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Thursday, December 6, 2007

Thursday Thirteen #2 - Starcaster


Thirteen Reasons Why I Wrote Starcaster

  1. When my daughter was a toddler, one of the baby words she came out with sounded something like "star-cas-ter". I looked at her and said "What a wonderful idea!" Within 24 hours, I had worked out all the rules of starcasting, and I've only made a few refinements since. I named my protagonist after my daughter because it was her idea.
  2. I wanted to write about spies.
  3. I wanted to set the story in a time period that is unusual for fantasy. I love Jane Austen, so I thought, why not set it in a similar timeframe to her novels? (Of course, Naomi Novik has written her series in the same timeframe, but I don't think her books have the same mood as Starcaster.)
  4. Then I thought, why not make it a blend of Jane Austen and James Bond? Empire-waist dresses and revolvers! What a combination!
  5. Then I thought, why not bring communists into the mix? After all, when I think spies, I have a rather nostalgic sense of longing for the good old days of Reagan vs. The Evil Empire. I know, that's an absolutely insane thing to be nostalgic for, but there it is. I needed a covert subversive enemy group and communists seemed to be the perfect fit. Besides, I've never encountered communists in fantasy before!
  6. I wanted to draw on my military background and blend it with whimsical practicality. Therefore, we have an odd combination of apron-wearing spies with dog tags, with revolver hidden under said apron.
  7. Oh, and did I mention that I wanted it to have revolvers? The old-fashioned kind. With loose gunpowder, a ball and a big bang.
  8. I wanted to write about an innocuous-looking female that everyone underestimates -- to their later chagrin.
  9. I wanted to have a great blurb ahead-of-time, that fired me up to write the novel. My blurb about Starcaster have always gotten me great feedback.
  10. I wanted to write one of those mysteries where you never quite know which guy the girl is going to go for.
  11. I wanted to write about a guy that you grew to love -- someone who doesn't seem very appealing at first.
  12. I wanted something bad to happen to my character, something that would change her looks forever. So I had the villain break her nose. (Don't worry. It gets fixed. Sort of.)
  13. As you probably guessed, I wanted to write something fun!

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8 comments:

  1. That's a HUGE agenda; I'm daunted at the mere thought of trying to pull it all off. Wow!

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  2. Well, I didn't exactly have all those reasons plotted out ahead of time; they just sort of came up while I was writing.

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  3. Oops, I completely forgot to do the Thursday Thirteen!

    http://ravesblog.wordpress.com/

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  4. Raven, you just reminded me to turn on my Blogger-In-Draft thingy for this blog.

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  5. Gosh - that's very very cool! Good for you! I apologize but I am not sure how far along you are. Where are you in this process??

    Good for you!

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  6. I've written all but the final wrap-up. It's worked out to 75,000 words so far, but that will grow because it desperately needs revision.

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  7. Wow, I definitely want to read this story! It sounds fun, fresh, and unique!
    Congrats on the new blog, btw!

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  8. Anna, I'll keep you in mind for a beta reader!

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