Squeetus summer book club: The Goose Girl, chapter 7

I've confessed before that I like my own books. I spent decades working on my writing skills (and still am of course, every day) so that I could be good enough to write the kind of books I'd want to read. By no means do I expect that everyone will like my books, but I'm not going to be coy and pretend that I don't. And so it's only with a small embarrassment that I admit that while rereading this book, my most common thought is, "Ooh, that's a good line." I'm trying to find interesting things to tell you about the book to give a peek into writing process and authorship, so I resist listing all the lines I'm egotistically admiring. Just so you know, that's what's going down in this little brain.

Ani faces the king

This happened in the original tale. The princess arrives in the kingdom and yet for some reason doesn't tell the king who she really is. It always bothered me in the tale, so in the novel I hoped to create a more robust circumstance in which her behavior makes sense.

Tatto

I remember Tatto's original name was Sed. I usually name my characters the first name that pops into my head while writing and most end up as place holders. Sed's name changed when I replaced all Bayern names with ones from medieval German names lists. As well, it was awkward if I ever had to write: Sed said. I cut lots of passages (and chapters) in early drafts, but I remember in a late draft cutting a good two pages from this part, Tatto walking Ani through the city, at the request of my editor.

Ideca

Another "I" name! Initially she was different, a jolly kind of a woman, but one of my early readers, Tiffany Trent, thought I'd made all the characters too friendly and welcoming to Ani. So I rewrote Ideca. After hearing how brilliantly the actor playing her in the audio book did her voice, I wished I'd given her more lines.

pg 118, Ani imagines

I can see this image so clearly, the small dwelling swelling into the palace and then snapping back. I hope I described that well enough. Can you visualize it?

122, punishment for cowardice

...was to be buried. This is one of those historical details I took from Tacitus's writings on the early Germans. While other offenses required public displays of punishment, cowardice (and also, homosexuality) were punished by burying the person alive.

wood slats pressing through the mattress

I slept on a bed like that for several months. Old, thin mattress.

Katie asks, "When you're writing a book, do you ever feel like you don't know what to write next or like something isn't working the way you want? If so, how do you push past it?" Of course, all the time. The only way to push past it is to keep writing and giving myself permission to write it wrong. There's always revision.

Danielle asks, "is it easier to write lyrically or to write something comedic?" Both are challenging. Both take a lot of revisions. Nothing comes easily to me the first draft. I like switching styles. I get bored easily and also don't want to burn myself out overusing one style.

Malvolio asks, "do you listen to music when you write?" Rarely. Only if I need to try to drown out other noises. I never listen to music to set the mood of my writing. I'd just tune it out anyway. The more kids I have, the more skilled I am at tuning out noise. #survival

Lucy asks, "when you're writing, do you finish one entire draft of a story before you go back and edit anything, or do you edit sections before the whole thing is complete?" Yes, I usually make myself go forward to the end. First drafts are so hard for me I just want to get through the thing. Editing as I go would slow down my momentum.

Fleur asks, "when you are writing your first draft, do you worry about the content of the sentence, and how the sentence reads, or is the only purpose of your first draft to get your elementary ideas written down?" Yes, my goal with a first draft is to get the bones of the story. It makes me very happy if I get a lovely sentence or two but that's not my goal with a first draft. 

"do you keep a journal?" Yes and I wish I'd been more diligent with it all my life. I highly recommend keeping a journal for everyone but especially writers. You learn to understand a situation, feeling, idea through the process of writing it out.

Maggie asks, " Is it easier to write sequels after the first book is written (since the characters and setting have been mostly established) or is writing a sequel completely different to writing the first book in a series?" Depends on the book. In general, I think with a sequel a lot of the world and character discovery has been done and so can be easier. But for me, Forest Born was harder than River Secrets, Calamity Jack was harder than Rapunzel's Revenge, so it just depends. Each book presents its own challenges.