For book club members: questions for discussion about The Shadow Queen
If your book club is interested in reading The Shadow Queen, here are some questions for discussion. Enlarge the screen to read or click to print out.
How to be published: everything you need to know, plus a really great surprise
The HarperCollins Canada 2014 catalogue!
The main reason for this post is to share a great blog post on writing and publishing.
“25 steps to being a traditionally published author: Lazy Bastard Edition”—a post by Delilah S. Dawson—is an excellent overview of the writing and publishing process, as good an overview as I’ve ever read. I just sent the link to four friends who are working on novels. (Heh. By mistake I typed “wording” on novels.)
To give you the funny-but-hard-hitting sense of it, Step #1 is: If you’re actually lazy, GTFO.
Amen.
On the home front:
THE SHADOW QUEEN has a pub. date: April 8, 2014. I’ve sent off the corrected 1st Pass pages and I’ve only the Acknowledgements and the very last sentences of the novel to tweak. I’ve a storage box on my office floor where everything to do with The Shadow goes now, labelled “archival.” (I.e. my crowded basement.)
No more surprises, right?
Wrong! Yesterday evening, I got this Tweet:
@Sandra_Gulland it’s Claude. I wasn’t sure if you came across this. http://t.co/svwdofnDVo— Christine Wright (@mllechristine1)
I was speechless! A portrait of my Claude? I didn’t think one existed. (I Googled for it when I began my research and came up with nothing.)
Look familiar?
I’ve emailed Doubleday to find out if they used the portrait as a basis for the cover.
I was pleased when I first saw the cover because the woman looked like how I’d imagined Claude to look. (Eyebrows!)
And now: well! To find out that it looks like the real Claude: I’m blown away.
Late breaking news (two days later): my editor at Doubleday, Melissa Danaczko, checked: the cover designer had never seen a portrait of Claude, much less this one.
Is that spooky-amazing or what?!
On author questionnaires, first pages, daily word count for my YA about Hortense, and a wonderful granddaughter, all at once
I’m working on the Author Questionnaire for Doubleday’s publication of The Shadow Queen, and that requires quite a bit of time mucking about in my promotional and publication history.
Any day now, I will see the first pass on the book cover: I’m excited. I’m already madly in love with the interior design.
Meanwhile, I’m cranking up the word count on the Young Adult novel about Hortense, going slowly at first. We will have the pleasure of our now 1-year-old granddaughter Kiki, our daughter Carrie and her mate Bruce this long weekend, so I’m only aiming for 50 words a day. Dipping a toe in—that’s all—but it’s important to do it every day. This morning I aimed for 50 and chalked up over 200. I’m very much enjoying exploring this youthful story.
Lost in Memory Lane: on character development, The Next Novel, The New Novel, and letters in the attic
Sometimes a silence builds up like a damn: I’ve so much to report I don’t report anything.
So here goes:
Today I sent my Canadian and U.S. publishers suggestions for the cover art for THE SHADOW QUEEN. (Wow: it’s really happening.)
This took all morning—during which there was an earthquake!—and entailed poking around in my old files.
It was moving opening up a file of the original images I had used for building my characters years ago. I’m in the process of “building” characters for The Next Novel (the Young Adult about Josephine’s daughter Hortense), and it was a pleasant reminder of how helpful it can be to scout out character images on the Net. (I used Morgue File.)
Here is the image I selected for Claude (Claudette), heroine of THE SHADOW QUEEN:
I KNOW: it’s a guy, but something in his look spoke to me of Claude, who is a masculine woman.
And then later I found a Rossetti painting that struck me as Claude at court:
I was shocked to see how much alike these two images were — compare their eyes, eye brows, nose, lips. Amazing.
This Sargent painting is my image of Claude at the end of her life: triumphant!
In a few weeks I will get the copy edit of THE SHADOW QUEEN. It will be entirely edited in Word. (With every novel the technology changes, in large part because I am such a slow writer.)
Then, after, I will plunge into writing the first draft of The Next Novel.
Juggling two historical periods is a bit of a challenge. I’m not having much luck making room on my shelves for new books.
The rest, in brief:
- The advance praise for THE SHADOW QUEEN—that is “blurbs”—has been fantastic.
- I’m reading Jane Austen in preparation for The Next Novel. More on dear Jane later.
- Both my husband and I are sick with colds only a few days in advance of a trip to New York. (Grrrr.)
- I began looking through the two boxes of the letters I wrote to my parents, found in their attic after my father died. I read through all of 1969: what a slice.
Lost in Memory Lane indeed.
Inspiration & perseverance
I’ve been ill, slugging away at the “final” draft of The Next Novel in bed.
Yes: slugging. I find this final stage of taking a comma out and putting it back in (and more, I admit) somewhat tedious. I’m simply transferring my scribbled edits to a computer file, and I never (ever!) do this without thinking: could I contract this out?
The answer is: no. There are always mysteries that only I can solve. And, in truth, it is a pleasure to be so far along in the writing process to be obsessing about commas.
But I didn’t come here to complain, rather to share was looks like an inspiring blog: Brain Pickings, sent to me by a friend. Here’s a New York Times article on it. Cool. Tell me what you think.
And just so you know: I’m fully recovered. Every time I’m in the final stages of a novel I become convinced that I will die before it’s finished. Now, when that end-of-life conviction comes over me (and I wasn’t all that sick!), I think: Ah, almost there.
How do you respond in the final stages?
[Illustration: “Cork,” from the wonderful blog BibliOdyssey. Chosen for its many layers, so much like the process of building a novel.]
The Next Big Thing: What I’m writing now
“The Next Big Thing” is a “chain-blog” going around writers on the Net. I got tagged by historical novelist Stephanie Cowell, author of CLAUDE AND CAMILLE. You can see her own blog on The Next Big Thing here.
Ten Interview Questions for the Next Big Thing: What I’m working on now
What is your working title of your book?
IN THE SERVICE OF THE SHADOW QUEEN
Where did the idea come from for the book?
In researching MISTRESS OF THE SUN, I became intrigued by the life of Claude des Oeillets. She was the daughter of a theatrical star and confidential maid to the infamous Madame de Montespan, the Sun King’s “power mistress.” As well, she had a daughter by the King and dealings with Madame Voisin, the “witch” who was burned at the stake.
Basically, I was curious. Claude’s worlds were fascinating: the theater, the Court, the underground world of witchcraft. Too, she had an intimate view of Montespan, an endlessly fascinating and complex villainess.
What genre does your book fall under?
Historical fiction. I like to think I write literary historical fiction, but that is for readers to decide.
Which actors would you choose to play your characters in a movie rendition?
I’ve always thought Nicole Kidman would be fantastic as Madame de Montespan. As for the others … impossible for me to say. I so rarely watch movies.
What is the one-sentence synopsis of your book?
This is the hardest question you could ask a novelist; it is also the most important question to know how to answer. Here’s my attempt:
IN THE SERVICE OF THE SHADOW QUEEN is a historical novel set in 17th century France and based on the life of Claude des Oeillets, who leaves the disreputable make-believe world of the theater for a prestigious position at Court—only to discover that life at Court is itself an illusion, and one that disguises a horrifying sin.
Will your book be self-published or represented by an agency?
I have an agent, and the book will be published in the spring of 2014 by HarperCollins in Canada and Doubleday in the U.S.
How long did it take you to write the first draft of your manuscript?
One year. At least. And I’m working on the 8th and final draft.
What other books would you compare this story to within your genre?
Another difficult question! I’ve been told that my work is similar to that of Tracy Chevallier. A lovely thought, if true.
Who or what inspired you to write this book?
Curiosity about the world of 17th century French theater and my on-going fascination with Madame de Montespan.
I like to write about people who come into the Court world — or theatre world, or underground world — from outside, who view it as a traveller might. This allows us to see it through their eyes, the curious rituals, the details of daily life, the manners. These are the things most of interest to me.
What else about your book might pique the reader’s interest?
I did quite a bit of research into 17th century theater for this novel. I think readers will find it interesting to learn how theater companies were run, how the audiences behaved, how spectacles were performed, and how actors learned their lines … for starters.
In turn, I am tagging two gifted novelists and warmly invite you to visit their sites:
Caroline Leavitt, author of PICTURES OF YOU. You can read about her Next Big Thing here.
Lauren B. Davis, author of the Giller long-listed OUR DAILY BREAD
I’m supposed to tag five authors, in fact, but I’m traveling and it’s difficult. Caroline and Lauren will tag their fair share in turn, I know. If you haven’t read their work, I highly recommend that you do so. Also, be sure to read what their Next Big Thing is. It’s sure to be fantastic!
Message for tagged authors:
Rules of the Next Big Thing
***Use this format for your post
***Answer the ten questions about your current WIP (work in progress)
***Tag five other writers/bloggers and add their links so we can hop over and meet them.
***Include the link of who tagged you and this explanation for the people you have tagged.
***Be sure to line up your five people in advance.
Ten Interview Questions for the Next Big Thing:
What is your working title of your book?
Where did the idea come from for the book?
What genre does your book fall under?
Which actors would you choose to play your characters in a movie rendition?
What is the one-sentence synopsis of your book?
Will your book be self-published or represented by an agency?
How long did it take you to write the first draft of your manuscript?
What other books would you compare this story to within your genre?
Who or what inspired you to write this book?
What else about your book might pique the reader’s interest?
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