Ask the Author: Sherwood Smith
Answered Questions (80)
Sherwood Smith
DAW still has the rights to the books, so that question really ought to go to them! They might consider it if they find out there is an interest.
Sherwood Smith
I forget the name of it now, but it was a nasty one, in which membranes of fluid slowly build up until the victim pretty much suffocates. YUK!
Sherwood Smith
Thank you for asking, and for your kind words! Indeed there will be. I've a good part of a follow-up to THE TROUBLE WITH KINGS (the next gen, and Elian's middle age), and there's Mel's second daughter, who was born after that dip in the pool belonging to the Hill Folk...
Sherwood Smith
Centuries earlier. Sage Empress is a few centuries after that, and the next one will almost catch up with Phoenix Feather
Sherwood Smith
Thank you! I'm glad you still enjoy it! I wrote the first half when I was 20, studying abroad. I was unexpectedly homesick and came up hard against my own ignorance. I wrote the first half as consolation for being cold all the time in my very first winter. I don't remember how long it took--a couple weeks? The second half I wrote a couple years later, when I was in graduate school, and deep in history studies. I was reading so much about social history and courtly life that it sort of wrote itself, again as an escape from studies. Those handwritten drafts were pretty incoherent but still fun, I thought, when I decided why not type them up and try to publish them, years later. If I were to rewrite it from the ground up now, it'd probably be a completely different story. Mel is so peripheral to the main action--but on the other hand, it was fun being in her maddeningly stubborn head for a time!
Sherwood Smith
He's attempting to put a spin on H's actions to imply he flouted orders, a "crime" that can get you killed. (It's a ruse to get I. in trouble)
Sherwood Smith
Not silly at all! TORRENT is due out in July (a chapter a day redraft on Patreon right now) and then ANTIPHONY due in Fall. Thank you for asking!
Sherwood Smith
Thanks for asking! Whirtlers is just another name for the whistler arrows.
Sherwood Smith
Sorry, I don't have any copies, nor do I know where to find it.
Sherwood Smith
I didn't see your reviews--but then I'm not all that good at navigating social media.
Sherwood Smith
Thank you for asking! I don't really talk anywhere online about it as I don't want to bore people even more than I do already. I do have a couple of projects going. Thank you for the kind words!
Sherwood Smith
I suspect there are as many answers as there are writers, and all are right--or wrong, if a solution doesn't work for you. For me, habit is a large part of focus. Anything can become a habit. There's a lot of talk about avoiding bad habits, but not as much about forming good ones. One way is to give yourself small rewards, another to make sure to count up everything you got done before you go to sleep, and gloat to yourself. Revel in accomplishment, however small.
Another thing I've discovered is to beware of producing little stuff that never adds up to anything. This is the downside of writing exercises or writing warmups, etc, that often get recommended. For too many busy people these end up being all one gets done in a day--and so though one's writing, it never goes anywhere. Even more important, there is no real learning or improvement involved in splatting a few hundred words out a day that don't connect to anything else.
If a larger project is stalling, try writing the scenes you look forward to doing. What about that project jazzed you in the first place? Write the Good Stuff, and then go out from there. So what happens next? How did they get there? One thing I learned the hard way, if what I'm writing doesn't excite me, it sure as heck will not excite any readers. So I've got to figure out where the "juice" is in a scene, or cut it. Tighten. But that gets into revision, so I'll stop here, and wish you luck!
Another thing I've discovered is to beware of producing little stuff that never adds up to anything. This is the downside of writing exercises or writing warmups, etc, that often get recommended. For too many busy people these end up being all one gets done in a day--and so though one's writing, it never goes anywhere. Even more important, there is no real learning or improvement involved in splatting a few hundred words out a day that don't connect to anything else.
If a larger project is stalling, try writing the scenes you look forward to doing. What about that project jazzed you in the first place? Write the Good Stuff, and then go out from there. So what happens next? How did they get there? One thing I learned the hard way, if what I'm writing doesn't excite me, it sure as heck will not excite any readers. So I've got to figure out where the "juice" is in a scene, or cut it. Tighten. But that gets into revision, so I'll stop here, and wish you luck!
Sherwood Smith
We hoped to get it finished this month, but right now we cannot get together due to quarantine. It's nearly done. At this point, our aim is to get it out this year. Thanks for asking!
Sherwood Smith
This answer contains spoilers…
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Sherwood Smith
The publisher controls the rights, not I. I don't think they're interested in getting those two recorded right now. If I get the rights back, I will pursue it on my own. Thanks for asking!
Sherwood Smith
Wren's story was finished with Wren Journeymage. But there are more in that world, listed here.
A goodly portion of my other books are set in the world of Crown Duel, ranging from kids' stories to fantasy romance to big epics that take several volumes to tell. The prequel is A Stranger to Command, Vidanric's story, and the characters themselves will reappear again in Ship Without Sails, which hasn't been published yet.
Thank you for asking!
A goodly portion of my other books are set in the world of Crown Duel, ranging from kids' stories to fantasy romance to big epics that take several volumes to tell. The prequel is A Stranger to Command, Vidanric's story, and the characters themselves will reappear again in Ship Without Sails, which hasn't been published yet.
Thank you for asking!
Sherwood Smith
More than half of them are already published. Relating to Crown Duel, there is A Stranger to Command, which is Vidanric's story. Then there are all the others. Thanks for asking!
Sherwood Smith
Finishing that one is next up!
Sherwood Smith
Thank you for your interest! As soon as I know anything, I always post it at my website.
There, on the news pages, I also have a signup for a newsletter, though I still don't know how to do a newsletter. (I will get lessons as soon as I have actual news--right now it's quietly collecting names, as I don't want to pester people until I have actual pub dates.)
There, on the news pages, I also have a signup for a newsletter, though I still don't know how to do a newsletter. (I will get lessons as soon as I have actual news--right now it's quietly collecting names, as I don't want to pester people until I have actual pub dates.)
Sherwood Smith
Thank you! So glad you enjoyed them! I do have some lighter, more romantic in the pipeline.
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