|
Post by Maliris on Apr 19, 2007 6:33:15 GMT -5
Awwwww! >_< Every since I was able to copy/paste your name in Japanese katakana on amazon.co.jp, I´ve drooled at these editions. And one day... one day, I shall have it.
Spoilers for Alaizabel Cray, well sort of:
It only says "senseless and brutal murder" on some graveyard or other. So, another addition to the long list of unsolved crimes and mysteries. Jedriah´s death has not been solved, either but I think there are some parts that should not be explained. The book´d lose its creepy atmosphere. It´d be just like, well, switching on the lights while someone´s telling a ghot-story.
|
|
|
Post by Chris Wooding on Apr 19, 2007 14:26:32 GMT -5
Yeah, I like leaving some things unexplained. I mean, sometimes things just aren't connected. If you connect everything it'd be like nobody exists except the wych-hunters and the Fraternity and a couple of policemen. 'Aha, I am Curien Blake and actually I killed your mother and father, no wait, I AM your mother and father!!! And Cathaline is you, but female! And Stitch-face is your pet dog!' Although the real person who killed Jedriah was my editor. He was one of the main characters in the original draft and my editor suggested (with a shotgun in my mouth) that I get rid of him as he was overshadowing Thaniel. Cue enormous rewrite and much gnashing of the teeth and snapping of the pencils.
|
|
|
Post by Seregwen on Apr 20, 2007 14:35:16 GMT -5
And Stitch-face is your pet dog!' I just have this great image of someone setting Stitch-face the dog on a girl scout or an avon salesperson now...
|
|
|
Post by zemira on Apr 20, 2007 18:30:40 GMT -5
Aha! Cathaline's past is revealed! No wonder she wears pants! She's only Cathaline after being splashed with cold water!
|
|
|
Post by shyviolet on Apr 21, 2007 3:05:21 GMT -5
my editor suggested (with a shotgun in my mouth) Do you always have the same editor or many different ones? And are they always that... persuasive, or do you only mention the mean ones? Out of interest, since my ambition is to be an illustrator, do you pick the illustrators for your books, or does someone else pick them and you approve them, or do you get no say in it at all?
|
|
|
Post by Chris Wooding on Apr 21, 2007 3:41:59 GMT -5
I have an ed. for my Scholastic books and one for my Gollancz books, but since I've been at it 10 years now sometimes the editors leave the company, change around etc. I had a different ed for Storm Thief but my original one now is back for Malice. But yes, generally you always have the same one.
And I was joking about the Alaizabel thing. Editors can never make you do anything you don't want. She just persuaded me that the book worked better without Jedriah as a lead character, and in the end I thought she was right so I did the changes.
As to illustrators, someone else picks and I approve.
|
|
|
Post by shyviolet on Apr 21, 2007 7:29:08 GMT -5
I guessed you were joking about the threats, but so many authors complain about fierce editors I just had to ask if it was true. (Then again, some authors I wonder if they had a massively timid editor or if they were just too pig-headed to listen to them.) Sorry for all the weird questions, but I have one more that's been bugging me: The Mechanists in BSky, do they have a certain sort of spirit-stones that they recruit by like the Pilots, or are they just any clever person who likes science?
|
|
|
Post by Chris Wooding on Apr 21, 2007 11:43:40 GMT -5
I don't think it was ever made clear, but yeah, the Machinists have stones, since they're from the Dominions and everyone in the Dominions has stones (with few exceptions like a certain main character with a bad temper...). However, there isn't a special 'Machinist stone,' rather a series of different stones that allow them to do different jobs: some allow them to make incredible mental calculations and store info, some allow them to manipulate metal (like those with blacksmith stones) and so on. They recruit according to how many stones the person has, what they specifically need at the time, etc.
As to the editors, I think I mentioned elsewhere but once an author gets to a certain level of power (Lvl 20 and above...) then the editor only really gets as much influence as the author is willing to give them. But after you've spent a year or so working on a project it's impossible to be objective about it. You can't see it clearly, so you need to send it to someone who can, and see what they think. And yes, as you say, some authors-who-shall-remain-nameless are way too in love with their own work to imagine that it might actually be possible to improve it...
|
|
|
Post by Omnicat on Apr 21, 2007 17:52:28 GMT -5
You made my day! No, make that week. Finished the Braided Path trilogy today, and I must say the third book rocked all the way through. ;D IIRC the more European names were 'old' names harking back from Quraal which was (although you never got to see it) a Germanic-style theocracy. The peeps in Saramyr fled, first to Okhamba and later to Saramyr. Saramyrrhic names (more Japanese) like Kaiku and Reki evolved later as the language changed, but they still use the old names too. It's like how in England we still use names like John and Alfred, like, 1500 years later or something like that... but I'm pretty sure in the dark ages nobody was called Krystal or Sharntel. I think it's explained briefly in Bk3 somewhere. Yesh, found it! Chapter 25. Glad to know that was intentional. It always bothers me when names in fantasy universes are literally plucked from thin air and make no sense whatsoever in relation to their setting. Wait for the next one By that do you mean the next part (pt 3) of the Braided Path trilogy, or the next book to be published? *roots for the latter* Ah, editors... I guess I'll have to learn to curb my more neurotic tendencies even more tightly then. Note to self; get it right the first time around, so they don't need to touch your babies! If you don't mind, I have another couple of questions. Are you really as concerned with the environment as the Braided Path suggests? Or did you use that theme because something that close to home creeps people out even more effectively than the weavers' demented evil and the disgusting abberants combined? And what made you write about women like that? I mean, you're a man, and in the Braided Path you effectively described my sentiments about men; many of them only think with their muscles and their balls, and have no subtlety or finesse whatsoever. (Not to say many real life women are any better, they just have different flaws.) Even female writers I've read don't write such wonderful female characters as you do. You are an anomaly among fantasy writers - male and female - if I ever saw one!
|
|
|
Post by Omnicat on Apr 21, 2007 17:54:10 GMT -5
Oh, and one more thing: have you ever been to an Elf Fantasy Fair? I'm going there tomorrow, and I'm quite curious who the guest authors, actors and illustrators are. ;D
|
|
Tama
Full Member
Posts: 173
|
Post by Tama on Apr 22, 2007 11:53:07 GMT -5
Is it possible to get the Braided Path triology in the UK?
I've never seen them, but that might be because I live in Devon, and Devon sucks.
|
|
|
Post by nicholai441 on Apr 24, 2007 15:48:17 GMT -5
I go start to finish, like most authors I guess. Some will plan out their books and then write the chapters out of order (like Tolkien did). I've never known anyone write back to front but I wouldn't be surprised... I think RL stine (Goosebumps writter) did that. i think that's what i remember he said in an interviewer or something. Well, I change them around a lot after they're written, but I'm not sure I understand what you mean by prewrite in this case. I plan it, write the first draft, change stuff as I go, then go back, second draft, change more stuff, repeat until machine-gun rampage ensues. my term of pre-write a chapter = skip to a chapter further in the story and write that one out before the chapter(s) previous to it. IE: writting chapter 12 before writting 10 or 11. or writting out a chapter with key information, or events. yet don't know where exactly to put it. i have a tendency of doing that, just so i can get the good exciting parts(battles, key moments, etc.) done first, while their still fresh in my head. although, as i implied, the story ends up going a diffrent route then what i had written for that part. thank you. I just remembered something... something small but just incase (doubtfulthat it be nessesary) My first novel type story i'm writting to the end (just to share with my friends and see if i have what it take to be a writer), has alot of "ideas" from many of my interest (IE: Xenogears/Xenosaga, Gundam-the mechs in my story-, even Brokensky). it's mostly the settings and some events, and environments (that are similar to a near). and so event though i don't plan to get this story published (although it has crossed my mind). if the chance ever did, or for future chances (if any), would it be alright to use some(ofcourse not all), ideas from your stories? say certain events, or settings(again, similar to a near). just thought i'd ask so if not then i'll know. also, Joshua Braff (older brother to the famed Zach Braff) married a woman who liked the way he wrote (he even proposed to her in a story) (as far as i know he only has one book published). i was wondering if you had a similar situation? thank you again.
|
|
valca
Full Member
Layer 18
Posts: 203
|
Post by valca on Apr 24, 2007 17:05:51 GMT -5
Rhyme or reason?
|
|
|
Post by bluephoenix on Apr 25, 2007 11:17:57 GMT -5
I'm naming my next dog Stitch face...just wanted to throw that out there. XD Also, all this talking from Chris Wooding is making me happy.
|
|
|
Post by Chris Wooding on Apr 25, 2007 11:43:18 GMT -5
I mean The Fade. After which I swear I'm gonna lay off female leads for a while, I've done 'em enough lately. Malice is a boy/girl co-lead rather like BSky. Yeah. The rape-of-the-earth thing that's been going on since the Industrial Revolution is really beginning to get on my nerves nowadays. Um... STOP IT, WORLD!!! Why thank you. It must be due to my deep and fundamental understanding of the female psyche. *contemplates current state of singleness* Maybe it's just luck ;D Nope... Cons aren't really my thing, it's difficult to maintain my louche air of disaffection and detachment when dressed up like Link... Yes, it's in the shops, so it must be Devon's fault Um, no it's not. You can do what you like with fanfic or whatever but the minute you try to get something published (ie make money from it) then it becomes plagiarism and you face the Hell Of Being Hung Upside Down With Your Head In A Bucket Of A Thousand Hungry Lawyers. Sure, similar ideas occur to different people and there's no denying that influence plays a part in what you write, but you can't just lift someone else's idea wholesale and use it in a story you intend to publish. Think of some of your own! Nope. Besides, I expect she liked other things about him too... They're not mutually exclusive so I'll take both, thanks! *snaffles* Cool! Just don't let any Animal Protection people hear you calling for it. They might ask awkward questions...
|
|