Now that you have finished the first draft of "Against All Things Ending" - and I know you have a handful of revisions on this particular book, let alone the last one to write - how do you feel about it? Not asking for spoilers here. Has anything about it surprised you? And I know you have said something to the effect that you don't sit back and think about your books/series as you write them (my words here, can't remember yours and I'm too lazy to look it up). But you must feel something, right? I mean, only one more book - a short 4 or so years out of your life - and Covenant is over; over for good.
One other thing... do you still have the "apartment" you write in, and if so do you ever invite anyone there? Family, friends, agent, readers, etc... (not that I am looking for an invite if you still have the place!).
Oh, and thanks for answering all of our questions, mine in particular!
In the very short time that I spent between finishing the first draft and starting the second, I had two reactions, neither exactly typical. The first was that I spent 2-3 weeks wondering where I had misplaced my millstone. Even though I was already rewriting, I felt like Sisyphus on an inconceivable holiday. The second was/is mind-numbing terror. "Against All Things Ending" was by a considerable margin the most difficult writing I've ever done--and "The Last Dark" will be FAR MORE difficult. In retrospect, I feel like I've spent the past 25+ years trying desperately *not* to arrive where I am now.
Fortunately rewriting AATE turns out to be an extraordinary challenge. Thanks to that distraction, I don't have to start actual gibbering about TLD yet.
I do still have an extremely private apartment/studio where I work. It's something of a "sacred" space: no one else ever comes in here, expect people doing repairs--and I try to do as many of those as I possibly can myself.
(04/27/2009)
(Bold face added)
I don't know about you, but I am insanely excited about AATE now (more so than before). I wonder what it is about the Last Chronicles (particularly the last two books) that makes it difficult writing. I'm theorizing that it has something to do with time travel (since time travel is hard to write well anyway), but what does he intend to do with it?
'Tis dream to think that Reason can
Govern the reasoning creature, man.
- Herman Melville
I am Lazarus, come from the dead,
Come back to tell you all, I shall tell you all!
"All creation is a huge, ornate, imaginary, and unintended fiction; if it could be deciphered it would yield a single shocking word."
-John Crowley
I assumed it was the emotional nature of the work. If its really something as mundane as internal consistency (what with the time travel et al), that's going to be disappointing.
"You make me think Hell is run like a corporation."
"It's the other way around, but yes."
Obaki, Too Much Information
I'm with Rigel: the emotion...also, the complexity of the ideas [first understanding them, then solving them, then making them meaningful/moving fiction].
[spoiler]Sig-man, Libtard, Stupid piece of shit. change your text color to brown. Mr. Reliable, bullshit-slinging liarFucker-user.[/spoiler] the difference between evidence and sources: whether they come from the horse's mouth or a horse's ass. "Most people are other people. Their thoughts are someone else's opinions, their lives a mimicry, their passions a quotation." the hyperbole is a beauty...for we are then allowed to say a little more than the truth...and language is more efficient when it goes beyond reality than when it stops short of it.
Fair enough, but I'm of the opinion that if the story or its mechinics do not suffice, the emotion will be lost (I remember The Giver, a lot of good ideas and concepts, but what I remember most was how mad I was at the ending, kinda like with King's Dark Tower).
'Tis dream to think that Reason can
Govern the reasoning creature, man.
- Herman Melville
I am Lazarus, come from the dead,
Come back to tell you all, I shall tell you all!
"All creation is a huge, ornate, imaginary, and unintended fiction; if it could be deciphered it would yield a single shocking word."
-John Crowley
Orlion wrote:Fair enough, but I'm of the opinion that if the story or its mechinics do not suffice, the emotion will be lost (I remember The Giver, a lot of good ideas and concepts, but what I remember most was how mad I was at the ending, kinda like with King's Dark Tower).
hah...I'm with you here, I hated the King cop-out, too...but I'm guessing from a number of GI responses that SRD already has a handle on the time-travel thing and its implications...and I have a general impression that these aren't the kinds of things that give him grief.
[spoiler]Sig-man, Libtard, Stupid piece of shit. change your text color to brown. Mr. Reliable, bullshit-slinging liarFucker-user.[/spoiler] the difference between evidence and sources: whether they come from the horse's mouth or a horse's ass. "Most people are other people. Their thoughts are someone else's opinions, their lives a mimicry, their passions a quotation." the hyperbole is a beauty...for we are then allowed to say a little more than the truth...and language is more efficient when it goes beyond reality than when it stops short of it.
I don't think we will see anymore time traveling. It was necessary as a plot tool before, but it would serve no real purpose from this point foward. I predict that everything will proceed according to a "normal" timeline.
"Who enters here, do not lose hope / Who leaves; do not rejoice / Who has not been, shall be here yet / Who has been here, shall never forget" Anonymous / discovered scratched into the wall of a cell in the KGB's Lefortovo Prison in Moscow/originally quoted in the book "Alexander Dolguns Story" (by A.Dolgun),describing the ordeals of an American citizen falsely imprisoned by the Soviet Union from 1948 to 1957.
I definately agree with you,Spoon, I am sick of time travel being used to develop plot twists,especially T V shows. I know it is kinda cool for SRD to use it to get the Stall of law, and also to let us "see" Berek and such, but now I hope that we can continue the adventure in Linden(and Covenants) real time
You can judge the true character of a person on how they treat those who can do nothing for them
-Sensei Moe,Sensei Larry,Sensei Curly...
Shemp was NOT a wannabe, Joe Besser was the Poser
I guess the very end of the series will let us travel back in time again - or will let the end be the beginning or something circular like that.
Against all things ending ... The only thing against all things ending is all things beginning. First last and always ... the last will be first and the first last ... the land is dead, long lives the land ... ARRGGH MY HEAD EXPLODES
Time travel with still be used.
It's what the whole last chronicles are about.
What's going to be awesome and powerful is the Fathers and Sons aspect of the books.
The potential emotional depth there is staggering.
Orlion wrote:Here's an interesting addition to the GI:
John: Steve,
Now that you have finished the first draft of "Against All Things Ending" - and I know you have a handful of revisions on this particular book, let alone the last one to write - how do you feel about it? Not asking for spoilers here. Has anything about it surprised you? And I know you have said something to the effect that you don't sit back and think about your books/series as you write them (my words here, can't remember yours and I'm too lazy to look it up). But you must feel something, right? I mean, only one more book - a short 4 or so years out of your life - and Covenant is over; over for good.
One other thing... do you still have the "apartment" you write in, and if so do you ever invite anyone there? Family, friends, agent, readers, etc... (not that I am looking for an invite if you still have the place!).
Oh, and thanks for answering all of our questions, mine in particular!
In the very short time that I spent between finishing the first draft and starting the second, I had two reactions, neither exactly typical. The first was that I spent 2-3 weeks wondering where I had misplaced my millstone. Even though I was already rewriting, I felt like Sisyphus on an inconceivable holiday. The second was/is mind-numbing terror. "Against All Things Ending" was by a considerable margin the most difficult writing I've ever done--and "The Last Dark" will be FAR MORE difficult. In retrospect, I feel like I've spent the past 25+ years trying desperately *not* to arrive where I am now.
Fortunately rewriting AATE turns out to be an extraordinary challenge. Thanks to that distraction, I don't have to start actual gibbering about TLD yet.
I do still have an extremely private apartment/studio where I work. It's something of a "sacred" space: no one else ever comes in here, expect people doing repairs--and I try to do as many of those as I possibly can myself.
(04/27/2009)
(Bold face added)
I don't know about you, but I am insanely excited about AATE now (more so than before). I wonder what it is about the Last Chronicles (particularly the last two books) that makes it difficult writing. I'm theorizing that it has something to do with time travel (since time travel is hard to write well anyway), but what does he intend to do with it?
Argh, that's made me dread this book even more than I already was. If he feels writing them is a millstone, no wonder I'm not enjoying them.
sorry to digress from topic here but i MUST address these comments!!
Vraith wrote:
Orlion wrote:Fair enough, but I'm of the opinion that if the story or its mechinics do not suffice, the emotion will be lost (I remember The Giver, a lot of good ideas and concepts, but what I remember most was how mad I was at the ending, kinda like with King's Dark Tower).
hah...I'm with you here, I hated the King cop-out, too...
if you thought the ending of TDT was a "cop-out" that means (to me) that you didn't see it coming a mile away. if you didn't see it coming, i allege that you didn't pick up on the many many clues throughout the series that just such an ending was the only possible way it COULD end.
what exactly did you think was gonna be on the top floor of that tower?
okay, back to regularly scheduled discusson.
you're more advanced than a cockroach,
have you ever tried explaining yourself
to one of them?
~ alan bates, the mothman prophecies
i've had this with actors before, on the set,
where they get upset about the [size of my]
trailer, and i'm always like...take my trailer,
cause... i'm from Kentucky
and that's not what we brag about.
~ george clooney, inside the actor's studio
a straight edge for legends at
the fold - searching for our
lost cities of gold. burnt tar,
gravel pits. sixteen gears switch.
Haphazard Lucy strolls by.
~ dennis r wood ~
High Lord Tolkien wrote:Time travel with still be used.
It's what the whole last chronicles are about.
What's going to be awesome and powerful is the Fathers and Sons aspect of the books.
The potential emotional depth there is staggering.
I agree AND disagree. I don't think time travel will be seen again; because there's just no need for it. I also don't think the Last Chrons are about time travel. I think the Last Chrons are primarily about LA's emotional growth & journey. I do think the "family member vs. family member" aspect WILL be a major factor (TC vs. Roger, TC vs. LA ?, LA vs. Jeremiah?) However exactly it plays out, I'm sure the human factors will be just as important to the story as LF's plotting & machinations.
"Who enters here, do not lose hope / Who leaves; do not rejoice / Who has not been, shall be here yet / Who has been here, shall never forget" Anonymous / discovered scratched into the wall of a cell in the KGB's Lefortovo Prison in Moscow/originally quoted in the book "Alexander Dolguns Story" (by A.Dolgun),describing the ordeals of an American citizen falsely imprisoned by the Soviet Union from 1948 to 1957.
There was a time in my life when I fancied myself an artist. Drawing, painting, water color you name it, and to some extent I was good. If I could pinpoint my one fatal flaw as an artist, I would have to say that it was my tendency to over work, I didnt know when to quit, and many of my projects ended up in the trash because I had gone too far. This is Donaldsons master work, and Im sure as he is coming to its end that he is terrified that he will do something to cheapen it, so for me its perfectly understandable why he is having difficulties. He unlike me is a master and will find a way to resolve all issues, without resorting to using the circular file.
lucimay wrote:sorry to digress from topic here but i MUST address these comments!!
if you thought the ending of TDT was a "cop-out" that means (to me) that you didn't see it coming a mile away. if you didn't see it coming, i allege that you didn't pick up on the many many clues throughout the series that just such an ending was the only possible way it COULD end.
what exactly did you think was gonna be on the top floor of that tower?
I thought it was a "cop out" of monumental proportions. King hinted throughout the DT series that Roland may not be the one to reach the Tower, he made many references to repairing the structure of his world, etc. NONE of that was really addressed.
What DID happen IMO is that he just wanted to get the series OVER WITH after his accident. The first four books were stellar (the fourth the best IMO) and the last three were crap. He just finally ran out of gas and decided to flush the toilet on us readers and get out of Dodge.
I hope that SRD learns from King's epic failure and makes us proud.
"This is the grace that has been given to you - to bear what must be borne."
Gaahh!! I haven't read that series yet, please no spoilers!!!
I think more time travel would be annoying. Foul and Linden and TC leap-frogging around the epochs of the Land, trying to outsmart each other... too byzantine, and really I doubt SRD's focus will be to up the plot ante. His hands will be full just tying it all together and resolving.
I believe it will be very emotional, and THOOLAH members will be thoroughly disgusted. At the same time I hope it does not get too bogged down in interior conversations. Somewhere in the Chrons I recall it takes several pages for TC to go from one room to another. The whole time is his thought process. That tried even my patience, I who hardly feel a book under 700 pages is worth my while!
Be kind, for everyone you meet is fighting a great battle. -Philo of Alexandria
ahhhh... if only all our creativity in wickedness could be fixed by "Corrupt a Wish." - Linna Heartlistener
I believe it will be very emotional, and THOOLAH members will be thoroughly disgusted. Good! I sincerely hope so! I think THOOLAH sucks! They are the feeble-minded, treasonous "Raver-Servants-of-Despite" of our "Land" in here at The Watch. Sorry folks, I hate to be a s***=disturber, but that's the way I feel about it.
"Who enters here, do not lose hope / Who leaves; do not rejoice / Who has not been, shall be here yet / Who has been here, shall never forget" Anonymous / discovered scratched into the wall of a cell in the KGB's Lefortovo Prison in Moscow/originally quoted in the book "Alexander Dolguns Story" (by A.Dolgun),describing the ordeals of an American citizen falsely imprisoned by the Soviet Union from 1948 to 1957.
spoonchicken wrote:I believe it will be very emotional, and THOOLAH members will be thoroughly disgusted. Good! I sincerely hope so! I think THOOLAH sucks! They are the feeble-minded, treasonous "Raver-Servants-of-Despite" of our "Land" in here at The Watch. Sorry folks, I hate to be a s***=disturber, but that's the way I feel about it.
I can tell by your THOOLAHophobia that you have issues. Your intolerance will not be tolerated. Repent, or else High Lord Tolkien will pay you a little visit.
