I'm Christiane [she/they] and I'm disabled, queer, and several flavors of neurospicy. I live right outside the city of Baltimore, MD, near the Chesapeake Bay. I'm an author and poet, concentrating on contemporary fantasy and speculative fiction that centers on stories about hope and community. That's my big WHY when it comes to everything in life: inspiring hope, building community.
Just a little sequel-writing update, with word count and little peek behind the curtains for you!
Still struggling with a title; the right one will reveal itself when the time is right, but the time could be right sooner rather than later, if you want my opinion. 35,662 words so far, out of a general goal of 120,000. That’s not bad progress! And it doesn’t include my copious notes and my new, updated outline.
Some details about the plot that I haven’t mentioned anywhere else yet: this takes place a few months after the events of In Sleep You Know, and focuses more on Lucee Fearney and Vali Dawe and their stories. Of course, expect the rest of the Eleriannan, Gwyliannan, and Mortals you’ve come to know and love, because they always have opinions! And of course there will be music, magic, graffiti, and even more glimpses of Baltimore.
And of course, there will be some unexpected visitors…
“Will you let me be by her side when we tell our tale?” His tone was stoic, but his eyes were pleading with her to grant his request. “Let me lend her some of my energy, as meager as it is now. I can help her. If you fear my interference – she can ask me if I am dabbling, and I cannot lie to her.” He looked ill when he confessed this to Vali, and the thought occurred to her that he meant something much more concrete than a basic declaration of respect. “You swore an oath.” He looked trapped, but he nodded in the affirmative. “You gave her that much power over you.” He glanced over at Emmaline, then back to Vali. He straightened up a bit, and looked Vali in the eyes as he explained. “She has never, not once, expected me to be anything more or less than what I’ve presented to her. She has never demanded anything of me other than to be myself, and to be utterly and completely honest. This was the way I could assure her that I would deliver on that request. I wanted to level the field between us. I have so much power, and she had very little. At least this way, we could be equals.”
Like what you’re hearing so far? Excited for the sequel? Let me know! Comment below, or on Facebook or Instagram! Can you guess who is speaking in the excerpt above? I want to know!
I have been working hard on the sequel to In Sleep You Know, and the manuscript has reached 27,000 words. Of course, that doesn’t count the outline and copious notes I’ve also got, because are you even writing if you don’t have twenty-seven pages of notes and outlines? [I am only exaggerating a little, I love amassing notes on my projects]
This Trello board contains a ton of the behind the scenes work that went into keeping In Sleep You Know organized
As a writer, it is important for me to stay organized, and to be accountable to myself and my readers. I am self-published, so I don’t have publisher deadlines to keep me on track. Technically, I can do whatever I want, whenever I like. That’s fantastic for my mental state, because I abhor the idea of having to answer to someone “above” me – hence why I have worked for myself for so long. Freedom is important, but I still require structure in order to be effective at what I do, and setting my own deadlines helps to keep me focused. Producing within a reasonable amount of time keeps readers happy, as well!
One of the ways that I create structure is by setting word count goals as I write my manuscript. Those turn into editing goals once the first draft is complete. For In Sleep You Know, I used NaNoWriMo [National Novel Writing Month] to motivate myself to keep on track with word count and production. For those who are unfamiliar, you join a community that is aligned to one purpose: writing 50,000 words in the month of November. There are trackers on your page where you can update your daily word count, and the page creates a graph that shows you your progress. It’s a great visual reminder, and for a rewards-driven person like me, it gamifies things just enough by awarding writers various cute virtual badges on your user page.
NaNo was the push I needed to get inspired, and I finished the first manuscript for ISYK in record time. It was a real breakthrough for me as a writer! This time around, I am using a variety of cobbled together resources to keep me focused and motivated, including my Facebook group for writers, online writing sprints with Caveday and via the Clarion West Write-A-Thon, and using the daily word count goal option in Scrivener.
I invested in Scrivener towards the end of working on In Sleep You Know, and it was one of the best purchases I’ve made for my writing career. Highly recommended!
Scrivener and Trello are the backbone of my process. I also use Evernote to take notes on the fly, which get automagically uploaded to Trello. I tend to dump a lot of the research that I do [names, lore, lyrics, concepts] into Evernote as I gather it. Once it gets uploaded to Trello – I use Zapier for that – I can sort it into the proper cards.
Trello holds everything from my outlines to character sheets to the piddly but important details like “what was everything in Merrick’s pouch?” and “What does each House look like?” I can add photos, links, and even task lists of every point I want to hit in a character’s arc, for example. As I am a very visual person, I find it to be really helpful in this regard!
Scrivener does have a lot of the same functionality, but I prefer to use it for words over images. The current project – “Unnamed Sequel With Working Title: The Immutable Truth” which I know just trips lightly off the tongue – is mostly chapter folders with scenes broken down in each chapter, plus some notes with character goals and motivations, a rough outline, and a few character sheets. Nothing fancy, but wow does it work for me!
Previously, I used Google Docs, then another writing program that was free, and messed up my manuscript when it was time to save it. You get what you pay for, folks.
You might see a few clues for what’s to come in the new book if you look carefully at my Scrivener screenshot, la la la. You’ll note that some chapters already have their band and track assigned to them, and others have not. That’s a laborious process that, I won’t lie, I love doing so much. I have an entire playlist already going for the book with songs that fit the mood and the plot, with more to come. Others probably won’t make the final cut, but they are still definitely mood and might end up in an extended mix at some point. Want a sneak peek at what’s on there beyond what I’ve captured in that screenshot? Supporters on Ko-Fi have the link! [hint hint!]
I will be compiling a list with ALL the links to tools, books, and other helpful things that I use and recommend as an author – if that is of interest to you, comment below!
[Some of these links are affiliate links. What that means is that I am referring you because I like and use this item, and I’ll get a little bit of cash for recommending it, which supports me and my work. Everyone wins!]
I’ve been hard at work coming up with interesting and fun goodies for you that are related to In Sleep You Know: A Story of the Eleriannan! When a story touches you and makes a connection, it makes sense that you might want things that remind you of the tale and the unforgettable characters.
One of the things I managed to find, after much searching and negotiations with the local Fae, was a special version of Lucee’s Book. It isn’t quite like hers, because each Fae object is unique, but it is beautiful and magical the same.
There are also beautiful bookmarks to go along with your paperback, or any other book, of course! They feature an image with Merrick, Lucee, and Aisling on the front, and a quote about the book on the back superimposed over a raven in flight. If you purchase a signed paperback from me, you’ll get one of these included, while supplies last.
It’s happening THIS WEEKEND! Join us online, May 28-31st (Memorial Day weekend), for the 55th Annual BALTICON. By fans. For fans. A Science Fiction and Fantasy Convention featuring: Science & Literary Panels, Music, a Film Festival, Art Show, Gaming, Anime, Vendors, and MORE! Admission to Balticon 55 will be free
Balticon is being run on multiple platforms. I will be in the Dealer Room all weekend at Balticon! You can visit me in either the Gather version of the Dealer Room [pass: BookClub], or you can join the BSFS Discord server and chat with me there, or BOTH! In Discord, you can find me by chatting in my space in the B55 Dealer Room section. [#christiane-knight-three-ravens-press]
Navigating GatherTown
This is a pretty easy interface to use, but I thought I’d give you a few pointers to help you feel comfortable!
When you click the link, the first thing you’ll do is create an avatar. It takes just a moment, and there are plenty of visual choices for you! Once you enter the Con space, take a few moments to wander around and get a feel for movement. Use X to enter spaces, and G will make you into a “ghost” so that you can move around without accidentally starting conversations with other attendees or bumping into them.
You’ll note that as you get near people, you’ll be able to see them on video if they have their cameras on, or hear their conversations if their mics are on.
To find a specific person, click on their name in the participants tab on the left, then click “follow” to have your avatar automatically run up to them. Once you find them, you can unfollow. It’s a great way to locate friends! I’m going to recommend that you do that to my avatar to find my booth. Just find Christiane Knight in the participants, and click follow, and you’ll travel right to where I am. Easy-peasy!
To come inside the Three Ravens Press booth, just walk up to the table and press X and you’ll enter right in! There, you’ll find my website, and if I’m there you can talk to me. I will be there all weekend except when I am attending panels or doing tech support in a panel.
Any questions, just comment below or shoot me a message via Facebook and I’ll help you out! I hope to see you there.
I’m definitely not the first person to create a playlist that goes along with their book, or even to promote that fact. But I can tell you that anyone who knows me was not only not surprised that I did, but chances are good they would have been flabbergasted if I hadn’t!
Music infuses every part of my life, so it’s no wonder that I have songs connected to each part of the story of In Sleep You Know. Not only does each track that heads a chapter give a bit of the mood for that chapter, but some of the tracks are connected to specific characters and their personality or story arc. There are also some tunes that aren’t chapter headers, but are part of the action, like songs that The Drawback covers, or that get spun at Club Marcada.
You might note that the songs span timelines from the 80s to current time, and are all Alternative/Goth/Darkwave acts. That’s also informed by my personal tastes, but these characters are all people I would have known at the concerts and shows and clubs I’ve gone to over the years, and this is the music they listen to and identify with.
When I hear “What We All Want” by Gang Of Four, I see Sousa striding down the street, full of drive [and possibly beer], headed off somewhere to solve problems and talk sense.
Merrick’s got the Joy Division in his personal soundtrack, of course – I mean, he’s the one who named the band The Drawback. And he does a mean cover of “Heart And Soul” too.
When I hear Siouxsie and The Banshee’s “Love In A Void” my mind immediately pictures Lucee doing those yelps and jumping around on stage.
“Wild World” by Love Is Colder Than Death is very much the state of Genaine’s mind, and everything she’s been through, especially in that chapter.
Severed Heads “Heart Of The Party” isn’t so much a track that would get played at an Eleriannan party, but it sure does describe what Merrick’s feeling like while he’s there!
And you might notice the preponderance of songs about dreams or dreaming – which you might expect from a book entitled In Sleep You Know. Merrick and Aisling’s relationship and how she triggers prophetic dreams for him are referenced in many of the tracks.
If you’re interested in hearing some of the other playlists that I put together as part of my Radio Xiane project that also are representative of the music favored by the characters in the Eleriannan stories, you can search “Radio Xiane” on Spotify and listen to my collection of playlists there.
What other books with a playlist are your favorites? I’d love to hear about them! Please leave a comment below on on the Facebook page!
Joseph Sousa, aka Souz, is a good friend to Merrick and Lucee, and the drummer for their band The Drawback. He’s known to characterize himself as a “dirty punk dude” who loves a sleeveless shirt and drinking copious amounts of beer.
He also, inexplicably, is the owner of The Maithe, a giant brick building in the heart of Baltimore City. The Drawback practices there, and he lives in the practice space with all their equipment and scooters that he loves to repair for fun. He is raucous and funny and stands up for what he believes in loudly and steadfastly.
“To these folks, the city is a wasteland of negativity and should just be abandoned to the Gwyliannan. Which is ridiculous. There’s so much good in the city. The fight is there, the real reason we should be gathering together.”
Meet the rest of the characters in this ongoing series, then order the book now!
note: photo is a composite created by me and containing some of the excellent photography work of Karey Nation [graffiti photo]
Today was Launch Day, the day that my book In Sleep You Know became available to purchase in paperback form and downloadable to Kindle and other ebook formats! To celebrate, I held a Facebook Live party where I talked about the book and how it came to be, answered questions about being an author and my processes, and did some live reading from the book as well as some poetry. If you missed that, here’s the recording!
Here’s the replay of my interview and live reading on the FAE Productions YouTube stream! Fairy Princess Lolly was a fantastic host and thoughtful interviewer, and the questions from the audience were great! I read a chapter from In Sleep You Know, so if you want to hear some of the novel read aloud, this is the place to hear that.
ONE WEEK UNTIL BOOK LAUNCH! Also, you’ve got a little over a week to enter the Goodreads giveaway – enter via the widget in the sidebar!
Merrick’s best friend is Lucee Fearney. She has been his friend since they were young, and they are very close. He looks at her like a little sister, and she is loyal and supportive of him. She can be a little trusting and naïve, and she is irrepressibly upbeat, which sometimes annoys Merrick, though he’d never tell her that.
Lucee has an undeniably attractive and fun personality, with style to match. She stands out in a crowd with her tattered prom dresses, combat boots, and acid green braids that really glow against her warm brown skin. She’s the guitarist for The Drawback, and a talented one at that, but she’s surprisingly modest about her musical skill. As bold and outgoing as she can be, secretly she often feels inadequate and struggles with feeling like she’s good enough.
Lucee is the one you count on when the chips are down – she is always there for her friends, even if she’s not sure how to be supportive. Her positive attitude is infectious!
Meet the rest of the characters in this ongoing series, then order the book now!
The first person that Merrick meets at the party is Aisling.
It’s a testament to who Aisling [ASH-lin] is that she sticks by Merrick from the beginning – she’s the first one to see something in him, and she becomes his guide as he gets his bearings in this new, weird world. Sometimes called a “Dreamling” because she was conceived between a mortal and Fae while in the Dreamland, she is disliked and distrusted by some of the Fae. Not because of anything she has done; rather, it’s because she is perceived as unnatural, even by Fae standards.
She can join people in their dreams and move her conscious mind through dreamscapes, a power she uses to help Merrick. She is a friend to Cullen and knows him well, as they journeyed by ship to the New World together, long ago.
She is small, pretty, with dark hair that has hints of lavender all through it, and Merrick is entranced with her from the very beginning. Despite being gentle and caring, she has an inner core that is tougher than most would guess – this lady’s been through some things. If you’d like to learn more about her backstory, there’s a short story about her available when you join my mailing list!
Meet the rest of the characters in this ongoing series, then order the book now!
