Joely Sue Burkhart

Laughingly, I’ll call this “Ode to Rhaekhar’s Hair.” 

This is more of an outake of Road than a true “snippet”, hot off the press tonight.  I’ve been struggling to paint Rhaekhar’s hair all week in Photoshop, and so I felt the need to return to words for my creation.  I doubt this will ever go into Road itself, but if it did, it would go after the claiming, or wedding, in the first third of the story.  Since there is sexual content, I’ll put it behind the cut.

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I’ve always tried to be pretty honest on this blog as far as the writing process is concerned, and so I won’t let good sense shut me up now. 

I’m in a very rare (for me) stage of the writing process that I’ll call wallowing.  As in, I’m wallowing in my own story and letting my brain rave about how brilliant Road is.

See, I told you good sense should have shut me up.  But seriously, when I look back at this journey–not just the journey for this particular book but the long and winding road since 2003–there are so few peaks.  There are so few moments where I ever just stood on the Mountain and beamed at the world and knew I’d accomplished something I should be damned well proud of.  We’re taught not to brag or be conceited, that pride equals arrogance, and somehow that translates to never showing pride or admitting a sincere feeling of awe in our own abilities.

Celebrating is a part of life, as well as part of the journey.  Right now, I’m sitting at a heartwood table in a North Forest tavern, throwing back shots with the warriors and Shannari who dragged me on this journey.  We’re telling tall tales about the horrible monsters we encountered, and laughing at all the jokes Sal cracked.  (The piebald nag one still makes me laugh until I want to cry.)  And underneath all that laughter rings the sorrow for those who fell. 

Dead they may be, but never, ever gone. 

And I flip back through the story, laughing and crying again, page after page.  Just one more time, Gregar whispers, using his rahke to turn the next page for me.  Look at this thread that just magically plopped into place.  It’s perfectly positioned, perfectly colored, and seems so innocuous; meanwhile, I know exactly what repercussions that thread will have on book 3 and even beyond.  Think you this story ends in Shanhasson?  Or with Shannari?  Oh, no, not at all.  Not at all.

Silliness, giddiness, obsession, whatever, the emotion is still high.  I’m paralyzed in this joy, wanting to linger and hear the jokes one last time.  But I’ve neglected other duties to be here.  I have a different book releasing this month; an interview to write; books to read, both published and not; website updates; and of course, the next story…

Yet Gregar gives me a lecherous, wicked wink and taunts with a little flip of his memsha, and Sal tosses his hair back over his shoulder into Dharman’s face, and the two lads start to wrestle and joke until even Varne cracks a smile.  And here I still am, laughing through the tears.

Wallowing.

So I finished the second-first draft of the story last night, meaning I have a mostly cohesive draft compiled and relatively smoothed, although I’ve still got several [notes to myself] that need fixing.  I also created notecards for each section (63) and used them to see how to balance in the villain’s POV.  Then I realized I had a problem.

I’ve got a very wicked section in Act I that kicks off the coming conflicts well, which I’ll show as a snippet today.  I’ve got several wonderfully horrid sections in Act III for the final showdown.  But I have NOTHING in Act II in Theo’s POV.  His thread is not appropriately woven into the story.  So…. I think I need two more sections for him.  I went to bed wondering what else happens, and came up with an idea that actually sets up book 3 rather well.  So I’ll be writing them this weekend.

In the meantime, this is what happens when two Green Land villains get together for some wicked plotting.  Warning:  violence and nastiness.  First draft, subject to some trimming later if I think there’s too much description.  This is the first section in Theo’s POV in this book, so I took a bit to set him up as well as the geography.  (behind the cut since it’s rather longer than usual)

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Last night, I worked until midnight dragging threads through the tangled web of Road.  I took a “summary” section that mentioned Alea and reworked it to improve her character relationship as well as better lay the foundation for my GL villain.  That change required some subtle manipulation through about 100 pages of story, which gave me the excuse of reading the story again up to the trouble section where all Sha’Kae al’Dan villain threads explode (file _021 if you care to know, out of _028 not including villain sections).

I know this is going to sound arrogant and delusional so just let me be delusional because you know in a few days or weeks or whatever I’ll be right back stumbling around in the Valley of the Shadow of Death bemoaning something, but Great Vulkar this is an incredible story.  I wrote the damned thing so I know that sounds terrible.  But I took a little peek at one innocent scene and it sucked me in until I read the whole damned thing again, and I got goose bumps, and tears burned, and my throat tightened, and my hands shook.  I never intended to stay up until midnight AGAIN but I couldn’t help it.  I had to read all the way through what I’ve polished so far and see if the magic held.  It did.  This wasn’t even the big finale at all — just the wrap up of Act II and the dark moment, which about killed me all over again.

So it was already late, but I managed to pick up the forgotten henchman thread, added some supporting material for Venna thanks to her interview, and carried all those subtle but key changes through the 35 pages of high action plot.  Yes, the reveal on the Plains is pretty intense.  I mean, we’ve got torture, joy, terror, shadow, death, poison, jealousy, grief…  I could go on.  I’ll review it tonight and see if I nailed it enough for now, then I’ll finish the last 6 files or so.  They’re big.  I got lazy in the end, I was writing too fast, too hard, to change out files.  Hopefully I can still make the June 1st deadline I set myself.  I was hoping to be over the obsession already, that by finishing the first draft, I’d be a little less insane, but so far, I’m still insane!  Wheeee!

I also did a third pass of edits on Beautiful Death, but they were pretty minor.  I need to read it one more time this weekend carefully but I think it’s about ready to be put to bed.

I owe someone a meme.  I’ll try to do that this week too.

The first draft is officially done.  I finished the last section in Theo’s POV tonight.  I have one last small section to write in a new POV to set up the next book, but I need to do a little more digging into the dark past first.  I’ll add it in revision.

My reward:  The Queen’s Bastard, Heart of Stone, House of Cards by C.E. Murphy; The Ruby Key by Holly Lisle; Your Scandalous Ways by Loretta Chase, in no particular order.  The monsters are going to Papa from Mexico’s farm tomorrow and they’re spending the night!!!  That Man is taking me to my favorite restaurant, Mythos in Joplin, and we’re planning to see the new Indiana Jones movie.  Happy Memorial weekend, everyone!!!

103,514 / 103,514 (100.0%)

May’s total: 63,099 

Favorite line: Stephan cocked his head inquisitively, that damned smirk on his face once more.  “We’re still very good friends, Your Majesty.” 

edited 1:15 a.m.: word count:  3616

I finished the main scene between Theo and Stephan, although it took longer than I thought.  That’s okay –it’s very, very crucial to the rest of the story.  Then I got one more section in Theo’s POV done.  I think I have one left, and then revisions to the one I worked on last night.  I guessed at a new goal word count, but I’m very close to finishing the villain’s POV. 

101,726 / 105,000 (96.9%)

Despite finishing the main story line last night, I cannot yet say this first draft is finished, not until I write Theo’s POV scenes.  After a very late start this morning (the monsters are out of school, and I still need to get Littlest Monster registered for summer school and kindergarten today), the first thing I needed to do:

Worldbuilding.

Yes, that might sound strange this late in the game, but I never knew much about Pella, Stephan’s home country.  Some very interesting developments came out of this draft.  To say the least, I adore it when magic happens and things suddenly make sense that I swear I made up on a whim years ago.  Now, it’s crucial.  It’s meaningful.  There’s a reason I haven’t done a character interview for Stephan yet.  I plan to do one, definitely, but there was so much I didn’t know about his home, his land, his way of life.  Until I knew about these things, I could only guess at the whys of the man.  Let me just say that this guy is one deep, intelligent, delicious villain, and he knows it.

What’s so ironic is that I actually reused some of my research for NSR, the Mayan fantasy.  I drew a map this morning.  I learned a lot about coffee plantatations, or should I say caffe plantations.  A little more prep work, and then I believe I’ll be ready to write the main scene between Theo and Stephan from which all other villainous threads of this story flow.  It gives me chills thinking about how it all played out before I even really knew what the hell was going to happen.

Word count to come later.

Second Climax is done.  All that remains is the final tying up of threads and the Resolution, then 3-4 scenes in the main villain’s POV.  Likely another 5-7K.  That’s IT.  It will be a sweet birthday present indeed if I can finish this draft today, and I might be able to (including Theo’s POV) since I have the afternoon off.

Word Count (so far):  1460 3718 4854

I’ve already had a NaNoWriMAY with 54,301 56,559 57,695 words (including character interviews).

Favorite line (hard to find one with no spoilers):   No, no, I will not stand here helplessly and watch him die!

98,110 / 100,000 (98.0%)

Edited (11:45 p.m.):  I’ve reached “the end” of the main story line.  Whoo-hoo!!  Now I’ll be going back through and writing several scenes in the villain’s POV.  At least 2 scenes are already sketched from a very old clunky first draft from 2003 that will need to be entirely rewritten, but at least I know what happens.  At least one scene will be entirely new, so I might save it for the morrow, although I’m not calling it quits yet tonight.

Edited (12:30 a.m.): I got the last section of Theo’s POV reworked.  I need to get that (new) scene with Stephan figured out before I can rework the middle, else I risk significant revisions through all sections.  There are several little clues I need to drop, for both villains, and I’m not fresh enough to be clever.  So Theo and Stephan will be in cahoots together tomorrow.

New best line and I know only Wanda and Molly will understand the significance, but it’s truly priceless.  Or maybe I’m just punchy.  That happens after the 10th cup of coffee.

“Nay.”  Dharman smiled, a hard, fierce bearing of teeth.  “They still hang by a thread.  Don’t worry, though.  We’ll finish removing them soon enough.”

Climax One in progress, and no, it’s not the fun kind.  (There’s been rather more than one of those, by the way.)  I’m playing Run by Snow Patrol on a continuous loop:  Light up, light up, as if you have a choice, even if you cannot hear my voice, I’ll be right beside you dear.

Word count (so far):  2560 3687

Favorite Lines:

Letting her heart shine on her face for Rhaekhar, she stepped onto the Great Seal. Our Blessed Lady’s power drained away inside her as though every drop of water in the entire world had gone bone dry.

93,256 / 100,000 (93.3%)

This one’s my Beloved Sis’s fault.  (I had this idea while visiting with her and Granny on Saturday.)

Welcome back to the show “Every Character is the Star of Her Own Story,” brought to you in order to create more satisfying secondary characters. The star of the show today is Alea, a very under-appreciated friend in The Road to Shanhasson.

Not again, I groaned. Another character sat down at my desk, this one named Alea. Her mate was Rhaekhar’s best friend, and in early drafts I had her and Shannari chums from day one. Unfortunately–or rather fortunately for the conflict level–they hadn’t hit it off so well in later versions. What was Gregar thinking?

He winked at Alea and whirled hard enough his memsha flapped up a bit in the back. “Gregar, that’s enough!”

“It’s Alea who made my arse famous, you know. “

“Yeah, yeah, I know,” I growled at him. “Don’t even think about flipping that damned cloth up and baring your ass in my office. Save it for the page, mister.”

Alea watched him all the way out the door, a very appreciative look on her face. I arched my brow at her and tapped my pencil on the desk, growing more irritated by the minute. I was so close to the end of Road. If they would quit pestering me with all these inconsequential details…

“You’re married, you know,” I finally said to her.

Alea smiled and I forgot my irritation. I really did. She just had one of those warm, generous personalities that made people like her immediately. Except for Shannari, of course, who expected everyone to treat her like Venna, and when they didn’t, suspected them of treachery. “I’m not dead, though, and Gregar has the finest arse on the Plains. You know about his–”

“Yes,” I broke in. “I don’t need to discuss Gregar’s ass right now. I need to know why you’re in here bothering me when I’ve got Shannari standing in the High Court issuing a formal Trial by Blood challenge to the High King.”

Alea’s face suddenly hardened to granite. That was a look she usually reserved for Shannari. “I’ve become a backpack.”

I blinked at her, trying to follow her train of thought. Did the Sha’Kae al’Dan even know what a backpack was? “Um, sorry, I have no idea what you’re talking about.”

“I’ve become the backpack.” She glared at me. “The forgotten backpack? The one you kept forgetting to pick up and move scene to scene in Beautiful Death?”

Whoa, it totally messed with my brain to think about Isabella from the Mythomorphoses world mixing it up with the characters from the Blood and Shadow world. Although it’d be interesting to see what she could do with that silver sword of hers…

“Hello? See, you’ve forgotten me again.”

“Oh, sorry.” I smiled sheepishly. “You know how it is in the final stretch of a book. I’m obsessed. I can’t remember to eat or go to the bathroom, let alone take time out to stop and chat.”

She ignored my point entirely. “When was the last time I was on page?”

“Hmmm, let me think. I know you were in Chapter One. And in Chapter Two you fetched Khul when Shannari had that horrible dream. And–“ I thought awhile. “I’m pretty sure I mentioned you in the gathering tent.”

“Mentioned me,” she said flatly. “How nice.  Isn’t that well past the middle of the book?”

“Look, I know it’s not a perfect draft yet. I’ll fix it if you ever let me finish this first draft. You’ll be your normal cheery self every time you and Shannari get on page together, I swear it.”

“Fix it? How can you fix a person who has no goal?”

“Of course you have a goal!” I protested. “You’re a very important secondary character.”

She leaned forward, pinning me with her expectant gaze.

My mind raced, checking off all the things I knew about Alea. It didn’t take long.

“See? I’m not a villain, just a boring, average filler character that nobody will care about.” Tears shimmered in her golden brown eyes, and if she cried, one of the nicest people I knew, then I was going to feel really badly. “My most important message is that not everyone loves your protagonist. Is that all I’m truly meant to be?  To keep Shannari from looking like a Mary Sue?  Shannari, Shannari, Shannari!  I’m sick of her!”

“I care, Alea, I do. I know you have a goal, I just haven’t thought it all out yet. You and Shannari didn’t get off on the best foot, but I know you don’t hate her.”

“Nay, I don’t hate her. We could be friends, given time.”

“That’s a good goal. You’ve been a great help to her, explaining her duties as Khul’lanna, making sure the Summer Gathering went off with as few hitches as possible. Shannari’s never had a female friend before. I mean, most people react to her like Varne and Venna. She really needs you.”

“She does? Then why doesn’t she ever speak to me? I could tell her so much…”

“There,” I smiled. “Now that I can easily add in revision. You were sort of a Gatekeeper in book 1; now you’re more a mentor. She needs you, Alea, and so do I.”

She smiled and I wanted to hug her. So I did. Then she whispered in my ear, “Do you think you could write me into a scene when Gregar shows his arse again?”

I sighed heavily and rolled my eyes. “I’ll see what I can do.”

Whoa, totally unexpected development at the Gates of Shanhasson.  I’m scared, now, how this will affect certain relationship arcs in book 3, but the characters were adamant.  THIS happens NOW.  Okay. 

Favorite line:  I can’t share it without huge spoilers.

Total word count (so far):  4,338

• Road words:  3,500
• Alea’s interview:  838

89,569 / 100,000 (89.6%)

Not as many words as I’d like today, but between laundry and dishes…I’m lucky to have any words at all.  I was also oddly reluctant today, and this is just the start of the deadly showdown.  The favorite lines are pretty indicative of what lies ahead and why this is going to be one brutal climax.

Word count:  1,173

Favorite Lines:

Tears burned her eyes as she stared up at the Shining Walls. No, she couldn’t call them shining, now. They were stained and blackened by death and filth, cracked and crumbling in places as though bombarded with siege engines. Heads had been jammed on pikes on top of the walls; corpses hung against the stone in varying stages of decay; and worse, iron cages contained prisoners, some still alive, crippled, broken hands reaching through the bars, begging for help. The massive Gates were locked, armed with row upon row of Shanhasson Guard on the walls.

86,069 / 100,000 (86.0%)