Shane Castle
asked
Lois McMaster Bujold:
Many authors write material that is ultimately cut out of the finished product, either by the author herself or by an editor. Do you have any backlogs of text that did not make it to the published work that you deem readable by your fans? Or that you regret leaving out?
Lois McMaster Bujold
I have very little in the way of scene-sized outtakes, because most of that editing happens at the rolling-outline stage, and doesn't make it past pencil-scratchings. When I was slogging through the middle of what became Diplomatic Immunity, I did write an experimental prologue from Guppy's point of view, but decided the book was thematically better served starting where it had. Which is around somewhere... ah.
http://www.dendarii.com/excerpts/prol...
Wow, that was a while back. (Spoilery if you've not read the book, btw.)
There were also iirc five chapters midway in Ivan's book that went in a different direction and ground to a dead halt, which I scrapped in favor of the final and better developments. (I was basically trying to shove Ivan into a Miles-like plot, which did not work either logically or psychologically.) That was probably my biggest post-composition cut. It's nothing I'd show or can even readily find at this point, but it wasn't altogether work wasted, as I made up a deal of material, including a first pass on Moira ghem Estif, that I recycled in various ways.
So, nothing to show and no regrets.
Ta, L.
I have very little in the way of scene-sized outtakes, because most of that editing happens at the rolling-outline stage, and doesn't make it past pencil-scratchings. When I was slogging through the middle of what became Diplomatic Immunity, I did write an experimental prologue from Guppy's point of view, but decided the book was thematically better served starting where it had. Which is around somewhere... ah.
http://www.dendarii.com/excerpts/prol...
Wow, that was a while back. (Spoilery if you've not read the book, btw.)
There were also iirc five chapters midway in Ivan's book that went in a different direction and ground to a dead halt, which I scrapped in favor of the final and better developments. (I was basically trying to shove Ivan into a Miles-like plot, which did not work either logically or psychologically.) That was probably my biggest post-composition cut. It's nothing I'd show or can even readily find at this point, but it wasn't altogether work wasted, as I made up a deal of material, including a first pass on Moira ghem Estif, that I recycled in various ways.
So, nothing to show and no regrets.
Ta, L.
More Answered Questions
Jonathan Palfrey
asked
Lois McMaster Bujold:
Reading "Masquerade in Lodi" today, for the ninth time, it occurs to me that so far you've given us only one night of Penric's residence in Lodi (I don't know how long he stayed there). Do you think you might go back there sometime, or are you done with it? It would be nice to see the characters again, if they happen to fit into some other story.
Sybal Janssen
asked
Lois McMaster Bujold:
There are four writers that I reread and reread because their use of language sparkles for me in a special way. Those four are yourself, Patrick O'Brian, Terry Pratchett, and Vladimir Nabokov. In general would you say that your sentences just flow while you are engaged with the imagination, or do you spend a lot of time reworking your sentences to strike the exact note? LOL probably a question with no answer.
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