Risuko (32 page)

T
here were many, many people who helped me as I wrote this book. It may take a village to raise a child, but it seems to take an army to write a historical novel.

First, I must thank Julia Nations and her students, who were the first test audience for this book as I was beginning to write it. Their thoughtful questions and their persistent requests over subsequent years to know
what happened next
were a wonderful inspiration to finish the story.

Sarah Jae-Jones was kind enough to try to help me understand how a Korean accent might sound to the Japanese. Don't blame her for the way Kee Sun talks, however. That's all from my peculiar imagination.

Dr. Diane Monteil shared her wisdom in the use (and abuse) of traditional Asian herbal medicines. She was both patient and good-humored in the face of all of my questions about poisons (as well as their antidotes), about traditional treatments for premenstrual syndrome, and about the concept of the five elements, the five flavors, and the five colors.

Brenda and Donal Brown read the book long before it was finished and provided both their wisdom and their apparently bottomless enthusiasm, which sustained me through many of the darkest passages in my journey to complete Risuko's tale. They also introduced my book to Danielle Svetcov (see below), for which alone they deserve literary Elysium—if they hadn't already earned it in a thousand other ways.

Kristine Ball and Amy and Anschel Burke also provided invaluable early input.

Once I had completed the first drafts of the manuscript, a group of early readers provided incredible feedback, spotting inconsistencies, narrative dead ends, and typos, poking me when I needed it, but also telling me what worked, which I sometimes couldn't see. This book would not be as readable as it is without the assistance of Ken Schneyer, Victory Davidsmeier, Stephen Gerringer, Diana Lee, Giovanni Martelli, Justice Hardman, Ania Mieszkowska, Alison Coulthard, Ryan Blood, Alithea Howes, Sherry Baisden, Mary Carroll, Sarah Grant, Laurie Lockman, Liz Ottosson, and, most especially, Aleta Johansen. Each of these folks is a wonderful writer in his or her own right; I'm honored to have benefitted from their thoughts on my own prose.

Danielle Svetcov, my agent, took my book on and promptly did what every author needs but no author wants: she showed me where the story lagged, and how to make it much, much better. Her insightful and incisive critiques showed me that I needed to cut a major-but-distracting secondary character, as well as a needless prologue and epilogue. (Once I had made these as well as a number of the other excellent cuts and changes that she suggested, I had managed to add four thousand words. I'm still not sure how that happened!)

The Tuesday Night Mill Valley Library Authors Group, led by the wonderful Caitlin Myer, helped me think through some of those changes. The book in your hands—particularly the prologue and the section about Risuko and Toumi's escapade on the switchback—is there because of their input.

Scott Delehanty, one of my oldest friends, wrote me from old
Nihon
to point out some basic errors in Japanese language and culture. Again, any problems that persist are mine, not his. 

The Risuko Beta Team provided incredible feedback as I was completing the book. A heartfelt
dōmo arigatō
to Lyndsey Lowe (who came first), A.D. Madden, Amanda, Breanna Kelly, Breanna Manlick, Carson Smith, Casia Courtier, Cherrie Walker, Crystal, Dawn Kearns, Dilara Çelik, Elizabeth Fields, Fabienne Gilbert, Gabrielle Nadig, Helen Thompson, Isis Erb, Jaime Andreas, Jo Metivier, Jossie Marie Solheim, Judit Casedemont, Kelley, Kizzi R., Lauren Skidmore, Lucie Boisgard, Melody A., Nikolett Nagy, Racheal, Rachel Stansel, Rebecca A.W. Lovato, Sheri Olshan, Tanya Grech Welden, Ventureadlaxre, Yasamin, Yu Xuan, and Zoe Plant.

Without the Kickstarter supporters who backed
Risuko
, this book literally would not have been published. To Susan R. Woodward, Margot Avery, Robert Walter, Heesung Yang, Sylvia-Michelle Hostetter, John Idlor, [email protected], Ken Schneyer, Alithea Howes, [email protected], Stephen Gerringer, Ania Mieszkowska (again!), Isaac “Will It Work” Dansicker, Roger Beckett, Empress Diana and Imperial Princess Amara of the Most Illustrious Lee Dynasty, Cara Melia Pico, Lennhoff Family, Christine Gengaro, Breanna Manlick, Kira Newman, Andrea, Karpov Kinrade, Anika Loeffler, Alexander John Aristotle Kimball, Sueatducksfoot, Ripley Patton, Sam Mickel, Heather Albano, [email protected], C Carter, Don, Beth & Meghan Ferris, Rachel S., Craig Allen, Ritske Rensma, Candice Bailey, Seow Wan Yi, Roy Romasanta, D-Rock, Mattia Forza, Benjamin Ellefson, Roman Pauer, Riccardo Sartori, Jason Png, Rachael Barcellano, SwordFire, Joy Mundy and Tony Navarette — you are angels in every sense of the word.

I must of course thank my middle school English teacher, who happens also to be my mother, Jackie Kudler. She read more drafts of
Risuko
than anyone (well, almost anyone—see below). Her fine eye for detail and narrative through-line was as helpful now as it was when I was thirteen—and much more welcome.

My wife Maura Vaughn was on a literary quest of her own through much of the time that I was writing this novel; her book on text analysis for actors,
The Anatomy of a Choice
. Nonetheless, she read every rewrite of each chapter, providing her thoughtful insight, her patience, and her astonishing sense of story to the task, day after day. Joseph Campbell says in
The Hero with a Thousand Faces
that each would-be hero has the assistance of magical helpers as he or she wanders the indescribably difficult path of adventure. I know who my magical helper was and is, and I am honored and blessed to have her for a partner.

Last and greatest is my debt to my own two daughters, Sasha and Julia. They were my inspiration; they were also my first audience. When I began writing
Risuko
, they were young—in Julia's case, too young to read the book on her own. Nonetheless, I read new chapters to each of them, even once they had grown well past the age when they needed to be read to. They are now both young women, wonders in their own rights, with amazing futures before them. I hope that I have captured half of their spirit in Murasaki and her friends.