Who Me? Secret Project?

[scribblemyname]

Um... Well. Yeah.

There was this small matter of having accumulated a small mountain of small fictions presented in the Kingdoms and Thorn storyworld and a certain someone ( :coughs: thecatisacritic :coughs: ) who kept pestering me for a certain book and lo and behold, secret project underway.

And today, I got a cover I kinda sorta like though I didn't find even one free stock photo that really made me think of Ashen or the Database. Ah, well. We'll see.

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Originally published at Liana Mir. You can comment here or there.

Comments

[thecatisacritic.livejournal.com]

Good to know the project is underway. :)

One thing...

Personally, I don't think Glass Angel is a story that represents the storyworld the best. Since it's still in draft, I could be wrong about it, but... Dowse and Bleed is probably the one that does. I'd pick either that or the one about the rebellion.

[scribblemyname]

It doesn't. "Glass angel" as a term sums up Rachelle and Ashen best, and most of the collection centers around the two of them. And while I thought about naming it one of the longer stories, the entire story arc was not summed up well in any of the following titles:

"Dowse and Bleed"
"Bloody Summer"
"Wake and Thrive"
"History Lesson"

"Glass Angel," I felt, did a better job of narrowing the focus to the characters, which is what I'm interested in when I write. The storyworld exists to plumb the characters. :shrugs: I hope it works the way I think it does because I'm rather loath to change it now.

[thecatisacritic.livejournal.com]

Well...

I guess I can see your logic there, but I wouldn't buy it if that was the title I'd seen.

Sorry. Truth is, I almost skipped that story the first time because of the title.

If it were me, I'd pick a line from one of the stories that described them best and use that.

[scribblemyname]

Interesting. I'll have to brainstorm a few titles and bounce them off the f-list. I like that title, but then, I'm poetic.

That's a real problem with naming something like this: it's literary science fiction.

[thecatisacritic.livejournal.com]

It made me think religious fiction. And I don't read religious fiction.

I really do think it sets the wrong tone for the collection.

[scribblemyname]

I think I feel remarkably blessed that you read my stuff and mostly like it. I write angsty literary poetry-style SFF (yes, that's fantasy included) with frequent Christian fiction and/or themes. Sometimes I'm floored that regardless of our differences we are such a perfect match.

[thecatisacritic.livejournal.com]

One could possibly take the religious angle past the angel in the title when combining it with a kingdom and thorns... a crown of thorns, perhaps?

Others might not make the connections I did, though.

I am kind of the opposite because I mostly write mysteries, some science fiction, and my stuff tends to be realistic and simplistic. Me as a reader... My lines are kind of... blurry, and I am nothing if not contradictory. :P

I don't read stories with magic, but I like science fiction and even some fantasy. I want a certain level of morality in what I read, so I am not against having Christian characters or themes. However, since I have some strong opinions and can be easily offended, I don't like to read fiction that centers around religion and leave it out of my own stories for the most part.

I know more or less what I'm getting into with your stories, and that's important to me because I've been burned by stuff I've read in the past. It's good to know authors I can trust.

[scribblemyname]

Fair enough.

The series title is pretty clearly a series title, so it's just going to have to be what it is. Crown of thorns is possible, kinda sorta, but it's a real stretch when in the singular and paired with plural kingdoms. Typically in religious it's plural thorns and singular Kingdom.

I will say this: the cover is literary SF genre due to texturization and DNA abstract. I read TONS of Christian fiction and this cover is so NOT religious that we're pretty good on that front.

I did think about "Glass Angel" as a title in religious fiction, and in that genre, the title would have to be a concrete glass angel, so probably figurine on the front. The cover here makes it abstract and symbolic, but nevertheless, not everyone is going to see the two paired—cover and title, so I am thinky thinking.

Despite much culling through the collection, I haven't found another title I like very well or that comes even close to being apt. Most get too thrillery or too literary without any potentially SFF elements at all, and so still trying to find something that could even potentially work to replace.

[thecatisacritic.livejournal.com]

I don't think I explained myself well. Again.

I guess I should have stuck to the part of what we have in common, since we met through X-Men fanfiction and both do stories that have people with advanced abilities/powers and/or broken characters on their way to recovery and/or redemption. That's where our main overlap is, I think. Would have been better to say that than go into my convoluted lines and divisions. Sorry.

I wasn't suggesting you had to change the series title. I just passed on the connection that my brain made there.

I do think the DNA abstract is an important part of the cover. I think I'm with you on thinking that the woman doesn't seem like Ashen or Rachelle or any of the other characters. Possibly that's the clothes.

I tried to find a part of the History Lesson that might fit, but my nonpoetical brain rebelled and I got nothing out of it. Then this morning I was reminded of The Lightning Strike by Snow Patrol and thinking about something like after the storm ends, but I didn't get anything specific from the lyrics to suggest, either. The ideas I did get seemed to take it in the wrong direction as well.

Sorry. I want to be more helpful.

Oh. Hmm. I just thought of something, don't know how good it would be or how helpful... Maybe a prompt if nothing else...

We once were weapons.

[scribblemyname]

Well, as reader feedback, you're invaluable, since you're the one person who has latched onto this storyworld and prompted almost of all it to finally make it into pixels and eventually print.

Good description of our overlap. Nevertheless, it was actually nice to get some perspective and really think about it.

I might just cull through that poem again. I'm going to have to anyway to finish writing the prose version.

And I liketh that prompt.

[thecatisacritic.livejournal.com]

I'm glad I've been able to help.

Well, if you don't get anything from the poem, I did have another thought... Random music was playing on my computer while I was cleaning, and I was reminded of "Sunny Came Home" by Shawn Colvin. Specifically, I liked the idea of A Few Small Repairs, from this section of the lyrics:

Sunny came home with a list of names
She didn't believe in transcendence
And it's time for a few small repairs, she said
Sunny came home with a vengeance

The song does kind of remind me of characters in Kingdoms and Thorn, too.

I look forward to seeing what you do with the prompt.

[scribblemyname]

Any chance you can post more of this song by chance. I admit, I just don't get what it's saying.

[thecatisacritic.livejournal.com]

Full song (it might take a listen or two, too):

Sunny came home to her favorite room
Sunny sat down in the kitchen
She opened a book and a box of tools
Sunny came home with a mission

She says "Days go by, I'm hypnotized
I'm walking on a wire
I close my eyes and fly out of my mind
Into the fire"

Sunny came home with a list of names
She didn't believe in transcendence
And it's time for a few small repairs, she said
Sunny came home with a vengeance

She says "Days go by, I don't know why
I'm walking on a wire
I close my eyes and fly out of my mind
Into the fire"

Get the kids and bring a sweater
Dry is good and wind is better
Count the years, you always knew it
Strike a match, go on and do it

Oh, days go by, I'm hypnotized
I'm walking on a wire
I close my eyes and fly out of my mind
Into the fire

Oh, light the sky and hold on tight
The world is burning down
She's out there on her own, and she's all right
Sunny came home

[scribblemyname]

Thanks.