Ask the Author: J. Kathleen Cheney
Answered Questions (11)
J. Kathleen Cheney
I am that horridly boring person who would prefer to stay home. If I did go to a fictional world (as in, I didn't have any choice in the matter) I would probably read -their- books.
J. Kathleen Cheney
Hey Catherine! I apologize for taking so long to answer.
The publisher for Dreaming Death dropped the series, so I'm on my own now to do the sequels. As it stands, I hope to have the final book of the Horn trilogy out in four (fingers crossed) months, and then will focus on the sequels to Dreaming Death. So I hope to put out the first of those either late this year or early the next. I wish it could be faster, but I am trying. ;o)
And I'm so grateful that you've recommended it to your friends! That's such a kind thing to do for an author.
Thanks!
Best, J. Kathleen
The publisher for Dreaming Death dropped the series, so I'm on my own now to do the sequels. As it stands, I hope to have the final book of the Horn trilogy out in four (fingers crossed) months, and then will focus on the sequels to Dreaming Death. So I hope to put out the first of those either late this year or early the next. I wish it could be faster, but I am trying. ;o)
And I'm so grateful that you've recommended it to your friends! That's such a kind thing to do for an author.
Thanks!
Best, J. Kathleen
J. Kathleen Cheney
That's easy!
Tremaine and Ilias from Martha Well's "The Fall of Ile-Rien" series.
As to the why? I think that it's because neither of them feels any need to 'remake' the other, despite their vastly different backgrounds. At the same time, they're both pretty willing to negotiate, so I feel that despite having everything going against them, it's a great relationship...
Tremaine and Ilias from Martha Well's "The Fall of Ile-Rien" series.
As to the why? I think that it's because neither of them feels any need to 'remake' the other, despite their vastly different backgrounds. At the same time, they're both pretty willing to negotiate, so I feel that despite having everything going against them, it's a great relationship...
J. Kathleen Cheney
Hi Nafiza,
I'm glad you liked the first one! My publisher decided not to continue the series, so I will be completing it myself. Due to some constraints, I am actually putting out another series set in that world first (starting with Oathbreaker, which should come out in December (I hope)), and then I'll put out the next Dreaming Death book.
The series that is coming up next involves a different province of the country--and thus a different Family and different Anvarrid House--so it has different characters. I hope that readers of the first book will still enjoy it anyway.
Currently, I plan to put out the next Dreaming Death book (which was tentatively entitled The Sins of the Fathers, but that will change), next fall. I apologize that it's going so slowly, but it's always difficult when publication doesn't go as planned!
I hope that helps!
Best, J.
I'm glad you liked the first one! My publisher decided not to continue the series, so I will be completing it myself. Due to some constraints, I am actually putting out another series set in that world first (starting with Oathbreaker, which should come out in December (I hope)), and then I'll put out the next Dreaming Death book.
The series that is coming up next involves a different province of the country--and thus a different Family and different Anvarrid House--so it has different characters. I hope that readers of the first book will still enjoy it anyway.
Currently, I plan to put out the next Dreaming Death book (which was tentatively entitled The Sins of the Fathers, but that will change), next fall. I apologize that it's going so slowly, but it's always difficult when publication doesn't go as planned!
I hope that helps!
Best, J.
J. Kathleen Cheney
So many things! I'm actually finishing up a novella that I'll be publishing in October called The Sparrow in the Aviary. It's a terrible title, I know, but I haven't come up with anything better. (I have the option of changing it until then, so who knows...) This has also been called the Russian novella on my blog, and tells the story of Irina Razumova, whose family has come to their dacha outside St. Petersburg for the summer...and the unusual man she finds working in her aviary, Evgeny Vorobyov, the sparrow.
After that I'll finish up the first part of The Horn (Oathbreaker) with the intention of releasing it in December. This series is set in the same world as Dreaming Death, but a different province, one where the Family and the Anvarrid house both have very different views of their world than what's seen in the capital.
After that I'll finish up the first part of The Horn (Oathbreaker) with the intention of releasing it in December. This series is set in the same world as Dreaming Death, but a different province, one where the Family and the Anvarrid house both have very different views of their world than what's seen in the capital.
J. Kathleen Cheney
The most important thing is to write something all the way to the end. There are millions of writers out there who toy with the form, who have great ideas, but not nearly as many who complete stories and put them out in the world for others to read. So sit down and finish something.
J. Kathleen Cheney
I would suggest that you try prompt of some kind. Force yourself to write a story that includes an object that someone else picks out. I've done this before, and 24 hours later had my story "Fleurs du Mal." (KD Wentworth had given me a glass globe with flowers in it. The actual object wasn't in the story, but it inspired something similar.)
The idea is that writers can write about anything, but sometimes if it's too close to their heart, they struggle with it more. Pick out something you don't have an emotional investment in, and write about that. That will force you to use your craft. And because writers often have to produce on a schedule, they often have to push past writing what they want or writing when they have no inspiration. So it has to be learned eventually...
The idea is that writers can write about anything, but sometimes if it's too close to their heart, they struggle with it more. Pick out something you don't have an emotional investment in, and write about that. That will force you to use your craft. And because writers often have to produce on a schedule, they often have to push past writing what they want or writing when they have no inspiration. So it has to be learned eventually...
J. Kathleen Cheney
Hey, I didn't see this question before...sorry!
I'm an RWA member, so I deal with Romance quite a bit, but I've always been a firm beleiver that the importance of the sex scene is in the emotional commitment to the act. It's a small difference, but in my mind, once that emotional commitment is made, the rest becomes...less necessary for the readers to see. It's an action scene, rather than an emotional or pivotal one (unless there's something -specific- about the sex act that makes it vital that it be shown.) So in most cases, you won't see me writing much past that moment.
I'm an RWA member, so I deal with Romance quite a bit, but I've always been a firm beleiver that the importance of the sex scene is in the emotional commitment to the act. It's a small difference, but in my mind, once that emotional commitment is made, the rest becomes...less necessary for the readers to see. It's an action scene, rather than an emotional or pivotal one (unless there's something -specific- about the sex act that makes it vital that it be shown.) So in most cases, you won't see me writing much past that moment.
J. Kathleen Cheney
To be perfectly honest, it was a bit of an accident.
The original version of the novel was a short story. I set the very first draft in Venice, but very quickly decided that I wanted somewhere else for the setting. I glanced down at a map and said to myself, "Hmmm....Portugal has a lot of coastline."
And that was how I picked Portugal. When you're writing a short story, there's not a huge committment to setting, so it didn't call for tons of research. Just enough.
What I didn't know was that this would turn into 3 novels...and that meant tons and tons of research on Portugal.
It was an interesting conincidence, but as I was researching, trying to read the sort of books that my main character, Duilio, would have read, I ran across the epic poem, "The Lusiads", which is about the voyages of Vasco da Gama, as reimagined by Camões. The mythology of "The Lusiads" worked well with my sereia, and gave me a starting place for their culture. Portuguese history is actually fascinating, and I found myself wishing that we'd studied it when we were kids. (I grew up on the Mexican border, so if we studied Iberia at all, it was Spain.)
And it turns out that not a lot of people are familiar with Portugal, so I felt like I was given a change to introduce them to the country (which is a great place to visit, also)--even if it was the slightly-alternate version that I was working in.
The original version of the novel was a short story. I set the very first draft in Venice, but very quickly decided that I wanted somewhere else for the setting. I glanced down at a map and said to myself, "Hmmm....Portugal has a lot of coastline."
And that was how I picked Portugal. When you're writing a short story, there's not a huge committment to setting, so it didn't call for tons of research. Just enough.
What I didn't know was that this would turn into 3 novels...and that meant tons and tons of research on Portugal.
It was an interesting conincidence, but as I was researching, trying to read the sort of books that my main character, Duilio, would have read, I ran across the epic poem, "The Lusiads", which is about the voyages of Vasco da Gama, as reimagined by Camões. The mythology of "The Lusiads" worked well with my sereia, and gave me a starting place for their culture. Portuguese history is actually fascinating, and I found myself wishing that we'd studied it when we were kids. (I grew up on the Mexican border, so if we studied Iberia at all, it was Spain.)
And it turns out that not a lot of people are familiar with Portugal, so I felt like I was given a change to introduce them to the country (which is a great place to visit, also)--even if it was the slightly-alternate version that I was working in.
J. Kathleen Cheney
As a writer, I can put my day dreams onto paper. Or on the computer, actually. I get to keep them and polish them up until I'm ready to share them. I would hate to simply let them fade away!
J. Kathleen Cheney
One of the ways that I deal with this is to have more than one project in the works at the same time. If I get stalled on one (usually because I'm going down the wrong track), then I can pick up in another. Most of the time by putting the story with a problem on the back burner, my mind can untangle whatever problem's been bothering me...usually.
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