Because I write quickly my first
drafts are always rough. Unlike many authors I do not edit as I write. This
frees me to live only in my head, to pour out the story without worrying about
mechanics or form. Putting to paper that
first draft is my favorite part of writing.
There is an adrenalin rush that comes with writing that can’t compare
with anything else I have experienced. By the end of my writing sessions I am
half filled with this natural high, and half exhausted. It’s exhilarating.
As I began
this novel, my focus was more on the feel of Lan and her world than on catching
the reader’s attention. To me this version is written more like a song, or a
poem than a modern novel.
Prologue
They were not to be seen by others, prisoners behind
silk-screened walls. Only in the middle of the night when only the stars could
witness did their jailer let Fen and her daughter Lan out of her their assigned
rooms. At the youthful age of nine, Lan’s need for constant motion, kept her no
closer than a dozen steps ahead of her mother’s slow hard fought stride.
Dressed always in white, Lan scaled hedges, squeezed silky pedals between
fingertips, and danced around fountains in Emperor Qiang’s gardens. She touched everything within reach of her
slight searching hands.
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