Back in 2007 I came up with an idea for a fantasy story called “The Dance Lesson,” involving a wizard and a royal court’s dancing teacher — probably a short story, but it might reach novelet length. It could, I thought, be set in the world of the Walasian Empire, as seen in A Young Man Without Magic and Above His Proper Station, which had not yet seen print when I came up with it.
But then I put it aside and didn’t worry about it. I never actually forgot it, but I didn’t do anything with it, either. I knew the central characters and their situation and the ending, but I hadn’t worked out the details and didn’t think it was worth the effort.
And then on Monday, April 6, 2015, almost eight years later, while sprawled on the couch watching TV, I suddenly knew the rest of the plot. It popped into my head without warning, completely unbidden. I could write the whole story any time, possibly in a single sitting.
But I need to figure out where to set it. It could be in the world of the Walasian Empire, but not in Walasia itself; the political set-up is all wrong. It would have to be in either Ermetia or the Cousins, probably the latter.
I could probably jam it into the Small Kingdoms of Ethshar, but it would be a bad fit.
The world where my short story “Keeping Up Appearances,” in one of Esther Friesner’s Chicks in Chainmail anthologies, would work. Or I could create a new setting; a pretty generic medieval fantasy setting would work fine.
Maybe I’ll just start writing and see whether it decides where it wants itself to go.
Or not, since no one’s interested enough to comment.
Would love to see more of the Proper Station series. 😉
So would I. I was seriously dismayed when Tor passed on the third novel.
Maybe the Cousins, then. I have a couple of stories in progress set there.
By the way, for anyone who doesn’t know — this blog is moderated to keep out spam, but the way it works is that once you’ve had a comment approved, you go through automatically from then on. It’s only the first one that gets checked before it appears.
Aw man, there’ll be no third Proper Station novel? 🙁
I don’t have a real opinion on settings, or at least I feel like it’s a bad idea to tell a writer where to situate his or her stories.
There won’t be a third one from Tor, but that doesn’t mean there won’t be a third one eventually. We’ll see.
I’ll keep an eye out on your blog for it then. 😉