Holly Lisle: Writer

Moon & Sun: The Emerald Sun. It begins…

Today is my first day of actual story brainstorming (a combination of plotting, doodling, and talking to myself) on The Emerald Sun.

(Reading and noting is done with the books and sticky notes. Brainstorming requires your butt in the chair and your fingers on the keyboard with a sketchpad on the desk in front of you — at least if you’re me.)

Because, as I frequently did during my commercial career, I planned the series to run long — in this case, seven books — and because I have to finish the series now with Book 3, I find myself once again rethinking where I wanted to go with the story, and digging through the core principles of what I’d already built, and how these worked.

I’m going through the characters…

  • The Cat
  • The Dragon
  • Genna, Danrith, and their humanoid allies
  • The Audiomaerist, a woman who listens to what the roads tell her

And the settings…

  • The abandoned ruins of a different civilization
  • The forests that grow so quickly they can outrun fleeing humans
  • The paths along the Moonroads, and what lives there

And the conflict…

  • The single act from the past that is still destroying the present

And the question…

  • How can some kids, a Cat, and a dragon save a dying world adults have lost the will to save?

I’m trying to find my way through.

I have the ending I’m NOT going to write (what I call “the ending to beat”).

I have my Octopus Map, which sets out the obstacles in my path.

Now it’s a case of plotting out a path to follow (or again in my case, to beat as I go).

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11 responses to “Moon & Sun: The Emerald Sun. It begins…”

  1. Ellen Avatar
    Ellen

    I just finished The Ruby Key and The Silver Door. Such great reads. Had books like this been around when I was a child, I probably would have enjoyed to read more. As I ended The Silver Door, I had to come search to see if there was another book coming. I’m crossing my fingers that there still is. I thoroughly enjoyed reading these books to my son.

    Reply
    1. Holly Lisle Avatar
      Holly Lisle

      I remain hopeful about being able to do them.

      Reply
  2. Abhishek Daniel Philip Avatar
    Abhishek Daniel Philip

    Can’t wait for this!
    I’m so glad you found your old files, and notes. I read the first two books years ago when i was subscribed to a private library, and the world you wove, the stories and characters, they left a vivid imprint on my mind.
    Lately I’ve been looking them up trying to find these books for my little sister who is now old enough to read and enjoy them, only to find that they’ve been out of print for a while, but to ALSO find that you’re actually working on the final part! And it’s so great that the rights are reverting to you, and that the world, in my generation, will get to experience your world again, even to its finish!

    I understand you need to focus on other stuff to survive, and this can’t take priority, but we wait with patience and yearning. Thank you for your works, and I hope you get to finish this someday soon!

    Reply
    1. Holly Lisle Avatar
      Holly Lisle

      Thank you for your kindness and your patience. Watch this space. If you subscribe to comments at the bottom of this page, either “ALL” or just my replies, as shown in the image below:
      Subscribe to comments on Moon & Sun updates
      You’ll receive an email from me when I’ve added the Moon & Sun updates mailing list to this page. And if you add yourself to the private list, you’ll get my private answers to reader questions and updates as I work through my existing ‘must hit’ deadlines towards writing the last Moon & Sun novel. There won’t be many emails from me until I actually get back to writing The Emerald Sun. But once I do, you’ll get to follow along on my progress.

      Reply
      1. Abhishek Daniel Philip Avatar
        Abhishek Daniel Philip

        Thank you, will do!

        Reply
  3. brianne Avatar
    brianne

    So excited!if you were to publish this as a longer series or make more stories set in this world (for example about the lost civilization because that was fascinating) I would totally read them.

    Reply
  4. Alyssa Avatar
    Alyssa

    I read these books when I was in middle school! I checked back in on them ever since. So excited to see where the series goes. The Silver Door was one of my favorites. Yay!

    Reply
    1. Holly Avatar
      Holly

      I have a big chunk of the Line For Scene outline done.

      Reply
  5. bob albury Avatar
    bob albury

    You go Holly. You inspire tons of people. You turn good writing into GREAT writing.

    Reply
  6. Mike Lucas Avatar
    Mike Lucas

    Hi Holly,
    Is Moon & Sun Book 2: The Silver Door going to be available as an e-book any time soon? I seem to remember you said the rights were reverting to you…

    I read The Ruby Key to my daughter about a year ago, and we loved it!

    Reply
    1. Holly Avatar
      Holly

      It will become available. I can’t swear on “soon.” Becky is doing the cover art for me, and I still have to do the formatting and bug hunting, and I want to publish the first two about a month apart from the brand new third one.

      So — not until I get the third one written. I can do the revision, formatting, and bug-hunt in a couple months, so that won’t cause much delay. But I want to bring them out at a pace that might allow them to pick up some traction to a broader readership than the Scholastic editions received.

      Reply

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