Clockwork Angels: The Novel (39 page)

‘Excellently observed,’ answered Candide; ‘but we must cultivate our garden.’ ”

Kevin and I had great fun coming up with names for the places and characters. Watchmaking components gave us Barrel Arbor, the Winding Pinion River, Crown City and its circular boulevards (Crown Wheel, Balance Wheel, and Center Wheel), and the Regulators. Albion is an ancient name for England, while Poseidon was the legendary capital of Atlantis. Cíbola was one of the Spanish names for the Seven Cities.

At first Kevin and I were building the story around a character referred to only as “Our Hero,” but we needed a real name—so I suggested we use those initials: Owen Hardy. (Owen from one of my daughter Olivia’s picture books, and Hardy because the village of Barrel Arbor has a Thomas Hardy air of bucolic quaintness.)

Kevin wanted Owen’s first love to have a kind of “vanilla” flavor, so I suggested the near anagram of Lavinia. With the omnipotence of the world-builder, I was determined to make this society entirely mixed in racial characteristics, from skin colors to names, so together Kevin and I made her family the Paquettes (a fallen woman in
Candide
is named Pacquette), and introduced Oliveira, Huang, Tomio, Francesca, Guerrero (Spanish for “warrior”), and so on. Owen’s mother is named Hanneke Lakota, which, like his brown skin, suggests that he might have Native American blood.

Kevin also had fun weaving in many references to Rush lyrics, and though they will not disrupt the reading experience for those who don’t get them, they may entertain those who do. (Perhaps one day we’ll have a contest to see how many of them people can find.)

All of those details built up over several drafts, with special attention brought to specific scenes in between. And still notes were exchanged in rapid-fire volleys. Kevin writes extraordinarily fast, often working on a few projects at the same time, but he is able to bring complete focus to any story because while he writes it, he
lives
it. Sometimes, while he was hiding away in a cabin in the Colorado mountains and working on the story, he would end a note with something like, “Now I have to go do terrible things to Owen in Poseidon City.”

In mid-May 2012, Kevin sent me what we considered to be the final draft of
Clockwork Angels: The Novel
. I had the typescript printed and bound, and took it with me to a cabin among the redwoods in Big Sur. Sunlight filtered down through the big trees, Steller’s jays visited my porch railing, the Big Sur River murmured in its rocky bed, and woodsmoke from the neighboring campground perfumed the air.

What a delight it was to read our story that way, freshly immersed in it after several somewhat scattershot previous readings, and truly
feeling
it—Anton Hardy’s sorrow over his lost wife, and Owen’s attempts to find his way—find
himself
—through the tribulations that mold him into a strong and righteous man. In response to suggestions from his sharp-eyed editor (and wife) Rebecca Moesta, a few trusted “test readers,” and myself, Kevin had added many little touches of detail and humor—like the antics of the three clowns imitating their fellow carnies. (No prizes for guessing who those three characters are modeled after!) He also further developed some of his marvelous “inventions,” like the clockwork Orrery, the “Imaginarium,” and the Destiny Calculator, that I already considered astonishing, while weaving additional splendid details into scenes like the performance of the Clockwork Angels.

After finishing that final read, and pouring myself a celebratory beverage to toast the big trees, the jays, the river, and the book, I wrote to Kevin:

“Bleary-eyed, but triumphant, I have just finished a pleasurable day of lying around my cabin in the redwoods and reading the book. Though I had been facing the task as something of a ‘duty,’ it turned out to be a very pleasurable experience.”

After a bit of “technical talk” about various details and improve ments, I concluded:

“The entire end section, from the Wreckers out, felt like an emotional climax, not just a dramatic one. I am so glad we made this happen.”