What are you writing about now?

[WatcherWraith]

As I mentioned before, I will be adding to my book (over the next year) 31 full page illustrations that were drawn and printed by hand. I'll be gluing in the illustration along its top onto the placeholder page that's reserved for it. This process is called "tipping in" the illustration. You can see it in old art books before digital printing became the norm. (The caption for the illustration is already printed on the book page.)

I've just cut glassine sheets (thin, transparent paper) to insert between the tipped in prints and the facing page. That will protect the book page from any ink that comes off the tipped in print. Since the tipped in print will be a separate piece of paper that's raised up above the book page underneath it, it will be subjected to a lot more friction. The glassine sheets will be sewn into the binding of the folio just like the regular pages.

I'm now cutting the print inserts. Half are done. More accurately, I'm tearing them with a tear bar. It produces what's called "a deckle edge" and is a clear indication that the print on that paper is probably hand-printed. Even though I don't have prints on them, I need to use them as placeholders. They take up space and I need to know how much in order to make the wood for the spine thick enough. Plus, when I sew together the folios, there will be room in the stitching for me to put the prints in place later. (Or, at least, that's the theory.)

Back to tearing! If it doesn't work, I'll be tearing it out and tearing up.

I am continually impressed by the dedication and hard work being put into the making of this book. Awards are deserved for the patience and labor!

 

[david_wendelken]

@WatcherWraith , my sole super-power is "Persistence". I don't have talent, but I do have knowledge, effort, and persistence to get the final result right (or at least acceptable!)

 

[david_wendelken]

I'm starting to sew the book together! Yeah!

 

[Ent]

I don't have talent

I believe I would seriously disagree with this particular statement.
Yes, I think I would.

 

[david_wendelken]

All 14 signatures are sewn together - and in the right order! On to the next steps!

 

[WatcherWraith]

Congratulations! 🎉🎉🎉🏆

 

[david_wendelken]

The signatures sewn up on the sewing station. Not the most elegant stitching, but I'm learning and it will be hidden anyway.

 

[david_wendelken]

Book cover (sans unfinished enamel plates). I'm going with a more modern binding style on this first one. After I assemble it, it's time to finish the enamels and attach them. Good news, the book is a lot thicker than originally expected, so I can make a wider spine plate, which means the letters will be bigger and easier to read!

 

[david_wendelken]

The end papers. 1/2 of each end paper gets glued to the cover. FYI, that's a surgeon's scalpel I picked up from a bookbinding supply company. It's way better than the break-away knives. It's exceptionally comfortable in my hand.

Next step is to attach the text block to the book cover, then go finish the enamels and attach them.

Already ordered some more materials for the next few copies!

 

[david_wendelken]

I was drifting off to sleep two nights ago and had an inspiration for a story addition, a post-script to this book. If it comes out quickly enough, I might squeeze it into some of the books (but not this one!!) It could also go in Book 3. Thematically, it fits better in Book 3, but by the timeline, it fits within the timeframe covered by Book 2.

My idea? do enquiring minds want to know?

In Book 1, my main character was the best of friends with Nimrodel. They were (effectively) children together in Lorien. I say "effectively" because my main character had suffered a traumatic injury and, though fully grown, was starting over again as a newborn in an adult's body. Nimrodel was an actual child at the time and showed her nothing but kindness and friendship.

When Nimrodel went missing, my main character spent the better part of two years searching for her (and Amroth). She even went so far as to consult the palantir in the Tower Hills west of The Shire (which was attuned ONLY to Valinor) in hopes of learning Nimrodel and Amroth were safely and happily in Elvenhome. But, as the song she later wrote goes:

Where now she wanders none can tell,
In sunlight or in shade;
For lost of yore was Nimrodel
And in the mountains strayed.

...

But from the West has come no word,
And on the Hither Shore
No tidings Elven-folk have heard
Of Amroth evermore.

The idea came to me that she had been kidnapped by the few living survivors of the people who made the Paths of the Dead and had been held prisoner of them high in the mountains surrounding Morthond. Nimrodel was a beautiful maiden and a superb bard, they kept her prisoner through the generations, having her play to assuage the loneliness and sorrow of their ghostly ancestors.

There are a few other tie-ins to the story in Book 1, but I need to work out the details.

When Sauron is defeated and the ghosts of their people are set free by Aragorn, the new King of Gondor, the handful of survivors set her free a few years later. She comes out to a world much changed. Not sure where I'll go with it from there.

 

[Ent]

Very interesting..!

I must confess to one concern with your whole production here, though, Sir David.

You once said this whole thing would either turn out to be a good story, or a good door stop.
So much effort is going into it, I doubt I'll be able to afford it.

It won't bother me to be unable to afford a good story - but if I can't afford a decent door stop it could be a severe blow to my personal pride..! 😁

Really, I remain encouraged by your discipline and ongoing, unabated inspiration, as you work through all this.

 

[WatcherWraith]

I was drifting off to sleep two nights ago and had an inspiration for a story addition, a post-script to this book. If it comes out quickly enough, I might squeeze it into some of the books (but not this one!!) It could also go in Book 3. Thematically, it fits better in Book 3, but by the timeline, it fits within the timeframe covered by Book 2.

My idea? do enquiring minds want to know?

In Book 1, my main character was the best of friends with Nimrodel. They were (effectively) children together in Lorien. I say "effectively" because my main character had suffered a traumatic injury and, though fully grown, was starting over again as a newborn in an adult's body. Nimrodel was an actual child at the time and showed her nothing but kindness and friendship.

When Nimrodel went missing, my main character spent the better part of two years searching for her (and Amroth). She even went so far as to consult the palantir in the Tower Hills west of The Shire (which was attuned ONLY to Valinor) in hopes of learning Nimrodel and Amroth were safely and happily in Elvenhome. But, as the song she later wrote goes:


...

The idea came to me that she had been kidnapped by the few living survivors of the people who made the Paths of the Dead and had been held prisoner of them high in the mountains surrounding Morthond. Nimrodel was a beautiful maiden and a superb bard, they kept her prisoner through the generations, having her play to assuage the loneliness and sorrow of their ghostly ancestors.

There are a few other tie-ins to the story in Book 1, but I need to work out the details.

When Sauron is defeated and the ghosts of their people are set free by Aragorn, the new King of Gondor, the handful of survivors set her free a few years later. She comes out to a world much changed. Not sure where I'll go with it from there.

When you say "survivors", do you refer to the people living in the valleys Aragorn and his band rode through on their way to the Paths of the Dead? I don't know enough about those people to say whether or not they could keep her there, but it sounds intriguing.

I often wondered, myself, if she had been in Dol Amroth, as the people there had some elven blood(Prince Imrahil being an example). The source of this mixture was never covered in Tolkien's books, so far as I know. I'm uncertain whether or not I already advanced this theory, but that is what I supposed may have happened to her.

 

[david_wendelken]

You once said this whole thing would either turn out to be a good story, or a good door stop.

I'm rather hoping for BOTH, but the glorious door stop is my fallback.

So much effort is going into it, I doubt I'll be able to afford it.

If a regular softcover or hardback book gets offered for sale, it will have a comparable price to other books of its size. On the higher side, of course, because I won't be printing in a mass edition, it will either be a limited run or a print-on-demand option. That's the plan as soon as I get the licensing or copyright issues properly dealt with.

If I give up on selling the book, it will be freely available in an ebook format or pdf file.

**********

The Art House editions that I'm making are for family, those friends who really helped me get it done, and, if people like it - as a story - as a way to get the story noticed by folks who could publish it or turn it into film. The only way they would be for sale to the general public is if the book was a runaway bestseller and gained a cult following. I'm not counting on that to happen. At all. (But since it doesn't cost me anything other than wool-gathering time to be prepared, I've thought it through!)

If I sold the art items that will be in the book individually, at professional artist prices (but not master artist prices except for the enamelled cover):

$ 3,000 Enameled Front Cover
$ 600 Enameled Back Cover
$ 300 Enameled Spine
$ 6,200 $200 (avg) x 31 hand-printed illustrations
$ 100 Book Text
$ 300 Hand-binding in hard-copy book cloth.
$ 150 Shipping and Insurance
========================
$10,650 Individual component prices.
$ 5,000 (Because the sum of the whole is greater than its parts!)
========================
$15,650 Art House Copy.

I don't expect to sell them for that -- unless I (miraculously!!) end up with a runaway best-seller. And then they could go for far more.
But they'll still be free to the same group of people who truly helped me make it happen.

Copies
3 For Me.
4 Son and 3 grandkids
5 Friends who helped develop the other characters. One died very young in a car wreck, not sure if she had children.
2 Enameling mentors
2 Drawing/Printmaking mentors
1 Library of Congress
2 Oxford University and Marquette University. (They have the Tolkien papers, I might get lucky with reviews by Tolkien scholars.)
4 To pre-publication readers who gave useful feedback. Sadly, there weren't any, so they go to me instead.
2 Examples for movers and shakers who could help it get published or turned into film.
===============
25 Planned Art House Copies out of a max edition of 100 copies. The other 75 would only be made for sale if it became commercially viable.

 

[david_wendelken]

When you say "survivors", do you refer to the people living in the valleys Aragorn and his band rode through on their way to the Paths of the Dead? I don't know enough about those people to say whether or not they could keep her there, but it sounds intriguing.

I often wondered, myself, if she had been in Dol Amroth, as the people there had some elven blood(Prince Imrahil being an example). The source of this mixture was never covered in Tolkien's books, so far as I know. I'm uncertain whether or not I already advanced this theory, but that is what I supposed may have happened to her.

I recollect that Imrazor, prince of the Dor-en-Ernil, married the elf-maid Mithrellas of Lorien. (She's also a childhood friend of my main character.) . His capital had been named Lond Ernil but was renamed to Dol Amroth after Amroth's death. But I don't remember where I ran across that info.


As for your question about survivors, yes and no. I've assumed the Rohirrim rooted out any of those survivors on their side of the mountains near the Paths of the Dead, if time and attrition hadn't already done that before they took over the Gondorian province of Calenardhon and turned it into the kingdom of Rohan.

My assumption is that there are scattered survivors on the southern, presumably more hospitable side of the White Mountains. Morthond doesn't appear to be densely populated and it's a veritable metropolis compared to Anfalas further west. So there's plenty of room for a few small valleys full of survivors deep in the mountains. They wouldn't be on the direct path to/from the Paths of the Dead as they would be too noticeable. But they would want to be on the southern side of the mountains because their dead ancestors often gather at the Stone of Erech in Morthond.

That's my thoughts on it. I mean, after all, we had a few valleys full of odd birds in Appalachia that few outsiders knew much about. It wouldn't be hard to subtly discourage the few people who wander into their valley, or dispose of those who learn things the locals would prefer to remain secret.

 

[david_wendelken]

Status update. The attachment to the cover was a bust. Had to remove the text block and start again. I didn't allow enough of a gap between the spine and the covers. That mean that the covers were too far from the text block and it was really hard to open the book, and it would never open fully.

I'm cutting apart the spine and covers and will apply a different color of book cloth to re-join them with a wider gap between them. So, instead of green, the covers will be green, with a band of red covering the spine and for an inch or two onto the covers (on the spine side). I don't have enough green book cloth to re-do it in green.

This is my first bookbinding and something was certain to go wrong. At least I don't have to start completely over!

 

[david_wendelken]

Status update. The attachment to the cover was a bust. Had to remove the text block and start again. I didn't allow enough of a gap between the spine and the covers. That mean that the covers were too far from the text block and it was really hard to open the book, and it would never open fully.

I'm cutting apart the spine and covers and will apply a different color of book cloth to re-join them with a wider gap between them. So, instead of green, the covers will be green, with a band of red covering the spine and for an inch or two onto the covers (on the spine side). I don't have enough green book cloth to re-do it in green.

This is my first bookbinding and something was certain to go wrong. At least I don't have to start completely over!

"Success consists of going from failure to failure without loss of enthusiasm." -- Winston Churchill

 

[WatcherWraith]

I recollect that Imrazor, prince of the Dor-en-Ernil, married the elf-maid Mithrellas of Lorien. (She's also a childhood friend of my main character.) . His capital had been named Lond Ernil but was renamed to Dol Amroth after Amroth's death. But I don't remember where I ran across that info.


As for your question about survivors, yes and no. I've assumed the Rohirrim rooted out any of those survivors on their side of the mountains near the Paths of the Dead, if time and attrition hadn't already done that before they took over the Gondorian province of Calenardhon and turned it into the kingdom of Rohan.

My assumption is that there are scattered survivors on the southern, presumably more hospitable side of the White Mountains. Morthond doesn't appear to be densely populated and it's a veritable metropolis compared to Anfalas further west. So there's plenty of room for a few small valleys full of survivors deep in the mountains. They wouldn't be on the direct path to/from the Paths of the Dead as they would be too noticeable. But they would want to be on the southern side of the mountains because their dead ancestors often gather at the Stone of Erech in Morthond.

That's my thoughts on it. I mean, after all, we had a few valleys full of odd birds in Appalachia that few outsiders knew much about. It wouldn't be hard to subtly discourage the few people who wander into their valley, or dispose of those who learn things the locals would prefer to remain secret.

This makes sense to me. I'll see if I can do some looking-up and find that Imrazor and Mithrellas coupling you mentioned, for my own curiosity's sake.

 

[WatcherWraith]

Apparently the tale of Mithrellas and Imrazor is told in The Unfinished Tales, according to The Tolkien Gateway(this is a website I have found to be very informative and almost always accurate). She did indeed accompany Nimrodel, but was found by the Prince and brought home. She bore him a don and a daughter, but ran away after the daughter's birth and was never seen again. I wonder why she ran...

 

[david_wendelken]

Apparently the tale of Mithrellas and Imrazor is told in The Unfinished Tales, according to The Tolkien Gateway(this is a website I have found to be very informative and almost always accurate). She did indeed accompany Nimrodel, but was found by the Prince and brought home. She bore him a don and a daughter, but ran away after the daughter's birth and was never seen again. I wonder why she ran...

I'll have to go back and re-read the story! It's been a very long time. Could have been she didn't want the same fate Arwen chose.

 

[david_wendelken]

Can't remember if I shared the title pages of the three books in my series (as they stand at the moment).