Reading the Backbone

Hey y’all,

If you’re new to me, my work, the Secret of Secrets, or just to this book, let me give you a quick and simple overview and way to approach reading it.

I think of it as a novel (albeit, perhaps, a fragmentary novel), but you will likely have an easier time if you think of each chapter as its own short story and regard Teresa’s Backbone as you would a short story collection (or perhaps a ‘novel in stories’).

This is helpful, I think, because I’ve noticed that when people approach the chapters as they would any other novel, they can become very lost and confused about what is happening. But when they read each one as its own piece—as you would with a short story—they seem much happier and better oriented to the work.

So, perhaps this is how you can read it. My hope is that after you have read a good number of them, you will start to see how they all fit together—and effortlessly. Your mind will naturally begin making the connections for you.

The other thing I will add—and this is equally important—is that I do not email out every chapter. I send out typically one a week by email, but write anywhere from three to ten a week. They are all archived on the Adventures in Secrecy Substack; and, I have created a separate index for the chapters here. You will notice that there is another set of sublists following the sequential list. These are reading paths, which give you a suggested reading order for particular characters, plotlines, or settings within the novel.

I am writing this to you in late January 2023. I started the novel on November 1, 2022. So that’s three months I’ve been at this and have had pretty good engagement. If you have anything you want to say to me about it, please do! You can right here in the comments, in comments for each individual chapter, in an email, on social media, or wherever you and I connect most easily.

Oh, and this is an (optionally) interactive book, as well, with writing prompts and role-playing game elements present at the end of most chapters under the header “play procedures.” Some folks are playing along and that’s been really cool. I hope you will too and will tell us about it.

Thanks so much for reading. There’s much more to come.

Xoxo,

T