stevenpiziks (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
stevenpiziks) wrote2015-08-13 12:01 pm
stevenpiziks) wrote2015-08-13 12:01 pm
The Trilogy Ends
BONE WAR is done.
Sure, there will be the editorial rewrite and the copyedit and the page proofs, but the hard part is done. This means the TRILOGY is done. Whoa. It's been a ride.
Nearly twenty-five years ago, I read a book about Norse trolls and the splinters in their eyes that kept them from seeing truth. Moments later, I conceived Trollboy, who was half human and half troll. His splinters had been knocked out, so he could always see the truth, even when it hurt.
I wrote a short story about Trollboy, but couldn't sell it to any of the print magazines. A few years later, I sold it to an ezine that, alas, no longer exists. I put the story in my PUBLISHED file. But I remembered Trollboy and his tribulations. His story wasn't complete.
And then a few years ago, I was meeting with my editor Anne Sowards at a convention. The Clockwork Empire was drawing to a close, and she wanted to know what I had coming up next. I pitched several ideas at her, but she liked none of them, even though all of them had female protagonists. "You know what I'd like to see?" she said. "Some boy-centered fantasy." So I pitched Trollboy at her. She liked it quite a lot.
So Trollboy--Danr--got his own set of novels at last.
Along the way, we met Aisa, who started off in my head as a lone figure wrapped in a cloak with her face hidden behind a fluttering ragged scarf. She watched Danr from a distance. I needed to know more about her. Who was she? Why did she stay wrapped up? What was her relationship with Danr? IRON AXE spent considerable time exploring this.
And there was Talfi, the third member of the triad. In Norse mythology, I've always liked Talfi (Tialfi, Tjalfi), the mortal boy who can run like the wind and who gets tricked into becoming Thor's servant. Only two stories about him survive, and I wanted to play with the character. What would it be like to become immortal? I had my own take on it, of course.
My original story idea underwent some huge changes. Initially, I had it in mind that the characters would climb Ashkame, the World Tree, and visit a number of different worlds, escape dreadful monsters and fight giants. But as I put the synopsis together, I realized that this would disconnect the characters from the mortal world, the very place they were trying to save. So I put them back on Erda, which turned out to be much better.
Most of my original story trappings disappeared. I was planning to have shy Aisa drink the mead of poetry and become a great bard, but Aisa turned out brash and sarcastic instead of shy, so that plot vanished. Kalessa, the orcish princess who wanted to be remembered, showed up and was supposed to be around for only one book, but was too interesting to abandon, so she played an important role in successive books. Talfi, a major surprise, fell in love with Ranadar, the elven prince. And Danr and Aisa both wove themselves into the very fabric of the universe itself. Their ultimate fate in BONE WAR wasn't something I had in mind when I started, but it was the only possible resolution. (No, it isn't a sad one--I don't write tragedy.)
And now their story is concluded. It feels odd, knowing it's over. I've lived with them for over three years, and now our relationship is drawing to a close. But that's the nature of novels.
Sure, there will be the editorial rewrite and the copyedit and the page proofs, but the hard part is done. This means the TRILOGY is done. Whoa. It's been a ride.
Nearly twenty-five years ago, I read a book about Norse trolls and the splinters in their eyes that kept them from seeing truth. Moments later, I conceived Trollboy, who was half human and half troll. His splinters had been knocked out, so he could always see the truth, even when it hurt.
I wrote a short story about Trollboy, but couldn't sell it to any of the print magazines. A few years later, I sold it to an ezine that, alas, no longer exists. I put the story in my PUBLISHED file. But I remembered Trollboy and his tribulations. His story wasn't complete.
And then a few years ago, I was meeting with my editor Anne Sowards at a convention. The Clockwork Empire was drawing to a close, and she wanted to know what I had coming up next. I pitched several ideas at her, but she liked none of them, even though all of them had female protagonists. "You know what I'd like to see?" she said. "Some boy-centered fantasy." So I pitched Trollboy at her. She liked it quite a lot.
So Trollboy--Danr--got his own set of novels at last.
Along the way, we met Aisa, who started off in my head as a lone figure wrapped in a cloak with her face hidden behind a fluttering ragged scarf. She watched Danr from a distance. I needed to know more about her. Who was she? Why did she stay wrapped up? What was her relationship with Danr? IRON AXE spent considerable time exploring this.
And there was Talfi, the third member of the triad. In Norse mythology, I've always liked Talfi (Tialfi, Tjalfi), the mortal boy who can run like the wind and who gets tricked into becoming Thor's servant. Only two stories about him survive, and I wanted to play with the character. What would it be like to become immortal? I had my own take on it, of course.
My original story idea underwent some huge changes. Initially, I had it in mind that the characters would climb Ashkame, the World Tree, and visit a number of different worlds, escape dreadful monsters and fight giants. But as I put the synopsis together, I realized that this would disconnect the characters from the mortal world, the very place they were trying to save. So I put them back on Erda, which turned out to be much better.
Most of my original story trappings disappeared. I was planning to have shy Aisa drink the mead of poetry and become a great bard, but Aisa turned out brash and sarcastic instead of shy, so that plot vanished. Kalessa, the orcish princess who wanted to be remembered, showed up and was supposed to be around for only one book, but was too interesting to abandon, so she played an important role in successive books. Talfi, a major surprise, fell in love with Ranadar, the elven prince. And Danr and Aisa both wove themselves into the very fabric of the universe itself. Their ultimate fate in BONE WAR wasn't something I had in mind when I started, but it was the only possible resolution. (No, it isn't a sad one--I don't write tragedy.)
And now their story is concluded. It feels odd, knowing it's over. I've lived with them for over three years, and now our relationship is drawing to a close. But that's the nature of novels.