Paksworld

Early in a book project,  research is a major part of the work.   No matter what kind of book you’re writing, you’ll need to do some research, if only to find out (for instance) which way the one-way streets went in a given city in 1965 (or something similar.)   Because among the community of readers, there’s always the expert who knows, and will be glad to tell the world, if you made a mistake.   If your own desire to write perfect books ever flags, you know there’s this person, ready to purse their lips and write a scathing comment about your carelessness where it will do you the most harm.  (Nicer people pursing their lips just write you, which still stings but at least allows you your dignity.)

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About three days ago,  one of those ideas hit me that could be really good, sort of interesting, or not at all the right move.    It’s very spoiler-full, so here’s your first spoiler warning…if you don’t like spoilers, skip this post.

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K-II being its “stable name,” that is.

Editor says that no amount of backfilling will allow readers who start with K-II to understand everything that went before.

There’s a lot of before.   Although K-I, now known formally as Oath of Fealty, covers only about a quarter year of that world’s time, it’s a quarter year in which a great deal happens.    Some of the problems mentioned about K-II arose from not knowing what was in K-I, but others were real problems.

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Today I went to the publisher’s office–the Random House/Bertelsman offices–in Manhattan.   It strikes humility in the heart of the writer to see the display of all the other titles–well, a very large selection of the titles–that Random House has published over its history.   The ground floor display is amazing and wonderful.

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You could be forgiven for thinking “She isn’t posting; she must be goofing off while she’s traveling” but in fact I have been working when I could find a place to put the machine or open the notebook.

Some railroad tracks are smoother than others.

That being said, here’s the update.  During the Ninc conference, I took off at least an hour a day to write.  Usually more, sneaking away from program items I didn’t feel I needed.  I wrote on the trains (all the trains so far) and in the waiting rooms.

What this has produced is, so far, a much improved early section, with foreshadowing of troubles to come (alpha readers will note that their comments bore fruit–there’s foreshadowing, rather than just “Look, the roof fell in.”    Then there are revisions flowing from the new stuff into later chapters (not completely done yet) and a lot of “think tank” work on the deep logic that will inform the rest of the story.

Possible Spoilers Below

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No one person can do it all, in the alpha-reading world, which is why having a group works best for me.  Each of you is sensitive to slightly different things.

Overnight, I got more helpful comments.   And I’m seeing my way clear to some changes in mid-book that will of course impact end-book when they’re done.

Spoilers (some serious spoilers) below the line, so don’t “read more” unless spoilers don’t bother you.

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(Aside–it’s really hard to talk about some of this without spoilers for those who hate spoilers…so if you avsolutely hate spoilers, you might want to skip what’s below…)

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It’s now clear to me that there’s no way I can finish the revisions before Tuesday, when I leave for St. Louis and then, some days later, points north and east.

Several important responses, from which I expect much impetus to rearrange & rewrite, haven’t come in.   I need to do laundry, shop for remaining things I need for the trip (like more cardstock for more business cards) and I have to sing both services tomorrow.   Time has run out.

Nonetheless, from responses received and my own re-reading, progress is being made, just slower than I wanted.   I really wanted to be able to present Book Two, all combed and brushed, with its boots spit-shined and its perfectly arranged insignia bright, to my editor when I get to NYC, but…it’s not going to happen.  Not like that.  If she wants to see it, she’ll see it in a state where I don’t normally let editors discover what a mess even the late drafts are.     Editors, like agents and alpha readers, always want to meddle…and editors come cloaked in Authority.   If they decide something’s a problem early, then they’re likely to demand that it vanish from the book, even if the real problem is that I haven’t yet made it obvious enough why it belongs and is absolutely essential to the final resolution of six lines of  plot.  (I may not know yet…and writer-not-knowing is but putty in the hands of Editors, who know not only many books but also how the sausage of publishing is made.)

I will snag one of the dilatory experienced alphas by the short hairs when I visit her after the Ninc conference–she will not escape me then.   Heh-heh-heh.    The one I thought I had trapped earlier this week made an agile feint and retreat.   And time’s run out, and I’ve just spent 41 minutes online answering email, removing spam from all the spam buckets, answering a few comments here and there.

I must get ready for the trip.  I’d rather work on the book.  WHY did I agree to the trip???  (NB–I’ll enjoy it once the train starts to move.  I always do.  But the book, which wants to be done, isn’t done, and can’t be done by time to leave, and that’s like an itch you can’t scratch. )

I’m back from Schreiner University in Kerrville, Texas, where I spent yesterday (drove down Sunday and back today, through rainstorms.)    It was a lovely trip, and I enjoyed the five classes, luncheon, and evening program (though I was hoarse by the end of it–I like to talk but I’m not used to talking that much in one day!)    Professors and students were delightful, as were the people who showed up for the Monday Night Fiction meeting.

I took the printouts of the alpha reader comments with me and worked on them Sunday evening and very early Monday morning–I woked up with a headache at 4 am and had a brainstorm, so got in several hours of work before heading for the university.  Now that I’m home, and the suitcase is unpacked and a load of wash churning away…I can transfer those notes to the main file.  (Because I took the laptop along, but did I take the thumb drive with the book on it?  Nooo….)

I mentioned at some point that I was going on with revisions while the alpha readers were doing their thing…and this meant that (DUH on my part) none of the page numbers were right by the time the comments arrived.  However, I could still tell where they went; it just took longer.

So…back to work.

This morning I planned to start work on Book Two as soon as I w0ke, and in fact had planned an ambitious attack on it while dealing with a click beetle in the bedroom last night.   (Click beetles, which show up in the house in late summer, are small, harmless, but noisy little beetles that are more active at night and markedly interfere with my sleep.  Last night, for instance, one crawled under my pillow and started jumping and clicking right under my ear.)

Anyway, when I turned on the computer this morning, I had email from the Orbit UK, where they’re working on the omnibus Deed of Paksenarrion and proofreaders had found anomalies.  Could I please check them out?

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