Friday, November 02, 2012

Writing Update: Penny Royal II


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 I need to ensure that some King’s Guard warships are seen as very powerful, while an ancient factory station is outdated and vulnerable.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:

Phil M said...

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.

Neal Asher said...

Yes, you did miss something. Look at the Tuesday post here: http://theskinner.blogspot.co.uk/2012/06/departure-to-penny-royal.html

Anonymous said...

*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?

Neal Asher said...

xwifflebottom, no, an assassin drone made in the shape of a prador parasite, which happens to resemble a glass cobra.

vaudeviewgalor raandisisraisins said...

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!!

Neal Asher said...

I will try, Vaude.

yodinator said...

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!

Neal Asher said...

yodinator, more prador than you can shake a stick at in the latest books, though running away would be a better option.

yodinator said...

Champion! I'm about to return to the pages of Zero Point, specifically page 319, with an Otago Pinot Noir at hand. Cheers :)