Echoes in a Hollow Space

In case any of you missed this over on editorial_ass, it's some fine advice on whether to write the whole series/trilogy now or wait until you've sold the first book. Her advice matches up with what my instincts have always told me: don't write the sequel unless and until you've sold the first novel, because...well, read what she says.

I am definitely planning out subsequent novels in my trilogy—a sensible precaution, I believe, when one is going to shop the first book in a proposed series and quite separate from the writing thereof. I've also been occupying myself with inventing a language, or rather reinventing. I'd used some fake language bits in the first draft confident I'd remember what the words meant, but by the second draft, I had only the vaguest clue. By the third, I was utterly lost.

So I decided to start from scratch and formally structure this language. The lovely and talented mnfaure mentioned a similar obsession for one of her works and recommended Holly Lisle's language clinic, so that's what I'm using.

In my spare time. :-) It satisfies my inner obsessive-compulsive nicley, I must say. I can wile away the hours...

And it's also helped with some of the worldbuilding. Coming up with grammar rules and distinctive sounds, et al., has already got me thinking things like, "How would that sound coming out of the mouth of a nonhuman?" All good questions to ask oneself when layering the worldbuilding.

If I should happen to write that sequel.

Quote of the day:


"All stories are lies, just because they are stories. But they are true even so, every one of them, and sometimes the biggest lies turn out the truest of all."

—Peter S. Beagle, "Lal and Soukyan," Giant Bones


I adore Peter S. Beagle, I just do. The story quoted from above is a sequel, of sorts, to The Innkeeper's Song, one of my very favorite Beagle novels. Mr. Beagle says he doesn't like to do sequels because the story should exist as it is. I wanted The Innkeeper's Song to continue or come again because the ending tantalized so, and I eagerly grabbed up the "Lal and Soukyan" story to read it. But I almost wish I hadn't. That doesn't mean I didn't love it, just that I almost wish I hadn't read it.

His books and stories stay with me like nobody else's. Another favorite, although I acknowledge it's a bit uneven, is The Folk of the Air. It still resonates strongly in my mind years later. (Even uneven Peter S. Beagle is still wonderful.) I wanted that story to continue or come again, too. But after reading "Lal and Soukyan" I am content with Mr. Beagle's usual practice of letting the story be what it is. I'm content to let it go on in my mind rather than on the page.