"Final Version, Dammit!"

Assembling my book -- that's literally what I'm doing to Faerylander.  I'm going through all the multiple versions and picking out the best versions of each chapter, scene, sometimes even down to paragraphs and sentences.

I can do this because I currently have -- let me check -- Jesus! -- 14 versions of the book on my computer.  Obviously, these weren't all started from scratch, but it still shows the kind of obsessive compulsiveness that drove me away from writing the last time.

The difference -- and it makes ALL the difference -- is the new technology.  Imagine if I had typed that many versions -- or even half that many versions.  Shudder.

Anyway, I should have the book assembled in this writing session. (I call the days I write between work as session).   And I hope to then read through and polish it in the next writing session.

Then -- set it aside, and come back to it in a few months for -- hopefully, and apparently I've thought this 14 times before -- the last and final version.

I dared to title this version, "Final Version, Dammit!"


All right, spent a third very intensive day trying the meld the longer versions with the shorter versions.  The first 65% slotted together pretty well.  However, the last third is a real problem.  It seems like if the longer version works, the short version doesn't and vice verse.  But there are quite definite improvements to the shorter version, so I've got to figure out a way.

I think this version will be roughly 30% longer than the last version.

I worked yet again on the problem chapter -- the important chapter introducing the themes, characters and plot.  Right now, it's my second chapter -- it has been at various times the first, the second and the third chapter.

But I think the current version is probably the best so far -- it flows and still gets the information across.

The irony of all this is that because this book was such a problem, it will probably be a better book.  That is, it has forced me to write it so many times that it has started to gain some real heft.  It's a far denser book than any of my vampire books.

That's both good and bad, I think.  I don't think there is anything wrong with a fast read.  But this book is starting to contain so much information, that I'm starting to feel it's a worthy book just because of that.

I could've stood behind the last two versions, but this one is better still, I think.  Especially if I spend more time polishing the writing now that I have a solid framework in place.

I've written 30 Cobb's Bestiary entries so far, and they've been fun, and I think they add a lot of painless information -- that is, the reader can take them or leave them.  (I'll probably have 50 entries by the end of the book, which I'll include as an extra.)

So this is becoming more and more a real book to me.  One I'll finally be happy to publish.

Failing upward.

Every so often, Bend seems to attract new businesses whose attitude seems to be that they are bringing culture to our poor benighted town.  That somehow, in the last explosive 30 years of growth, we've never seen their type of service or product.

Generally, they are from the 'Big City', you know Back East, or from San Francisco, or Seattle or even Portland.  They're going to show us local yokels how the big city folk do it.  Often they announce that they've left some high powered job and are just wanting to simplify their lives.  (Because apparently, we're simple.)

Now, I see a couple possibilities.

One is that we really haven't seen their likes before, and that what they're offering is so new and special that we'll be glad they came.

The other possibility is that they have misjudged us -- or more likely, misjudged the message.  Chances are, we already have multiple businesses offering the same thing they are, or that others have tried what they're offering and we weren't taking.

Sometimes they overshoot -- like wearing a tuxedo to a family reunion.  Or undershoot, like wearing overalls to a wedding.

So I'm told that we have some wealthy people in this town, and I guess I have to believe it.  (Why don't any of them buy comics?)  We certainly have high-end dress shops and jewelry stores and restaurants and boutique hotels -- all that.  So the clientele is probably here.

But most of these established businesses that cater to the high end start from a more humble approach.  There is a sweet spot for Bend.  You want to give off the message that you're sophisticated, but not pretentious.  (Not saying that we are, but that's what we want to hear.)

I actually don't believe these high powered newcomers mean to give off this message.  It's the result of the excitement of opening a new business -- and the zeal they have to promote themselves.

But you don't walk up to a girl and say, "Hey, you've got potential.  If you let me clothe you, I can make you pretty!"

No, what you say is, "You're a pretty girl, and I'd love to be able to clothe you."

A not so subtle difference, but one that can be lost in the promotional noise.

I believe that there are people in town who will respond to the first message -- they'll welcome the new business, feel them out, and then gently avert their eyes when the business starts to falter.  The first whiff of struggle and they're gone.

Sometimes these newcomers adjust their message, tone it down, try to fit in.  Bend is certainly willing to take their money.  Interestingly, very often someone else -- often a local -- will inherit the space, the concept, even the business, and make a go of it, starting over from a less grandiose approach.  They inherit a beautiful corpse.  Thus does downtown Bend continually fail Upward.

Can I say, "told you so!" ?

Shouldn't I be allowed to say, "told you so," once in a while?

Barnes and Noble announced a 66.7% drop in sales of the Nook e-reader.  And a 27.3 drop in digital content.

This has the whiff of death to it.  Who' s gonna buy the 'Betamax' of e-readers?

The Nook is fighting "...the dominance of tablets over dedicated e-reading devices, where B & N can barely compete..."   Which is pretty much what I thought would happen.  I thought they would be hammered by the Kindle, the market leader.  Otherwise, it is much like buying a "word-processor" when a full computer can do the same job, plus+++++++++++

There has also been "...a slowdown in the growth in popularity of e-books."  Again, something I thought would happen.  There is definitely less talk of e-readers in my store these days.  I had only my gut instinct here -- I'm a huge reader and I had zero interest in an e-reader.   I wasn't tempted and still am not in the least bit tempted.  When you run a store, you trust your gut.  If I had that little interest, I had to assume that there were others like me.

I don't think e-readers are going away.  They may get bigger.  But so will books.  What I've had to do with competitors like the mass market stores and the internet is acknowledge their power, and try to work around them.  It doesn't mean I can't win in my own way.  I think books will win in their own way.

Meanwhile B & N sales of book/books seem to be stable.  Imagine what they could have done if they weren't spending so much time, attention, money, space and resources to sabotaging their own business...

But what do I know?  B & N stock prices are up.  

Full Brain Exposure.

Well, that was intense.

Pretty much spent 12 hours on Faerylander without getting up except to go to the bathroom and make a sandwich.  It was like a giant game of concentration where I was trying to keep track of a hundred pieces of the puzzle at the same time and not drop any of them and make sure they all land in the right place and so on.  Full brain exposure.

 I'm only sorry that I ran out of time and that my brain turned into Swiss cheese and I had to stop around 10:00.

Because I'm going to have to immerse myself all over again with the next writing session.  Try to do the same thing, and get all the pieces assembled.

I expect to have a finished copy in a few days.

THEN - - I have to check it for inconsistencies, of which there will no doubt be many.  That will be another job.  And then finally, with everything in place, I can concentrate on polishing the writing again.   Making it all read smoothly.

I don't know what it means, but I really like the book right now --

Basically, I'm reconstructing it, putting all the elements back in that I took out.  I've kept some of the streamlining, but put back other chapters that I liked.  I especially like the new material -- Cobb's Atlas and Bestiary.

This book will be roughly twice as long as most of my books by the time I'm done.  Not overly long compared to most books, but a good solid chunk.

I'm liking it better already.

Here's the thing.  The book was always about ideas and concepts.  It was only later that I realized I needed a plot and characters and all that.  Heh.  I mean, not really.  I knew that.  But I let the ideas take precedence.

So I'm letting ideas become important again -- and just hoping the ideas themselves, added to the more streamlined and thought-out book -- will keep people reading despite the clunkyness.

The book is feeling realer all the time to me, which was why I was sorry I had to quit.  The more I write on it, the more the characters take shape and the plot makes sense.

So what's going to happen, I think, is that I will have TWO equally viable versions.

Let's call one -- the Director's Cut.  This is my preferred version, with all the little bits that I cut out put back in.

And the other, the Studio Cut, probably much more streamlined and perhaps more readable.  The fact that I could cut parts without hurting the story, probably means I should cut parts.

But like I said, I still like the Director's Cut most -- and I'm leaning at publishing this version.  It is a full 40% larger.  This is the World I created, so I think I'm just going to hope it flows for the average reader.  Spend enough time on rewriting to accomplish that.

By now, I'm kind of glad I didn't give up and publish any earlier version, which I could have done more than once.  But something always told me it wasn't done.  One of these days it will "click" and I'll know it's ready. 

Cobb's Atlas and Bestiary.

I decided to write a small entry at the top of each chapter of Faerylander, called "Cobb's Bestiary."  It includes concepts and places, so I changed it to "Cobb's Atlas and Bestiary."

I thought it might be a chore, but it's been unexpected fun.  I'm finding unexpected connections.  It's funny how the mind works.  Here's an example:

So I have a unrequited love story between the police officer, Sandra, who's married, and Parsons, the Kobold sidekick to Cobb, who appears to be a teenager, but who is really more of a dwarve-like creature. 

Meanwhile, I've established that Parsons is a Changeling that Cobb has saved from a horrible family situation.  So here's the entry for Changelings, followed by the one for Kobolds, followed another few chapters later by another entry for Human and Faery Hybrids:
 
-->

Changelings -

Changelings are the unfortunate result of the proclivity of Kobolds (see entry) to exchange their children for human children.  They do this to renew their gene pool because of their unfortunately high infant mortality rate.  Stopping this custom was one of the first tasks I took on when I entered Mortal Realms, and earned me the title of Protector (see entry.)  Kobold’s deposited in Mortal Realms do not generally fare well, for although most humans cannot see their true shape, Changelings are still sensed to be different and are shunned and mistreated.

Cobb’s Atlas and Bestiary.  

 

-->

Kobolds -

Kobolds are numerous in the mountains of Faery, working alongside Dwarves (see entry) (who are slightly larger and hairier) to create the vast chasms of the underworld.  They are generally a cheerful and hard working species, though they had the bad habit of exchanging their sickly babies for that of humans.  With my help, it was discovered that their high infant mortality rate was due to the mines, and that if they delivered their children in the open air, they would be healthy.

Cobb’s Atlas and Bestiary.

 Humans and Faery Hybrids -

Our two worlds have existed side by side for so long, that interactions between the two worlds have sometimes gotten complicated.  It is possible for some creatures of these two worlds to mate.  Most often the progeny are sterile.  There are a few species whose crossbreeding creates dangerous strains.   For instance Earth wolves and Vorepoles  (see entry).  Kobolds and humans are a strange exception -- since Kobold have been Changing their own infants for that of humans for so long, that a strange attraction can develop between the two species.

Cobb’s Atlas and Bestiary.

See what happened there?  It ties everything together, almost tells a little mini-story about Parsons.  I'm finding all kinds of connections between the characters and creatures.  

I love that when it happens. 

(I'm also foreshadowing the second book of the series, where the Earth wolves and Vorepole hybrids are the center of the story.  Heh.) 

Patience and cleanup.

I do seem to finally be in a cleanup mode.  That is, I'm going back and trying to finish off books that I had set aside.  I'm trying to remind myself that there is no hurry.

The older I get, the more freaked out I get about health.  So there is that pressure, but other than that, even if I finish what I've already started, I've accomplished a lot.

So my current list runs something like this:

***Re-write Faerylander again.

***Check online version of Rule of Vampire for mistakes and make necessary changes.

***Enter Martha's editing of Faerylander.  (Done.)

***Enter Lara's corrections to Blood of Good.  (Haven't received it back yet...)

***Create cover to Blood of Gold and to The Vampire Evolution Trilogy.  Put them online.   Adjust pricing.

***Finish corrections to Deviltree.  (Check against older, more expansive manuscript and see if there is anything I want to retrieve.)

***Start the process of creating cover to Led to the Slaughter.

***Begin the re-write of Reluctant Wizard.

***Initiate covers for the Reluctant Wizard and Wolflander.

***Get Wolflander edited.


If I do all these things, and get them done, I will have another six books ready for publication.

I doubt I'll be able to stay away from writing something new while I'm doing all this, but for some strange reason I'm finally willing to rewrite -- when I wasn't there for about a year.  

Not again!

Yes, another rewrite of Faerylander.

My friend Martha read the current version, and had invaluable suggestions.  But it got me thinking.  I do like this streamlined version.  I consolidated chapters, tried to make the story flow better.  But in doing so, I think I may have left out too many of the attractive elements that I wanted to do in the first place.

But, now that it has been streamlined, I'm realizing I can layer a lot of the material back in.

It will be my magnum opus.  It will be a fairly long book by the time I'm finished.  The longest book I've ever done.

This is probably what most people have in mind when they talk about writing a book.  Endless rewrites -- throwing valuable stuff out, adding things that don't work, trying different versions, and always, always trying to polish the writing.

But I've decided that -- in the end -- this book probably just doesn't work.  That nobody will probably ever read it.

Therefore, I think I kind of want to go back and do it the way I want to do it.  Have fun with it.  Just put in all the elements I liked back in. 

Why not?