Hild, the novel (yes, that’s it’s new title–it just made sense), complete with map, glossary, and family tree have just winged their way to my agent. Now I curl up in a heap and sleep for a day.
Coming soon, a spiffy, gorgeous, luscious map of all things Hildish. Meanwhile, over on my research blog, Gemæcce, there’s a readable version of Hild’s family tree, complete with a long discussion of my name choices.
Enjoy.
Nicola Griffith 
Just like when I was a kid, I am putting all my change in a jar so I can buy it as soon as it comes out.
Dear Nicola,
I just finished “always”; I stayed up all night, couldn't put the book aside, enjoyed reading it sooo much!
didn't sleep an hour even though today I desperately need to send off a paper for review (I'm an academic). – you owe me ;-)
so: any chance to get more of aud some time soon? from this blog I infer a contract has been signed for part 4 and you state you already know the plots of novel 4 and 5…
so looking forward to it!
Cheers,
Kate
barbara, we'll have to figure out a way to get it signed for you.
Kate, I'm delighted you enjoyed it. It's basically two novels in one :) Yes, I know what happens next, but I'm so involved in writing about Hild now that I don't think I'll get to Aud IV for, well, a long time.
Are you planning any book tours to Whitewater WI? But seriously, I'll buy it, mail it to the address of your choice, youcan sign it and mail it back to my only address. And thank-you.
Barbara, Whitewater? Probably not. But I do sometimes make it to Madison, to A Room of One's Own. I've no idea how far it is from Whitewater…
is there a way we can speed the process up…? :-))
aud: I simply fell in love with the character – in a very innocent way. of course. just took an earful of interviews with you; I like the way you portrayed her: “elementary”.
geez! it's crazy what books and fiction can do to you. and I swear I'm a grown up. totally settled. emotionally etc. satisfied.
anyway: thanks for answering and, well, I guess I'll have to eventually try “Hild”.
best,
Kate
Madison would be fine. It's only 48 miles from Whitewater.
Kate, you could buy me the winning lottery ticket so that I could afford staff do all the time-consuming stuff like…well, like everything except write novels :)
And I can't remember the last time I had such a lovely compliment about my writing. Thank you.
You know, in a way I'm a “writer” too; I write papers on business and management stuff so it's more about “creative non-fiction”. But this, of course, is very different from writing a novel. Personally, I really admire people who “make stuff up” (your wording, epilogue “always”)because of their skill to make stuff up, but stuff that is still well-researched, coherent, that makes sense.
Academic writing is different; while it is much more about HOW you present your findings than most people would ever imagine, it's more rigid in terms of structure, format, “ingredients” you need to include; things one needs to address. It's research, so it's methodological.
I love fiction so I every now and then I try to write a short story, develop a character, think about a plot. but it's so, so hard. It's just really difficult. (By the way: eventually I came to understand what drives me to reading novels: it's the character first, then the plot. When it comes to characters, I can be merciless; they must be alive, palpable, likable, and I'm quite selective :-))
So, in terms of speeding it up; actually, I have an idea.
seriously.
did you ever think of trying to find a voluntary “research assistant”? Not sure how it is in the US (I'm in Europe) but over here people are populating creative writing courses. (I did some myself); so while you can learn a bit of this and a bit of that in a one day workshop, you don't actually SEE how it's done. I just quickly browsed trough your blog, that related to Hild, and I find the process of how a novel actually evolves quite interesting. If I were a student, or a young hobby writer I wouldn't mind helping you out and learn something about novel writing in return.
just an idea. perhaps it helps. for speeding it up ;-)
cheers,
Kate
kate, K and I really need someone to do things like shopping, laundry, paying bills, queing at the Post Office, picking stuff up from Kinko's–grunt work. I can't imagine anyone volunteering for that!
OK, sending the winning lottery ticket then ;-)
Kate