2nd Draft Part 2
It’s taken me 3 weeks, which was a good deal faster than I’d hoped, to get a reasonable 2nd draft of Half a War together. It usually does tend to be the case that the process is less horrifying than you expect once you start to tackle it. Some chapters needed some pretty heavy pruning […]
2nd Draft
There was a time I was posting here three times a week, but there’ve been no posts for over a month because I have had my head firmly in putting together the 2nd draft of Half a War, third book in my Shattered Sea trilogy. When I first started writing I’d revise every sentence, every […]
Third Draft
I’ve had a few minor bits and pieces to deal with the last couple of weeks including a short story now squared away, which leaves me with no alternative but to tackle a third draft of Half the World, curse it. Few weeks ago I was talking about work on the second draft, which focused […]
He Killed the Younglings!
People keep asking me whether Half a King is a Young Adult book. Well, yes it is. Kind of. But also an adult fantasy. Kind of. Crossover, you know. Depends a little on who you ask… Categorisation is always a bit of a strange business. Books are often put into a certain genre, or shelved […]
Second Draft
In many ways, at least for me, it’s when I’ve got a complete first draft of a book that the most important work begins. I start with a reasonable idea of who my central characters are and what the plot’s going to be, but both the plot and the personalities inevitably flex and shift as […]
ARCs
Call them what you like: Bound Proofs, Galleys, Advance Reader Copies (ARCs), Advance Reader Editions (AREs), Advance Reader Special Editions (ARSEs), they are a staple of the publishing world. Essentially these are not-quite-final versions of the book sent out well before publication, to reviewers that they may have time to review, to other authors that […]
Half the World, Finished! Not.
Well, kind of. I’ve spoken before of how you (or at least I) never really get that moment of glorious satisfaction when you clack out the words THE END on your typewriter, whizz the final sheet from the drum, plonk it on top of the crisp heap of typescript and allow yourself that one cigarette […]
The Authority of Print
So, this past couple of weeks I’ve been going through two sets of Page Proofs for Half a King, one for Del Rey’s US edition, one for HarperCollins’ UK edition. This is when the book, in its (almost) final typeset form, is sent to you for final approval on loose leaves of A4, and you […]
2013 in Review
Happy Birthday to Me. Happy Birthday to Me. Happy Birthday dear MEEEE-EEEEE. Three cheers, anyone? Yes, indeed, another year has flowed beneath the bridge at ever-increasing speed and I am 39 today. It’s round about 12 years since I started writing The Blade Itself back in 2001. Some 9 years since I signed my first […]
Everyone has a Plan until they’re Punched in the Face
The quote is from Mike Tyson, I believe, and somewhat appropriate, as I want to talk a little bit about planning. I’m traditionally quite a careful planner, but over time I’ve developed a more organic approach. I think it’s important not to get too bound up in the planning, but to get a feel for […]
