Penny Royal II is now past 122,000 words and I’m slowing
down a little as I enter the home straight. This is because I have had to go
back to alter and add or delete plot elements, even in the previous book, to
ensure things lock together. For example, I found it necessary to go back to
the start of this book and have a particular entity, with a soft and changing
body, undergoing radical surgery to install a ceramal skeleton. Other
alterations required are about emphasis. I need to ensure that some King’s
Guard warships are seen as very powerful, while an ancient factory station is
outdated and vulnerable. I also need to concentrate on the internal life of a
particular war drone so the reader understands its motivations.
All this is pretty much a tidying up exercise. When you
write fast to produce a massive uproarious story some things fall by the
wayside – you drop the ball and have to go back and pick it up. You forget
things, like I forgot that a particular prador controlled a number of skeletal
Golem, and I also forgot that a Penny Royal Golem is along for the ride. I need
to elaborate on how a renegade prador reproduces (incidentally there’s more in
this about prador biology and society: prador females, mating,
fourth-children). And thinking about the next book, I might have to add
something about a black hole and something called ‘the black hole paradox’.
Righto, back to work.
9 comments:
Did I miss something? Have you more or less finished Penny Royal I?
So this one should be published in 2015?
Hope I last that long! Ha Ha
Shouldn't joke about things like that.
Yes, you did miss something. Look at the Tuesday post here: http://theskinner.blogspot.co.uk/2012/06/departure-to-penny-royal.html
*brain rumbling with hunger at thought of Penny Royal books*
Neal, the trouble with having read your books is that I'm not finding a lot of joy in other science fiction writers.
I'm currently munching through the Culture books and while I think Iain M Banks is a good writer, I often find myself skipping large parts due to 'long-windedness'. That said, I loved his first two Culture books and couldn't put them down.
Also, I know the plot is a secret but I'm thinking perhaps the 'particular war drone' you're talking about may be Sniper before he went to Spatterjay?
xwifflebottom, no, an assassin drone made in the shape of a prador parasite, which happens to resemble a glass cobra.
just make sure the ending is incredible. Banks & Stephenson have rushed endings that have me throwing a perfectly good book, turned turd, at the drumkit in my room. keraaaaash!!
I will try, Vaude.
By far and away my two favourite alien species are the Primes from Peter F. Hamilton's Commonwealth Saga, and the Prador. Bravo Mr Asher, more Prador I say, more!
yodinator, more prador than you can shake a stick at in the latest books, though running away would be a better option.
Champion! I'm about to return to the pages of Zero Point, specifically page 319, with an Otago Pinot Noir at hand. Cheers :)
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