I’m significantly past the halfway point in the rough draft, and I’ve trimmed most of the flab from it, which means I feel good about what’s left. It’s a more dense book then some of the recent ones, I think just because the nature of the story demands a certain compression of events; it wants to keep moving. And I am really packing on the hope-this-works stuff. By which I mean, “I’m going to throw this in as key plot point; I sure hope by the end I know why it’s there.”
In the past, I’ve pretty regularly done that, and it’s worked out well. Sometimes I’ve had to chop things that ended up not fitting, but more often than not throwing something in just because it felt cool worked out: my subconscious would come charging in on a white horse and say, “You need that thing! Thank god it’s there!” With this book I am, quite deliberately, piling a lot of them on top of each other; not since Taltos have I been this worried about whether the stuff I’m setting up will all come out.
I’m having fun. With any luck, the reader will too.
I picked up the bloody pile and made my way down the stairs, passing through my lab, where I took the opportunity to burn it all before continuing out onto the streets of Adrilankha, where waited death and, you know, stuff like that.
It is updates like this which make me glad that I have stopped by the Dream cafe before shutting down the computer for the night.
Any word on when the ltd s/n leather bound hc editions of the Vlad Taltos books will start coming out?
:)
Steve: Last I heard, we’re still waiting for your check to arrive to fund the project. :-)
@Steve H: Wouldn’t they have to wait until all 18 books (17 Houses + Taltos) are out? Of course, that would be one huge tome. I can’t wait!!!
“I’m having fun. With any luck, the reader will too.”
Of that, I have no doubt.
Ms. Pennyworth: Jerry! Did someone tell you to post parts of the book, Jerry? Are you going to post the whole thing, Jerry? Then why would anyone buy it, Jerry?
Jerry: I thought a little tease–
Ms. Pennyworth: You are a little tease, Jerry. And right now you are almost teased all the way out the door. Do you understand, Jerry?
*enter squirrel*
Squirrel: Can I be on the cover?
Ms. Pennyworth: No, you fucking can’t be on the cover. You’re a fucking squirrel.
*exit squirrel*
yummmyyyyyyyy……..
SKZB:
If you keep making posts like this, you’re going to seriously undermine the notion I’ve had since Yendi, that you’ve had the entire Vlad series completely planned out from day one… ;)
(Alternately, the notion that you’ve been simply transcribing these tales faithfully from the little boxes Vlad speaks into…)
If you’re making comparisons to Taltos, I’m thrilled.
*enter squirrel*
Squirrel: Hold’s out drawing.
Ms. Nickelworth: Hmm, application to the Great Cycle for House of the Mókus.
Squirrel:I am not a squirrel, I am a Mókus–that’s way better than a Teckla.
*enter jhereg*
Jhereg:They’re both tasty.
*exit squirrel*
It’s posts like this that keep whetting my appetite for more of your Taltos novels. I am on edge with anticipation for Hawk. I have all my friends and family reading your books now. They are a laugh riot of emotions rolled into a ball of adventure. Can’t wait.