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Some Frequently Asked Questions [FAQ] Questions
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Is there more to come after The Law of Becoming? The short answer: I hope so, because there's a lot more to write. The long answer (excerpted and adapted from a Letter from the Author originally e-published on the Official Kate Elliott Fan Page): For those who have read the Jaran books, I'd like to comment here about the prospects for continuing the series. There are more books to be written. In fact, I've known the entire overall story arc of the series since 1982, after I wrote the first draft of Jaran. At that point, the entire sequence of books fell into my lap (so to speak). I realized that I wanted to tell the story of the jaran people and how their culture changed over time -- over a lot of time -- and because of the outside influences swirling around them. The story is divided into seven novels. As it happened, the second novel, The Sword of Heaven, had to be divided into two volumes because it was so long (it's difficult and at some point impossible to bind an exceptionally long book into a paperback binding). This means that the seven novels may come in eight or even nine volumes, if it happens that a later novel also has to be split into two. In other words, I've finished three of the seven novels so far, but, because of length considerations, there are four published volumes. Are you confused yet? Sorry. It only gets worse. Here's how the volume/novel breakdown works so far: Jaran Novel of the Jaran #1The fourth Jaran novel, which will be the "Fifth Novel of the Jaran," is currently titled Eternal Blue Heaven. Unfortunately, I haven't written it yet. At this point, I don't know when I'll be writing it, although if I had my druthers, I'd write it after I finish my next two books: the final Crown of Stars novel and my standalone sequel to The Golden Key. I'm very eager to write Eternal Blue Heaven, as I have a lot to say about What Happens Next in the Jaran universe. All else being equal, the breakdown for the subsequent novels would look like this: Eternal Blue Heaven Novel of the Jaran #5However, at this point I can't say when these books will be written. I decided originally to take some time off from the Jaran books to keep them fresh. The last thing I wanted was to get tired of writing in a universe I love. After I completed The Law of Becoming, I felt the need to step back for a while from the Jaran books to work on something else. Thus was I lured into the seductive groves of fantasy fiction (although in fact I had already written a fantasy novel in my other writing life, The Labyrinth Gate). Let me be blunt. Currently, science fiction doesn't sell as well as fantasy. As a writer who makes her entire income from novel writing, I'm fortunate that I love writing both fantasy and science fiction. The stories satisfy different elements of my writing personality, so to speak, and there are different challenges in writing each kind of fiction. I love them both. But as I build a career, and because I support my family with my writing, I have to make certain choices, and one of those choices, right now, is that fantasy takes precedence . . . at this time. In the future, that may change, or I may have a wider range of choices in deciding what I write next. As you can see, I'm not done with the Jaran books yet, but I am currently writing a fantasy series called Crown of Stars. The first four volumes, King's Dragon, Prince of Dogs, The Burning Stone, and Child of Flame are available now. I'm currently working on the fifth volume (not title yet), which is scheduled for publication in February 2003. The sixth and final volume, Crown of Stars should follow within a year of #5, I hope. When I have finished Crown of Stars, I will consider my next project, which may be the next Jaran novel or a new fantasy project called Crossroads. All of this depends on factors already noted and others somewhat out of my control, such as publishing schedules, contracts, and sales figures. In any case, the current working title of the next Jaran novel is Eternal Blue Heaven. I will post a note here when I finally get to work on it (and I will post some in-progress excerpts as well). A short story set in the Jaran universe will be published in the DAW 30th Anniversary Science Fiction Anthology, to be published May 2002. I appreciate
your patience. In the meantime, here's a brief (and I mean brief)
snippet from the next Jaran novel: Eternal
Blue Heaven Exerpt
How many volumes will there be in the Crown of Stars series? Crown of Stars will have six volumes. That answer is final I used to say that it would have four volumes. Then I hoped it would be five. Now, however, I know it will be six, no more, no less. Of course, I also would like to write a standalone single-volume sequel to take place about eight hundred years later, but that's a long way away at this point--so don't hold your breath! I wrote the following in the "Author's Note" that appears in volume four, Child of Flame: Looking over this now, I realize I was more prescient when I started the series than I realized, because it will end up as "two trilogies" - that is, six volumes. The material that makes up the Crown of Stars series was originally intended to be a trilogy with a sequel trilogy to follow. As so often happens in writing, it didn't turn out quite the way I had planned, since once I got started I discovered that I had more plot than I had at first realized.
As of now,
plans to write a sequel to The
Golden Key have been cancelled.
Because I love
to write. I've been writing since I was a child. I wrote my first novel
in high school, a second in college, and went from there. My "first" published
novel was actually the sixth I wrote. I also love to read, and in a way
I started writing in order to read a book "made-to-order" for me to read.
. . . and because my favorite writers weren't writing as fast as I could
read!
First, READ.
And then read more, and especially read widely, in as many different fields
as you can stomach. Read classics, read science, read history and archaeology,
read philosophy, read lurid adventure fiction, read fiction by foreign
writers translated into English, read poetry and essays written two thousand
years ago, read biographies of people who lived today and who lived five
hundred years ago, and then read some other stuff I haven't mentioned here.
Experience the world. There is no substitute for life, and everything that happens, however mundane, however tragic, however happy or sad or indifferent, is all fodder for the mill. Listen to how people talk. Watch how the clouds move across the sky. Be aware of current events so you understand how societies and individuals interact. Go to a science museum. Go to some place you've never been before, if you can, and if you can't, imagine going there by checking out a book from the library and reading about it. Try to walk in someone else's shoes for an hour. Work on letting your compassion for humanity flower. Listen to your inner heart. Be curious! Then, when you've done all that, write. For more advice
on writing, visit Kate's The
Writing Life link
Can you read my unpublished manuscript? Unfortunately,
no, because of potential legal problems my agent does not allow me to read
non- contracted, unpublished manuscripts.
For
other questions asked and answered, go to the FAQ page on:
Last updated: November 2001 |