What did Seanan write in 2015?: seanan

What did Seanan write in 2015?

It's the end of year review! (This is not the same as my awards eligibility post, which will come later.)

Short stories...so many short stories. Like, I am actually not sure how many short stories, because there are the ones that were written in 2014 and came out in 2015, and so are firmly fixed in my head as "2015 stories," and then there are the ones that were written in 2015 and haven't come out yet, and anyway. Short stories. So many, many short stories. My head hurts if I think too hard about the short stories.

Novellas, only really six to speak of. "Every Heart a Doorway" was written in 2015, as was "Dawn or Dusk or Dark or Day," my first two Tor.com novellas. I wrote a Limbus, Inc. novella. I wrote the last two novellas that will be included in Rise. I also wrote an unannounced October Daye-universe novella, which I am listing here for the sake ofcompleteness, but please do not ask me about it or comment saying how you can't wait. You'll get more details when I can give them, and anything before that will just make me feel bad.

Novels! This is where I get a little head-cocked-and-contemplative, because, well. On the one hand, I think I only wrote four novels this year: Once Broken Faith, Magic For Nothing, The Nativity of Chance, and a fourth, as yet unannounced Mira Grant novel (I finished it yesterday, so I'm still feeling all fancy about it). On the other hand, two of those books (Nativty and the new Mira Grant project) were in excess of 150,000 words. That's their "I have written a book, look at it, look at how shiny it is" length, not their "put this baby in the printer machine, it's gonna be a book now" length. I have no idea how publication-long they're actually going to wind up being.

So that's six novellas, or roughly a book and a half's-worth of words, and four novels, two of which were a book and a half long. Which gives me, sans short stories, roughly the number of words that you would find in seven and a half books of average (101,000 to 120,000 words) length. If I look at it this way, I feel less like I spent 2015 slacking off.

This is why I sometimes need a nap.

reedrover

December 31 2015, 17:27:32 UTC 1 year ago

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Shiny! Fancy! Congratulations!
How the hell can you say you were slacking? I'd say that any Disney trips were mental health breaks. And conventions are work.

You are awesome, and thank you for being you.

falnfenix

December 31 2015, 18:17:32 UTC 1 year ago

seconding all of this.

(also, hi, i'm the person you and your friend spoke with repeatedly at Chessie. :) )

mrs_norris_mous

December 31 2015, 23:57:10 UTC 1 year ago

Yay to more Seanan work to read

Even more Yay to more Toby.

dewline

January 1 2016, 04:05:07 UTC 1 year ago

Also seconding.

bree_ramsey314

December 31 2015, 17:41:35 UTC 1 year ago

I am in awe. I wish you the happiest of New Year's, and all the very best in 2016!

lilisonna

December 31 2015, 18:14:33 UTC 1 year ago

You aren't the only person I know who could look at 4 novels in a year (or equivalent work-levels) and consider it to be slacking off, but you are in a rare circle. Thank you for giving me such awesome words to read!

Have a happy happy end of 2015/start of 2016!

marziek

December 31 2015, 18:22:01 UTC 1 year ago Edited: December 31 2015, 18:22:28 UTC

This gives us soooo much to look forward to reading!

Hoping 2016 is a banner year for writing, health, love, kitties and naps.

djonn

December 31 2015, 18:47:26 UTC 1 year ago

Not asking for more details, but to resolve a possible point of confusion:

You *did* announce a Toby Daye-universe novelette, titled "Full of Briars", back on the 11th, and you don't mention having written that novelette in 2015. (I also don't immediately note a project matching the parameters of "Full of Briars" on going back through your current-projects posts, but then as an unannounced project, I can see why it might not have been listed.)

Just to clarify, then: is the above-noted unannounced Daye-universe novella a different project than "Full of Briars", thereby giving us two things to look forward to as opposed to one? [I hesitate to rely too much on the use of "novella" vs. "novelette" in this context, especially when the publisher page for "Briars" describes it as a short story....]

seanan_mcguire

December 31 2015, 18:57:54 UTC 1 year ago

This...is asking for more details? Actually?

A novella and a novelette are very different beasts. When calculating how much I had written in 2015, I wrapped novelettes into "short story," because otherwise I would have had to open every short story file to check the word counts. I did not mention any novelettes written in 2015.

December 31 2015, 19:18:28 UTC 1 year ago

I'm sorry to have caused you undue stress. I should have realized -- especially considering how long I've been following your journals -- that this is an area where you do speak precisely, and that that precision answers the question I asked.

That said, I thank you for the amplification.

December 31 2015, 19:21:34 UTC 1 year ago

S'okay.

<3

dragonsong

December 31 2015, 19:44:16 UTC 1 year ago

Thanks for all your hard work in 2015! I'm so looking forward to all the stories coming down the pipe, and spending more time with all the wonderful characters you share with us. I hope your 2016 is fantastic!

wfw_sj

December 31 2015, 20:39:27 UTC 1 year ago

Holy cats, that's a lot. I long ago gave up any idea about being a Seanan/Mira completist, but I love that you write so much and so well.

ironed_orchid

December 31 2015, 22:00:27 UTC 1 year ago

Slacking is not the word that comes to mind when I think of you. But I'm glad you managed to fit in enough fun and naps for you to even consider it.

montuos

December 31 2015, 23:01:28 UTC 1 year ago

Slacking? Slacking?!?!? Didn't you know that normal people only write one full-length book in a year???

*gloats over the richness of

seanan_mcguire publications*

notalwaysweak

January 1 2016, 02:49:06 UTC 1 year ago

Short stories: one, two, many, lots!

I am so looking forward to 'Every Heart a Doorway' in particular because I've heard such positive things about it. And Rise novellas! I've grown most attached to Newsflesh of all of your 'verses.

Congratulations on and thank you for all of your hard work in 2015. Knowing how much time you spend at the keyboard to keep in touch with your fans and friends as well as all this writing, I am very glad that you can now nap when needed, because I remember how often you were getting sick. I hope 2016 is a great year for you and your kitties.

jenfullmoon

January 1 2016, 19:29:19 UTC 1 year ago

I am looking forward to reading all of this, and your output continues to impress and delight us all :)

sometimeskate

January 1 2016, 19:46:20 UTC 1 year ago

I love the Limbus books, so I'm doubly looking forward to the next one. Hurrah! And Thank you! (I also hope this is the absolute worst day of 2016 for you.)

groblek

January 2 2016, 16:42:42 UTC 1 year ago

Wow. I swear, you're the only person I know who would use the phrase "I only wrote four novels this year." And sound disappointed in yourself about it. (I know, you're a professional, but still...) The rest of us are quite impressed. That's a lot of words, and we either have enjoyed or will enjoy all of them (depending on which are out already vs will be sometime in the future.).