Look! It’s a trope map! I would like to state for the record that this book has two sword lesbians, but one of them prefers to throw daggers.
The Seaglass Blade is almost, almost, almost at the finish line before its release, just in time for Pride Month in June. If Seaglass were an actor, it’d be in the green room with a makeup artist putting on the final touches. I am that makeup artist. I am terrible at makeup. Good luck book!
But this is why, when one discovers that one is lost in one’s grammatical sins, one finds a trustworthy makeup artist—a copyeditor. I’ve spent the past couple of weeks intensively going through the manuscript considering my editor’s suggestions and explanations, and it has been quite the experience. Do you know what a misplaced modifier is? I sure know now! Do you know why I love them so much? I do not!
It has given me a lot to think about in terms of what precision and clarity of language means for a reader. Most of the ARC reviews for Seaglass have been very positive, and people have loved the story, and that’s thrilling to know. A few readers, though, noted a sense of creative comma placement which detracted from their ability to lose themselves in the book the way that I, as the author, want them to be able to do. Why should I let that happen?
So I decided to add a final copyedit with a sense that it is a service to the reader and to the book being its best self. My grammatical errors may not mean much to many readers, on a conscious level, but on another level, they’ve been metaphorically looking at this story through smudged glass. Even without realizing it, readers have had to sometimes intuit or guess my meaning, and as my copyeditor pointed out, The Seaglass Blade is already complex and mysterious enough. I don’t need to add unnecessary mysteries by using pronouns without clear antecedents. When the manuscript is fully clarified in this way, the reader will be able to enjoy the story through clean and unsmudged glass. All the details will be visible, and all the depth of feeling will be easier to access.
That’s my hope, at any rate! I wanted to thank my copyeditor, Shannon Knight, for her incisive and careful work, while noting that any errors that remain are mine. (Sometimes I genuinely want ambiguity!) Shannon’s also an author whose books I’ve really enjoyed, with eight books ranging from fantasy through science fiction through horror. I loved her Grave Chronicles trilogy blending necromancers, dystopian themes, and urban fantasy, and while horror is not usually a genre for me, her most recent book, Catamorphosis, is so good, with elements of thriller as well. You can check out her website to see more of her work.
All that said, please feel free to pre-order The Seaglass Blade as it prepares to make its public debut! May 31 is the big day, and I’ll try to send out another email at that point, but I’ll be on my way to the Philippines, so we’ll see if that is a realistic goal.
Wait! There’s More!
I cannot believe I nearly sent this email without telling you this! As of the end of April, I’m now officially represented by Bridget Smith of JABberwocky Literary Management. I was introduced to her through The Novelry, the online writing program that I’ve been part of for the past few years, and which has constantly challenged me to improve as a writer. Bridget is working with my sapphic fantasy about magical mapmaking, and I don’t want to say more beyond that yet, but when there’s more publishing news, you can be sure I’ll share it here!