First off, now that Song of Leira is out, it’s time to choose the winner of the pre-order super fan prize pack (including a map of Leira, a Song of Leira woodmark, and three character cards)! And the winner is …
Andy Sheehan!
Congrats, Andy! I’ll be contacting you directly so I can ship the prize to you.
Windowsill World-Building
It’s only been four years since Orphan’s Song released, but I started writing the book long before then. Back when I had just finished up my last year of highschool and still lived in my amazing bedroom with a loft at my parents’ home.
A library ladder let me up into my loft each night, and I would sleep beside an arched window that gave me the most magnificent view of the stars. And the moon! When the moon was full, it seemed to hover just beyond the pane of glass, almost as if you could reach out and touch it and be whisked away to magical lands beyond.
I was new enough to the writing game that my mind was full of stories and dreams and ideas, but I hadn’t yet learned the practical aspects of being a writer, like how it is often a good idea to keep a notebook beside your bed so you can catch those fleeting ideas that so often escape your mind on the bridge between dreaming and waking.
So when I awoke in the night with new ideas for my current story – a fantasy adventure involving two characters, Birdie and Amos McElhenny, and the barest hint of a story idea, “a girl who can hear a song that no one else can,” – naturally, I started writing them down on the closest thing to hand.
My windowsill.
I found a pencil and scribbled notes by the light of the moon and the stars. And having begun, well, it became my thing, and the number of notes slowly grew as I dreamed my way through Orphan’s Song and began looking ahead toward Songkeeper and Song of Leira.
And the years passed, and I moved away and finished the fifth and final draft of Orphan’s Song, signed with my agent, and landed a publishing contract.
And I forgot completely about my windowsill notes and my nightly story-dreaming, until one summer, my parents decided to paint the house, and their attempts to clean up my old loft revealed my windowsill scribblings.
At which point, I received a text from my dad with a question mark and a string of pictures!
And of course I was slightly embarrassed because who goes around writing story notes on windowsills? But I told the story to my dad and we had a good laugh at dreamy little writer me. And at the same time, it was so fun to look back at all the old notes and see how the story had changed and where I thought it was going to go in the first place.
So I thought I’d share some of them with you. Because there is some true storytelling magic here … ;)
Warning: there are spoilers for both Orphan’s Song and Songkeeper below …
-
Birdie’s Companions
So … first up, here’s a glimpse at who I thought Birdie’s companions would be coming into Songkeeper. Amos, of course. And Gundhrold. Yay! (Hopefully you all recognize those two.)
As for the others, well, Corrd, if you recall, was a grouchy Waveryder (sailor) who nearly got into a fight with Amos at the Whistlin’ Waterfly in Orphan’s Song after Amos stepped in to protect the Khelari soldier Hendryk. I thought he had potential to be an interesting character, so I toyed with the idea of having him meet up with Birdie and Amos and Gundhrold at some point and join their crew.
But given the question mark by his name, clearly my thinking didn’t take me much beyond that!
Damson, on the other hand, actually made it into the story, though he went through a series of different names and personality changes before the end. At first, I pictured him as a light-hearted character – almost like George the cat – possibly even a bard of some sort who would wind up turning traitor eventually. (Surprise! Right?)
Clearly that didn’t happen. After a short stint as Damson, he became Runehilde for an even shorter period of time. (Thank goodness! What a name, guys!)
And Runehilde was going to be one of the Shantren, the gifted but twisted individuals who serve the Takhran. (Shantren also apparently went through several versions of the name/spelling options.)
Eventually, Damson/Runehilde morphed into a much better character who we all know and love as Dah Inali! And Inali honestly wound up being far more interesting than Damson or Runehilde combined, and he’s actually become one of my favorite conflicted characters.
And judging by the reports I’ve had from readers, he has quite a few conflicted fans of his own!
2. Orphan’s Song was originally Song of Leira
Okay, this could get confusing, but the story that’s told in Orphan’s Song, book one of The Songkeeper Chronicles, was originally titled Song of Leira. So all of my old notes labeled Song of Leira have everything to do with Orphan’s Song and absolutely nothing to do with the then unnamed third book which has since been named … Song of Leira.
So this picture shows my brainstorming for both the first chapter (Birdie’s burning of the stew porridge) and the end of Orphan’s Song (Amos picking up Artair’s sword after the battle of Bryllhyn – it was symbolic, y’all, in case you didn’t realize that) and surprisingly, both of those things made it into the final version!
Of Orphan’s Song. Not Song of Leira.
Get it? Got it? Good.
3. Sa Itera
I totally wanted to give this woman more page time, but the story did what a story does and ran away with me. But as you can see, long before Songkeeper became a story, the image of Sa Itera was set in stone. Or at least in pencil … on a windowsill …
4. The Plot of Book Two
Honestly, if you were to grind Songkeeper down to its barest bones, this is essentially the plot. Although, Ky’s story took on a bit of a tangent and the vague “rebellion up north” never really materialized.
Instead … Ky stormed the Underground and led a bit of a rebellion of his own … and don’t we all love him for it?
So there you have it, the results of my brilliant moonlight dreaming and windowsill world-building. My dad was honestly so sweet about the whole thing. He took pictures of all the notes (there were more, lots more, actually, some having to do with my new top secret project – it surprised me to realize how long I’ve been dreaming about that one!) so I wouldn’t lose anything before the painters got to work.
And he didn’t once reprimand me for being a crazy young writer/dreamer who wrote on her windowsill instead of a notebook.
Aren’t dads the best?
Can you believe it, guys? Song of Leira is out!
You can order it now (Amazon, Barnes & Noble, CBD) and don’t forget to snag a picture of you adventuring with your copy to enter the #SongofLeiraContest.
Lillianna Avila says
Congrats Andy Sheehan, I hope you enjoy the prize pack!
Gillian Bronte Adams says
You are such a sweet heart, Lilli!
Jane Maree says
Woohoo to Andy!! *throws confetti*
This is honestly the best story. XD I love that you brainstormed it on your windowsill?? That’s just so random and also cool. The ultimate origin story. xP
Gillian Bronte Adams says
It is so random. And I honestly can’t believe I did it. But … you know … when the ideas hit, you’ve got to write them somewhere! XD
Sarah Taleweaver says
Ok, that’s awesome. xD Thanks for sharing, Gillian!
Gillian Bronte Adams says
Isn’t it so funny? I can’t believe how sweet my dad was about it all.
Elizabeth says
I love this, Gillian!! It’s awesome that your parents found those windowsill notes and recorded them for you.
I wish my own brainstorming moments were as fully realized :)
Gillian Bronte Adams says
They were so chill about it! I love them. They’ve been so supportive of every aspect of my crazy writing life since the beginning.