sometimes I take it out every once in a long while and poke at before putting away with a sigh.
Needless to say, this shows I've never worked on contract for this stuff.
Nope <g>. Just depends on the definition of "long while". I remember for DEATH, there was -one- editorial comment out of a host of comments that I thought would be easy to fix. But it wasn't. My editor said "Gilliam doesn't seem to be upset enough." And I thought of an emotional reaction scene -- until I hit it, at which point I was stymied. I wasn't going to write another reaction; if the first one hadn't worked, it seemed pointless.
It took almost a month of doing 'nothing' before it suddenly came to me: And out of it, one of my favourite passages in the book. I realized that there was a way to echo the loss and sorrow of the culture from the first book -- and the fact that it was unexpected, here, in the Empire, added that depth of resonance that I think my editor was looking for. It wasn't his viewpoint, of course; it was the Ladies of Breodanir -- but it's their loss, in so many ways, that informs the culture he came from. "He doesn't seem upset enough" was a short form that indicated something was missing; the what came later.
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branchandroot
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Date: 2004-08-27 08:23 am (UTC)Needless to say, this shows I've never worked on contract for this stuff.
Nope <g>. Just depends on the definition of "long while". I remember for DEATH, there was -one- editorial comment out of a host of comments that I thought would be easy to fix. But it wasn't. My editor said "Gilliam doesn't seem to be upset enough." And I thought of an emotional reaction scene -- until I hit it, at which point I was stymied. I wasn't going to write another reaction; if the first one hadn't worked, it seemed pointless.
It took almost a month of doing 'nothing' before it suddenly came to me: And out of it, one of my favourite passages in the book. I realized that there was a way to echo the loss and sorrow of the culture from the first book -- and the fact that it was unexpected, here, in the Empire, added that depth of resonance that I think my editor was looking for. It wasn't his viewpoint, of course; it was the Ladies of Breodanir -- but it's their loss, in so many ways, that informs the culture he came from. "He doesn't seem upset enough" was a short form that indicated something was missing; the what came later.
I'm -so- babbling. Stopping now <g>.