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Some Mondays feel more like the working writer than others. This past weekend, I deliberately took both Saturday and Sunday off from the book. I hoped this would generate some pressure from the book to start of the week, and I had plenty of other things to do.
2388 words came out today, not a torrent, but some good ideas that I hadn’t thought of until today. But it was not an easy day and required more effort than some days that yield more words.
I definitely write more in a day if I’m keeping track day by day. And if I keep count early on, I don’t fall as far behind my personal schedule (which is set up to allow space for the inevitable interruptions and still make the contractual deadline.) But are the words any good? At this stage of a book, my guesstimate would be that 65-70% of them are good (in terms of all components–the plot part is good, the characterization is solid and not slipping, the sequence of sentences and paragraphs is close if not right, word choices, name choices, grammar, spelling, etc, etc, are all good as they are and won’t need more than a quick skim later.) Another 20% is approximate but not awful…will need quite a bit of work, but the bones are sound. And 10-15% is wrong in something major. It could be worse…some that I now think of as very rough might actually be no good at all. It’s never better.
For some writers, it works to revise as they go, sentence by sentence. If I do that, I will spend a week fixated on one sentence…and then, two pages later, realize that the sentence doesn’t even belong. So my method is to write first draft with very little revision (if I see a typo as I write it, I might fix it. I will stop and think about word choices sometimes, and often stop–several times a day at least–to do some serious thinking about the deep logic.) Get it all down, throw everything into the mix that could possibly belong, and then start rearranging, culling, shifting, and the rest of it. (I already know that one long sequence with Arvid does not belong in this book…it’s temporally out of place. But for the moment, it’s reminding me of what happened before this book started, on his timeline, so I haven’t pulled it yet.)
Braiding the different POVs together before the end has the disadvantage that they can all have growth plates, and it’s hard to tell which part of the book may be growing out of proportion, but that, again, can be seen and fixed during the phase-one revision. Waiting until the end to braid has the disadvantage that you have to add up the word counts of every file every time.
But–11 pm and time for bed, now.
Comment by John Hicks — August 3, 2010 @ 1:07 am
Just wanted to say how I have enjoyed ‘Oath of Fealty’ (and all the Sheepfarmers Daughter series) and am looking forward to ‘Kings of the North’. The way you are bringing out the lives of characters who were originally background to Paks is great. It is also interesting to see what some characters see in Paks.
I like the way you are also describing the effects of the war on the people in the South. The way you describe how it has left the people destitute is excellent. Also the way some of the Companies fail to look after its/their wounded.
Are you going to leave Stammel blind? He is a remarkable character.
Is it actually impossible for Dorrin to produce an heir – especially now she has her full mage powers? Isn’t a mage lord’s lifespan longer than a humans? Is this correct and if so has she realised this?
Are you sure you will be able to answer all questions in just three books? (I won’t list them – many have been mentioned in this excellent blog already). Any chance there may be more books after this series? Perhaps a book/series on each of the main characters (including Paks)? I hope so! Sorry if I sound greedy I would also like to see more on Paks’ life as a paladin.
Hope you don’t get tired of this remarkable world you’ve created.
John.
Comment by Jonathan D. Schor — August 3, 2010 @ 11:10 am
Here’s a thought – please do not discard any bits of writing you don’t keep in a particular book – there is enough interest such that these unconnected paragraphs are worth preserving and perhaps publishing – such as the myriad of notes on JRR Tolkeins’s works.
Jonathan
Comment by elizabeth — August 3, 2010 @ 11:13 am
Welcome, John. I’m sure I won’t answer all questions in just three books–or thirty–because every book generates new questions. For some of yours: Magelords do not normally live much longer than other humans, although the usual variances exist (the range of normal lifespans in one species of humans in this world shows that both genetics and culture make a difference.) However, they can–as Luap did–individually steal life from others. Dorrin is likely to live to her mid-eighties, a reasonable human span, but though she could use her magery to steal life from someone, and possibly (not certainly) become pregnant, she will not do so. She would have to commit evil. I’m still uncertain about Stammel–and it’s not my decision; it’s the story’s. He is indeed a remarkable character, and in Book III is having some very interesting times, though still blind. What will befall him in the rest of this book, or any others, I’ll find out as I write. More books in Paksworld…would be fun, I think, but will depend on many things, some of which I can’t know yet.
Comment by elizabeth — August 3, 2010 @ 11:47 am
Jonathan: Nooooooo…. Look…the chips off a statue by Michelangelo convey nothing of his genius. The cloths he wiped his brushes on convey nothing of the Sistine Chapel ceiling. The bits of writing I discard–that most writers discard–are nothing more than chips of marble, a dirty brush-cleaning cloth, the ends of thread and tiny scraps of cloth a quilter throws away. What I want you to have is the finished work, as stories, not as an object of study.
Comment by Dawnaly — August 3, 2010 @ 12:29 pm
I read ‘Sheepfarmers Daughter’ when I was fifteen, and the other two books as soon as I could order them in.
I sat there thinking “how is this over? She’s only, like, twenty four?”, and every couple years i would pick it up, read it all again, and think the same thing. The most surreal was when I myself was twenty four. After I grew to an adult and had shared the book with all my friend, we would all get together and lament the lack of more book.
So one day, I’m sitting here (almost thirty now lol) and BF shoves a bag from the bookstore in my face… what followed was the ‘Squee Heard Round The World’. Ive waited 15 years for ‘Oath’, and it was worth it. I think I speak for a lot of others that I would probably be okay waiting another 15 if you wanted to write more about Paks, but I will understand if ‘all’ we’re left with are eight great books. BTW, thank you for sharing.
Comment by Genko — August 4, 2010 @ 6:19 pm
Re: Stammel’s blindness. I think I would feel weird if he suddenly regained his sight. It seemed like there was a physical reason he became blind, that heat/burst blood vessels or whatever happened in his eyes, that went on for so many days. It seems beyond even magical healing to me. It would seem a bit contrived for him to regain his sight just because we like him so much. (Okay, an oversimplification, but maybe you get what I mean.)
In addition, from what I’ve seen so far, the blindness actually allows him to find more strength and effectiveness, which also happens to many of us in “real life.”
Even so, as you point out, Elizabeth, it will be story that makes the final call. Just wanted to put in my 2 cents worth.
Comment by Margaret — August 4, 2010 @ 9:31 pm
I recently finished my 3rd read of Oath and decided to read Deed once again to look for all the things that “flower” in Oath, which seeds were sown in Deed. For instance, I hadn’t noticed any difference between the references to Verrakai and the Marrakai until this re-reading. I didn’t remember that Paks had an encounter with the Verrakai who would become Dorrin’s heir apparent.
I had wondered about the missing necklace amongst the regalia Dorrin found and that Paks had a vague feeling she knew what was missing. So it jumped out at me when Arvid pressed the necklace into her hand after the defeat of the Achrian priest. So Arvid must have found it there in the lair, and who knows how it got there. It is not mentioned again after Paks takes a look at it, so it must be in Fin Panir. Will Paks return at some point to collect her things there, I wonder. Could be an important element in the Dorrin story, if Paks is called to re-unite the necklace with the rest of the regalia.
It has been fun to go back and find details that I had not noticed before. Not only fun, but I have been thinking about the nature of creativity. It is hard to imagine that one person could create such a multi-textured, multi-layered universe with so many sentient peoples, gods, and demons; the depth to which the characters – many characters – are developed; the history, the geography… and that this is one literary project out of many other interests and pursuits in your life… you must seek the strength of Gird and the High Lord often!
Comment by elizabeth — August 4, 2010 @ 10:13 pm
How the necklace ended up in a robber’s den in southern Tsaia is indeed an important issue. I don’t know yet, but I know it ties in with the overall story arc. Arvid gave it to Paks, and Paks took it with her to Fin Panir, where she surrendered it to the Fellowship of Gird, as paladins aren’t allowed such private resources. That much is in DEED. At the end of DEED, when I was thinking about doing a book on the life of Kieri Phelan, the necklace was, I thought “old story”–not relevant to any new books.
Shows how wrong you can be. Years went by, and the story continued to grow all by itself. When I came back to it, still thinking it would be all about Kieri…it wasn’t. Kieri, yes, but Kieri and what might be called (if I’m sufficiently arrogant) the Matter of Elves, and Dorrin and what might be called the Matter of Aare. Of the secondary characters in DEED, Dorrin was one I’d never thought of as dominating a book.
I’m glad you’re enjoying exploring the world.
Comment by Bob Hamilton — August 5, 2010 @ 12:46 am
Hi, Elizabeth:
I read Oath of Fealty a couple of weeks ago and was astounded by how seamlessly it picked up where The Deed of Paksenarrion left off. I re-read the Deed again (probably the 4th or 5th time) and am almost done reading Oath again, and I remain in awe. My memory was not faulty, it really is that good.
Well done!
Bob
Comment by Dave Ring — August 6, 2010 @ 5:14 pm
I’m rereading Divided Allegiance and on page 369 (Baen Books 2nd printing 9/89) in a conversation involving Paks, the paladin Cami and the Training Master I noticed two instances of the word ‘achael’. Unfamiliar, not in my Webster’s or Random House; what is achael?
Comment by elizabeth — August 6, 2010 @ 8:31 pm
Dave: I’ll try to look that up later. I don’t remember. I made up quite a few words and some others have Latvian roots–and you remember I’ve been complaining that my reference notebooks are still missing? They had all those words.
It would help if you’d give me the chapter number rather than the page number–the only copy I have, I believe, is the omnibus–page numbers all different, but chapter numbers were preserved. Also–who is speaking, what’s the situation? That will help me find it.
Comment by Dave Ring — August 7, 2010 @ 9:23 am
Chapter 22, Midwinter Feast at Fin Panir. Training Master to paladin Cami: “Gird’s right arm, I thought you were still in achael!” Cami: “Through Midwinter Feast? Master Chanis, even the High Lord wouldn’t keep me in achael through the best day in the year!”
Comment by elizabeth — August 7, 2010 @ 12:46 pm
Thank you! It’s a period of ritual seclusion…like a retreat, sort of.