Thursday, October 25, 2012

ELEVEN DAYS ...

Eleven days till
DAYS OF BLOOD & STARLIGHT! 

(preorder here or here or here)


Yowza! I am so excited!!! 

So soon! I have some cool announcements and antics planned for the next week and a half, but for now, I thought I would mention Book 3, which as of yet has no name, and which I am working away on. Want to see my notebook?

Ever since I got serious about writing novels, I have been doing these notebooks, always hardcover Clairefontaine journals from France, and I like to collage the covers to sort of christen/dedicate them. 


Anyway, with much chaos last year, I never fully dedicated a notebook for DAYS OF BLOOD & STARLIGHT or did a cover, but as I got into the nitty gritty of planning out Book 3, I really felt the need for one, both for inspiration and organization. They somehow work as a sanity-holder during the early planning phases. I have lots of computer notes, but I can never find anything in those when I need to. The notebooks are tangible and flippable, they're sort of my permanent reminder of the process of writing a book, and my go-to for logging ideas as they come to me, and so much else. Lists of possible character or place names, notes on various things I look up, like mythology or science. Scene ideas. Etc.

Here is the stack of oldies behind my desk chair, in easy reach. (I leaf through them from time to time. There's stuff in these I'll likely be referring back to for the rest of my life.)




And here's the new one, nevermind where it says "tequila". I'll probably paint over that at some point. The book has nothing to do with tequila. Hm. So far ...




Main image from a postcard by Dave McKean, top image from a wine label. Hm. Tequila and wine? What is going on here??

By the way, one of the first things I think about, when I'm starting a book, is what I want the prevailing FEELING of the book to be. I write about that to myself (in these notebooks), trying to formulate the general atmosphere of the story, the way (you may imagine, even if you haven't read it yet) DAYS is more grim than DAUGHTER, for example. So far, descriptions of the feeling I'm striving for in Book 3 include ... "rich, juicy, delicious" and "asskickery". Ha! Also: "Like a thriller, battle of wits, deception, layers, intrigues" and ... I like this one: "power anthem". 


Oh. And, you guys ...

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ELEVEN DAYS TILL DAYS OF BLOOD & STARLIGHT!!!





9 comments:

Anonymous said...

Cannot wait!

Jessica said...

Super excited for the release! It's really cool how you have journals for each novel

Connie Onnie said...

One of my book friends just posted on my facebook asking if I knew you were coming to Changing Hands. I am so excited Debbie is coming my friend Melissa is reading it right now and loving it her husband already read it and we are trying to get him to come as well. So so so excited for the book! Also I love the journals, there is something about your words in your handwriting that makes it so much easier to remember and find later.

Unknown said...

YAAAAY!! I just finished re-reading Daughter of Smoke and Bone tonight. sigh. It's so good. so,SO. Good, Laini. It's so beautifully written and so enthralling. And I came on here thinking WHEN?!? when is the next one coming?!? and you had the answer for me right here! And now it's only e.lev.en days away. thank the heavens. I'm calling my local bookstore tomorrow and preordering.

love to you, friend.

Anonymous said...

I read Smoke & Bone in anticipation of seeing you at an event here in Denver at the Tattered Cover and I loved it! Just re-read it in anticipation of the next one. Loved it again. Thanks for giving me something awesome to look forward to!

Charley Robson said...

I'm so excited - can't WAIT to read Days of Blood and Starlight!

Also, that notebook idea is awesome!

Reina said...

Ah Laini you are so inspiring and I love reading your blog especially as you are an author of a decently popular YA trilogy and actually keep a personal blog with a joyous splattering of book updates and such. It's delightful.

AND I feel like you write books in such a similar fashion as I (although I haven't actually published a book), because I do the notebook thing too. Its just so nice to have a hard copy in my handwriting of the random ideas and phrases and ideas that burst into my head.
And I'm sure that you've noted this, but if your book has 11 days until its release, then we have only ELEVEN more days until the ELECTION!! Ahh. That's crazy.
ANyways, I've decided to re-read DoSaB and have the first hold in DoBaS (WHOA did you notice that the B and S switched in the titles???) at the library.
Damn that was long comment ;D

Kate said...

Cannot wait to get my hands on Days of Blood and Starlight! That being said, I love this post! You're notebooks a fabulous! Thanks for sharing! As a writer I really appreciate it! I have the same sort of thing, I have about a million notebooks, all though they sound a little more messy then yours, perhaps I'd get a little more writing done if I was slightly more organized. And the decorating is a brilliant idea! Wondering why I haven't done that yet... Most likely because I'm not as brilliant as you yet. Haha! Maybe someday... ;)

Jenn said...

Cannot wait! I'm making a special trip to Books of Wonder just to purchase it post-voting! Yay, Books of Wonder & DoB&S!

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