Don’t let the forces of doom and enshittification drag you down. This is still a wonderful place.

Happy Canada Day to all.

In theory. I’m on version #3 right now, which is somewhat frustrating. I know what has to happen, but I’m struggling with the balance of ‘show vs. tell’ (no, Nancy, you cannot just narrate all the sections you don’t feel like writing …. or can I?) and finding the final paragraphs.

One of my challenges is that the first draft actually came quite easily, and I enjoyed writing it, which is the kiss of death. I got carried away and thought “no, bad thing X doesn’t need to happen, it’ll be fine….” but that was definitely not the case. One of my test readers pointed this out immediately and I had to admit it was a ‘fair cop’ (to quote Monty Python). I’m quite happy to go back to the original version but it does make some of the denouement much harder to manage.

I’ve generally known how each of my novels ends from fairly early in the process, though I don’t always know the mechanics of how the characters get there. For THE NIGHT INSIDE, I remember telling someone that I had the two main characters walking up a set of stairs to confront the antagonist and I had no idea what was going to happen when they got to the top. They found this baffling, but they weren’t a writer.

A TERRIBLE BEAUTY was probably the easiest one – after all, it’s Beauty and the Beast. It could just end with a kiss (so to speak).

With COLD HILLSIDE, I knew I wanted to leave certain things ambiguous and that the climax was really a discovery rather than an action.

I have to have faith that I’ll get this one sorted, but I hope it won’t require many more drafts.

JUST A REMINDER: All four novels will be available in beautiful new e-books editions on JULY 9TH. Pre-orders are open. Thanks!

Back to blue again. I love the vibe of this one and it works for me, even if all the little details aren’t right. It’s eye-catching, which is what you want in a cover.

A switch from blue to red… I think this book poses the biggest challenge to a cover artist. It’s not easy to convey the mix of fairy tale and period horror and to showcase the importance of the setting to the story. This one is evocative without being explicit and it looks great.

Here’s new cover #2. It works beautifully with The Night Inside and I love the colours. Though I admit to being a sucker for anything blue…

I just got back from a trip to Italy (to get my travel legs back and see art and eat delicious food – update to come) and discovered that pre-orders are now available for all four novels in their new Open Road Media editions. Release date is July 9, 2024. Pre-orders are important in the publishing world, so if you’re interested, now’s the time to go to any of the usual suspects (Amazon, Apple, B&N, Kobo, etc) and place your order.

Because the covers are too pretty to show all at once, I’m going to post one a day. First up: THE NIGHT INSIDE. The original cover is so beautiful that it set the template for all the other versions. The designers wisely chose to simply give the concept a modern, clear update and I think it looks gorgeous.

Here’s the best of what I read in the first three months of this year. Sadly, the ‘to read’ list gets no shorter.

FICTION

The Buccaneers, Edith Wharton. The Wharton-fest continues (I’m currently working on The House of Mirth). This edition just has the actual Wharton text, without the later happy ending. And yes, I did watch the Apple TV miniseries and enjoyed it for what it was.

Mrs. Bridge, Evan McConnell. This one came out of having read the author’s book on General Custer last year. I did not expect to love this book as much as I did, given that it has no fantastical element at all, and instead consists of vignettes, images, conversations and short chapters about the life of a family in mid-1900s America. But it’s brilliant.

The Grace of Wild Things, Heather Fawcett. Anne of Green Gables with magic. An enjoyable middle grade novel by the author of Emily’s Wilde’s Encyclopedia of Fairies.

Three Eight One, Aliya Whiteley. A future scholar finds a text written in 2024 and tries to determine it’s veracity and meaning. An interesting mix of fantasy, sf, and technical challenge.

Menewood, Nicola Griffith. The long-awaited sequel to Hild, and worth the wait. Beautiful, immersive, exciting, and brutal by turns.

Nettle & Bone, T. Kingfisher. The first book I’ve read by this author and it’s a winner (of the Hugo, no less). I quickly devoured her shorter work What Moves the Dead as well.

Nights of Plague, Orhan Pamuk. Sprawling fiction about an island that’s part of the fading Ottoman empire, complete with plague, plots, love stories, corrupt politicians, princesses, and more.

NON-FICTION

On Looking: A Walker’s Guide to the Art of Observation, Alexandra Horowitz. I listened to this as an audiobook, which was the perfect way to absorb the observations of various experts as they wander the streets of New York, noticing trees, rocks, fonts, and more. The best bit was when the naturalist was describing a squirrel’s nest just as I looked up to see a squirrel entering exactly that above me.

The Kingdom, The Power, and the Glory: American Evangelicals in the age of Extremism, Tim Alberta. This was very hard to read, both for the threats it outlined and for the genuine faith of the author (not being religious myself, this made me somewhat uncomfortable). But it’s well worth it, because the threat is just as genuine.

Sandy Hook: An American Tragedy and The Battle for Truth, Elizabeth Williamson. This one was also hard to read. It reflects the terrible grief of the parents and the horrifying choice by certain actors (Alex Jones, who is utterly loathsome) to exploit and commodify the tragedy.

Things are moving along towards the reissue of the four novels from Open Road Media. I’ve seen both the covers (gorgeous, once the top hat is gone!) and the promotional ‘jacket copy’ (is that what you call it when there are no jackets?).

It’s always fascinating to see how different artists approach the covers. I’ve been fortunate to have some amazing covers (the first three by the same artist, Stuart Knox). I’m not hung up the cover being ‘realistic’ (some of my favourite books have hideous covers that qualify that way) but focus on whether the vibe is right. Does the cover ‘feel’ like the book? And, of course, will it look good on a computer/ipad/phone screen, since that’s how readers will be buying it now?

I’m happy to say the new covers fit the bill. The Night Inside and Blood and Chrysanthemums have the same style, which clearly signals their relationship. The first one is actually very close to both existing versions of the cover (original Penguin paperback and CZP ebook reissue). Cold Hillside is visually arresting, even if the details (hair, clothes) aren’t accurate. A Terrible Beauty seemed to pose the biggest challenge, but will work with a tweak or two (no hats!). I’m excited to share them when I get the final versions.

I’ve finished the first round of serious line editing on the Witch Novel and now I need to buckle down and make the more serious changes needed. And maybe think of a name for the damned thing.

In poking around my folder of miscellaneous writing advice, I came across some exercises I did from WONDERBOOK by Jeff Vandermeer. While some of the advice was daunting (because I find almost all advice about plot structures daunting), I loved the illustrations and did many of the exercises. Just for fun, here’s one of the first ones from the book. It’ll give you a flavour of the illustrations designed to spark your imagination.

“I’m not sure about the polka dots,” Frederick said. His arms were crossed, his hand over his mouth and his neat dark beard.

“Polka dots,” Paulina repeated obediently from her perch on his shoulder.

Athenee spread her fins wider, as if more polka dots would alter his judgement. Frederick stroked his beard and made a non-committal sound.  The giant fish’s mouth was agape, as if laughing. The fish’s body was flat but, strangely, its fins looked more like the wings of a bat, albeit with polka dots.

Ozymandias bobbed his head once or twice, swivelled it around, and hooted as if in approval.

“If they were a more discreet shade of yellow, perhaps?” Athenee suggested.

“I don’t believe it’s a matter of colour,” Frederick said after a moment’s consideration.  “I believe it’s a question of … practicality.”

“I have you to be practical for me.”

“Fish for dinner?” Paulina asked.  She was, as are most parrots, a vegetarian only most of the time and therefore not adverse to a well-cooked bit of salmon.

“The problem is, my dear, that Lady Sitwell’s soiree is not a costume party.  I’m afraid you’ll feel out of place.  I think the blue dress would be much more appropriate.”

She sighed heavily. “Why won’t anyone we know have a costume party?  Why won’t you let me throw one?”

“Because I detest costume parties.  I did warn you about that.”

The belly of the fish parted and Athenee slithered out, letting the costume collapse onto the floor behind her.  Her fur was sweaty, streaked dark along her belly and sharp face.  She swivelled an ear at him and twitched her tail.  “I think it’s rather amusing.  And sooner later, someone will invite us to a costume party and I warn you, I will wear it.”

“I told you, I detest costume parties.”

“Nonsense.  I’ll put an apron on you and you can be a fishmonger.”

“The blue dress,” he said pointedly and she laughed then walked past him on the way to the stairs, already licking a paw to wash her face.

(copyright Nancy Baker)

I survived the comments from Reader #2. Most suggestions are easy to implement or require just a bit of revision. One of the areas requiring major change wasn’t a surprise at all, as I was never sure that it really worked anyway. Lots of positive comments helped, of course, so I wasn’t required to visit the sloughs of despond.

There’s just one sticky bit where I understand where the comment is coming from but I also have no real interest in expanding on one of the elements that might need to change. I’m going to focus on the things I can fix first and then see where things stand.

I’ve cut about 1,700 words just in the “look how many times you used that word!” review. Sometimes the only way to deal with the gross overuse was to ‘throw away the sentence entire’ and this turned out to be surprisingly easy in many places. One of the perils of having writing large chunks of this book during multiple rounds of Nanowrimo, so there is definitely more than a bit of padding that has survived earlier purges. I haven’t gotten ruthless yet – but that will come.

Still not rewriting the sucker from scratch though. Nope.