Renovating A Creation
Continuing along the general concept of comparing the creation of a novel to the construction of a house, I did some deliberate renovations, knocking our a few walls and even having to sacrifice some of my favorite corners.
I have always been cognizant that the flow of Book 1 early on was disjointed and halting. It meandered through some pretty terse transitions both in grammar construction and the presentation of plot. It was presented that way for a reason and some people that read it even got it. However it usually takes a reader two times through it to understand what is going on. In these fast-food and fast news times a writer does not have the luxury of counting on a reader's patience. I am keeping the full length second edition, however and it might be issued at some point as a full authorized version of the story. For now I am much more concerned with making the book work as a book and yet staying try to the story that it has to tell.
I added back in a short portion of some material that I originally deleted from Chapter 9 (when the Huge Book was structured in chapters) the end of which is at the conclusion of Book 1. The publisher never saw the material that was presented for Book 1 with this construction. At the time there was good reason for it. The story was undeveloped and the material did almost nothing for the flow of the book at that time.
That material sat around in a computer file that collected everything that I had written into the series that was subsequently cut out. When I got to about half way through Book 6 in its composition, I went through all the deleted material in search of important things that I had cut from other books in order to promote plot flow or whatever. A good deal of that material needed to be worked into the series and it was revised, polished and reinserted in revisions and edits to other books. Still a chunk of it became part of Book 6.
The almost modular format of the series permits this sort of adaptation for the original. It is ironical that the portion of the original manuscript for Book 1 that had bee omitted and included in Book 6, had been revised to include the addition of two 'new' characters that are not otherwise mentioned in the series until Book 2. They are however characters from the prequel to the series, and were included in the notes from which Specter of Dammerwald was written. In the preferred sequence in which I think this series will be read in the future, the prequel will come first, then Book 1 and so on until Book 9 that is Book 3 of the second series.
(Hint: When the reader finishes Book 9, he or she will want to take the last few paragraphs and read them again as if they were inserted just before the opening paragraphs of Book 1. It was a coincidence that I played with and made it purposeful in reinforcing one of the underlying themes of the series. Sometimes you get lucky as a writer.)
One of the reasons why I omitted that scene from the original was that it was under developed and although I knew even then that the Wolf character needed to be freed, I had not figured out quite yet how Andy would accomplish it without continuing as a part of that subplot which he clearly did not do because of all else that happened in the series. Sometimes a writer needs to work a plot out to the very end to understand how things and characters interrelate.
I am pleased that it works as well as it does. It was a missing link and creates a compelling enough reason to read the revised, second edition of Book 1. Besides providing for a better tie in to the Wolf subplot of the remainder of the series, it also ties Elana who is mentioned in association with the Old Bachelor to the fantasy tale played out in the 'Wolf stuff' in Books 2 through 6. Further it is this one section that creates the basis of need for a Book 7 thru 9. So it is a pretty important hitch pin to have been so readily omitted from the first edition.
I especially like the introduction of Mang into th end of Book 1. It works to connect things. While the reader knows a good deal about Andy and his emotional rollercoaster ride throughout Book 1, Mang knows nothing about the human. This one simple addition breathes new life into a book first published 3 years ago. The second edition not only corrects the typos and somewhat more serious errors, few as they were, but it also makes the second edition a worthwhile read for anyone wanting to continue reading my work.
I have sent both versions of the second edition to the publisher. He can determine which he prefers, I suppose. If the past is indicative of the immediate future we will be in revision with this thing for some time anyway. For now I am pretty stoked about the improvement to the book and now feel that it is the strongest book of the series... and will continue to be until I revise the other ones.
E
News, Weather and Snorts
It is obligatory. I have Irish friends and being a true mongrel, I am probably a little bit Irish as well. Happy St. Patricks Day to one and all.
I have been absent from the blog for a few days. My apologies. I was finishing up Book 1-2e and working on a couple of other ideas. It's funny, now that I have finished the revision I want to read it again just to get the feel of it and judge its flow. It is not perfect; what is? It is better and since the first book was pretty good, I think that makes this one almost there.
I don't recall who compared wiritng a book to building a house. The comparison is apt, though. The cover is probably the most noteworthy feature and gives the book its character just as the 'curb appeal' of a house is all important. Chapters are rooms, of course. Just as in the construction of a house, you can live with imperfections but they will eventually drive you to the point of intolerance and then you have to fix them. You take your 'ounch list' and remodel things a bit. Oh, and then at the last minute your significant other suggests something else, a new addition perhaps, like finishing the basement or the attic above the garage.
Okay so I am never quick to say that something is great. I like Book 1-2e. It is better than the first edition. I think a second edition should be an improvement, otherwise why even bother.
I reached the end last night (this morning) around 2 AM. When I arrived there I wanted to read more. That is a good sign. There is a problem with the ending, though. I want to work on it a bit more. I am even considering adding in some new material. There was a good deal of material previously cut from the series and some that I never yused as it didn't quite fit. Somewhere in my trash pile is a part that I cut from the original chapter 9, the end of which is the first breaking point that I decided was the ending for Book 1. Remember, at one time the series was all one big book.
Anyway Give me a few more days and I'll let you know what I have decided to do. It might be a selling point, streamlines beginning and additional, never before seen material at the end. I am sincere in that remark. Even the publisher never saw that material. I removed it before I had even sent it to Ash Creek Publishing.
http://www.acbooks.comMy publisher and I have discussed the new version of Book 1, most recently this very week. I am not certain what we will do with it at this point. Distribution and marketing have always been issues with the books. Whatever we do we want to ensure that the entire series, even the prequel is in print for those that desire the full immersion into the fantasy worlds of One Over X, Two: The Power of X and Specter of Dammerwald.
On other fronts, literally it has been raining almost constantly for the past couple of days. Welcomd to Florida, the Sunshine State, right? Well, it could be worse, a lot worse if it were snowing or there was a hurricane on its way. I have been through blizzards and hurricanes. I can stand a couple of days of rainy weather, I think.
For those that work with me or have worked with me that read this blog, this week my mood has been as gloomy as the weather. I get into moods. I could lie and tell you that I didn't used to be that way but I have always had my moods. Maybe my moods aren't always as obvious to others as they have been recently. Maybe at other times in my life I have not felt under so much stress.
A lot of it is centered on my personal life, Jina and the kids. Sometimes I feel as if I am working for nothing at all. I barely pay the bills, if that. I owe everyone esomething. I get some support from my kids with my efforts. They help quite a lot at times even if it is only moral support. Jina probably thinks she has been supportive even when we weren't at constant odds. She really has served as a hindrance for the most part. I'll allow her that it is mostly my fault. I am a writer. Writers are not the easiest people to understand or get along with. Our priorities are out of whack. I wholeheartedly agree with that assessment.
Vacuuming the house is never a priority. It takes 20 munutes if that and should never interrupt writing.
Doing laundry takes an hour or so. It can be done concurrently with wriitng, only the folding mandates a break. Those breaks have tobe times precisely in accordance to the flow of ideas and the schedule that should always be addered to in writing.
Cooking, well my kids know how and so do I. Once in a while we do something for one another or even as a group. Mostly we fend for ourselves when it comes to fixing meals and eating. It may seem a little out of balance but our schedules are completely incompatibale for ever sitting down to a meal together except on holidays.
Jina could never understand me or my motivations. To her perception I wS being lazy or argumentive. Maybe I was a little of the later. She never could understnad how I could be laying in bed listening to the sounds of water dripping from the eve outside after a nightime thunderstorm, listening to the growing background noise of the waking world beyond the confines of the house and still claim that I was really doing anything other than being lazy and trying to stay in bed a little longer that she thought appropriate.
She would get mad at me if I stayed up too late writing. "When are you coming to bed?" she would ask several times and by the time that I had reached the end of a thought and the foot of the bed, she was already snoring. She snores. It was always cute, not like my snoring but despite her claims to the contrary she snores - and most people do.
Her idea of support and mine are entired at odd, just as her idea of proper priorities and mine are at opposite ends of the spectrum.
Last week, Jina may not have put me into the bad modd but she definitely assisted it along.
In the middle of being moody, I tried to cheer up a friend that was down. Sometimes I can do that; sometimes I can't. It is extremely difficult for me to cheer up anyone when I am so depressed. Also I tried. I tried even past trying. I got a few laughs as a result, a couple of chuckles and quite possibly even a short snort as well. The funny thing is not that while I was depressed I was trying to cheer someone that was at least as depresssed as I was but that in the process I cheered up.
All I can say is that I am still here, still writing and I have no intention of giving up regardless the forces to the contrary. This is going to work.
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