{"id":4975,"date":"2015-10-05T05:41:43","date_gmt":"2015-10-05T05:41:43","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.fantasticaficcion.com\/?p=4975"},"modified":"2015-10-05T05:41:43","modified_gmt":"2015-10-05T05:41:43","slug":"guest-post-writing-the-novel-of-my-heart","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.fantasticaficcion.com\/index.php\/guest-post-writing-the-novel-of-my-heart\/","title":{"rendered":"Guest Post : Writing the novel of my heart"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"aliette\"<\/a>Hoy tenemos el honor de recibir la visita de Aliette de Bodard<\/strong><\/a>, que ha escrito un post especial sobre su nueva novela<\/em> The house of shattered wings.<\/a> <\/strong>Despu\u00e9s pod\u00e9is leer la traducci\u00f3n que he perge\u00f1ado (pido disculpas por adelantado).<\/em><\/p>\n

Writing the novel of my heart, or why I nuked Paris<\/u><\/strong><\/p>\n

The House of Shattered Wings<\/strong><\/em> started as a very different novel.<\/p>\n

Originally, I sat down in 2011 or 2012 with my agent, and we discussed projects I wanted to take forward. The one we ended up agreeing on as the most sellable was a urban fantasy set in Paris: I loved the subgenre, but felt I wanted to set it somewhere different (and in any case didn’t feel qualified to set it in an Anglophone country, not even in London where I’d actually lived).<\/p>\n

Over the year that followed, I wrote a synopsis, then three sample chapters, of a fantasy set in 21st Century Paris, where rival families of magicians fought each other for influence. The main character, H\u00e9l\u00e8ne Rouli\u00e8re, was Vietnamese-French, and struggling to find her place in families mostly drawn from the upper-class aristocracy and bourgeoisie. The novel’s plot found her family under attack, and H\u00e9l\u00e8ne fighting to preserve her husband and children, even as her easy certainties crumbled around her.<\/p>\n

There were a lot of familiar preoccupations in this novel: H\u00e9l\u00e8ne’s struggles with her heritage, the importance of homes and hearths, factions fighting each other for influence; and the deadly secrets that could weaken families, and tear them apart. On paper, it sounded like a wonderful thing. In practise, however, it never really came alive. I had several chats with friends, and with my agent, and reluctantly came to the conclusion that it wasn’t working because I didn’t really believe in this world: in particular, I couldn’t get a grip on the magic, and couldn’t believe in an essentially unchanged 21st Century with large magical factions present (I know people have done it very well, and very believably! I just couldn’t make it work for me).<\/p>\n

Regretfully, I scrapped the entire thing, consigning it to the “drafts that didn’t work” folder on my machine. I decided I needed an entirely new setting, and an entirely new plot: something I could actually feel enthusiasm about. Hunting through the scraps folder, I found two old drafts, both novelettes. They were both set in the same universe: a city named Silverspires, where Fallen angels regularly appear, bewildered and lost in the wake of leaving Heaven; and are mercilessly hunted for the magic in their bones. The main character, Samantha, teamed up with a Fallen named Caliel, and attempts to take new Fallen to safety before they are hunted down and killed. Silverspires itself was a sort of dreamy cross between 19th and 20th Century, with silver bullets and mobile phones on the one hand, and on the other Irish immigrants and tenements straight out of Charles Dickens.<\/p>\n

The stories were only half-finished–one literally stopped mid-sentence, as a main character got mortally shot (at that point it was 12000 words long, and I must have got discouraged I would never sell it). I toyed with taking them up again, but again I felt there was something missing; something which didn’t quite click for me. I (bravely) decided to set aside the novel problem for now, and focus on writing short fiction.<\/p>\n

A couple of months later, I was visiting fellow writer Rochita Loenen-Ruiz<\/strong><\/a> in the Netherlands, and discussing the novel I was attempting to write. I mentioned my Silverspires stories, and Rochita looked at me long and hard before saying, “you know, this would totally make an awesome novel, and there’s no reason why it couldn’t take place in Paris”.<\/p>\n

I felt as though lightning has struck me between the eyes.<\/p>\n

Of course. Of course it wasn’t Silverspires I wanted, but Paris: a wildly different city where magic ruled and Fallen angels tumbled from the sky, where life was dangerous and short but still worth living and clinging to; and where Great Houses, each with their own philosophy and rules, fought each other for magical dominance. I wanted familiar streets, the ones I’d grown up with all my life; the rhythm and rules of a society from the books I’d read as a child–still that weird cross between modernity and tradition, but coming from the Belle Epoque rather than the Victorian Age.<\/p>\n

At that point, I stopped, and wondered why there would be that kind of society–and realised that the answer was that it was a 20th Century society looking back to a golden age; and that the easy reason why that would happen was because something catastrophic had happened between the Belle Epoque and the current day. From there, it seemed almost natural to introduce a magical war: instead of WWI being fought between countries, I had it fought between magical factions; and had the resulting conflagration deeply and irremediably nuke Paris, razing Notre-Dame and the Grands Magasins, and making the Seine run black with ashes and the pollution of spell residues.<\/p>\n

And that was the beginning of The House of Shattered Wings<\/em>. Of course, there was still a lot of work: figuring out the magical factions and why they’d got there, how the history and geography of the city had changed, and doing some general worldbuilding and cleaning up (to take just one example, the mobile phones were incompatible with the devastated city and its lack of infrastructure, but it took me two drafts and gentle prodding from my agent to realise this). And then I needed an actual plot where things happened…<\/p>\n

The resulting novel is a composite of both these attempts, and I can still clearly see bits and pieces of both: the families have become Houses, but the intrigues between magical factions still take centre stage; one character, Philippe, is Vietnamese, and as out of place as H\u00e9l\u00e8ne was in the urban fantasy. Silverspires became a House rather than a city; the drug made from Fallen bones was renamed angel essence, and characters from the Silverspires short stories (Lucifer Morningstar, Asmodeus) were lifted wholesale and twisted slightly sideways to make them fit in this new universe. But equally, it’s a novel and a setting that is now totally its own thing, with its own rules, own internal consistency, and a universe that felt to me like it was breathing and living, and one I could comfortably set a novel into.<\/p>\n

And the moral of this story is: in case of doubt, one should always nuke Notre-Dame!<\/p>\n

Escribiendo la novela de mi coraz\u00f3n, o por qu\u00e9 bombarde\u00e9 Par\u00eds<\/u><\/strong><\/p>\n

The House of Shattered Wings<\/strong><\/em> empez\u00f3 como una novela muy diferente.<\/p>\n

En sus comienzos, me sent\u00e9 en 2011 o 2012 con mi agente, y hablamos sobre los proyectos que quer\u00eda afrontar. Acabamos poni\u00e9ndonos de acuerdo en que el m\u00e1s \u201cvendible\u201d ser\u00eda una fantas\u00eda urbana situada en Par\u00eds: me encanta el subg\u00e9nero, pero quer\u00eda ubicarlo en un sitio distinto (de todas formas, no me sent\u00eda preparada para localizar la novela en un pa\u00eds angl\u00f3fono, ni siquiera en Londres donde hab\u00eda vivido).<\/p>\n

Durante el a\u00f1o siguiente, escrib\u00ed una sinopsis y cap\u00edtulos de ejemplo de una fantas\u00eda situada en un Par\u00eds del siglo XXI, donde familias de magos rivales se enfrentaban entre ellas para conseguir el poder. El personaje principal, H\u00e9l\u00e8ne Rouli\u00e8re, era una franco-vietnamita que luchaba para encontrar su lugar en estas familias de la alta aristocracia y burgues\u00eda. La trama de la novela se basaba en un ataque a su familia ante el que H\u00e9l\u00e8ne intentaba preservar a su marido y familia, mientras sus certezas se derrumbaban.<\/p>\n

Hab\u00eda muchas preocupaciones familiares en esta novela: la herencia de H\u00e9l\u00e8ne, la importancia de los hogares y los corazones, facciones que se enfrentan una a otra para conseguir poder y los secretos mortales que pueden debilitar a las familias y destrozarlas. Sobre el papel, sonaba muy bien. En la pr\u00e1ctica, sin embargo, nunca lleg\u00f3 a realizarse. Habl\u00e9 muchas veces con amigos y con mi agente, y reticentemente llegu\u00e9 a la conclusi\u00f3n de que no funcionaba porque no cre\u00eda en ese mundo: en particular, no me cre\u00eda la magia y el hecho de que el siglo XXI no hubiera cambiado apenas incluso con grandes poderes m\u00e1gicos presentes (conozco gente que lo ha hecho y muy bien pero para m\u00ed simplemente no funcionaba).<\/p>\n

A rega\u00f1adientes, me deshice de todo, guard\u00e1ndolo en la carpeta \u201cborradores que no funcionaron\u201d. Decid\u00ed que necesita un escenario totalmente nuevo as\u00ed como una trama totalmente nueva: algo que me entusiasmara. Rebuscando en esta carpeta, encontr\u00e9 dos borradores antiguos, dos novelettes<\/em>. Ambos estaban situados en el mismo universo: una ciudad llamada Silverspires, donde \u00e1ngeles Ca\u00eddos aparecen regularmente, asombrados y perdidos al despertar fuera del Cielo; son perseguidos sin misericordia por la magia de sus huesos. El personaje principal, Samantha, forma un equipo con un Ca\u00eddo llamado Caliel e intenta salvar a un nuevo Ca\u00eddo antes de los capturen y los maten. Silverspires en s\u00ed misma era un cruce so\u00f1ado entre los siglos XIX y XX, con balas de plata y tel\u00e9fonos m\u00f3viles por un lado y por el otro lado inmigrantes irlandeses y suburbios directamente sacados de Charles Dickens.<\/p>\n

Las historias estaban a medio hacer \u2013 una de ellas literalmente se quedaba en mitad de una frase, porque un personaje principal recib\u00eda un disparo mortal (en ese momento ten\u00eda 12000 palabras, y supongo que pens\u00e9 que nunca lo vender\u00eda). Jugu\u00e9 con la idea de empezarlas de nuevo, pero tambi\u00e9n sent\u00eda que faltaba algo; algo que no terminaba de funcionar. Decid\u00ed (valientemente) dejar de lado la novela y concentrarme en la ficci\u00f3n corta.<\/p>\n

Un par de meses despu\u00e9s, estaba visitando a mi amiga Rochita Loenen-Ruiz en los Pa\u00edses Bajos, hablando sobre la novela que estaba intentando escribir. Mencion\u00e9 mis historias de Silverspires, y Rochita me mir\u00f3 largo rato antes de decirme, \u201csabes, esto ser\u00eda una novela estupendo y no hay ninguna raz\u00f3n por la que no deber\u00eda ocurrir en Par\u00eds\u201d.<\/p>\n

Me sent\u00ed como si un rayo me hubiera atravesado entre los ojos.<\/p>\n

Por supuesto. Por supuesto que no quer\u00eda Silverspires, quer\u00eda Par\u00eds: una ciudad radicalmente diferente donde la magia mandar\u00eda y los \u00e1ngeles cayeran del cielo, donde la vida fuera peligrosa y corta pero mereciera la pena luchar por ella; donde las Grandes Casas, cada una con su propia filosof\u00eda y reglas, se enfrentaran por el poder m\u00e1gico. Quer\u00eda calles familiares, esas en las que yo hab\u00eda crecido; el ritmo y las reglas de una sociedad de los libros que le\u00eda de peque\u00f1a \u2013 ese extra\u00f1o cruce entre modernidad y tradici\u00f3n, pero partiendo de la Belle Epoque en vez de la era victoriana.<\/p>\n

En aquel momento me par\u00e9 y me pregunt\u00e9 por qu\u00e9 se habr\u00eda creado ese tipo de sociedad- y me di cuenta de que la respuesta estaba en la sociedad del siglo XX mirando atr\u00e1s a una edad de oro; y la raz\u00f3n por la que esto ocurrir\u00eda ser\u00eda sencilla : algo catastr\u00f3fico habr\u00eda sucedido entre la Belle Epoque y el presente. Desde ah\u00ed, parec\u00eda casi natural introducir una guerra m\u00e1gica: en vez de que la Primera Guerra Mundial se disputara entre pa\u00edses, enfrent\u00e9 a facciones m\u00e1gicas; la conflagraci\u00f3n resultante destroz\u00f3 profunda e irremediablemente Par\u00eds, demoli\u00f3 Notre-Dame y los Grands Magasins e hizo que el Sena se volviera negro con las cenizas y la contaminaci\u00f3n residual de los hechizos.<\/p>\n

Y ese fue el comienzo de The House of Shattered Wings<\/strong><\/em>. Por supuesto, quedaba mucho trabajo: imaginar las facciones m\u00e1gicas y por qu\u00e9 llegaron a d\u00f3nde estaba, c\u00f3mo la historia y la geograf\u00eda de la ciudad hab\u00edan cambiado, trabajos generales de wordbuilding<\/em> y de limpieza\u2026 (por ejemplo, los tel\u00e9fonos m\u00f3viles eran incompatibles con la ciudad devastada y su falta de infraestructura, pero necesit\u00e9 dos borradores y un \u201camable aviso\u201d de mi agente para darme cuenta). Y entonces necesit\u00e9 una verdadera trama donde ocurrieran cosas\u2026<\/p>\n

La novela resultante es una mezcla de ambos intentos, y puedo ver claramente piezas de cada uno de ellos: las familias se han convertido en casas, pero las intrigas entre ellas siguen siendo primordiales, una personaje, Philippe, es vietnamita, y est\u00e1 tan fuera de lugar como H\u00e9l\u00e8ne lo estaba en mi fantas\u00eda urbana. Silverspires se transform\u00f3 en una casa en vez de una ciudad, la droga hecha a partir de huesos de Ca\u00eddos la renombr\u00e9 como angel essence<\/em>, e import\u00e9 algunos personajes de las historias cortas de Silverspires (Lucifer Morningstar, Asmodeus) tal cual con peque\u00f1os cambios para adaptarlos al nuevo universo. Pero del mismo modo, es una novela y un escenario totalmente distintos, con sus propias reglas, su propia consistencia interna y un universo que me parec\u00eda vivo, en el que pod\u00eda acomodar la historia.<\/p>\n

La moraleja de la historia es: en caso de duda, \u00a1destrozar Notre-Dame!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Hoy tenemos el honor de recibir la visita de Aliette de Bodard, que ha escrito un post especial sobre su nueva novela The house of shattered wings. Despu\u00e9s pod\u00e9is leer la traducci\u00f3n que he perge\u00f1ado (pido disculpas por adelantado). Writing the novel of my heart, or why I nuked Paris The House of Shattered Wings … <\/p>\n

Continuar leyendo “Guest Post : Writing the novel of my heart”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[48,229],"class_list":["post-4975","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-fantasia","tag-aliette-de-bodard","tag-guest-post-2"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p5fEpk-1if","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.fantasticaficcion.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4975","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.fantasticaficcion.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.fantasticaficcion.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.fantasticaficcion.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.fantasticaficcion.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4975"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/www.fantasticaficcion.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4975\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":4978,"href":"https:\/\/www.fantasticaficcion.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4975\/revisions\/4978"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.fantasticaficcion.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4975"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.fantasticaficcion.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4975"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.fantasticaficcion.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4975"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}