And there was much rejoicing

[hrj]

About an hour ago, I finished the second editing pass through Mother of Souls I'm planning to send it out to beta-readers next weekend. (I have to write up the "questions to consider" list first.) I'm still weak on a few of the special topic beta-readers that I'd like to have. (My experience is that 50% of beta-readers fail to deliver comments, generally because Life Happens. So I'm terrified of relying on a single person for a particular topic/viewpoint.)

But at the moment, I'm feeling kind of floaty about this. Part of that is because I feel like for the first time (out of three novels) I've actually nailed the ending solidly. Endings are hard. I wasn't entirely happy with how I finished off the first two books. But this one. Oh man. Oh man.

Go listen to Dvorak's "Carnival Overture". Listen to it with your whole body. That's the last few chapters of Mother of Souls.

(I've started developing a secret longing to have some group of Alpennia fans decide to actually write and perform Luzie Valorin's opera "Tanfrit".)

Comments

[soon_lee]

Well done!

(Will you do something to celebrate? A nice meal?)

[hrj.livejournal.com]

To celebrate, I will dedicate next weekend to getting my taxes done. No rest for the wicked.

[lferion]

Yay!

[kareina.livejournal.com]

I am curious. I know that you use both real historical people and unique to your world people to fill in the historic background in your story. Into which category does Tanfrit fall?

[hrj.livejournal.com]

Tanfrit is entirely my invention. All of the "Alpennian school" of historical thaumaturgists are (Fortunatus, Gaudericus, Tanfrit, Petrus Pontis, Chizelik), although I've been tossing in references to a few of Tanfrit's real-world historical contemporaries who may make guest appearances when I write her story.

I'm currently leaning toward *not* locking myself in to writing the Tanfrit book immediately after I write Floodtide. It stands entirely apart from the 19th century stories and doesn't contribute anything needed to follow the main plot-line. In part, I'm inspired to write about Tanfrit as an object lesson in how women have been written out of history and how their real lives and stories have been distorted to conform to the default narratives of later ages (or even their own).

[hrj.livejournal.com]

Meant to add: it probably goes without saying that the plot and characters in the opera Tanfrit bear only tangential resemblance to the historical Tanfrit. That's part of the fun.

[heleninwales.livejournal.com]

Congratulations on finishing the editing pass and also on producing a satisfying ending.

[hrj.livejournal.com]

Thanks. Endings are hard.

[hawkwing-lb.livejournal.com]

*\o/* WAY TO GO!

[hrj.livejournal.com]

I feel like I'm caught up with my schedule again (only one month behind the best case scenario, and still perfectly on track for my promised delivery date). But I think this experiment in promising a delivery date *before* I have a finished first draft in hand has taught me a lesson. Even when I set reasonable goals and work toward them steadily, I never really have any time off. As much as I enjoy writing novels, I'd like to have other things in my life as well.

[hawkwing-lb.livejournal.com]

Yes. The work always expands, and there is always more one can do, so I hear: it is entirely like graduate research that way.

[hrj.livejournal.com]

It is very much like graduate research. In so very many ways. Except the money goes in the opposite direction.

[hawkwing-lb.livejournal.com]

Well, that's one point in its favour, anyway. :)

[khiemtran.livejournal.com]

Congratulations! For me, the hardest part has always been Middles rather than Endings. Often, I get the Ending before anything else, and it's really a matter of working out what goes before it...

[hrj.livejournal.com]

Knowing what the ending is and creating a satisfying ending are entirely different things, though. "And they lived happily ever after" is an ending. But it isn't a very satisfying conclusion to a book.