Welcome

Jagi Lamplighter!

Author of Prospero Regained,

Prospero In Hell, and Prospero Lost

Publisher's Weekly Review for PROSPERO REGAINED, Sept. 2011:

Lamplighter wraps up her Prospero's Daughter trilogy with a satisfyingly epic combination of mythology, theology, and Shakespeare. Prospero's children, estranged and scattered throughout the circles of Hell, must overcome centuries of distrust and neglect to rescue their father before he's executed. As the Family Prospero journey through the underworld, all of their age-old secrets, mysteries, resentments, and failings are finally brought to light.

Lamplighter keenly examines the complex, intertwined natures of redemption, forgiveness, and faith as represented by the intricate bonds of love and family, externalizing them through memorable representations of Heaven, Hell, and Faerie. This is intricate, intellectual fantasy at its best.

L. Jagi Lamplighter’s most recent release, Prospero Regained, is the stunning conclusion of the critically acclaimed Prospero’s Daughter series. She is also one of the editors of the Bad Ass Fairies Anthology series. When not writing, she reverts to her secret identity as an at-home mother in Centreville, Virginia, where she lives with her husband, author John C. Wright, and their four children, Orville, Ping-Ping, Roland Wilbur, and Justinian Oberon.  

Website: http://www.ljagilamplighter.com;  Blog: http://arhyalon.livejournal.com

Deep Edit Q & A for Jagi Lamplighter

1.  What’s your writing process?

Pantser? Plotter?

I cannot help but notice that the term “Pantser” was invented by a plotter. While I have met writers who write “by the seat of their pants,” I don’t feel the term properly describes the process of writing as I experience it. I like the term organic better. What I like best is Sir Terry Pratchett’s description of writing. He says it is like walking through a mist filled valley. You can see the peaks above the mist, the main landmarks for where you are going, and you know that the valley is filled with interesting places and characters, but you do not discover the particulars until you actually begin walking through the valley.

That being said, I should say that I love outlines. I have tremendous respect for anyone who can write from one. But my experience is that if I outline the story before I’ve written the first half, I just stop writing it—no matter how good my intentions. I think the reason is that part of the writing process for me is the wonder, the exploration, the new creative energy I put into the scene while I am working on it. If I plan too much ahead of time, my conscious mind stops listening to the muse and the writing process stops.

Writing to me seems to a great degree to be about faith and trust. I have to have faith that the story has its own internal integrity…that I will find it if I persevere. (To tell you the truth, I often sit and pray before I start…just asking that I might get my own opinions out of the way and find the story that is meant to be told. )

I never have, due to the particulars of my previous situations. This may come up in the future, though, if my new series gets picked up and the publisher needs the manuscripts for later books on a schedule. I am a bit apprehensive, I must admit, because previous projects have taken quite varied amounts of time. I am hoping they will give me a year. We’ll see.

How long do you allow to deep edit a complete manuscript?

Not enough. LOL. I think my latest book I just turned in could have done with more deep editing. The early part I worked on during your class is just better written than the later part. Since the book has not actually been picked up yet, I may devote some more time to working on it later this fall. It is not as if my editor is going to complain if the final version is better than what I first handed it.

In general, I try to deep edit as I go along, but I think it would be wise for me to schedule more time for it in the future. I was spoiled with my earlier projects. There was no deadline, so I got to work at them as long as I wanted. Ideally, I’d like a month or two at the end, just to go back and deep edit.

2.  Jagi – This visceral response is as fresh as it is powerful.

Anger rushed through me like a tidal wave beating against an unprotected shore.

I love that line! The content and cadence are perfect.

Margie Asked Jagi:  How do you come up with such fresh visceral responses? Do they evolve with multiple passes? Or do you dig deep and focus until you get each one right?

Margie, it’s hard! It takes really sitting down and banging my head against the desk for a while until ideas finally flow.  I find that the technique I learned in your class, taking lines out of the manuscript and really focusing on them separately until something fresh emerges is the best way…but it takes discipline, and I haven’t always been as disciplined as I would like. Sometimes, but more is needed!

One of my hopes, though, is that, if I keep trying, it will some day become second nature. I am already getting better about adding pink, for instance—though sometimes I have to remind myself to go back. There are other parts of writing, such as writing descriptions, that used to be very hard for me, which comes easier nowadays. It is my hope that this will become true for the things I have learned from your class as well!

Here’s a line I wrote during your class that has gotten a lot of positive comments. (It’s from my new novel, The Creation Campaign):

“No,” she shook her head so emphatically that her hair whipped about her like the fringe of a Spanish dancer’s shawl.

And here’s another one I did during your class, this one is from Prospero Regained, the final volume in my Prospero’s Daughter trilogy, though one could argue it’s a bit over the top.

Though he did not turn his head, Theo heard me. A noise halfway between a steaming locomotive and an angry bear erupted from his throat. It rose in pitch like the whistle of a tea kettle. Cornelius covered both his ears.

3. This POWER INTERNALIZATION is beautifully written.

I sighed, wishing that I, too, could experience that false utopia. I disliked the idea of volunteering to be fooled, but I was bone-weary and soul-tired. A few breaths of something that did not smell noxious—even if it was actually noxious—would have been a welcome relief.

Margie Asked Jagi:  Do you have to kill many of your beautifully written internalization darlings?

Not very often, but occasionally. I have written some really nice sentences that just had to go because they did not fit in the final version. I think that is one of the hardest things a writer does, cut something that is good for its own sake, but which does not help the scene go forward.

4.  In Empowering Characters’ Emotions, you learned that weaving together the EDITS colors (scene components) makes for a stronger scene. These two excerpts are stellar. You wove the setting with her emotions. Eloquent and powerful.

1. In the distance, a single point of light shone above the swamp waters. Unlike the steely gray bands amidst the lurid reds of the sky, it was pure and silvery, like starlight. A spark of hope stirred within me, as if I beheld some fragile and heavenly thing that gave wings to my heart.

2. The longer we walked, the heavier my heart became, until it seemed that my flagging spirits were physically dragging me deeper into the mire. I hated the putrid smell, the eerie green fires burning above the marshes, the gray light cast by the bands of steely luminescent clouds streaked across the ruddy skies, the acts of crudity taking place all around us, all of which seemed to involve violence rather than pleasure.

Margie Asked Jagi:  Is it a conscious decision to braid setting with her emotional set? Or is your subconscious that good to you?

Margie, my subconscious is coming along, but it has a long way to go. This is another technique I learned when taking your class…to try and let the way in which the character viewed the surroundings help express the character’s emotions to the reader. It is a technique I really love—though I fear I have a long way to go to master it.

5.  What are some deep editing tools you learned from me, and how did they make a difference in your writing?

Oh! There is so much! The main four that stick with me are:

Visceral Writing: I try to put at least a little pink in every scene. I am still learning how to do it without overdoing it, but it is such an effective tool!

Ping-Pong Dialogue: I love this one. I realized recently that I put some in the early chapters of my most recent book and then forgot about it. But I’ve already added just a little on the first two pages of Volume Two—which I started yesterday!

Adding Freshness: This one is more of a struggle for me. Both because it is hard—anything that requires thinking is hard--and because I find, when writing fantasy, that there are times when familiar wording lends a richness, so I have to balance a sense of familiarity with something new. But I’ve noticed that when Beta Readers note a line they like for some reason other than humor, it is often a line to which I deliberately applied freshness.

Repeating A Word or Phrase Three Times: I don’t recall the name of that one, but I love it! I seldom find a place for it, but I got to use it just yesterday. One of the things on my future wish list is to take your class where you go over these special techniques in detail.

Ah -- You're referring to DEEP EDITING: The EDITS System, Rhetorical Devices, and More. The next time I teach Deep Editing is March.

I teach each of my Big Three writing craft courses (ECE, Deep Editing, and Writing Body Language) once a year. If you'd rather not wait until March to apply what you'll learn in the lectures, the Lecture Packets for all my courses are available through Paypal from my web site.

Jagi -- Thank you for being my blog guest today. I enjoyed interacting with you in class, and in the Deep Edit Q & A. I hope I get to connect in person some day.

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