The Starlit Wood by Dominik Parisien & Navah Wolfe

Author:Dominik Parisien & Navah Wolfe [Parisien, Dominik & Wolfe, Navah]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Saga Press
Published: 0101-01-01T00:00:00+00:00

AUTHOR’S NOTE

Max Gladstone: Have you ever watched a cappuccino die?

It’s a sad sight. The drink waits on the bar, flush with foam at first, but those little bubbles don’t last forever; as they pop, the plush surface dimples and pits. Minutes pass, and the foam collapses. You can still drink the cappuccino just fine—but in its freshness, it was beautiful.

Most stories don’t work like that. Often, they’re best grown slowly and from grand consideration, like sprouts from seed. They reward refining.

No doubt I wasn’t born knowing “Jack and the Beanstalk,” but it soaked through my skin. When I realized no one in the anthology had spoken for it yet, I had to raise my hand. And beanstalk leads to space elevator quite naturally.

Then I got stuck. I couldn’t figure out how to make the story mine. Which version was ideal? How could I break the tale open? I’ve wanted to play with form for a while, and fairy tales seemed like a great opportunity, but: how? Giants are fascinating: like humans, just . . . bigger. Post-humanity seemed like a good analog, in modern SF language. But to pack the world I wanted into the space I had, I needed an angle.

The first line of this story popped into my head on the train. I wanted to write the rest of it more than anything in the world. Once back from the gym, I ran to the keyboard and slammed out the rest.

Most stories aren’t the cappuccino on the bar. But some are best written before doubt dimples the foam.

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