Submitted by Char on Sat, 08/21/2010 - 10:10pm
Image: Peacocky character design, c. Oct. 15, 2004
I've wanted to do some kind of reflection on The Peacock King, seeing as how we've finally finished the trilogy (and are in the process of turning it into a Trilogy akin to the one Douglas Adams created around a man known as Dent Arthur Dent), but have been at a bit of a loss as to how to go about that. I've finally come to the conclusion that I'm just not equipped to provide a history of PK, so I'll leave that for Irk's whimsy. What I can do is talk about my part, and how things generally developed when I started sticking my nose in somewhere around 2008, and along the way drop a few notes and insights and tidbits about the story.
Picture this*:
It's somewhere in the summer of 2008. Irk has settled into Portland with me after moving up early in the year. We've just settled into working at a print shop, and somehow Irk starts talking about this story about a king and an animism and some poor hapless dude who gets caught up in it all. At first, it's all background chatter to me -- we talk a lot while we're around each other (and at the time, it was far more notable when we weren't), and Irk tells stories like my kids relate excuses for not doing chores. I grow more interested in one in particular, and find myself encouraging her to write it.
So she does.
I honestly can't remember how it ended up posted on Blogger, or what steps there were in between. There's just this general sense of something growing in a document, and my increasing urge to find a way to make her SHARE IT, and the sense of glee when it was finally online.
At first, I was quite simply her sounding board. I heard her ideas, commented on them, and generally just encouraged her to go and actually do it. After a while, she picked up her own steam, but at the same time, I found myself becoming more and more involved in the process of coming up with the story details. We were also in the habit of constantly going for long, meandering drives around the area and often out to the coast, and most of those hours were spent developing PK. Eventually, she started calling me her co-author. I balked hardcore, seeing as I hadn't actually written any of it. Worldbuilding is one thing, but taking the ideas and making them into a nailed-down narrative? Clearly, she was the author in this situation. I was just background. A glorified cheerleader.
NaNo 2008 pretty much took care of that. I ended up writing four interconnected novellas called The Halls, in the process creating four main characters and cementing down chunks of story. It wasn't intended to be part of the main narrative (and large parts of it actually were discarded as the main story developed), but to my mild surprise, a couple of the characters I wrote ended up actually taking up chunks of the main story -- and, in Erynn's case, a huge chunk of side-story time, too. (The others, for the record, are Bronwyn, Julia, and Amanda. ... Actually, now that I think about it, that's also where Mitheoni made his debut, as well as Stevane's sister Lettie. Huh.)
Over time, I grew a bit more comfortable with Irk's insistence on calling me her co-author, and she grew comfortable with not actually having to raise her voice at me every time I protested the title. Even though she is the one who is in charge of writing the actual [sekrit numbar] of books, I have an equal share of story development (y'all, I have a hit list, just sayin'), and I an say in all honesty that PK is in fact my baby. It's just... well, Irk is the mommy and had to carry the baby. I just had to wait until after the delivery to start parenting.
So that's the short version of how I went from being the chick who doodled the Judge and fangirled him to death before he even got screentime to being the chick who is suddenly staring deadlines in the face and wondering how Irk did THREE NOVELS of deadlines without soiling her drawers and hoping that Echoes doesn't drive everyone away. </transparentbegforpositivereinforcement>
I think I'll save the tidbits for another post, since I'm guessing people might want to avoid spoilers for stuff they haven't read yet. I'll just mention one I indicated above:
* Picture this: started as a bit of an in-joke. I have an ex who is pretty Gerald-natured (to the point where there are times Gerald sounds like him, which is extra funny considering Irk hadn't met him), and he was in the habit of starting stories about his military days by holding up his hands, palm-out, and saying "OK, picture this" with a huge, goofy grin on his face. It's also part of the punchline to one of my favorite jokes: "Picture this: I'm naked, in a refrigerator..."
So, for those of you who are going to avoid the Annotated and Severely Abridged PK, I'll see you on Friday, and thanks for sticking it out with us this long. ♥
