As it turned out, being rejected by traditional
publishers was a good thing, and the boom in self-publishing came along at just
the right time, or the books would probably never have been published. Perhaps
the worst part of the traditional publishers’ rejections was that they didn’t
give reasons for them, except one, which said the familiar idea was too similar
to another book they were publishing, although those familiars were all
insects. Self-publishing has allowed me complete artistic control and enabled
me to offer the books at low prices, so I’m happy about that. I’d have had huge
problems with editors telling me to change stuff.
I think one of the reasons
The Queen’s Blade is hard to predict is because it has no plot. It’s
just a series of events based on the characters’ decisions and the consequences
thereof, and I don’t always like what they get up to. They told the story,
though. I’m just the ‘scribe’. The ideas Blade came up with and the lies he
told had me gobsmacked. He’s a lot cleverer than me, and definitely much more
devious.
I enjoy all aspects of writing. It’s my favourite thing
to do. When I’m in the ‘zone’, it’s like I’m in that world, with the
characters, watching and listening to them, and, depending on whose point of
view I’m channelling, sharing their thoughts, too. Some writers say it’s best
only to write from the main characters’ points of view, but I have no choice in
the matter. It allows me to escape the harsh reality of my humdrum existence. I
much prefer imaginary worlds, which is probably why I spend so much time there!
When I’m channelling, the only thing that slows me down
is my typing speed, and sometimes I go back and embellish descriptions later,
if the story’s moving particularly fast when I channel, but most of the time I
manage to describe things pretty well the first time around. I find I can ‘pause’
the story if I need to describe the surroundings, but sometimes I want to get
on with it and find out what happens next.
The really weird thing is I can’t change anything! When
I edit, I sometimes think of a better way to describe a certain scene, without
actually changing what happened, but then I always change it back again. It
just isn’t right any other way. I can enhance background info, but not actions
or conversations. Also, sometimes I’m asked why something happened the way it
did, and I have to figure it out, because I honestly had no idea when I wrote
it. I also get information that I have no knowledge of, things I’ve never done
or learnt about, yet when I research it afterwards, I find that what I’ve
written is correct. It’s kind of creepy.
