February 2013 Dispatch
January Recap
“Divisions” premiered in January, and before its official debut at Further Confusion, I flew to Sofawolf HQ to sign the mountain of copies that had been pre-ordered. I wrote about it on my blog at http://kyellgold.com/wpblog/2013/01/15/300/ if you want to read the full story, but in brief, it was a wonderful experience. I’m always excited when my books sell, but being confronted with a mound of them—nearly three hundred between hardcover and softcover—was something I hadn’t quite seen before. I happily signed them and as a bonus, wrote a new Argaea story on the way there and back (see below).
At Further Confusion itself, more copies sold! I was kept busy signing for most of the convention when I wasn’t at panels, and I admit the whole weekend sort of flew by. We recorded our live podcast Unsheathed and got Ursula Vernon to sit on it with us, and though she was hoarse, she bravely soldiered on to the end. And she was funny! Keep an eye out for that podcast; Kit is editing it and it should be up soon.
We also did several panels, and I think my favorite was the Critiques and Writing Groups panel I did with Rikoshi, Tube, and Mary Lowd. I read from my unpublished Calatians book, which seemed to go over well enough, and at the Sofawolf reading, I read from “Divisions” in the company of three other terrific readers. If you get a chance to go to the Sofawolf or FurPlanet preview panels, you should do it: it’s a great chance to sample upcoming books and you might hear some great performances.
The following weekend I was sick, but that was the right weekend to be sick, between FC and the Super Bowl. I’m currently working on editing the manuscript for OOP4, and that’s made me a little melancholy as I think that the next book I write about Dev and Lee might be the last in the series. So I turned that melancholy to “what am I going to do next?” and have come up with a few ideas, and that made me happy. There may even be a “some years later” Dev and Lee book in the future… anyway, I had to create an “upcoming novel ideas” file, and it now has six entries.
I also managed to work out a tentative schedule for upcoming books. I’m hoping to have “Red Devil” out at MFF 2013 or FC 2014, and OOP4 at Anthrocon 2014. These depend on my ability to finish them and artist schedules, but I have them penciled in as targets, at least.
Appearances in February-March
If you are looking to get a book signed or just say hi at a convention, here’s my schedule:
In February, I’ll be at Furry Fiesta probably near the FurPlanet and Blotch tables again, and I may be doing my $1 microfictions (2-3 sentence stories on a post-it note). I’ll be doing a panel or two and chilling with friends and probably discussing some business. K.M. will be there as well this year, but Kit will miss his second straight (sadface). There will be an Unsheathed podcast there, and we will either use LiveStream or use B-Hop’s generously offered equipment. FurPlanet should have copies of “Divisions” including maybe a few hardcovers; if you want one of those, come early!
In March, I will be in Seattle at Emerald City Comic-Con at the Sofawolf booth with a bunch of awesome books and talented artists. Admission to the con isn’t too bad and is worth it if you are a fan of comics or art or all of the above.
Later in March, I will be at Furry Weekend Atlanta. Chances are I will be behind the Sofawolf table for much of the con, but I’ll also be doing panels and I will be attending the God-level dinner, so if you want to have dinner with me Friday night, you know, you will need to be God-level. It’s pricey, but it is totally worth it: FWA treats their God-level guests very well. You’ll make back at least some of the extra cost in the Friday night dinner and at least two more meals from the God-level con suite.
And of course, I will be a Guest of Honour at Confuzzled in the UK in May/June, which will be really exciting! You can always see the full list of upcoming appearances at http://www.kyellgold.com/contact.html.
Spotlight: Divisions and beyond
With the release of “Divisions,” I am going right into the editing of OOP4, which forms kind of a “part 2” to “Divisions.” As I’ve mentioned before, the two were written as one story, but that one story was nearly 260,000 words in length when the draft was finished, so I had to split it in half. The good news is that that means that OOP4 is already written, and in going over it, I am very happy with how it works. I don’t know that it will stand alone as well as some of the other books, but it’s book 4 in a series. I mean, come on.
Excerpt: Sibling Rivalry
I am writing a story for the FurPlanet anthology [“What Happens Next”], edited by Fred Patten. This is going to be an Argaea story, and is actually the one I had in mind to write for a bonus story for “Shadow of the Father,” if that had sold over a thousand copies in its debut year. The story concerns Volyan, and spends some time with him while his brother is off being almost-stabbed and betrayed in Dewanne. This is the story I finished up on the plane to and from Minneapolis. Here is a short excerpt from near the beginning.
At lunch with his mother and father, Volyan tried to talk to them about the harvest, and how the farmers in the southeast wanted to join the market two days early, which would require expanding it. “They have to bring their crops in now because the passes are almost closed as it is,” he said. “But if they store them here for a week, they’ll be rotten or infested.”
“Oh, Anton will take care of that.” His father waved a paw. “I’ve brought a jar of candied locusts for Yilon from the capital. Do you think we should bring another gift?”
His mother, Ilyana, smiled. “He loves honeyed nuts. I’ve had Floria obtain a jar.”
“What kind of nuts?” Volle asked.
They talked about nuts and about what Yilon liked for most of the main course, while Volyan stabbed at the goat meat and chewed at the flatbread. He drained two cups of honey mead, and would have started on a third if his father hadn’t raised a finger to the servant and said, “No more.”
“I’m fine,” Volyan said, but his ears flattened.
“You don’t need to be drunk this early in the afternoon. It isn’t seemly.”
“It’s all right. I’m—” not a Lord yet, he’d been about to say, but his ears flushed and he mumbled, “not drunk.”
“And you aren’t going to be. Is this something he picked up in the capital?” his mother asked his father.
Volle flicked his ears back. “I had no wish to curb his opportunities at personal growth.”
“You mean you couldn’t be bothered.” Ilyana dropped her muzzle to her plate and speared a cube of goat meat from the stew.
“I—” Volle breathed in and then out. “I was a parent for fifteen years.”
“Yes, I’m sure you were.” She looked around. “Where is Streak, anyway?”
“Packing.” Volle nodded his head upward, where he and Streak were staying. “He said he wasn’t hungry.”
“Did Streak allow you to be drunk in the middle of the day?” Ilyana asked Volyan.
He and Volle protested together. “I didn’t allow him—” “I was never drunk—” They stopped and looked at each other, and Volyan allowed his father to proceed.
“Volyan is not in the habit of being drunk in the middle of the day,” Volle said. “Like most males in Divalia his age, he has used his free evenings to explore taverns and public-houses, and has sampled many of their beverages. He has been drunk enough to learn his own limitations, and the occasions on which he wishes to exceed them. Therefore, I am forced to assume that he has drunk two glasses of mead in twenty minutes because something is bothering him. Rather than asking about his drinking habits, you might ask what that is.”
“Yilon doesn’t drink,” Ilyana said.
Volyan pushed his chair back. “I’m going to go pack,” he announced, and ignored both parents’ calls to come back. He was nearly twenty-one and he didn’t have to.
On the way back to his rooms, he heard a soft humming—Streak’s voice. He followed the white wolf’s scent to one of his father’s rooms, where three piles of clothes had been laid out on the bed next to a large traveling case. “Shouldn’t the servants be doing that?” he asked, leaning against the door.
Streak turned, and his muzzle broke into a wide smile. “Oh, probably,” he said. “But I wanted to give you and your parents a little private time before we’re all trapped in a carriage for a week together with Forrin and Corris.”
“You’re one of my parents too.” Volyan flipped his tail against the door.
Streak’s smile grew. “Oh, bless you, Voly. But you know what I mean. Your father wanted to talk to you about the succession, and I’m not really technically a noble.”
“You sat around while that steward told Yilon his business.”
“Well.” Streak’s smile wavered. “He didn’t tell us what he was about. Your father didn’t tell me, either.”
“Thought he told you everything.”
Streak touched his whiskers, and looked down at the bed. He picked up a doublet and folded it carefully before placing it in the open case. “Eventually, he tells me most things. But I don’t press.”
Volyan rubbed his ears. “Do you tell him everything?”
The white wolf set down the clothes and turned to Volyan, his smile gone. His ears perked up. “What’s the matter?”
His scent had calmed Volyan down some. The fox met Streak’s eyes and then dropped his gaze to the floor. “You looking forward to seeing the brat get his crown?”
Streak’s tail swung back and forth. A smile crept back up his cheeks. “I don’t think Lords have crowns. Your father’s never shown me his, if he has one.”
“I mean—”
“I know what you mean, dear.” The wolf walked across the room and laid a white paw on Volyan’s shoulder. “Yilon’s not been the easiest to live with, and here you thought you were rid of him.”
“Mother’s different, too.” Volyan flattened his ears and curled his tail against the door again. “She can’t wait to get out of here and go.”
Streak’s fingers squeezed. “She loves you, and so do your father and I. But think about how lonely your brother must be, off in those mountains, far away from everyone he knows.”
“He’s got that mouse.”
The wolf’s eyes flicked away. “Yes, he does.” He exhaled, and his breath ruffled Volyan’s cheek. “It’s only a couple weeks. Then you can come back here to lovely Vinton, and your father and I will go back to Divalia, and we’ll see you on holidays.”
“You’re my father too,” Volyan said.
The smile curled fully upward, and Streak hugged him. “Don’t worry about Yilon. He’ll grow up soon. Maybe sooner than he wants to.”
Volyan hugged back. “I hope so.”
Streak lowered his muzzle. “I’ll tell you a secret.” Volyan perked his ears for the next few words. “I’m glad you’re coming along,” the wolf whispered.
Volyan still couldn’t get his tail to wag. It wasn’t as though he and Streak could go off to their corner of the carriage while his parents gushed on about Yilon—Yilon, who had been the subject of more “what are we going to do about him?” conversations in two years than Volyan in his whole life. Yilon, about whom Volyan had heard more positive words in the last week than in the entire two years prior. It seemed impossible that nobody else realized that he was exactly the same whiny fox cub just because he was on the other side of the country. Streak was the only one who even acknowledged it, and Volyan couldn’t bring himself to press the wolf to say it.
So he just smiled, and said, “Yeah. It’s going to be…fine.”
Writing Tip
This month, I want to talk about side characters. A lot of times you will bring in side characters simply to fulfill a role in the plot, to be “the guy who brings the hero to the enemy fortress” or “the woman pilot” or “the best friend who gives her advice.” This is necessary but often leads to flat characters if you don’t think about them more. Your story isn’t about the side characters, but they are still important to consider.
One way to look at it is to go through your story and imagine that the side character is a main character. What’s his story or her story? Why is he or she invested in helping or harming the main character? We know why our main character is going through the story (I hope you do, anyway!), because that’s the point of the story. But if you take the time to think about your side characters, you’ll find that they add life and three-dimensionality to your story and your world. When they become real people, their interactions with your main character become more real.
It will take more time, but especially in a novel-length work, it’s worth going through your character exercises with the side characters as well as the main. What are their goals? What was their childhood like? The more you know about them—things that don’t come out in the story—the more they will bring to your story.