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pameladeanThis is an addendum to my previous entry. I've gotten a number of sad comments, so here are some consolatory remarks.
First, the two-volume version of the book is safe in multiple backups. I don't have time to think about it until I get the revision done; and my agent feels that if there is to be any hope of ever publishing the two-volume version in any form, it will have to be well after the shorter version is published. But if I can, I will make it available for people to read.
Second, there is a lot of good material still in the shortened version. It's not going to feel hacked about, any more rushed than my books generally do, shallow, or any more opaque than my books generally are. If I can't do it right -- though I believe that I can -- I won't do it. My general approach to a book is to start a huge number of subplots along with the main plot, and to resolve some but not all of them. A great deal of what I have done here is to remove subplots entire to a later volume. This pains me greatly, but I don't think it is actually doing much damage either to the main plot or to the subplots. There is still a lot going on in the background, so readers who like that sort of thing should not be unbearably disconsolate.
Third, several people over the course of several rather despairing entries have asked in comments why I am doing this. There are a number of reasons, some lofty and some very practical. But an important one is that I want to work with Sharyn November. She's edited one short story of mine, and I've heard her talk about editing on panels. I really want to work with her. I won't produce a bad, damaged book to do that. Nor, I believe, would she let me do so.
Fourth, I am probably making matters sound worse than they are. When things are going well, I just work on the book. When I become discouraged or stymied, then I cast about for writing-avoidance behaviors. My cat won't let me vacuum him, so I must resort to posting to LJ.
Fifth, I'm not sure how much credence anyone should give to me, at this stage, when I talk about the book's themes. I think I know what they are, but the degree to which the book is "about" such things may vary, or at lease people's perceptions of that degree may vary. The full exploration of the themes will require at least one more volume and possibly two.
I hope these remarks are useful and calming. I have to go back to where the middle has fallen out of the book and put a new one in. Thank you all for your kindness and patience.
Pamela
First, the two-volume version of the book is safe in multiple backups. I don't have time to think about it until I get the revision done; and my agent feels that if there is to be any hope of ever publishing the two-volume version in any form, it will have to be well after the shorter version is published. But if I can, I will make it available for people to read.
Second, there is a lot of good material still in the shortened version. It's not going to feel hacked about, any more rushed than my books generally do, shallow, or any more opaque than my books generally are. If I can't do it right -- though I believe that I can -- I won't do it. My general approach to a book is to start a huge number of subplots along with the main plot, and to resolve some but not all of them. A great deal of what I have done here is to remove subplots entire to a later volume. This pains me greatly, but I don't think it is actually doing much damage either to the main plot or to the subplots. There is still a lot going on in the background, so readers who like that sort of thing should not be unbearably disconsolate.
Third, several people over the course of several rather despairing entries have asked in comments why I am doing this. There are a number of reasons, some lofty and some very practical. But an important one is that I want to work with Sharyn November. She's edited one short story of mine, and I've heard her talk about editing on panels. I really want to work with her. I won't produce a bad, damaged book to do that. Nor, I believe, would she let me do so.
Fourth, I am probably making matters sound worse than they are. When things are going well, I just work on the book. When I become discouraged or stymied, then I cast about for writing-avoidance behaviors. My cat won't let me vacuum him, so I must resort to posting to LJ.
Fifth, I'm not sure how much credence anyone should give to me, at this stage, when I talk about the book's themes. I think I know what they are, but the degree to which the book is "about" such things may vary, or at lease people's perceptions of that degree may vary. The full exploration of the themes will require at least one more volume and possibly two.
I hope these remarks are useful and calming. I have to go back to where the middle has fallen out of the book and put a new one in. Thank you all for your kindness and patience.
Pamela
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no subject
Date: 2010-07-16 07:18 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2010-07-16 08:27 pm (UTC)I've been planning a sequel all along. I don't know what the publisher is likely to say about it, but there's no point in worrying about that just at the moment.
P.
Novel
Date: 2010-07-16 08:35 pm (UTC)Re: Novel
Date: 2010-07-17 01:30 am (UTC)P.
no subject
Date: 2010-07-16 08:59 pm (UTC)That is all.
no subject
Date: 2010-07-17 01:31 am (UTC)(Thank you.)
P.
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Date: 2010-07-17 02:41 am (UTC)The cheerleaders are easier to spot in groups.
no subject
Date: 2010-07-16 09:32 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2010-07-16 11:12 pm (UTC)B: "My cat won't let me vacuum him, so I must resort to posting to LJ." Best Sentence In The EVAH!
no subject
Date: 2010-07-16 11:22 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2010-07-16 11:49 pm (UTC)Which really doesn't have much to do with my answer. I just plain hate Disney(corp.)'s tendency to make fantasy safe for America.
And giving every Tom, Dick, Harry, Ruth, Hobbit, Lefthanded Lesbian Orc a "cute animal sidekick".
no subject
Date: 2010-07-17 12:58 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2010-07-17 01:29 am (UTC)p.
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Date: 2010-07-17 01:49 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2010-07-17 02:36 am (UTC)P.
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Date: 2010-07-17 02:36 am (UTC)P.
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Date: 2010-07-17 02:47 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2010-07-17 01:30 am (UTC)P.
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Date: 2010-07-16 11:29 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2010-07-17 01:32 am (UTC)If it were fungible, you should have some of mine. Well, you do, heaps of it; but you know what I mean.
P.
no subject
Date: 2010-07-17 01:57 am (UTC)OT
Date: 2010-07-17 12:12 am (UTC)Re: OT
Date: 2010-07-17 01:33 am (UTC)P.
Re: OT
Date: 2010-07-17 11:54 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2010-07-17 12:16 am (UTC)OMGYAY
no subject
Date: 2010-07-17 01:33 am (UTC)P.
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Date: 2010-07-17 12:59 am (UTC)love
Catherine
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Date: 2010-07-17 01:34 am (UTC)P.
Aw. Thanks.
Date: 2010-07-17 04:43 am (UTC)Of course I wouldn't. And, again, thank you.
no subject
Date: 2010-07-17 11:32 am (UTC)reading and enjoying--will send e-mail when i surface. i seem to be doing a lot of my reading at 3:30 in the morning but that's not anyone's fault.
i'm sure that the throes of rewriting suck, but you write beautifully and will produce something wonderful, though different.
*more hugs and love*
no subject
Date: 2010-07-17 11:52 pm (UTC)Istm you've omitted a critical datum: how far afield is all this from your usual “process”? We know different writers write differently. Completely aside from the matter of comfort, how new is the territory you're moving [[I want a link to a thesaurus or randomizer here -- moving, traveling, lurching, stumbling, trailblazing, proceeding, working your way]] through?
no subject
Date: 2010-07-18 03:35 am (UTC)(We keep doing our part for the state Lottery Commission and buying PowerBall tickets, in the (so far) vain hope that eventually we can afford to come back to the Twin Cities for a proper visit. Failing that, our hopeful and encouraging thoughts regularly wing in your direction. :-))
no subject
Date: 2010-07-25 12:28 am (UTC)