, from the Fantasy Magazine anthology, has been accepted as an audio podcast in PodCastle.  I’m not sure when it’ll be out, but I’ll post a link once it’s up.  (Side note: If
the idea of audio podcasts of fantastic short stories appeals to you, try PodCastle’s sister sites, Escape Pod and Pseudopod.)

Also, there’s currently a poll for the favorite stories in the 2007 run of Fantasy Magazine.  Go here and take a look.  (If you’re not familiar with Fantasy Magazine, you’re missing out.  Go read, then take the poll.)

Happy New Year to all!

Friday teapot blogging: Holiday edition

One of these days, I suppose I’ll understand why there are teapots like this.  I’m left baffled by the whole set of teapots-in-the-shape-of-other-nonteapotty-things, baffled and wondering how difficult they must be to wash.

February 2008 Realms of Fantasy in stores

The February 2008 issue of Realms of Fantasy (with one of my stories plus a whole lot of other cool stories) is now out in stores.  Buy a copy!  Buy two!  Buy three, loan one to a friend, and then convince them to buy one of their own!

…er.  It’s a little early for megalomania to be setting in, right?

Friday teapot blogging 2: The nightmare continues

And so soon to the non-virtual teapots.  This is similar to the one I use most often; mine has a plain white glaze and absolutely no distinguishing characteristics.  It’s serviceable, though.

Friday teapot blogging

Bet you thought I was joking.

Oddly enough, there’s a story behind this teapot blogging. I’d originally planned to find images of the five teapots I currently own and see where that takes me. (Simply taking pictures isn’t an option, since I don’t have a digital camera. Come to think of it, I’m not sure where my other camera is.) So I wanted to start off with my fancy crackle-glaze teapot that I don’t use nearly enough.

Google image search is apparently still safe for teapots.* I searched and found this image, which though the shape is not quite right, still gives an idea of the lovely glaze on my teapot.

Then I went and actually looked at the source. This teapot doesn’t exist. It’s an image from a paper on creating surface crack patterns. And it fooled me.

I suppose this is an example of websurfing gone right — I go looking for something, find it, and find something completely different and interesting as well.

* It is not safe for Muppets. I don’t think I’ll ever lose the scars from that.

“Goat Eschatologies” up at Strange Horizons

“Goat Eschatologies” is now up at Strange Horizons.  I’m fairly proud of this story, even though the ending has irritated more than one reader in the past.  It’s about as close to mainstream writing as I get these days, not that that’s a problem.

What’s odd about it is that it was one of those stories that came from a title — and then the title got changed.  I don’t have much luck with titles; either they end up kind of bland or they’re skating on the edge of too cute.  This story began life as “Pre-Apocalypse Sale on Cheese,”and while I held on to the title for a while, one of the editors finally pointed out that it set the wrong tone for the story.  She was right — the old title implied more of the wacky than the story really delivers, and I’d been sticking with it out of sentiment.

I’m still happy with the new title, and with the story as a whole.  Hope you enjoy it — and remember to donate to Strange Horizons if you do!

“And Not Spare the Flock” in Realms of Fantasy

A few nights ago, I received my contributor’s copies of the February 2008 Realms of Fantasy, which has my short story “And Not Spare the Flock.” It looks pretty awesome. There’s a gorgeous image of Lyra and Iorek Byrnison from The Golden Compass on the cover. And my name’s on the cover, too, but it’s not nearly as cool — well, how do you compete with a panzerbjorn, anyway?

I’m guessing this won’t hit newsstands for a few more weeks, but it feels fantastic to have these copies in my hands. My story is illustrated by Kiriko Moth, and she got the scene just right. Maybe I can get a copy of the illustration.

So far, I’ve only read one of the stories: “Hobnoblin,” by Elizabeth Bear. It rocked, in more ways than one. I’ll probably curl up with the magazine some evening when I have time (which limits the possibilities somewhat) and go through each story slowly. Except for my own; I tend to cringe when rereading my work, even if it’s good.

I liiiive!!!

(Three exclamation marks. The sure sign of an unsound mind.)

Welcome to Margaret Ronald’s blog. Bio and bibliography are to the left, fiction is to the right, giant tentacled thing is right behind you.

I don’t know how often I’ll be posting. I have a bad habit of using the web to procrastinate, so if I decide that I have to spend less time online, this will probably be one of the first things I cut out. Yes, I have my priorities messed up. This is nothing new.

Also, I lack a cat, so I believe the grand tradition of Friday Cat Blogging is out of my grasp. I may have to start Friday Teapot Blogging instead.

The blogroll and links are currently rather bare, so any suggestions for additions would be appreciated. Credit for this site should go to Josh Ain, who made me get off my butt and put this page together, then helped me to understand at least some of what I was doing.

Under construction

Nothing to see here.  We are a hedge.  Move along.