Friday, May 4, 2012

Mmmmm Violence...

Glory be, glory be, it's done. Finished. Done and dusted. Over. Practically. Almost.

The edits are all done. I have the weekend to go over KOTW one more time and then we send it to the copyeditor. The copyeditor basically makes sure I haven't made any huge mistakes, and corrects all the little ones before it's too late. She'll tweak and suggest and cut and replace, and then she'll send the manuscript back to me and I'll make my final adjustments, and that'll be it. Boom. Over.

Right now, the book clocks in at 134,729 words. Considering that Death Bringer was marginally over 118,000 words, that's quite a substantial increase. Golly gee, it's gonna be a big book! We're going to have to reduce the font size again to cram as many words onto the page as possible, but our font size is typically big anyway, so at least we have room to play with.

This is the first book where I've had serious discussions with my editor about the level of violence. (Well, I say serious... he was TRYING to be serious and I was making jokes, but you know...)

It's a weird thing, to write a series, because the readers get older as the books are released. Valkyrie gets older, the situations she finds herself in become more grown-up, and the themes get darker and darker as the end approaches. What all this means is that occasionally I fall into the trap of assuming that the Skulduggery readership is able to handle whatever I throw at them. And for the most part, they are.

But there will ALWAYS be new readers. There will ALWAYS be a nine year old who picks up the books for the first time and reads them in a few weeks. And it's unfair to expect that nine year old to be able to deal with content that is more suited to teenagers and adults. So where does that leave me?

In a weird place, that's where. On one hand, I've NEVER viewed this series as strictly children's books, and that view just keeps getting stronger and stronger as Valkyrie gets older. But on the other hand, I have a responsibility to the younger readers to not give them anything they can't handle.

And all of this makes me ever-so-thankful that we have such a thing as editors. I wrote this book in two and a half months of sheer WORK. There was no time to doubt myself and no time for second guesses. Whatever I put down on the page stayed on the page. When you have a more relaxed timetable you can afford to wonder about what you've just written but when the deadline is rushing towards you like a screaming train you just WRITE. With that in mind, I'm not surprised at all that I went too far in some areas. And it was so much FUN.

The battle still isn't over, by the way. Nick, my editor, still thinks I could be a little less bloodthirsty, while I think I'm just bloodthirsty enough. Some serious things happen in this book, and I reckon I needed to be as brutal and uncompromising as possible in order to achieve what I needed to achieve. But we have another week or so of him trying to be serious and me making jokes before I have to make the final decision.

And now a picture!


4,870 comments:

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Izz said...

Of course Nix. Any more movies?

Izz said...

Also if any Sherlock fans are on Tumblr they have to follow A Guide To Deduction. It's the law.

Unapplicable. said...

I have Tumblr... is that just the URL?

Nixion Strange said...

Lord of the Rings (never seen by moi, but apparently it's good)

Nixion Strange said...

Happy Feet

Unapplicable. said...

Following.
Oh it's brilliant. Wonderful.
I wish I had the wits to pull of Sherlock.

Unapplicable. said...

*off.

Izz said...

*sigh*
I've scene half the first one all of the second and third ones. AND read the books (which were fabulous).

Izz said...

Happy Feet I've seen.

Following? I'll look it up.

Nixion Strange said...

Rise of the Planet of the Apes

Eve the ROCK said...

Lord of the Rings!

Izz said...

*face palm*
I'm idiot. Don't look at me.

Izz said...

the girl (hannah) is insane on Sherlock. She has friends running other Guide To blogs.

Nixion Strange said...

Men in Black, Madagascar 1, Ice Age (especially 1)

Nixion Strange said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Eve the ROCK said...

Hachi!

That was sad.... :(

Don't Be Afraid Of The Dark! Wasn't particularly horrific, but I liked it.

Eve the ROCK said...

Hanna!

Nixion Strange said...

Spirited Away

Eve the ROCK said...

Groundhog Day!

Nixion Strange said...

Coraline

Izz said...

*shakes head*
I refuse to watch sad movies. Red Dog was a stretch and I was forced to watch Titanic and I absolutely refuse to watch any more sad movies!!

Eve the ROCK said...

Hanna was really good.

Unapplicable. said...

That's actually so admirable.
Do you have a Tumblr, Izz?

Izz said...

Slow down a sec...
Hanna
Spirited Away
Groundhog day
Haven't seen those...

Nixion Strange said...

Rango (it's very good)

Izz said...

Yeah but I never post. I mostly follow. I don't have time to post.

Nixion Strange said...

The Grinch

Izz said...

Seen Rango.
Nix you have to watch the Dollars Trilogy. Westerns made by Italians. Better than Americans.

Dancing Fire (Directioner!!!!!) said...

Hi guys!

Unapplicable. said...

That new movie coming out by Tim Burton - Dark Shadows, I think it's called.

Unapplicable. said...

Hey Fire!

Eve the ROCK said...

"Debrah, Why is everyone in my apartment?"

"They're all here for the bridal shower."

"Why would there be a bridal shower...?"

"Maybe because you're getting...

"MARRIED!!!"

*jumps up and down*

Izz said...

*write down The Grinch*

Considering seeing that Cal.

*waves at Fire*

Nixion Strange said...

The SpongeBob SquarePants Movie

Unapplicable. said...

^ Yes.

Izz said...

What is that from Eve?

Eve the ROCK said...

Yeah, that looks funny

Nixion Strange said...

The Simpsons Movie

Eve the ROCK said...

Everybody Loves Raymond. It's a TV show, you know of it?

Nixion Strange said...

The Nightmare Before Christmas (never seen it, but apparently it's good)

Nixion Strange said...

Sherk (1, obviously)

Nixion Strange said...

E.T (shrugs)

Izz said...

I don't know about Spongebob...
Seen the simpsons movie.

Heard of it Eve. Don't watched it though.
Maybe Nix.

Izz said...

OK everyone try to think of a movie you've seen that you think absolutely no one else on here has seen and we'll see how many people have seen it!

Please?

Dancing Fire (Directioner!!!!!) said...

Hmm, I can't get to the next page. It's soooooo annoying! I don't even know what anyone is talking about!
*bangs fist on the table*

Nixion Strange said...

dinner
Bye!

Izz said...

Poor Fire.

Izz said...

*waves at Nix*

Unapplicable. said...

The Uninvited.

Unapplicable. said...

Bye Nix!

Eve the ROCK said...

Bye Nix!

Hachi! Has anyone seen Hachi? Don't think so.

Unapplicable. said...

Nope.

Izz said...

Just found this on Tumblr:
"dark humour isn’t everybody’s cup of liquidized dead baby"

Sounds familiar... is it a scary movie?

Izz said...

The Uninvited I mean.

Friends are like potatoes. If you eat them, they die.

Unapplicable. said...

The Uninvited? Yeah.
... Can I have your Tumblr, Izz?

Izz said...

How do I find out what my Tumblr is...
gimme a sec, I'll figure it out.

Unapplicable. said...

Your URL.

Unapplicable. said...

Is Eve still alive?
*pokes*

Eve the ROCK said...

*is dead*

Izz said...

Found it!
http://izzfizzy.tumblr.com/

At least I think that's it...

Unapplicable. said...

*pokes warily*

Followed, Izz! :)

Izz said...

Sweet. Following you Cal.
I gotta go now. My parents do their best to stop me becoming a computer nut.

Auf wiedersehen alle!!

Nixion Strange said...

Facinating stuff going on here

Eve the ROCK said...

Bye Izz!

Nixion Strange said...

Bye Izz

Eve the ROCK said...

Niiiiiiiix. Bzzzzzzzzz. *throws an oven at Nix*

Unapplicable. said...

Bye Izz!

What, Nix?

Izz said...

*shakes head at fact that i'm leaving right before the blog break*

I'm such a moron.

Izz said...

Orange Peel!

Ok now I'm gone.

Zathract Mist said...

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