Lynn came up with an idea.
This is a good thing.
We need to redevelop our working together and develop an ongoing feature on CC.
You’re going to get the benefit of it.
We’re going to do what all three of us know quite well: a shared universe for us.
Here’s how it came down. We talked on the phone. We thought it sounded great. Then we polled ‘us’ with the question—anybody got a universe? Weelll, Lynn had a spare one. She’d been messing around with the old Acme Idea Generator, and this one fell out. It’s called “Seeking North,” and it’s set on a colonial planet that’s seen hard times.
Jane has a notion.
Lynn has one.
I, heaven help me, have one.
We’re going to have something up come New Year’s. The current way it works is just—it’s free. We don’t know what we’re going to do with it. You’ve already seen what sort of scraps lie about my worktable awaiting spare parts. Haven’t gotten my own finished yet, and I can’t really divert my brain, in the struggle I’ve had to finish this novel properly. But Seeking North might just work with minimal effort, once certain things gel.
Stay tuned. Look at Lynn’s site: Lynn’s Blog /a> for details.
I saw, and stuck my opinion in, on Lynn’s blog entry. It sounds like a great way for the three of you as writers to get a chance to play and have fun, and that should be great fun for the readers to see. My other commnets are over there, so there’s no need to repeat them. π
If you’re finding that Real Life or Creative Life are interfering with the flow of your current novel, then maybe doing a side project, where you can let go and play around, will be a helpful, enjoyable diversion, and jog the difficult piece into place. What I’ve heard writers say, including yourself, is that when you’re having difficulty with a piece and it isn’t outside life intruding, then it means your mind (and those pesky characters running around in there) is telling you something’s amiss and it’s time to reassess, regroup, and go back to that point and rewrite, in order to unblock whatever or whoever in the story is out of whack. A chance to break out of routine and play in your medium sounds like a grand idea for all of you and for us, your readers and loyal supporters. (Oh, thanks, pass the butter….)
Sincere good wishes, and oh boy, a shared world story by the Closed Circle trio, coming next month. w00t!
Just curious – will you allow other contributors? Have to admit I’d love to toss some of my silly ideas in π
Wayne
I doubt it, Wayne, for various reasons. But something like fanfic on the world might be another avenue. We’re still discussing it.
If you go the Fanfic route, I’d suggest a contest of some sort. Since it’s nearly 3:00 am here and I’m half asleep, I don’t have any immediate suggestions for details π
But I’m sure everyone else will!
Wayne
This sounds awesome CJ! I can’t wait!
yes, awesome is the word!
Woo Hoo! Roll the new Year!
Wowee! Zowee! Calloo! Callay! All the holidays I can think of wrapped up in one! Thanks to Closed Circle for such a wonderful gift! π π π
BTW Full eclipse of the moon tonight. Happy Winter Solstice to All!
“Anybody got a spare universe?”
I just *love* that question.
Looking forward to finding out what you’re doing with it.
@Smartcat and Green_knight: Yes!!
And what an appropriate universe for you – “a colonial planet thatβs seen hard times”! I really can’t wait to see what the three of you do with that.
Just got a Kindle for an early Christmas present. I’m looking forward to making some purchases on Closed Circle. Amazon has precious little of the Foreigner series for Kindle. Any chance that those will make it to Closed Circle?
Alas, most everything with DAW is under their imprint: I have a few e-rights, and may try to do some horse-trading with them, but if Penguin doesn’t put them out at their site, no luck there.
oh this looks like a FABULOUS thing!!!! can’t wait to be able to read it! ;))
Aside: I stayed up way too late last night, reading Netwalkers: Groundties in ebook form. Loving it.
It seems interesting, but don’t neglect the things that bring in money. You should not be shoveling – you, and I for that matter, have reached the heart attack stage of shoveling life – surely your books provide enough to have someone else do this for you.
Stay Warm,
Jonathan
No, alas, frankly they don’t, not since NYC went crazy. And we need ways to bring more people into our set of sites.
Ah, traffic generation. Well, a fanfic contest might help bring in a few more people. Another thing that might help is Twitter. At present you are under utilizing it. If I can make a suggestion, follow Cory Doctorow (@doctorow), and Neil Gaiman (@neilhimself), both are wizards at Twitter promotion. Cory has over 91,000 twitter followers, anything he says gets around the net fast. Neil has over 1,500,000 followers – whatever he says explodes onto the net.
Self promotion is tough. I’ve been trying to learn it, by watching those who are good at it. Not sure that I’m getting anywhere yet, but I’m working on it.
I’ll post a note at the forum, http://www.terrafirmascapers.com/ in the Commerce Planet section, though the admins may move it to another section there. Members know I’m a Cherryh fan, and they’d like a shared world done by pro authors. I’ll specify it’s written only by the three Closed Circle authors, is FREE, and so on. Heh, with links to all three blogs. π
“Free” always looks good…but don’t forget to include a Donation button, eh? π
Am very much looking forward to CC’s new project.
Would it make good sense to have a single, central blog devoted to the shared world and to Closed Circle? It might avoid potential wandering by the trio and by fans / readers, although browsing and wandering about has its benefits too. Just a thought.
There will be a dedicated blog for the shared universe, where you will be able to read it: that site will have conspicuous links to CC and to the other blogs, as we currently plan it. And you will be able to get over there from our blogs or from Closed Circle.
Need to get there from you Facebook profiles and Amazon author page as well.
I don’t know if the Amazon author page will let me put a link. They’re real cranky about pointing anybody at anything but Amazon—but sneaking in a link to my webpage WITH (on it) a link to the operation would be good—thanks for reminding me.
Hmm… Could this become a setting for a Roleplaying Game? No need to worry about rules because there’s a plethora of good systems out there already, GURPS, D20 and countless others. As a gamemaster I could always use a new setting that my players aren’t already familiar with.
Woot! This sounds fun, although it seems that there’s a number of your planets which have fallen on hard times π I also love the image of a spare universe just languishing about. Now I will admit to gleefully grabbing anything you do and have for over 30 years, and have been known to haunt bookstores in the past waiting for a new anything — but ah, gee, do you guys ever get to sleep? I mean, I go to work and really try hard to get to the gym daily for at least 30 minutes and then never seem to accomplish a wretched thing the rest of the day. I am amazed at all you guys managed to pack into a day and manage to do it all over again the next day! Repeatedly.
π we do try. Of course, the need to pay the bills is pretty persuasive!