Last chance
I’m currently going through the copy-edits of the sequel to THE MIRRORED HEAVENS. Turns out the editor(s) had a problem with the Remixed Ending I wrote up in the last stage of the edits. They like virtually all of it, but there’s just. One. Thing. They. Aren’t. Sure. About.
So now I have to decide whether or not I agree with them. This is always the weirdest part of the process—years in the planning, months in the writing, and now whatever I choose, I’m stuck with. My desk is littered with manuscript pages; my cat has been banished from the study because of his fascination with them, as well as with that Awesome Blue Pencil I’m using to mark up the text. He doesn’t give a fuck what I decide to do with the text, just as long as he gets the chicken/turkey combo that keeps appearing in his bowl like magic. Maybe he’s got the right perspective.
Tags: burning skies, manuscript, Mirrored Heavens, text
December 4th, 2008 at 11:19 am
I seem to remember a talented British writer of our mutual acquaintance saying that he only recently figured out the right ending for his first book.
It’ll be OK, man. Just finish the sucker.
December 4th, 2008 at 12:24 pm
Uh oh! The first official reference to The Cat. It’s a real SF site now.
December 4th, 2008 at 2:42 pm
doesn’t the cat have a name?
December 4th, 2008 at 3:57 pm
Will you let us name your cat? How about “Pennywise”, or simply “The Thing”?
December 4th, 2008 at 4:06 pm
Oh, that’s a toughie, made all the harder because ONLY YOU CAN DECIDE! But that’s the beauty of being an author – you have absolute power.
You can reject their suggestion and maintain the purity of your work in the knowledge that while it will make your life harder in the short term while they furrow their brows and tactfully suggest that you are a damned fool, in the end you kept your story-telling true. And if it puts the skids under this or future deals then, you know, you’re an artist and thems the breaks.
Or be pragmatic and decide that when you’re counting the royalties in a few months you won’t care about that minor plot point. Or major plot point. Or the fact that it changed the whole damned thing and now it’s not even your book anymore……!
No, I know I’m not helping but I do feel your pain. As an as-yet unpublished writer I have no idea what I would do in your place. If it’s that important stick to your guns. If it’s minor let it ride and finish the thing.
Best of luck and let us know what you decided!
December 4th, 2008 at 4:33 pm
calling the cat ‘the cat’ is like me calling the baby ‘the baby’ all the time when said baby actually has a name, which incidentally is ‘cat’.
December 4th, 2008 at 9:02 pm
How about renaming The Cat to Evil Hell-Beast with Fur? A picture can’t be far behind.
http://www.lolcats.com/
December 5th, 2008 at 1:56 am
Ah, the sequel is coming
As I can’t provide any helpful advice what to do, all I can say is ‘good luck’ making the decision. It is not en enviable position since once you have let the thing go, it’s gone and affects how possible sequels form.
December 5th, 2008 at 12:50 pm
@ Joni, congratulations, according to my blog dashboard you’ve just made post #666.
@World of Higlet: if it were a purity of work vs. selling out dichotomy, it would be easy. .but there’s the very good chance that their advice really *is* the right decision. We shall see. . .
@ everybody else, the Cat says aaaaaaaaack.
December 5th, 2008 at 1:52 pm
at least the cat won’t hack up any hair balls.
December 8th, 2008 at 3:12 am
That’s my number
December 8th, 2008 at 7:58 am
hahahahaha that was funny as hell. I can’t open a box in the house without Logan, my cat making himself a home in it to see how nice it feels. At the moment his new home is under the xmass tree. As for the ending of your 2nd book, it’s going to be interesting as hell to see what you have come with, as we left the story where the world is one giant shit pile. I’m still pissed that my boy was killed. One of the things I loved most about the M.H. was that everybody was a wise ass, It kept me laughing while turning the next page. It sure would be great to see some of the high tech armor suits on the big screen.
John
December 8th, 2008 at 11:43 am
@ John: yanno, it still amazes me how many of the reviewers totally missed my attempt at humor. . . they thought some of those lines were intended to be taken 100% SERIOUS. #$# aargh!
stay tuned for even better lines in book two. . . .
December 9th, 2008 at 11:47 am
[…] all the uproar over my cat last week, I’m only just now getting to the long-awaited report by Congress on weapons of […]