Preview: The Hidden Eye!
over 2 years ago – Tue, Dec 05, 2023 at 12:34:24 PM

Before I get to this update's card preview, a quick plug: there's a Story Bundle running right now on the theme of "Assassins and Rogues," which contains a contribution from yours truly! There are ten items in the full bundle, but it's actually more than that; mine is an omnibus of all the works in the Doppelganger duology (my first two novels Warrior and Witch, and the prequel novella Dancing the Warrior), and K.J. Heritage has also provided an omnibus, so you get a total of fifteen works for whatever amount you choose to pay.

As is usual for these things, we've also chosen a charity for the bundle: you can optionally choose to donate 10% to Mighty Writers, an organization helping kids learn to write better (a cause near and dear to my heart!). So if this sounds at all like your cup of tea, check it out!

The Hidden Eye

The Kiraly clan card is one we didn't have a very distinct image for at the outset. We knew it should include a raccoon, since it's their clan animal, and we knew it should suggest their virtues and vices (glossed in the brief writeup as "clever, dexterous, confident, mischievous, secretive, covetous"). But how it might do that? No idea.

This wound up being a rare example of a card where we went back to the drawing board after the initial sketch. Here's what A.C. sent in at first:

This just didn't click for us the way their other sketches had. There's nothing overtly wrong with it -- the finished painting would be perfectly fine -- but for an oracle deck, you really want the image to immediately evoke its significance, and this didn't feel like it was doing that as powerfully as many of the others.

We went through all the card sketches during a video chat, getting clarifications of images I couldn't parse as well (I don't speak fluent Rough Thumbnail) and suggesting tweaks, and this one led to a whole conversation. What we wound up with . . . well, I'll just show you:

Somewhere during that conversation, one of us said "raccoon as cartoon burglar," and boom, we had our design. This makes us giggle when we look at it, which brings in the sense of fun we didn't know we wanted until we arrived at this idea. We're delighted with the result!

Until next time . . . which will probably be in 2024! In general I'm trying to send out previews every two weeks, but since I'm also trying to take some time off around the holidays, the next missive likely won't come until January. At which point I'll be back with a peek at how Avery is approaching work on the Faces and the Masks!

--Marie

Preview: Turtle in Her Shell!
over 2 years ago – Tue, Nov 21, 2023 at 06:38:00 PM

Greetings from the Dragonsteel Convention, which I would have mentioned last time that I'm attending if my brain weren't still recovering from being turned into Swiss cheese! I have time to kill before my godawful red-eye flight, and it's time for another sneak preview, so here we go.

This is an example of a card that got tweaked from the original sketch. To be clear, this is in no way an indicator that the artist "screwed up" or anything like that; this is a normal part of the process (literally written into the contract, in fact). Our sense of what a given card should look like was often extremely nebulous -- sometimes it consisted of little more than the name and the significance, and whatever those implied -- so there's a certain amount of "ooh, let's refine in this direction" or "hmmm, this one doesn't feel like it's hit the mark yet."

In the case of Turtle in Her Shell (a card from the cut thread, which signifies protection and safety), we adored the turtle A.C. drew:

Isn't she adorable??? But as I looked at this one, I felt the sense of threat coming from the raptor grabbing the turtle's shell was too ominous. I can totally see why A.C. included it -- "protection" is highlighted if something is attacking -- but in my head, the turtle's about to be picked up and dropped from a great height so the raptor can snack upon her at leisure. Doesn't feel very protected to me.

So after discussing it with Alyc and A.C., here's what we wound up with for the revision:

Still adorable! Now, however, she's being threatened by nothing worse than a rainstorm. It's a cozier vibe -- which certainly won't suit every interpretation this card might have, but it felt like the right look to me. And, per what I said last time about repeated motifs here, if this card appears in a layout with Storm Against Stone (the card of force), they might play off each other to suggest a greater threat. I can't wait to see the final version!

Until next time . . .

--Marie

Preview: The Silent Witness!
over 2 years ago – Tue, Nov 07, 2023 at 05:41:11 PM

Work continues apace on the deck art! And as promised, we're going to help tide you over during the long wait for the completed deck by giving you previews of the cards. Last time we shared Warp and Weft; this time, we'll take a look at one of the clan cards, The Silent Witness:

You may recall from A.C.'s interview during the campaign that they love drawing birds, so here we get a trio of absolutely fantastic owls.

You'll also note the moon up in the corner, which gives me a chance to mention one of the interesting things we're playing with in the deck design: repeated motifs. We actually meant for these to be a noteworthy thing in pattern interpretation, but in writing the novels, that idea ran aground on the fact that we didn't have actual card images in front of us; it wasn't really possible for Ren to instinctively know that two cards in different positions were connected because her eye was drawn to repeated elements shared between them. Or rather, it would have been possible if we fully detailed what each card looked like, down to the small motifs -- but that would have been difficult, and furthermore would have seriously constrained any future artist (and we knew we really really wanted to crowdfund the deck eventually). So we left it vague, and instead, any future Vraszenian stories might reference those kinds of details!

Until next time . . .

-Marie

First wave is out! + upcoming events
over 2 years ago – Wed, Oct 25, 2023 at 12:54:28 AM

First wave update

All right -- with a single exception (just waiting on a reply from a backer), all the first wave packages are out the door! If you ordered a bookplate, a signed book, or a tea sample, that should be on its way to you now, if it hasn't already arrived. International backers may have to wait a little longer, of course, but if you haven't gotten your items by the end of November. please do tell us and we'll see what we can do.

Digital wave update

Now we turn our attention to the digital rewards that don't require the deck to be completed. As a reminder, those are:

• RPG session
• personalized horoscope
• art commission
• Tuckerization
• short fictions from me and Alyc
• website thank-you page
• personalized pattern reading, if you requested the deck I employed while writing the series

At this point I've coordinated the Tuckerization and Alyc has delivered all the horoscopes, so if you selected that add-on and haven't gotten yours yet, check your spam filter! The thank-you page is up on our website; feel free to look that over and make sure we have your name correct (or whatever name it is you supplied in your survey). Note that I haven't yet gone through to check for survey answers that came in late, so if you were delayed in responding, you may not be in the list yet; feel free to comment here and let me know.

Travel is going to disrupt our work on this in the immediate future, but with the physical shipments done for now, we'll be shifting our focus the the non-bolded items from that list. I'm hoping we can finish the art commissions and the pattern readings before the end of the year.

Speaking of travel . . .

Alyc and I will be at the World Fantasy Convention this upcoming weekend, though only on Friday and Saturday. Regrettably, I'm going to be missing the mass autographing on Friday night -- I've got an online event with Kate Heartfield that evening -- but if you're going to be at the con, please do find us and say hi! I'm doing a kaffeeklatsch at 11 a.m. on Friday and a group reading at noon, then back-to-back panels on "Beyond Feudalism" at 9 p.m. on Saturday and "Writing a Series" at 10 p.m., while Alyc is moderating the "Mythology and Fantasy of the Fox" panel at 4 p.m. on Friday.

(If you're not going to be at the con, you can register for the online event at that link. Come listen to me and Kate nerd out about our respective Norse-inspired novels!)

A sneak peek

Since it's going to be a while before the deck is done, we'll try to keep you all entertained with glimpses of the cards in progress. Step One is concept sketches: very rough drafts designed to work out the basic compositional idea of the image, before the artist commits more time and effort to the image proper. Some of the cards are getting minor tweaks at this stage, while others are getting reworked completely, but here's one where our only notes to A.C. consisted of squeeing and praise:

That's Warp and Weft, the card of union -- which A.C. has chosen to depict with an allusion to the Vraszenian wedding ceremony, where a strip of embroidered cloth is wound around the couple's joined hands. Even in a quick sketch, we think this one is lovely!

Until next time . . .

--Marie

And so it begins!
over 2 years ago – Wed, Oct 11, 2023 at 11:16:23 PM

The first wave has begun! The photo above is the initial shipment of books, tea samples, and bookplates to those who ordered them -- it will take several rounds of this before we've got them all sent out. I wasn't even able to mail quite everything you see there; due to various factors today, I didn't get to the post office before they closed, and the off-hours drop-off bin for packages filled up and locked itself before I could get everything inside. But that's fine, because there's more where that came from, anyway!

It's hard to say how long this stage will take, since we're still waiting on some items to be shipped to us. Hopefully not long, though! We'll definitely let you all know when the entire first wave has gone out, and then if anything fails to show up in a timely manner, let us know and we'll do what we can to set that straight.

A little bonus

Everyone receiving a physical shipment from this Kickstarter -- whether that be in this first wave or later on, when the decks go out -- will be getting an extra item from us! It's very small, so check the envelope or box carefully (or inside your book, if you ordered one); you should find a little sticker with the Rook and Rose logo. Consider it a token of our gratitude for all your support!

Card progress

Work is proceeding apace on the cards, and it is amazing to watch the outlines of the deck starting to take shape. I need to consult with Alyc and our artists about what makes sense to share when, but we've already gotten concept sketches, and it is super difficult to decide which one's my favorite! And discussing how to refine the sketches is feeding back into my sense of the cards, making me stop and think about the nuances of what we want each one to convey. It's not an experience I've ever had before, and I'm loving it!

Until next time . . .

--Marie