2013. Ugh. If that year had been a story in a slush pile, it wouldn’t have gotten past the first reader. I did see one new collection published by Prime, and finished the next Yamada novel (The War God’s Son), so it wasn’t a total waste. 2014 looks to be…interesting.
So. Anything you’re looking forward to in 2014?
I don’t usually get story ideas from dreams. Usually because my dreams are an ungodly mess in terms of story, and I usually can come up with something better—and more coherent—when I’m awake. Story ideas have happened a couple of times, but no more than that. What happened on my last outing to the dreamtime was something a bit different—I got, not a story, but a question.
In the dream, someone asked me why my skeletons didn’t sing and I was answering that question. Which sort of tells you all you need to know about my dreams. Silly things, the lot of them. And though I’ve never written about an animated skeleton I have written plenty of ghost stories staring my paranormal investigator, Eli Mothersbaugh, and the same principles applied. I have always considered the Eli stories to be science fiction, not fantasy, on the “change one thing and let the logic of your world building arise from that” school of science fiction construction. In Eli’s world, ghosts are a fact. A scientifically demonstrable, repeatable under laboratory conditions fact. And, as I was explaining in the dream, skeletons don’t need air, which is a good thing since they have no lungs and therefore no breath. Singing requires breath and vocal chords. Skeletons have neither, therefore skeletons don’t sing. Or scream, or talk, or do much of anything that requires breath. In the case of a paranormal ghost this isn’t even an issue. Of course an animated skeleton could talk in that situation, the same paranormal forces that would animate a skeleton in the first place would certainly not balk at speech. Logically, of course, it couldn’t talk, but then logically it wouldn’t exist in the first place, unless….
Unless the implied rules of the story universe which it inhabits allows for it. Since the thing exists in the first place, then it follows that it would be able to speak. Yet Eli’s universe has no animated skeletons. It might have ghosts that manifest visually as an articulated (not articulate) skeleton, but keep in mind that Eli’s universe is our universe, or rather one very much like it. With one small change. Ghosts may exist, but they have no physical form. They are pure bio-remnant energy in a more or less cohesive unity. In order to speak, they have to use that energy to manipulate sound waves and it takes a lot out of them, so most don’t bother. There was one exception, and if you’ve read the story “Diva” in the Eli Mothersbaugh collection, you know what—or rather who—that exception is. Yet even there a logical reason for Madame Caldwell’s ability exists. Has to exist, because the rules of this story universe require it.
Which brings me to my point, finally (Seriously, if you’ve stuck with me so far you had to be wondering if there was one, by now). Every story is set in its own universe, even the ones that appear to be set in our own, with the exception of series, in which case they’re set in their own universe. Most of the rules of that universe—and you might call them physical laws, but it goes beyond that—are implied in the setting and development of the story itself, and not always made explicit. That doesn’t matter. What does matter is that you violate those implied rules at your peril, because the reader won’t stand for it.
Whadya mean, “won’t stand for it”? How are they going to know that you’ve done so? They don’t know what the rules are! Oh, but they do, because everything they’ve read of your story up to that point has told them what they are. You imply, consciously or not. They infer, consciously or not. And when you break your own rules, they’ll know that something is not right. They might not know precisely what isn’t right, but they’ll know that something is off. And they’ll start thinking about what that something might be rather than being caught up in the story you’re trying to tell them, and you might as well butter it at that point, because that particular story is toast.
I’m not saying it’s impossible to pull off, mind. It can be done, especially if you’ve used a bit of misdirection to make the reader infer something that you did not in fact imply, but that’s very tricky to pull off, so you’d better have a really good reason for doing it. Readers like being fooled, but you have to do it honestly. Otherwise you’re playing fast and loose with the rules, and remember you never get to decide if those rules work or not. The reader does that. And their decision is always final.
This morning I sent off the copyedited manuscript of To Break the Demon Gate, along with a list of preferred artists to do the cover, to the publisher. One advantage of working with a specialty publisher for things like limited editions is that you often have some input into matters like cover art, which is less likely to happen for the more traditional editions. It can and does happen, but not routinely. Regardless, there was one artist I’ve been a fan of since my early days, and he’s one that PS Publishing does work with, so it could happen. Right now the schedule is still looking good for a spring release, probably around March. I can’t wait to see how it turns out.
The copyeditor pronounced the manuscript “clean,” which is good, though in a couple of places he/she did get confused by word choices that aren’t as common in British usage, so I had to clear that up, but overall there wasn’t a lot to do. One thing I am going to need to do is convert the manuscript from British spelling and usage back to American spelling and usage for the trade reprint edition, still scheduled for next December. The limited edition will be the hardcover edition, so it just depends on your preference. And patience.
I want to keep up the weekly blog schedule during December, but there’s a chance that’s not going to happen. To be perfectly blunt, I’m not altogether sane this time of year… I mean less than usual. It’s a character flaw of mine that I find the holidays extremely stressful and crazy-making, and this year isn’t going to be any different, except for a possible ramp-up of intensity. Most of it is of my own making, but that doesn’t change the fact. If I can get through to January without major drama, I’ll score that a win. If you don’t hear from me before then, have a safe and happy rest of the month, and I’ll see you on the other side.
It occurs to me, with the mixing of short fiction and novel-length stories that make up the Yamada timeline, that it might not be a bad idea to set this all out now, at least to the degree I understand it (and if you think the writer knows everything about what they’ve done, think again). Most of the stories occur in the timeline/continuity in the order that they were written, but the novels do throw one or two curves into the mix, so here goes:
“Fox Tails” – First Yamada story written. Knew it was a series then, didn’t know where it was going.
“Moon Viewing at Shijo Bridge” – Second Yamada story. Yamada’s sad history with Princess Teiko is revealed. This was the story where I think I first got a good handle on who Yamada was and what he was about.
YAMADA MONOGATARI: DEMON HUNTER. First Yamada collection. The stories contained therein were usually a reader’s first introduction to the series and were published over a span of years and appear in the order they were written, but the continuity is not complete in them because….
Here’s where it gets a little complicated:
TO BREAK THE DEMON GATE. First actual Yamada novel. TBTDG incorporates “Moon Viewing at Shijo Bridge” which forms the first section of the book, and no, I didn’t know that it was the first section of a novel when I wrote it. I figured that out later. The balance of the novel concerns the events leading up to Yamada’s final confrontation with Lord Sentaro. This was written after several of the stories appearing in YM:DH but before “The Ghost of Shinoda Forest,” which ends the collection, but in the continuity of the series, they all, except “Fox Tails” and “Moon Viewing at Shijo Bridge,” occur after the events of the novel. At the end of TO BREAK THE DEMON GATE, Yamada has still not made peace with the memory of Princess Teiko. That comes later (see “The Ghost of Shinoda Forest.”) I’m not sure when the PS Publishing limited edition is coming out, but Prime Books has the trade reprint scheduled for December 2014.
“The Sorrow of Rain” – If you have no idea what this story is, that is because it hasn’t been published yet. But it falls in the timeline before “The Ghost of Shinoda Forest” but after TO BREAK THE DEMON GATE.(Edited to note: Oops. It falls after “The Ghost of Shinoda Forest.” I misremembered.)
THE WAR GOD’S SON – complete but under revision. The events of this book occur about seven years after “The Ghost of Shinoda Forest,” and take place after all the short stories written to date in the continuity. The novel is set during what is usually referred to as The Nine Years’ War in Japanese history (though, with delays and truces, it was more like twelve). The tearing of the social fabric that will eventually bring about the end of the Heian Period and the rise of the samurai is already evident, but won’t manifest completely for another hundred and twenty years. We also get to meet Yamada’s elder sister. There is no current publication date scheduled.
And that’s where it stands. Confused? I would be. I often am.
