The Aldersgate Cycle

I want to share stuff with you that I’m writing now. Really, truly. I’m excited. Today, in spite of being a bad podcast day (thank the dog and the complex gardners for that…) it was a marvelous writing day. I’m like, two chapters from the end as we speak. You know what this chapter’s title is? Do you? The Aldersgate. That’s the chapter I’m working on.

This is where it get hard, and where everything is rewriting. My original draft’s ending was the weakest part of the book. I got so excited that I just… kinda threw everyone off a precipice. My husband, upon reading the book said, “Well, so much of this is awesome… except it sort of just stops, and the end is really hectic.” So this time I’m reinventing the wheel. I’m sanding, polishing, making the grain stand out.

The problem of course is balancing the narratives, a handful of which convene. Instead of jumping from character brain to character brain in each chapter, it’s happening multiple times within a chapter. It’s a bit like learning to shift gears in a car. Except, well, I can’t drive stick. So it’s still a little hectic at this point, at least from this perspective. When it comes time to record these chapters, I do hope you’ll weigh in.

Did I mention inventions? I’ve got some awesome inventions. Deadly and delightful!

I am rallying against words I hate in my draft, and I let one of my characters do it for me.

“So, what could you possibly see that high up?”

Hiram looked down at his stubby fingers and flexed them twice. “Only hearsay, of course. But, it’s what I was mentioning before. It seems that…”

“Seems? I hate that word,” said Sylvan. “Either it is or it isn’t whatever it is you think it is.” That last “it is” was purely the fault of the drink.

Oh, yes, another metaphor. This time, to writing and woodworking. Usually I go blacksmithing, of course but today I’m feeling like woodworking is best. It’s the whole grain/stain thing. You pick out a good piece of wood (ideas, first draft, etc). Then you shape it and sand it; and at first glance, that piece is beautiful. The curves and lines are there, the form is right. But the details are off.

I remember as a kid I was riveted whenever I saw this one infomercial about some random varnish or stain that you put on wood. It would make the most hideous, scratched, stained, boring piece of lumber into a magnificent work of art. And although no woodworker would ever admit to the process being as simple as that, I still hold that a finished book is like a finished piece of wood. When you apply stain, the natural details in the wood just pop. It’s why when you select a piece of wood you dampen it, to see what the deeper colors and grain will look like with the application of stain and varnish.

Of course, I’m just finishing off with the stain. That’s the second draft, and the Big Edit. Which, honestly, for all intents and purposes was a complete rewrite. Sure, the characters are the  same, and some of the premise is the same. But I went after my selected piece of wood with a hatchet when I should have chosen a chisel. Or something.

I am hovering around the 135K mark at the moment, about 15K from the end of this book. And as always I feel a little like a kid poised at the top of an icy hill in a snow tube. It’s going danged fast. When I emerge at the other side, which may be in a few days if the speed is any indication, I’ll dance around and celebrate and likely buy a bottle of expensive wine and some Brie. I’ll record it so you can share in my revelrie. (The last draft’s celebration–nearly a year to the date–was a tattoo.)

Thanks for bearing with me as I finish this. I’m excited, and thrilled, and can’t wait to hear the response when the last podcast goes live. I’ve got some surprises that even I was taken by; it’s so mind-boggling when the gears all move into place as if moved by some pre-destined hand.

Back to Home Depot, then, to pick out the last bits of inlay and contemplate the right varnish.

My professor once told me, after reading a short story I’d written (I refuse to let anyone see the crap I wrote in college… so, so, so, so bad…) that killing characters is an easy way out for writers.

The challenge, he said, is in letting them live. That’s where the stories are.

I am determined to finish this edit in a week, and so, I’m up now, and I have a dizzying scene in my head, trying to weave in my ends (to use a knitting metaphor).

As you know, The Aldersgate is told in a multiple-POV. Every chapter, a different POV. This, of course, can’t last forever. I’m not as clever as George R. R. Martin, and I need to bring them together, and shift perspectives now and again within one chapter.

But boy, is this hard. I’m in the pre-climax. The chapter before the Big One, and all of these characters are coming together, and it’s like a thunderstorm; hot air, warm air, hail and rain. Toss in a gunfight between three factions with a fourth there for good measure, and you’ve made for one exciting little maesltrom.

I have geared bullets that bore holes into you, and keep boring, unless you get them out (and someone is currently working on getting said bullet out of someone elses’ thigh). I have blood and fear, I have betrayal and anger. I have a demon (of sorts) on the loose. I will not say more at the risk of being a total spoiler for those of you following along, but let’s say this… I’m juggling a lot of things. And some of them are knives, or fiery brands, or whatever dangerous things jugglers throw into the air. I started this chapter this morning, and I’m at the halfway point as we speak.

It’s 11:30, but I feel like I’ve got days of work before me if I ever want to get to sleep.

Alderpod #17 – Chapter Fifteen: Figments

No, you did not read this wrong. Yes, I’ve recorded another chapter. Sure, part of it is because I feel bad I haven’t been able to do the whole biweekly thing with the cold, but more than anything it’s because the chapters meld into one another. It’s a continuation from the last chapter, and I thought since I was on a roll I might as well go with it.

Notes on this chapter: This chapter scared me. I mean, scared. I don’t usually get creeped out by the things I write, having a good distance. But once again, since Emry is a little closer to home for me… well, you’ll hear I suppose. This is when things start to go really wrong. Sure, things have been bad, but this chapter is the hinge on which one of the main mechanisms balance: this is when we get a glimpse into just what happened in Barnet, we figure out how Cora busted out of her cell, and, in the meantime, learn about the Sibs in general. Gotta balance, right?

Next up is back at Hartleigh Castle with Sylvan and Ellin, and the arrival of the Alderdaughters. Plus: more intrigue, political upheaval, and the first POV chapter from Kaythra Bav. Then, we’ll be heading back to the Order of the Asp… and, unfortunately, things aren’t getting any brighter for Brick, either.

Ah, the joy of apocalyptic steampunk fantasy. But I promise! Not all is boom and doom… this is just the hard part to get through before hope emerges.

Thanks for listening, and look here for more chapters soon!

Alderpod #16 – Chapter Fourteen: The Nithings

Yes, I totally say “fifteen” and “thirteen” at the beginning of this. I will fix. Numbers confuse me even when my mind is running at full capacity. – Yay fixed!!

After a lengthy, and unintentional break, Alderpod is back! Coughing, sputtering, and sneezing are hardly conducive to a successful episode, so I do hope you forgive me.

Notes on this episode: More about the Nithings, and back to Cora. While this isn’t an action-packed episode, I think it’s important to have a little lull. I like the dialogue, and love the Cora/Emry/Ezz dynamic going on in this chapter. It’s more of a character building chapter, I suppose, setting up some important facts for later on in the story. But I like characters! So, there.

And, we’re back to original music, and a new piece. It’s the first music that I imagined playing as Emry, and it’s done with the tenor guitar I acquired a little before the holidays. I finally strung him up, and got him ready to play–I’m happy with the final result, and even managed a string of melody (as I’m a rhythm guitarist!).

Jake von Slatt’s profile for Make:TV is finally live! I think it’s a great piece, and I personally enjoyed the workshop portions. But I’m a stickler for that stuff… So I can play the guitar, I just can’t mod it! Jake’s shout-out to the amazing steampunk community was particularly awesome, I thought.

Maker Profile – Steampunk on MAKE: television from make magazine on Vimeo.

Via the Steampunk Workshop.

Photo by Curious Expeditions

I’ve been pondering the connection between the modding movement (particularly steampunk, of course) and the art of reliquary making from the Middle Ages (and before) a great deal lately, and thought I’d share some general thoughts. While I’m not technically an art historian, the subject has always fascinated me, and the connections between art and literature are, of course, myriad.

To begin, well, what is a reliquary? Simply put, a reliquary is a vessel, or housing, designed to fit holy objects–typically of a saint or a martyr–in order to enable worship, adoration, and experience. The actual structures varied immensely, from those small enough to house tiny locks of hair, teeth, and scraps of cloth, to large enough to compensate for entire bodies. While most people associate reliquaries with Catholic and Christian tradition, they are also very common in Hindu and Buddhist religions as well.

What initially astonished me about reliquaries, when I began studying the art of the Middle Ages in Western Europe, was the diversity and grandeur to be found in various examples. So much of the artwork during this period seems watered down, simplified, lacking in luster (to some… this is a point I’d argue rather vehemently). But the reliquaries dazzle with their ornate scrollwork, precious metals, inlaid stones, and sense of individuality (not to mention… oddity). That these reliquaries were so adored is no surprise; people believed they could work miracles! And in contrast to the day-to-day life of a medieval peasant, yes, I imagine I would have thought the same thing, too.

Photo by Jake von Slatt

So, steampunk. Consider the word reverence:

1. a feeling or attitude of deep respect tinged with awe; veneration.

Now, is this day and age, religious homogenaiety is far from the norm. But we do revere our technology. And yet, alone, as a generic product of mass-production, our computers and iPods, our guitars, our phones–these things are not uniquely ours. Steampunk design has always striven to re-make, to re-apportion, to re-define the contents within. Because, like a finger-bone or lock of hair is indistinguishable without context, so too is your average computer/technology. Yet many of us feel compelled to read personalities into our own tech, striving to soften the edges of cold, hard, circuits. Granted steampunk artists tend to work in brass and wood, rivets and cogs, etc, and our medieval counterparts used gold, but the sentiment is surprisingly similar. Reliquaries house mysteries, and so, to some extent, to the mods of the steampunk aesthetic movement.

What’s particularly divergent when comparing the two is that while reliquaries and reliquary making were relegated to churches and those in control of power (and, some would argue, the Diety in general…), steampunk is almost like modding your own god. It brings to mind old practices of pagan “house gods”–the sorts that inhabit your kitchen, your hearth, your bedroom, the objects that you interact with every day. I mean, no medieval peasant would ever be able to afford their own reliquary–let alone a relic (thought I bet there were some pretty clever folks who made a pretty penny playing into the system). This diversion is at the heart of steampunk, that it’s something accessible rather than distant, something to be claimed rather than something that claims you. That’s why the best the concentration is on aesthetic–the look of the final project–rather than worth, i.e. much of steampunk material is scavenged, recycled, etc.

So, have our gods been replaced by the spirits of our machines? For some, maybe. But as different as people may be across milennia, it’s fascinating how much does indeed stay the same…

My personal favorite medieval reliquary, for those intrigued, is that of Saint Foi. Not only is she, essentially, a gold recreation (of sorts) of the original container for the bones (that would be Saint Foi herself), but the history behind the reliquary is fascinating and includes not only feuding medieval monks but also a series of thefts!

More shiny pretty reliquaries here, for those intrigued!

Gosh, it’s hard to believe, but about a year ago I decided to get serious about writing my blog and sharing my work, The Aldersgate Cycle through a podcast.

Now, nearly 23,000 views and countless connections later, I came to a big realization.

I’m about a lot more than one book!

In fact, as we speak, I’ve got about four books either finished or in progress. I’ve published a short stories, and have more ready to go out there in the world.

What’s the big problem, then? Well, this website was created to be a hub for The Aldersgate Cycle and steampunk related goodness, with occasional quips about writing and fantasy, etc. But the more I write, the more I realize that aside from the first two in that list, the other contributions really belong on a blog about, well, uh… me?

Yeah, so. Enter nataniabarron.wordpress.com. I’ll still be updating here, of course (with a concentration on Alderpod, etc), and hopefully cross-posting most of what goes on from here to there. But if you’re intersted in discussions about writing in general, poetry, randomness, and the daily doings of a stay at home/write at home geek mom, well, that’s the place to go. It’s very much in… um its nascence at the moment, but I promise there will be coolness soon.

Thanks to all who’ve made this year so incredible! Here’s to another.