BREAKING NEWS! N.K. JEMISIN WILL BE OUR GUEST THROUGHOUT THE ENTIRE MONTH OF MARCH!!!!

[Melhay]

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NKJemisin wrote:

And here I said I wouldn't be popping in much. =)  Sorry!

Just wanted to post this, because apparently there are now a couple of book clubs that will be focusing on The Hundred Thousand Kingdoms in March, as well as a college class or two (!), and I got asked about pronunciation of the characters' names.  So wanted to direct folks here to this new post at my blog:  a pronunciation guide.  Let me stress:  I don't care how people pronounce the names. But some readers care, so here ya go!

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Nora!  Don't apologize!  You are welcome to pop in here before, during, and after the month of March.  We always love having authors around all the time! 

Great that you are being featured in so many places!  Congrats!  That has to be a great sign.

Thank you for the pronunciation guide.

[Nadine]

One of the things I really like about short-fiction writers who write their first novel is the fact that they are so efficient with words. We saw this in Ken Scholes' first novels as well. For contrast, read the first paragraph (or first page, or even the first chapter) of say Volume 10 of some fantasy epic and you will see how blotted they are with all sorts of descriptive material that tells you nothing about the story.

On the other hand read the opening of Nora's 100k:

"I am not as I once was. They have done this to me, broken me open and torn out my heart. I do not know who I am anymore.

I must try to remember"

You are already drawn in to the story and you already know quite a bit about the storyteller. In fact, you know there is going to be a storyteller, that storyteller is going to go through a very difficult time...and, obviously, survive a changed person. You are hooked right away. The rest of the chapter is packed with information and by the end of it you have a lot of backstory and the plot has been developed significantly. The heroine has already been placed in jeopardy, we know she is trapped, an outsider, has no friends, and we know things are going to get far worse. This is really tight writing and I find a delightful read. Even the word choices and phrasing are enjoyable. As we go along it might be fun to quote some really memorable statements from the book.

[NKJemisin]

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Nadine wrote:

Ah, here is my earlier question:

02-14-2010 10:15 PM

Nora uses an interesting writing technique -- kind of like a Stream of Consciousness format. When I read Chapter 1, I thought that maybe I was not going to like it. It seemed "jumpy" but then I found it worked and by the end of the chapter I was hooked. I read somewhere, and now I can't remember where, that this trilogy was already written but the format didn't work, so essentially she is rewriting the book in this style. So I have my first question for Nora:

Question: What format did you use in your first writing of this book?

I am finding that this method is working out very well to provide the back-story without taking a lengthy "time-out" to provide background information that we are going to need to understand what is happening. For those of you who haven't started to read this, the first-person narrator is relating the events that are taking place but her thoughts jump to other events or information in the middle of the narrative..

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Hi Nadine,

It was originally written in straightforward third person.  I would say that it <em>worked</em>, in that it was technically functional, but it just wasn't very interesting, and made for long infodumpy sections.  =)  I suppose those infodumps are really still there, just delivered in the form of Yeine's asides and reminiscences instead.  In the new version I decided to make those infodumps work as part of the story, not just information shoehorned in.

Hope that makes sense.  =)

[NKJemisin]

Nora uses an interesting writing technique -- kind of like a Stream of Consciousness format. When I read Chapter 1, I thought that maybe I was not going to like it. It seemed "jumpy" but then I found it worked and by the end of the chapter I was hooked. I read somewhere, and now I can't remember where, that this trilogy was already written but the format didn't work, so essentially she is rewriting the book in this style. So I have my first question for Nora:

Question: What format did you use in your first writing of this book?

I am finding that this method is working out very well to provide the back-story without taking a lengthy "time-out" to provide background information that we are going to need to understand what is happening. For those of you who haven't started to read this, the first-person narrator is relating the events that are taking place but her thoughts jump to other events or information in the middle of the narrative..

[NKJemisin]

Hey, thanks.  =)  I think there's a good reason why you see this mostly in debut writers -- I can't speak for all debutantes (?), but my first couple of novels were dinged for being too big and having too slow of an opening.  So with this one I tried to jump right into things as soon as narratively possible.

[pen21]

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Nadine wrote:

Great post on the Nebula nominees, Paul. Congratulations, Nora, on your short story nomination. Hey, since we are discussing Nora book, maybe some of you would like to read and maybe talk about her nominated short story, Non-Zero Probabilities.

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Just finished reading the short story. Very good. Has me ready to start in on the book for March.

Thanks pen21

[paulgoatallen]

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NKJemisin wrote:

Hey, thanks.  =)  I think there's a good reason why you see this mostly in debut writers -- I can't speak for all debutantes (?), but my first couple of novels were dinged for being too big and having too slow of an opening.  So with this one I tried to jump right into things as soon as narratively possible.

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"too big?"

That's funny considering some of the shelf-benders being released right now!

Paul

[dhaupt]

Wow, this novel looks really incredible. I think I may have to dig out the credit card and pay a visit to the ordering site here.

[pen21]

Debbie,

I have read through Chapter 4 and it is good.

Yes, dig out that card.

I know you are busy in March over on the Romance board, but save time for our discussion.

pen21

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dhaupt wrote:

Wow, this novel looks really incredible. I think I may have to dig out the credit card and pay a visit to the ordering site here.

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[Nadine]

Thanks, Nora. The more I read into the book, the better I like this approach.

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NKJemisin wrote:

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Nadine wrote:

Ah, here is my earlier question:

02-14-2010 10:15 PM

Nora uses an interesting writing technique -- kind of like a Stream of Consciousness format. When I read Chapter 1, I thought that maybe I was not going to like it. It seemed "jumpy" but then I found it worked and by the end of the chapter I was hooked. I read somewhere, and now I can't remember where, that this trilogy was already written but the format didn't work, so essentially she is rewriting the book in this style. So I have my first question for Nora:

Question: What format did you use in your first writing of this book?

I am finding that this method is working out very well to provide the back-story without taking a lengthy "time-out" to provide background information that we are going to need to understand what is happening. For those of you who haven't started to read this, the first-person narrator is relating the events that are taking place but her thoughts jump to other events or information in the middle of the narrative..

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Hi Nadine,

It was originally written in straightforward third person.  I would say that it <em>worked</em>, in that it was technically functional, but it just wasn't very interesting, and made for long infodumpy sections.  =)  I suppose those infodumps are really still there, just delivered in the form of Yeine's asides and reminiscences instead.  In the new version I decided to make those infodumps work as part of the story, not just information shoehorned in.

Hope that makes sense.  =)

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[Nadine]

Nora uses an interesting writing technique -- kind of like a Stream of Consciousness format. When I read Chapter 1, I thought that maybe I was not going to like it. It seemed "jumpy" but then I found it worked and by the end of the chapter I was hooked. I read somewhere, and now I can't remember where, that this trilogy was already written but the format didn't work, so essentially she is rewriting the book in this style. So I have my first question for Nora:

Question: What format did you use in your first writing of this book?

I am finding that this method is working out very well to provide the back-story without taking a lengthy "time-out" to provide background information that we are going to need to understand what is happening. For those of you who haven't started to read this, the first-person narrator is relating the events that are taking place but her thoughts jump to other events or information in the middle of the narrative..

[Nadine]

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NKJemisin wrote:

Hey, thanks.  =)  I think there's a good reason why you see this mostly in debut writers -- I can't speak for all debutantes (?), but my first couple of novels were dinged for being too big and having too slow of an opening.  So with this one I tried to jump right into things as soon as narratively possible.

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Well it really worked. I was hooked by the first chapter with all sorts of questions and concerns with what is going to happen. I tend to have a short attention span and, if a book doesn't grab me and hold my interest, I tend to put it down. I have lots of unfinished books on my shelf. Yours is not going to be one of them.

Aside:

I just noticed that I got a promotion. I am now an "Inspired Bibliophile" and I can bestow "three" Laurels at a time. What power! But I'm also "Invisible" whatever that means!

[Nadine]

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dhaupt wrote:

Wow, this novel looks really incredible. I think I may have to dig out the credit card and pay a visit to the ordering site here.

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Please do and join the discussion team. I think this one is going to be quite lively.

[pen21]

Hmmm...  You got a promotion and a power!

Invisible, I wonder what havoc you can wreak with that.

Congratulations! pen21

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Nadine wrote:

Aside:

I just noticed that I got a promotion. I am now an "Inspired Bibliophile" and I can bestow "three" Laurels at a time. What power! But I'm also "Invisible" whatever that means!

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[TiggerBear]

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pen21 wrote:

Hmmm...  You got a promotion and a power!

Invisible, I wonder what havoc you can wreak with that.

Congratulations! pen21

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Nadine wrote:

Aside:

I just noticed that I got a promotion. I am now an "Inspired Bibliophile" and I can bestow "three" Laurels at a time. What power! But I'm also "Invisible" whatever that means!

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Has to do with lack of blog posting. Well so far as the users "ok what does that mean" group in community have discovered.

Yep it's kind of weird the first week you get the 3 larrel touch. It felt very odd to me. (shrug) You get used to it.

[Nadine]

Nora posted an interesting discussion topic on her blog What is Epic Fantasy? This topic might deserve its own thread. We have kind of talked around this subject before. One of her talking points is "does it have to be a multivolume series?"

I'm not an expert here but I think some of the books we have featured and discussed fall into the category of Epic Fantasy but are stand-alone single books. Of course some of them may go someplace some day and some are planned as multivolume books that don't seem to be going anywhere.

Any of you experts have any thoughts on this or any of the other points Nora brings up?

[Nadine]

I thought I would quote Nora's definitions of epic fantasy since it will be interesting to relate these ideas to 100K. I have taken the liberty of editing her comments a bit for brevity but you can read all the details on her blog:

===========================

From Nora's Blog:

a) Scale. Needs to cover The Fate Of A Nation at minimum.

b) Epic is as epic does, or did. Basically, I think a modern epic fantasy needs to show some respect to the epics of myth and lore.

c) Must involve a massive challenge,

d) Span. In addition to a vast physical scale, I think the story, or the story’s roots, need to cover a long span of time.

e) A showdown. The climax must involve the protagonist(s) facing down their challenge in some singular scene — the kind of scene where, in a movie, you’d be hearing the swelling crescendo of music that means “Aww, yeah! This is it!”

Feel free to share your own thoughts on this; I’m genuinely curious now, because it occurs to me that many fantasy readers may feel as Johnson does — in which case some of them will have trouble thinking of The Hundred Thousand Kingdoms and its sequels as epic fantasy. I’m fine if they don’t; I’m a Virgo, but I’m not that anal about taxonomy. But it would be interesting to know what readers think.

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[paulgoatallen]

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Nadine wrote:

Nora posted an interesting discussion topic on her blog What is Epic Fantasy? This topic might deserve its own thread.

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Nadine:

If I'm not mistaken, there was a comparable thread started quite a while ago – I'll do some searching.

Paul

[pen21]

Nora,

The first section was very good (Through Chapter 11). It does set up characters, their relationships,etc. But it leaves us at a good point to start discussion. Now that I have read the section, I need to make a few more notes. Melhay, Nadine and others really kept me on my toes last time. It will be a good week. I know the minute the discussion starts, I will wish I had made more notes.

Welcome to the group. pen21

[NKJemisin]

Hey, folks -- question, should I be advertising this book club on my website?  That may bring in some new members.  Or are you content to let this grow organically, and/or stick with people already in the club?

Nora

[Nelsmom]

Nora,

Bring them on we always like to have new members.  Other authors have posted on their websites when they have been visiting here.  I have yet to hear that we have too many people.  Still waiting for my copy but will join as soon as I get it.

Toni

[paulgoatallen]

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NKJemisin wrote:

Hey, folks -- question, should I be advertising this book club on my website?  That may bring in some new members.  Or are you content to let this grow organically, and/or stick with people already in the club?

Nora

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Nora:

Yes! Yes! Yes! Scream it from the rooftops! The more, the merrier!

Paul