Hurrah! I just finished the last chapter in Of Noble Family, book 5 in The Glamourist Histories. Those of you reading along, can go check out chapter 36. At 143,000 words it is the longest of the books and stupidly long at that.
I say, stupidly because I was about two-thirds through when I realized that my original ending would not work. Not in a bajillion years. I stopped, rejiggered the outline and kept going, making notes about what I was going to need to restructure earlier. This means that I have some early plot threads that have absolutely no function in the novel and need to go back to yank them out. When I’m finished, the novel will still be longer than the other Glamourist Histories, but not this ginormous.
For comparison Shades of Milk and Honey is 75,000.
But– but, I like the general shape of the book and the changes that I need to make aren’t onerous. Once I do that, I send it off to Joanne Hillhouse, a novelist in Antigua, who is going to rewrite the dialect for me. This is a trick I’ve used with other books where I’m not a native speaker. In Without a Summer, Paul Cornell rewrote dialogue in London and in Glamour in Glass, Aliette de Bodard rewrote the French dialogue. In each case, I really think of it as translation. I write the intent of the lines and the attitude of the speaker, and then get someone who is a native speaker to make it not sound stupid or insulting.
Because of that, I will be looking for readers on one other pass of this. If you think you might be interested, you can register to be notified when I’m ready for readers. I will also add that I am particularly looking for readers of colour on this one. While it’s always important to have a wide range of eyes, this novel is set in Antigua and I am fully aware that I’m writing outside my experience area. Research only gets you so far.
So– Want to read the next draft?
You’re looking for a different batch of people, right?
If you want to read just to see the changes, that would be fine, but I would ask that you not make any comments because your reactions will be skewed.
I can shut up, but geez, not even for you and Jane and Vincent am I gonna register for another web site. I just can’t. Maybe the NSA will do it for me.
Perhaps a stupid question — do you still want comments on what you have posted so far (winter has been horrid, I’m quite a bit behind), or should I instead sign up for next pass? 🙂
Actually, yes. I make changes as I go, and I’m fairly certain that some of the newer revisions haven’t been commented upon.
Awesome, I’ll get started on that then!
At a later date will we get a juicy tidbit on what the original ending was going to be? (I still haven’t brought myself to read. Gah, endings! And series endings! 🙁 )