*Which actually sounds like a good title for a spin-off collection of short stories based around the Icarus Child books. I might quite enjoy doing that. I could write some more Rudh and Howl, maybe some young Fox adventures, definitely some more cute Fox and Cana moments, perhaps some non-scary Icaria, or some selkie time. I could even delve into why Morvoren and the goats Do Not Get Along. That could be fun. Maybe. Although this is supposed to be my last historical Aekh(ish) tale for a while, so it might be nice not to spend even more time in the Iron Age. Oh well, just a thought, which may or may not grow into something at some point.
Er, anyway, putting all of that to one side. Since it is now one week until the (hopeful) release date of The Icarus Child, the final part of this trilogy, I thought as a way to chivvy me along to actually making the deadline, I’d impart a few secrets along the way.
Not spoilers, secrets. These things are more a behind the scenes look at my writing process, particularly as it pertains to these books.
Secret #1 – All the Chapters Have Their Own Secret Titles
This is something I do quite a lot when writing novels. Way back in the days when I used to share my writing with the Elfwood community, I tended to post a chapter at a time, so I got into the habit of saving them a chapter at a time too, for easy access. Even now, if I know in advance that what I’m writing will become a novel, I use individual files for each chapter. This makes it a whole lot easier to find things when I need to change them, but it’s a bit more of a pain when it comes to the final editing and formatting stages.
I use these chapter titles in part because they make my files look more interesting, but also as shorthand to keep track of the story as I go. I don’t tend to use them in the final books because some of the titles are a bit spoilery, others are kind of boring (a few seem to crop up in every book I write), and also because I don’t know how much attention people pay to such things. (If you have an opinion either way, feel free to share. I’m always curious.)
This secret is particularly relevant to this series because the first title chapter of the original Icarus Child book is the same as in this version – And Then He Fell. This matters to me because that was where the whole story began, ten odd years ago. Back then all I knew about the story was that Icarus had three sisters, he would try to fly and fail, and somehow or other this whole thing would end up back at Shaiel and the Aekhartain. I’m still not entirely sure how I got from there to the end in the original, but I did, and I use those two titles to remind me of that long ago day when I had no idea what I was doing or where I was going but full of hope all the same.
Other titles across the current series include:
Farewell to Sea and Sky, Samhain Storm, A Fox’s Tale, Return of the Fox, Snowfalling, Illusions of Happiness, Catch a Falling Star, He Who Must Ascend, Winter Woes, A Star is Born, Kidnap!, Ghost Plans, The Wings of a Storm, Family Familiarity, Dreams and Screams, My Star and my favourite of the lot which I can’t include for spoiler reasons.
So there you have it. Not so much a secret as just something you might not have known.
Come back soon for the next in this exciting series of things you never knew, were probably happy enough not knowing and could likely have lived your whole life without feeling the lack of, but which I’m going to tell you about anyway!
Quick IC Update
New additions and character fixes are mostly finished, so now I just have to edit the last five chapters again.
Yay… I think.
Merry Wednesday, everyone!
Becca Lusher 
I can see Ima is still keeping you on your toes XD
Are the titles too spoilery to be included in the actual book? It seems like they could be nice things to include. Having said that, I don’t tend to pay a whole lot of attention to chapter titles.
I’m also curious about whether you’ve ever worked with Scrivener. Seems like it could suit you, since it would give you a way to look at one chapter at a time or the whole lot all together.
Always.
Some of the titles are definitely spoilers for the book, but I could probably fix that if I wanted to. I’ve read a few books lately (MG and YA mostly) with really spoilery chapter titles and I can’t see why anyone thinks that’s a good idea. Or maybe they hope everyone will ignore them.
Scrivener seems to do a lot of things for people that I already do myself with little note files and the like. I can see the appeal, but I’m not sure it can offer me enough incentive to throw out my old established routines. I also think I’d just waste ages tinkering with the little things, like a proper background, and probably find it a bit too distracting. My way seems to work for me for now, but maybe one day I’ll cross over to the pretty, organised side.
It’s definitely best to stick with a process that works for you. As they say: if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it!