ecstaticI still have some work to do—the nature of my revision process means I'll be getting notes from my editorial pool for a week or so, and I want to go back and add a few things here and there throughout the text—but the heavy lifting is essentially done. The most thought-intensive part that remains is writing the acknowledgments page (which I hate doing, almost as much as I hate gargling with Spaghetti-Os). It's all commas and commentary from here to Australia...and it looks like I'll be making my "turn it in by" date, allowing me to spend the trip focusing on The Brightest Fell. Total win.
The nicest thing about final-pass editorial is that it generally happens after the book has been in someone else's hands for weeks, if not months, allowing the text to "age out" and turn alien to me. I remember writing scenes, but not sentences; I remember pages, not paragraphs. So I can rip things out with impunity, having lost all emotional attachment to the words in favor of being emotionally attached to the core point of the scene. This stage can also be dangerous, as the urge to rewrite entire chapters into something better is always there. It's the Mad Science Editorial phase.
(Appropriately enough, as I write this, my iTunes is producing a run of songs that can really only be referred to as "Seanan's greatest mad science hits." Seriously, it's played three versions of "Maybe It's Crazy" in the last half hour. Apple wants me to ignite the biosphere.)
I am done with book two of the Newsflesh trilogy. And because I've met me, I can say with certainty that while I'm busting ass on The Brightest Fell, I'll also be taking the first happy steps into the world of Blackout. It's...a little sad, actually. I only get to spend one more book with these weird, wonderful, fascinating, fucked-up people. I think I'm going to have separation anxiety when I get to the end of book three.
But I'm not there yet. Right now, I'm at the end of book two. And while the final stats are not yet ready, I believe I can say with assurance that I am now a magic murder pixie with a chainsaw.
DINO DANCE PARTY!
August 19 2010, 08:19:40 UTC 6 years ago
(Tongue firmly in cheek) I believe separation anxiety may be detrimental to your awesome ability to write multiple books in multiple series for reader enjoyment. Therefore, to spare yourself the separation anxiety, and to grant your readers maximum (legal) enjoyment of your work, maybe you should start negotiating with your Agent/Editor?
But not until you get back from Australia :-)
Thank you for Toby and her world. If I can ever find the courage, I may one day be able to read Feed - definitely not a zombie person, except when I go out for a run at 6.30am. Then I could use a chainsaw to get me out of bed :-)
August 19 2010, 15:40:20 UTC 6 years ago
I finally got convinced by the other reviews of it, and it's one of the most brilliant things I've ever read.
Don't let the zombies scare you off. Metaphorically speaking. :)