The second dark ages box.., p.66
The Second Dark Ages Boxed Set, page 66
part #1 of The Second Dark Ages Series
Nagoya, Japan, Hirano Residence
“Dear Diary,
I am writing this down in case I should ever forget. And by “forget” I mean not in the memories fading because they were unimportant or without significance, but in case they are ever taken from me the way they were from my father and his father before him.
This weekend the one they call the Diplomat showed up on my doorstep. And though I refer to her as the Diplomat, I have come to know her as a person. Her name is Yuko. It seems that my feelings for her weren’t unrequited or unwarranted. Alas, I fear her world and her mission has ripped her from me for good.
It all started on Saturday morning when there was a ring at the door. I hadn’t seen her since my last entry when I helped her out at the docks…”
Hirano continued writing far into the night, hoping that if he kept expressing his feelings, they would neither die in his chest nor consume him with longing.
When he was finally done, he glanced out his apartment window into the night sky where he had only hours before seen Yuko’s Pod disappear to her next destination.
He closed the large leather-bound diary and carried it over to the living room carpet. Pulling the rug up, he exposed the floor safe. He placed the diary into the safe, locking it again and quickly replacing the rug. He rearranged the coffee table and then sat for a moment staring at the spot where the diary rested.
FINIS
Author Notes - Michael Anderle
I know that Ell Leigh Clarke’s Author Notes are next, so I don’t want to steal any of her thunder...
But I will, anyway.
Just not yet.
Before I do that, I’d like to say ‘thank you!’ to Ellie for picking up the Yuko / Eve / Jacqueline / Mark side of this story. I will admit that I’ve been fighting burn-out pretty bad. Ellie offered to help one time and I had pushed her back because…
IT WAS MICHAEL!
He was one of my first characters, and I wasn’t comfortable letting go (empty nest syndrome…kinda?) until after I wrote another two more Bethany Anne books. When it was time to come back to Michael, I was up against a wall pushing on the business and it was very tough to get up and get myself in front of the computer to write.
I decided to reach back out and ask her if the offer to help collaborate on the book was still open.
A bit of a background
When Ellie decided to write, she had two books under her belt that were unpublished. She started reading The Kurtherian Gambit (no, she isn’t finished with the series regardless whether she owns a Kindle, or not.) We had many, many story discussions for her series (The Ascension Myth - TAM) and then wrote and gave me her book.
Ummmm…. I gently pushed it back, with comments.
She re-wrote her first book…and gave it back.
With much (read MUCH) trepidation, I had to push it back to her again. Wondering (worrying) that I would really hurt her professional feelings having her change stuff…again. This was an 80,000 word book, so it wasn’t pleasant.
<
She did it and she was easy to work with even though I was thinking she must HATE me by this time.
Now, I had previous experience working with her on something when the feedback wasn’t ‘YEAH!’ and I’m comfortable that if I had to push her back on her parts of this story, we could work through it. We started working on the beats for the story, and recognized that the way for us to collaborate would be to split the story into two groups.
I would take the Michael and Akio story (remember, my baby so to speak) and Ellie took Jacqueline and Mark (she will tell you ‘less killy-killy.’) We worked out the time lines and what was going on (the beats.)
Then, we started.
I had a couple of thousand words early, and she had nothing. Then, a few days later I finally came back and did a few thousand as well. A few days after that, I put a bunch of hours together and hit about 15k. Ellie tells me (she doesn’t remember, I don’t think) that she was at like, 16 k. Later, she realizes she was actually thousands of words short of what she remembered.
So, I was WAAAY ahead.
Now, she did ask about plot beats, but I seem to remember that she was working on things and finally, we needed to meet because she was finished with her stuff, and I was ‘finally’ holding her back.
<< Ellie Edit: You’re kidding me! I was just working on the next Molly book! >>
We spoke the next day.
During this time, she was having some CRAP experiences and pain with dentists. So, she wasn’t behind me due to me crushing it, but rather out of it due to painkillers and stuff.
<< Ellie edit: soooo not true! >>
Eventually, I hit words complete, and so does Ellie one day later. I had already sent my work to Stephen Russel for editing, and I now had Ellie’s work to go through. I went through it, and the next day or so, I worked to move the two sets of stories together in a timeline (according to the beats) and delivered it all to Stephen, Steve and Lynne. They then worked it with the wonderful JIT team to fix the broken stuff.
(Like, “Reputation” not “Rep”!)
<< Ellie edit: was that me? That wrote rep? Was it in dialogue? Coz if it was dialogue, you know I have a rule with my editors that it should stay… in NON-Michael books at least! >>
FUN STUFF - IT’S ABOUT A CAT
In the TAM series, there are always stories. Usually, stories about how Ellie and I have argued over something.
I’m here to share a cat story (and being right…but, you know… that’s not the important part.)
<< Ellie edit: Pha! That’s the ONLY important part to MA!! >>
Ellie shares a few weeks ago she is going to Austin (she lives in California.) So I ask her why and she explains she is going to housesit for a friend.).
Sounds ok. Austin is a great place, she can have fun if she cares to get out.
Then, she mentions the horror part of the horror story.
Her friend has CATS.
I tell her immediately that she is going to travel 1,500 miles to become a slave.
She laughs it off.
A couple of more times, I mention it and by the third time, she is rolling her eyes (since she doesn’t believe me.) Then, last Wednesday she flies from California to Austin.
Thursday morning at some unGODly time, I get a Slack message that says:
“4am ellie feels a weight on her leg. She wakes up. It's a kittie.
Kittie demands to be pet. Ellie pets kittie. Kittie wanders off.
4.20 am. Ellie still awake. Gets up. Makes tea. Kittie nowhere to be seen.
It has begun.”
HAHAHAHAHAHAHA….
(Here’s the culprit according to the pic she slacked me…)
Yes, I was right.
(Cue cat lover responses – please go to https://www.facebook.com/ellleighclarke/ and type away!)
Thank you ALL for reading these Kurtherian Stories. We are coming to the end of the journey for The Kurtherian Gambit (we have 3 books to go) and Michael (we have 1 book to go.)
For those waiting patiently, they meet in book 04 and book 21 … Which I will probably / possibly release on the same day.
February 14th seems appropriate.
<< Ellie edit: because that’s the day before my birthday? Or because it’s a romantic time for Michael and Bethany Anne to reunite? >>
What do you think?
It’s just FOUR MORE BOOKS to write in time.
Ad Aeternitatem,
Michael
(No, I’m not thinking about the challenge Emily Beresford has expressed about being all caught up with the Bethany Anne books for Audible by the time I finish book 21…
Not at all.)
Ad Aeternitatem,
Michael Anderle
Author Notes - Ell Leigh Clarke
MA, Michael and Trust
As you may have figured by now, it wasn't a typo on the cover. MA and I actually wrote this episode of Michael together.
The reason that this came about was probably around Molly Book 3 when MA made a few unrelated comments during one of our conversations.
comment 1: "I like your writing. It's probably the most like mine out of anything I've read." Or words to that effect.
comment 2: "I'm so behind on my writing. I wish there was a way to catch up."
Meanwhile I was writing something like 2000 words per hour.
MA comment 3: "bitch!"... or words to that effect.
So of course the natural thought that came to mind was: "Hey, why don't I write with you on the Michael series."
MA liked the idea of not having to write as many words. But then hated the idea of someone else writing his characters.
And I could understand that.
So I dropped it. And wrote a bunch more Molly.
Then about two months later MA brings up this idea about writing Michael together again. One thing led to another and we agreed to do it. The result is what you hold in your hand.
Writing with MA has been super fun. I've been a total pain in the arse asking him if I can do xyz, and would Eve be able to eat (the answer was no!), but all in all I think we got there pretty efficiently - although I have very little to do in the editing process, so for all I know it was a total bitch for MA!
But what I'm really trying to get to is to say Thank You Michael. Thank you for trusting me with your series, and for giving me the honor of being the only collaborator to have my name UNDER yours!
I hope this was as fun for you as it was for me.
(Aside from the fact you only had half the number of words to write, I mean.)
MA and competition
At the risk of being repeato girl (for those who have been following The Ascension Myth Author Notes) MA has a thing about competition.
While most people can see it as a potentially fatal flaw, he sees it only as a driving force. Something to thrive on.
Little did I realize how he was banking on this to motivate him to get through the word count on the rest of this series. I thought this was just going to be a fun story to tell. Together.
Na ah.
This was a trap, to give him a "sparring buddy" to push him to get ahead on the word count!
And when he feels like he is winning... wow, he goes for it.
After our second story meeting we had enough pinned down to start writing scenes. So off we went. By the next time we spoke I had about 15k words down, and he had... well, a lot less.
Then it got to the point where I had done everything I could do until we made some big story decisions. I heard nothing from him for DAYS. (Well we talked about other things, but when it came to the Michael books, he hadn't "got into it" yet.)
Eventually, (probably about a week and half later) he's announcing he's about 10k from finishing!
WTF?
And what about our story line?
So eventually he got around to reading what I'd written and some time after that (when he had 2k left to write) he got around to talking to me about the next beats to tie all the threads together.
It quickly became apparent that when he was ahead in terms of word count, he liked being out ahead. Even if it meant I was going to hold up the editing process by needing another week to catch up. Sigh.
Now I'm sure he'll feed y'all the same story he was feeding me at the time. "I've been on calls. I've been traveling. I was going to read it last night but we've had releases that needed to go out..."
Don't get me wrong. He does a *fuck tonne* of stuff in each day. But I see now this collab thing was (probably) a (smart) psychological hack to spur him through the writing process.
So there we go. MA and competition.
MA and man-bashing.
The morning I was (finally) due to finish writing, MA called me. He wanted to tell me about a scene he'd just written. (This is one of the *most* fun things about having a writing partner!)
So he read it out to me. It was the scene where Yuko was talking about how the young don't like the hypocrisy of their actions being pointed out to them. Which quickly turned into a man-bashing statement:
“The young do not care to have the hypocrisy of their actions pointed out to them.” She nodded down the street, “Or the prideful.”
“You would think he would learn.”
“Or the stubborn.”
“How stubborn can a human be?”
“Let’s just leave it at men.” Yuko finished. “Their heads are as hard as granite, and yet just as brittle as sandstone. Should you give them their vaulted logic, their world view can explode.”
Ellie: Dude, you don't half give guys a hard time.
MA: yeah well, they're an easy target.
Ellie: still.
MA: hang on, let me finish this reading this to you.
MA kept reading.
Yuko: “You act as if females are any different, except insert emotions instead of logic.”
Ellie: ah. So you balance it out!
MA: you have to. Else the guys give you a hard time.
Ellie: but you have a whole paragraph on the failings of 'men' and one line on women. That's hardly fair.
MA: (shrugs awkwardly)
Ellie's conclusion: MA has waaay too much genuine respect for women to really give us too much shit.
Despite our failings. #Awww... :)
Ellie and Editing
Ok, so I realise that a lot of these notes focus on the Ellie:MA banter. But since Steve started taking over the publishing process, he's been sharing his humor with us. (See Author Notes for The Ascension Myth Book 7, which resulted in him being nicknamed George Clooney.)
Now, Steve has always handled the JIT team and process. And Ellie is not keen on the editing process. When she was brought on board by MA a serious conversation was had about her not having to faff with stuff, like edits and rewrites. (Unless it really needed it from a quality control perspective.)
So over the months we've put in place various processes which have meant that Steve and his team of badass JITers and editors handle *all* of it - except where it's a story consideration. In which case it get's bounced back to the author in a quick slack message.
It's become a highly honed, polished process to minimize frustration and drama. (For Ellie, at least!)
So imagine my surprise when for *this* book Steve writes me:
steve: Oh, by the way, Michael said I should work directly with you for any changes to the new Michael book.
Ellie: (in her head: Hang on, did I read that right? He's got to be kidding me. No way is that happenin-)
steve: HAHAHAHA
[3:57]
JK
ellleighclarke [3:58 PM]
lmfao -- you had me!!!!
[3:58]
you *totally* had me then
steve [3:58 PM]
I should have let it hang a little longer :)
LOL
ellleighclarke [3:58 PM]
yeah, given me time to REALLY freak out'
[3:59]
you have an evil streak Mr. Clooney
steve [3:59 PM]
It’s what keeps me sane …
MA and Magic
I have a pet theory.
One that when I talk about it MA takes on that super-skeptical look. It's like the opposite look to when I'm explaining something logical or sciency to him.
Here's the theory: that magic happens when we work on stuff together.
Historically MA has just put most of this down to my being a genius. Or an AI. But that leaves no room for magic. And heck this existence would suck if there was no magic. I don't know how Muggles can stand the boredom quite honestly.
So anyway - there we were on one of our calls, chin wagging about something or other, and MA mentions that he's been having trouble with the fb banner. It wouldn't let him update it. We talked through some reasons why it might be the case, but it turned out that three different people on three different machines had tried to update it.
Ellie: try it now.
MA: No. It doesn't work. I've been trying it before we got on.
Ellie: yeah, but it might now that we're both on the line. Try it.
MA: (goes ferreting for the image and the fb page.)
Ellie: (watches his screen light up his face in the darkened room, and his eyes dart about effecting the upload.)
MA: I'll laugh if it works just because you're on.
Ellie: How many times do I have to tell you that magic happens when we do this stuff together?
MA: (ignores comment, continues watching screen). Shit. It's working!
Ellie: Told you so.
MA: (coggs turning). Yeah. That's... That's funny!
Now, I know he's still skeptical about my pet theory, and I don't blame him.
BUT - this is the same guy who's last words to me before I headed out to New Orleans was "be careful. There's a lot of magic out there."
Ellie: how do you mean?
MA: Just be careful.
Ellie: ok.... *Mom*.
Tee hee.
So, my secondary hypothesis to this theory is that he doesn't not believe in magic.
He just doesn't believe in a particular magic that might be close to home. Happening every day. All around him.
And I'm sure he's not alone. And that's cool.
This author just chooses to see things in terms of multi-dimensional, multi-coloured, magical terms. And I know some of the folks who read our words often do too.
Anyway, regardless of my pet ideas about MA and magic... I hope you've found at least some magic to the story we wrote together for Michael: The Darkness Before the Dawn.
