Wednesday, July 09, 2008

My Lord and Spymaster various stuff

I was getting confused answering posts about My Lord and Spymaster that were appended to the 'Dates' post.

So I decided to bring the last one up here and just add it as a new message.


Lady Leigh writes:

First off- I LOVED My Lord and Spymaster. The one scene I keep coming back to is when Jess is lying in the grass. The whole bit about clover and horehair and Sebastian making love to her eyebrows... I've tried to pick apart what is so powerful about it, all the layers and language, what it makes me feel and how. Did it take you a while to write that scene? Did it just come out as magic?

How long does it take you to plot and write a book? When will Maggie's story be done?

Thanks for all your posts on writing instruction etc. I appreciate it! The method to the madness.

Is there an interview with you anywhere? I missed your month at Julia Quinn and Eloisa James' BB.

Have you ever thought about hosting an online workshop?

OK- enough with the questions ;-)

Leesee --

-- I am so delighted you enjoyed My Lord and Spymaster. I'm still all worried about that one, so I'm glad when anyone says nice things about it.

-- The one scene I keep coming back to is when Jess is lying in the grass

The scene you like -- Jess and Sebastian in the garden. I have no idea why that one worked. I really have no idea.

I'm very fond of it though. It more or less wrote itself just as it stands, all in one piece, and it's one of the first scenes I wrote for MLAS.

In the end, I was going to leave it out, actually. I came about theeeeese close, (jo holds up maybe three centimeters,) to chucking it. Because it is not in the direct line of action. That is, I could have removed the scene and it would make no difference to the forward progress of the story.

Also, I just knew a lot of readers were going to find it slow going.

But I really liked it. So that edged me one hair to the right and I kept the scene.

-- How long does it take you to plot and write a book?

It takes at least a year to plot and write a story. Maybe longer.

When I was writing TSL and MLAS I was redoing all the walls and floors and installing electrical wire and bookcases, (and endless so on,) in a new house. I think I would have got the manuscripts written faster if I hadn't been doing all that other stuff.

I never did finish doing the bathrooms. I really should get on with that.

No time. No time.
(jo, feeling harried)

-- When will Maggie's story be done?

Maggie's story will be late 2009.
I think.

-- online workshops ...?

I did some online writing workshops at the CompuServe Books and Writers Community. Here . It was a while back. They're under the 'Writers Exercises' section.

-- Is there an interview with you anywhere?

I have done some interviews.

I will post links to interviews on the sidebar the next time I gird my loins and go add things to the sidebar.

I have some reviews to add there also -- including one completely pinch-your-nose-it-stinks review -- and have been procrastinating about it.

21 comments:

  1. Anonymous4:14 PM

    When I asked the 4th person at B and N to look for MLAS they found it, and I have now read the book through, once. Will be reading it again shortly. I loved Jess--particularly her two voices--you have an amazing way with voices. And Fluffy...I wonder what will end up happening to her...can't imagineher getting her own book but what an interesting thing for her to decide to do.
    I loved the scene where Jess and Adrian meet again. And the shopping scene. And the reverend telling Jess he couldn't translate the Arabic for her...this is definitely another keeper.

    Am I understanding correctly that Adrian was once the Hand, just as Jess was? That makes me really want to read the next book!
    And if Doyle has a daughter Jess's age....does that fit with Doyle and Maggie's book being in 1994?

    Also...thinking about HLC--any chance you could get your publisher to release it electronically as a download? I know you don't think its on a par with these books, but heck, neither is 99% of romance books--it still would be fun for any of us to read who have loved SL and MLAS.

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  2. Hi Anon --

    I am glad B&N finally found MLAS. *g* What ARE they doing with their books, one wonders, if titles are slipping away from them like wriggly fish?

    Thank you so much for liking Jess -- and for seeing that she had two voices. Yes.

    I'm not sure what will happen to Fluffy. Do you think she makes Lazarus, eventually, retire and take up honesty? Or does she become doyenne of the underworld ... raising her young son to follow in his father's footsteps ..?

    Yes. Adrian was Hand for Lazarus when he was young. That's another promising young thief who 'went honest'. Sorta.

    I don't want to go into the exact details of Doyle and Maggie's oldest daughter. Slight spoilers and all that.

    As to the VERY old gothic Romance ... I'll let my wise and delightful agent decide what to do with it. She'll know.
    *g*

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  3. I just finished reading your book The Spymaster's Lady...picked up by chance at the library. I loved it...loved the characters and the intricate storytelling. Then,ofcourse , I wanted to know if you had written more books..and came across this blog. Congratulations..I am planning to pick up the next book as I write this.

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  4. Hi Susan --

    I left a message over on your blog, thanking you.

    So I'll say it again. Thank you.

    I truly am going to get this blog cleaned up and turned into a proper website. I've got it almost done ...

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  5. Hi Seema --

    Thank you so very much for picking up Spymaster's Lady, (at the library yet,) and enjoying it enough to plan to pick up My Lord and Spymaster.
    I hope you like it.

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  6. Oh I didn't expect an response right away..I very rarely write..lol. I can't pick it up at the library unfortunately..they don't have it..but I did place an order with Amazon. That's rare for me too..I prefer the library..lol. But I think your book is worth it.

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  7. Hi Jo!
    I've been raving about you on my blog :-) I hadn't read all of your posts before, so I printed them all in really tiny font to read in order... Thank you so much for all the comments and advice - and all the funny cat stories! I should send you some shots of our cats nosing their way under the covers of a newly made bed or making noisy demands to drink from the faucet :-)

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  8. Hi Seema --

    I was just over at library thing, admitting that I don't actually OWN any Connie Willis, though I heart her most completely.

    She's in my local library, so ...

    But I feel guilty about not buying her, which I hope is mitigation somehow.

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  9. Hi Deniz --

    I shall have to go over to your blog, which is at

    http://thegirdleofmelian.blogspot.com/

    btw and bask in approbation. I am a big fan of approbation.

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  10. Anonymous9:39 PM

    Hm. I don't think I can see Fluffy making Lazarus retire--its awfully hard to imagine him taking up honesty. And I don't see her becoming a doyenne either--I may be wrong, but at least right now I dont' see her having mass control--just the ability to insist on what she wants with Lazarus.
    Not sure where that leaves her.
    But what fun to ponder.
    And what a neat thing to have in your book--this whole little separate life--just like in real life.
    I also kept wondering what, exactly, Claudia wanted to say to Jess but didnt....

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  11. I went back and read your crapometer at Miss Snark after I finished the book and I was wondering if Buchanon who is, after all, a "spying, sneaky clerk" was originally the other part of Cinq?

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  12. Hm. I don't think I can see Fluffy making Lazarus retire--its awfully hard to imagine him taking up honesty. And I don't see her becoming a doyenne either--I may be wrong, but at least right now I dont' see her having mass control--just the ability to insist on what she wants with Lazarus.
    Not sure where that leaves her.
    But what fun to ponder. ....


    I do like thinking on this. Right now, I don't know myself.

    Mostly a 'Lazarus' retires because the next Lazarus manages to get close enough to stick a knife in him. (Could that be one of the reasons the Hand is a clever child?)

    Maybe this Lazarus is smart enough to gather up his ill-gotten gains and retire before somebody takes him out permanently. Maybe he sets himself up as a gentleman in ... say ... Boston.



    And what a neat thing to have in your book--this whole little separate life--just like in real life.

    The editor is letting me get away with this sorta thing so far.


    I also kept wondering what, exactly, Claudia wanted to say to Jess but didnt....


    SPOILER SPOILER SPOILER

    I see Claudia as in a bad place all through this story. She knows, just knows, that something evil is going on under the surface.

    She doesn't know what. She doesn't know how serious it is.
    Her every instinct says to stay quiet and defend the family.

    But she senses a crisis is coming. She feels the menace that's directed toward Jess.
    In that scene, Claudia almost, but not quite, works up the courage to warn Jess.

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  13. Hi Moth --

    The story changes a little bit between the synopisis and the final manuscript, didn't it? *g* This happens.

    My villain went through several *cough* transformations.

    I will share a secret. I really wanted to write a female villain. Cinq was originally Claudia.

    I just couldn't make it work in a practical sense. I tried. I really tried.

    I'll have to write a female villain some other time. Rats.

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  14. A female villain, the mind whirls in happy anticipation--Fluffy might become formidable, nothing like the wrath of a mother thwarted...I too gushed about My Lord and Spymaster on my blog while still in the happy after glow and afraid to open another book for fear of comparison based disappointment.

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  15. Hi Evanne --

    Thank you SO much for saying nice things about My Lord and Spymaster. I really appreciate it.

    Folks who review books do a lot of good for the genre. I say this even when they're giving me bad reviews. (I'm kinda 'ouching' as I say it sometimes.)

    As to the female villain --
    I have this long-term desire to write a female villain. Somebody who's not just jealous and selfish and petty the way so many female villains seem to be. I want somebody active and powerful and baaaad.

    So far, it hasn't worked out. I don't have any story planned with a good female villain.

    But someday ...

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  16. Regarding the bad reviews, I just want to say how much I appreciate that you do link to them. It's such a refreshing antidote to this recent trend of authors posting defensive responses to unfavorable reader reviews on Amazon.

    And finally, finally, I'm going to get to read MLAS. I put it on hold practically the minute it appeared in my library's online catalog, but only today have the books actually materialized on the shelves. (Maybe they ordered them from Barnes & Noble?)

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  17. Anonymous12:08 PM

    Hi Jo! I was wondering if MLAS will be available in ebook format? Or if you knew when the foreign release dates are? I am dying to get reading! Thanks!!

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  18. Hi Claire Emerson --

    Well, anybody looking for reviews is going to find the bad ones as well as the good ones. It's not like I could keep 'em secret.

    Might as well make it easy on folks.

    I do hope you enjoy MLAS.

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  19. Hi Anon --

    I'm very sorry to admit I do not know when or if MLAS will be available in e-book format.

    They never tell me anything.

    One of my friends did mention that MLAS was available in Australia -- I forget which city. But that wouldn't do you any good unless you were IN Austrailia, would it?

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  20. Anonymous9:47 AM

    hi- gotta get those e-versions out there for those of us who live, for example, in Tanzania, and were hoping that the July 1 release date for MLAS included one I could download!

    Loved Spymaster's Lady- great to have such good francophony (I speak fluent french and italian and get so fed up with franco-Phony!)and such a wonderful heroine. Need more of those smart and resourceful women out there!

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