In which I tell you everything about my book, except…what it’s about

Hello, friends!

Bold of me to assume I would be gone for the month of May and then…come back at the start of June. Ha. The naivete. And I KNEW there were all kinds of things happening in June and July that would have me Very Busy, but…I was overly optimistic?

Let’s just say, I’m here for the moment. Enjoy my brief presence, for I will likely be disappearing again for a good deal of the summer (because…did I mention the Busy? It has come for me?? I can’t escape it??).

ANYWAY. I promised to tell you about my latest book. And not that any of you were going to burn me at the stake if I didn’t keep my promise or anything (…I don’t THINK?), but I really shouldn’t make promises in an Archibald Asparagus voice and then not keep them. Archibald would be so disappointed in me.

(Wow, I have no idea what’s going on. But what else is new, eh?)

Let’s just talk about the book, shall we?

So what exactly is this book? It is:

• untitled
• (hahahahaha, how do titles work. Either they fall from the sky or they don’t)
• Fantasy set in a vaguely Victorian city
• emphasis on vague
• research and world-building? pshaw, sounds like second-draft business to me
• oh, did I mention it’s a first draft
• it is also full of MY CHILDREN
• the longest and (probably) most complex thing I’ve ever written
• (oh, I love it so)

So honestly, I feel like it’s the kind of book that one would ideally pick up at a thrift store or a library booksale as a hardcover with a missing dustjacket so you have no idea what this book is, but eh, I like the title and the first few sentences. Not because it’s a super twisty-turny plot or anything, but I think it’s better if it unfolds.

Suffice it to say, this book contains:

• SIBLINGS
• (of course it does. I wrote it)
• Cousins
• aaaaangst
• cinnamon cakes (I still don’t know what they are? Is it just another word for cinnamon rolls? Who can say?)
• illusionists
• theatres
• trains
• Edmund Sparkler from Little Dorrit (I left a blank for the last name since I haven’t come up with one, but let’s be honest. We all know it’s Edmund Sparkler)
• lots of descriptions involving feathers
• way too many social functions and evening parties (Poor Clara, I forced her to socialize)
• DESPERATION which I recently realized is one of my favorite things to write about. People making bad decisions because WHAT ELSE ARE THEY SUPPOSED TO DO??
• It’s a jam, let me tell you

Characters

This book has four main characters. FOUR.

A quick introduction to each of them:

Angelo

14 years old // Is kind of a big deal in society // Bad habit of not doing his homework // Sweet sad child // Just wants to go home // Has trauma, but just likes to forget about it for a little while

Clara

18 years old // Goes to lots of parties // Hates parties // Spends 24 hours a day worrying about Angelo // Wants control, but has pretty much none // Occasionally sets things on fire

Henry

16 or 17 years old // A chipper disaster // Obsessed with cinnamon cakes // Just wants to Be Helpful // Makes questionable decisions // My Sponge sister who just finished reading it says Henry is like a happy Noah St. Claire? I approve?

Vinnie

15 years old // Is very talented and knows it // But also needs to be even better // Wants to be the BEST // Freaks people out by staring at them // What are social skills

The Pros and Cons of writing multiple perspectives

Most of the books I’ve written are in first person. I have one in third person that sticks very close to a single main character’s perspective, and one in third person that switches back and forth between two main characters.

But in this book….there are four. FOUR, I say.

That’s a far cry from a single character’s first person perspective. It was…an adjustment.

PROS:

• I got to write from the perspectives of all my KIDS
• Sometimes I had writer’s block and didn’t know where to go next with the scene I was writing, so I switched perspectives and it was MAGIC. (Not always, but at least a couple of times)
• There’s so much opportunity for unreliable narration/withholding information–not that I necessarily took advantage of this as much as I would like to. But when you can choose which character’s perspective to show in any given scene, you can hide what’s going on in another character’s head (and have the character whose perspective it’s from misread the other character’s reactions and all sorts of fun stuff)

CONS:

• Okay, but HOW are you supposed to track FOUR DIFFERENT CHARACTER ARCS??
• Me finally getting back to a character after writing about the other three: *squinting* “Wait a moment, who are you exactly? What were your emotions doing again?”
• *distant screaming*

My Superpowers

I have discovered some very nifty tools for first-draft-ing. I mean…I discovered them a while ago, but I used them to a greater extent than usual in this book.

Ladies and gentlemen, I present to you the (?).

It’s magical.

The parentheses say, “This question mark is not a part of the grammar of this sentence.”

The question mark says, “I know this isn’t the right word/I know nothing about trains/What does this sentence even mean/I might hate this–but I’m WRITING IT ANYWAY. And moving on.”

It says, “Yes, I acknowledge that this dialog sounds dumb or this plot point makes no sense, but it’s the first draft so We’ll Fix it Later.”

It’s…oddly freeing.

Also brackets! Brackets are incredibly useful when you know you need a last name, or a place for this character to be, or a reason for someone not to be home, but you don’t have the brainpower to even think of a placeholder. Don’t let such details slow you down, people.

“He went to [place] to have a word with [person].”

This is how the professionals do it, kids.

Margin notes, etc.

I wrote my last couple books on my laptop, writing a scene by hand every now and then, and that’s how this one started out. But less than half way through I decided I wanted to write by hand. So I did.

AND REDISCOVERED THE JOY OF MARGIN NOTES.

Here’s a random collection of them–with no context, of course.

And Henry NEVER makes mistakes!

Ah, yes. Throw a shawl on him. That’ll stop the hypothermia

Who is in CHARGE of this TRAIN

What even is this train

How am I supposed to remember what everyone does and doesn’t know, geez

…What was that now?

Henry’s big Hermione moment

’cause we’ve all seen animals smile when they’re hunting, amiright?

[] thought it would be fun but–ouch!

mmmh, small town??

Roy Mustang??

Random Stats

Because why not?

Start date: January 12, 2022
End date: May 20, 2022

Wordcount: 73,134

(Fun fact: That’s 6,917 words longer than Four Princes, the previous record-holder. *low-key screaming*)

You know how in a word document you can search to see how many times a word is used? I have way to much fun with it.

Angelo – 1217
Clara – 321
Henry – 685
Vinnie – 330
(?) – 127
(??) – 15
(???) – 4
(????) – 1
cinnamon – 29
feather – 49
blood – 32
bloody – 2
bloodstained – 3
scream/screaming/screamed – 16

(…it’s not angsty or anything, no sir. I mean, there’s more cinnamon than screaming, so we’re all good, right?)

I’m honestly kind of surprised about the name count. How is Henry mentioned more than twice as much as Clara?? Also, I’m used to first person where the main character’s name is used like…less than two hundred times. So when I typed Angelo’s name into the search I was like WHOA, SON.

Typos

The parentheticals are the corresponding margin notes.

Henry said formally (….What)

I meant finally. You know when there’s a long silence and then someone…formally says something? (Also, Henry is so not formal)

“Goodybe for now,” Vinnie said.
“Goodbe for now,” Angelo echoed quietly. (Still not getting enough sleep, are we?)

Twice in a row. Impressive.

“He lelf. left.” (I leave this here as a testament to sleep deprivation)

Also, while reading through it, my Sponge sister kept saying, “Thou shalt capitalize the first letter of Henry’s name.” Because…apparently I kept…not doing that. (I’m sorry, Henry.)

In other news, one of the most sophisticated characters consistently used bad grammar in his introductory scene. And someone had a loose threat on their sleeve.

Snippets

….On second thought, I don’t have the time or brainpower to pick out a bunch of snippets. But here’s one.

***

Well, there it is, folks. It’s a gem.

Funfact: When I finished writing the book, I wrote the last sentence, threw down my pen, and….started crying. Which has never happened before with any other book?

Eh, what can I say? I was sleep-deprived and emotionally invested and it’s the most complicated thing I’ve ever written, but I DID IT.

What have you been writing lately? Do you know who Edmund Sparkler is? Do you use (?)s and/or brackets? What other superpowers help you get through a first draft? Aren’t margin notes a JOY? Have you ever cried over your writing? Do tell!

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