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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I think I mentioned that thanks to reader comments I’ve now found a way to change one of the A- names (Alured the Black) to something else for a logical reason in K-II.   Alured considers his current name too plebian and associated too closely with his criminal past, so he wants a fancier name.  He has some genealogical records that he thinks relate to his real parentage, so he picks a non-A (not his reason but mine) name from among them.

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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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I told my editor that you alpha readers had found problems, and that I’m working on them.

She’s glad you found them and that I’m fixing them, so she won’t have to.

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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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And lo! one whole POV section has been cut, with the essential plot-moving information from it moved somewhere else.

And lo!  Alured the Black, whom you recall from Paks I, has really got a case of grandiosity on and has changed his name to suit his new stature as Duke of Immer.  This is partly due to deeper analysis of his character and motivations and partly to remove another A character name.  At least partly remove it, since people who knew him as Alured still think of him as Alured until he makes a point (pun intended) of insisting that they call him by his new name.   I’m not sure enough of  the exact form of his new name to share it yet.

Short of time, so zipping back to work.

After some 22 hours on the train, I’m in St. Louis, in the hotel, and I have a lot of comments to work into the revisions.   So I won’t be online a lot, but progress will be made.    I’ll check in when there’s something new to say.

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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