Two months in the wild; a moment of contemplation.: seanan

Two months in the wild; a moment of contemplation.

I was intending to make this post yesterday, on the actual two-month anniversary of Rosemary and Rue being released into the wild. Tragically, intentions only count in horseshoes and hand grenades, and my post-World Fantasy exhaustion resulted in my spending the evening watching Supernatural and playing "Plants vs. Zombies." I'm actually not all that sorry. I really needed the rest. All that being said...

Rosemary and Rue has now been available for two full months. People I don't know and never will have bought and read my book. (Sometimes I can tell who doesn't know me, because they call me "Mr. McGuire" in their reviews. I find this adorable.) People have loved it, people have hated it, people have called it original and amazing, people have called it the usual urban fantasy fare. I have stopped having chest pains when suddenly confronted with large book displays. I have stopped having stomach pains when stores had other books in my genre, but didn't have mine. I have, in short, calmed down a lot. Much like a woman who spends a year planning her wedding, then finally realizes she can do other things, I am basically recovered.

Which is good, because now it's time to get ready for A Local Habitation. Which is, I think, a better book than Rosemary and Rue (and I do believe Rosemary and Rue to be a good book; I wouldn't have bothered trying to publish it if I didn't). Rosemary and Rue was the book that established my world, and that means that large chunks of textual real estate did have to go toward making the rules coherent and clear; without the rules, the whole towering palace comes tumbling down. It was also the book that made the largest number of introductions—much like inviting all your friends who've never met to the same cocktail party. A Local Habitation gets to skip all that, and go straight to the "smashing stuff" part of our program. I like smashing stuff.

I have learned a lot about self-promotion, event organization, not taking everything personally, keeping myself pointed in the correct direction, organization of the world in general, and not exhausting myself too much. I have learned that no matter how much I feel like I've thrown my book at everyone in the known universe, there will always be people going "Who are you again?" I have learned that a bad review is not the end of the world, and that a good review is exactly as awesome as I always hoped it would be. I have learned to take the time to breathe.

And now, in a hundred and thirty days, I get to learn all these lessons all over again.

Whee!

mneme

November 2 2009, 18:39:49 UTC 7 years ago

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Whoot!

Looking forward to vicariously riding the roller coaster (and, you know, buying & reading the book)!

seanan_mcguire

November 2 2009, 18:50:01 UTC 7 years ago

Hooray!

madfilkentist

November 2 2009, 18:44:13 UTC 7 years ago

I have learned that no matter how much I feel like I've thrown my book at everyone in the known universe, there will always be people going "Who are you again?"

At OVFF I was talking to a big-name filker about Terry Pratchett and he said, "What was his first name again?" so don't feel bad about it.

November 2 2009, 18:50:19 UTC 7 years ago

Oh, I don't. But it's definitely good to remember.

xjenavivex

November 2 2009, 18:44:36 UTC 7 years ago

I am so excited about round two.

November 2 2009, 18:50:27 UTC 7 years ago

Me too me too!

phillip2637

November 2 2009, 18:45:14 UTC 7 years ago

"making the rules coherent and clear"

Of the things I liked about Rosemary and Rue (and there were many), the pleasant surprise to me was how well you handled not dragging the story into a bog and smothering it with set-up and world-building. I don't think you need to make any apologies in that area at all!

November 2 2009, 18:50:59 UTC 7 years ago

Oh, I don't necessarily feel the need to apologize, but it was definitely a factor in the pacing of book one, and becomes less of a factor in book two.

7 years ago

ladymondegreen

November 2 2009, 19:20:03 UTC 7 years ago

Huzzah! I am so excited about this whole 'published and loving it' thing. :)

November 2 2009, 21:55:53 UTC 7 years ago

I, um...what?

shiyiya

tigertoy

November 2 2009, 19:41:07 UTC 7 years ago

I don't remember there being any dull bits in my copy of Rosemary and Rue. If A Local Habitation is even more full of excitement and smashing things, there may be heart attacks among the readership!

Do you have any thoughts you care to share on how much world explaining should go into books after the first one? It seems like it's a delicate balancing act: on the one hand, people with less than perfect memories may need a reminder, and the person who starts by picking up a book in the middle probably deserves to have a chance; on the other, the reader who has seen it before and does remember it is a lot more likely to find it dull when it's presented again.

November 2 2009, 21:56:48 UTC 7 years ago

I don't think the worldbuilding is "dull," I just think it's not necessarily as plot-centric as the rest of the story. I love worldbuilding. I'd write the Toby RPG core book if they let me.

I think the balancing act varies from book to book, and that I depend on my machete squad and The Agent to keep me firmly on-track.

fatherofdragons

keristor

November 2 2009, 20:12:57 UTC 7 years ago

R&R wasn't slow at all, and also managed to convey the necessary 'rules' etc. smoother than most first books in a series do (so that I didn't notice any infodumps). Actually, quite a bit smoother than many later books in a series have managed (and that's leaving out altogether the ones with footnotes or comments "see book N"). If ALH is even better that's really awesome...

And my copy is on order at Amazon UK.

(Who are you again, by the way? *g*)

November 2 2009, 21:57:24 UTC 7 years ago

(Who am I? Huh?)

lisa_marli

November 2 2009, 21:16:41 UTC 7 years ago

You were at WFC? And I Missed You?!? :(
I was there (mostly up at Con Suite - Working) and Finally got The Book when I ran away to the Dealer's Room. Yeah!
I will need to find you at another con for the Personalization of your autograph.
It will get read along with the Rest of The Books in the next few months. GAH!
So Many Books, So little time.

November 3 2009, 15:14:52 UTC 7 years ago

I was there all weekend! I only found the con suite once, right after the truly impressive (and sadly fondant-based) cake had been cut.

khasael

November 2 2009, 22:45:36 UTC 7 years ago

I received the signed ARC of R&R (thanks again!) and am loving it so far. My reading pace has slowed dramatically, what with NaNo and all and my other writing that I'm trying to squeeze in on top of that (yes, I am a masochist), but I am making sure to carve out a bit of time every day to read *at least* a few pages. Already looking forward to ALH! And yay for the 2 month point!

Wow, that was rambling. Sorry!

November 3 2009, 15:16:39 UTC 7 years ago

Rambling is just fine, I promise. Also, yay!

kyril

November 3 2009, 01:02:31 UTC 7 years ago

Totally understandable. I mean, when there's a zombie on your lawn, what can you do?

I'm trying to figure out if the cob cannon is worth buying...I guess I'll find out one of these months.

So, umm, when is the Winnie the Pooh (TM) crossover? You know, Rosemary and Roo? Or did I already ask that?

laughingfalcon

November 3 2009, 10:50:17 UTC 7 years ago

You are funny. Watch, we'll see just such a short story pop up!

<3 in-jokes

November 3 2009, 10:48:45 UTC 7 years ago

I'm sure you will get a bit of flack for the new title "A Local Habitation" but for me it is incredibly amusing!! One of the Irish bars in our area redid its sign some years back and added the tag line "A Local Tavern". We laughed over this almost every time we saw it because it's a building, it doesn't rove so how could it be anything BUT local?? And now I've seen some credit unions or banks around here doing something similar.

It feels very tongue-in-cheek and I can't help but give you kudos for making it feel like you are part of our in-joke even though we haven't met. I hope the release goes smashingly! And I do hope you have caught up on your rest! Post-con exhaustion can really wipe you out! Ciao!

Re: <3 in-jokes

November 3 2009, 15:48:18 UTC 7 years ago

I'm pretty sure I'll get flack for every title, ever, if my track record so far is anything to go by. :) A Local Habitation is a quote from Shakespeare's "A Midsummer Night's Dream," and ties pretty tightly into the plot of the book.

The tag "a local" generally means it's a local business, and will thus be stimulating the economy on a local level, rather than removing money from your neighborhood.

Thanks for the kudos, and I'm doing my best to recover!

November 3 2009, 18:57:44 UTC 7 years ago

/me genuflects westward

thank you

kiyote72

November 4 2009, 01:07:50 UTC 7 years ago

I read it this weekend and actually enjoyed it alot. I can be really picky with my urban fantasy books. Liked the focus, rules, the characters. Pretty cool.

In some ways it felt like it filled a slot that has been empty for a while in the "urban fantasy" genre. See the Twelve Treasures Trilogy by Rosemary Edgehill.

This feels in some ways like that type of genre.

Keep it up. This is needed...too many of the urban fantasy series are "too modern". They have forgotten the joy of mixing the urban arena with cross over elves.

Re: thank you

November 4 2009, 16:50:24 UTC 7 years ago

I'm so glad to hear this! Thank you very much for swinging by and letting me know. :) I'm starting to get excited about the upcoming release of A Local Habitation, and knowing that people are still discovering Rosemary and Rue really helps.

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Two months in the wild; a moment of contemplation.

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<3 in-jokes

Re: <3 in-jokes

thank you

Re: thank you