The Last Dark: first draft done

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Seareach
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The Last Dark: first draft done

Post by Seareach »

From SRD.com
THE LAST DARK (what I call Covenant 10: Book Four of "The Last Chronicles of Thomas Covenant") now exists. In other words, I've finished the first draft. It is 1176 pages in manuscript. At this stage, AGAINST ALL THINGS ENDING was 1181, so the difference is trivial.

As usual, we are still a long way from publication. I have at least a year of rewriting to do before I can hope to approximate a final version; and my publishers can't get started doing their part until then. But (alas) I may need more time than that. THE LAST DARK has been an extremely difficult book to write (at times it felt actively impossible), and I wrote it under extremely difficult circumstances. As a result, this first draft contains more authorial errors and miscalculations than my first drafts usually do. As a result, the challenges of rewriting will be especially complex. Look for further progress reports at my usual intervals.

12/5/11

:D
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Post by aliantha »

:nanaparty:

"At my regular intervals"? What does *that* mean? :lol:
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Post by sindatur »

aliantha wrote::nanaparty:

"At my regular intervals"? What does *that* mean? :lol:
Hehe, probably means, "When I get to a certain point, and get around to updating you" :D

Cool, things are moving along.
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Post by Savor Dam »

Thank you for bringing this to our attention, Sea...and thanks to you and Romeo for helping SRD identify and destroy those "authorial errors and miscalculations..."

Not sure what is meant by the reference to writing under difficult circumstances, but whatever has been amiss in SRD's life hopefully is getting better.
Last edited by Savor Dam on Mon Dec 05, 2011 11:12 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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Post by wayfriend »

Wow. The day is coming.

Also interesting is that news of the first draft usually comes out about February. (Second: June.) So it's a bit early even.

I hope he spends as long as he needs to get it right, and isn't rushed by the publisher. I can wait until 2016 if I have to.
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Post by Orlion »

wayfriend wrote:Wow. The day is coming.

Also interesting is that news of the first draft usually comes out about February. (Second: June.) So it's a bit early even.

I hope he spends as long as he needs to get it right, and isn't rushed by the publisher. I can wait until 2016 if I have to.
Yep, it's early :7up:

Now that it's on paper, I agree with way.... well, to an extent, any way ;)
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Post by Savor Dam »

Well, let's bear in mind that WF was not at Elohimfest this summer, but is one of the organizers of the off-year Fest next fall in his region.

While I agree that SRD needs to be given time to get TLD right -- as someone who has made a mantra of "Trust SRD", I can scarcely start emulating GRRM detractors, nu? -- I certainly do not want to have to wait until 2017 (assuming a fall 2016 TLD release) or some unnamed future year to be reunited with all the Watchers I met in Albuquerque this past June!

My friends...I misses them!
and since Sea did not come to Elohimfest, I am looking forward to meeting her...as well as all of the other non-US Watchers that don't come to lesser Fests. Meeting (and chaurffeuring) Loremaster and Johnnyredleader was surely one of the lesser highlights of June.
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Post by Avatar »

I don't mind waiting a couple extra years. :lol: You know it's going to be brutal. :D

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Post by danlo »

If we can survive 2012 we can survive anything! 8) 8) 8)
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Post by MsMary »

My daughter has said she's not reading Against All Things Ending until The Last Dark is out.
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Post by Avatar »

Yeah, the GF isn't reading any of the last chrons until it's out. She's still annoyed that I didn't tell her about them when she started LFB, otherwise she wouldn't have. :D

(I sorta might have implied that WGW was the last book...)

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Post by MsMary »

Oh, Foamy didn't go that far.

She has read the first two books. :P
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Post by lucimay »

thanks Seabuglet for letting us know.

thank the man for us and tell him we'll all be here when it's finished.

and

/hugs
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Post by Avatar »

MsMary wrote:Oh, Foamy didn't go that far.
Ha, Mel won't start a series until I have every book. Sometimes I think she has a point. But I've written elsewhere about the connection to a series that comes from waiting and re-reading.

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Post by MsMary »

I can see that. It's been really frustrating waiting for the next book of some series. *laugh*
"The Cheat is GROUNDED! We had that lightswitch installed for you so you could turn the lights on and off, not so you could throw lightswitch raves!"
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- Is all right special Time Lord code for really not all right at all?

- You're all irresponsible fools!
- The Doctor: But we're very experienced irresponsible fools.



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Post by Avatar »

But it wouldn't mean as much to you if you could just sit down and read the whole series straight through and be done with it.

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Post by Orlion »

Avatar wrote:But it wouldn't mean as much to you if you could just sit down and read the whole series straight through and be done with it.

--A
Agreed. There's something magical about reading a series as it's being written... the speculation is funner and can amount to more than just "well, why don't you read the next book and find out?"

Which might be a reason why I like Esslemont as much as Erikson... I came in on Malazan just when Erikson was finishing his part of the series. It was good, but I didn't have much time to speculate on what was going on... with Esslemont's side, however? You better believe there's time!

And what's good about Donaldson and Esslemont (and Erikson)? They release books regularly. The speculation doesn't turn sour. And seriously, if it's possible for the Last Dark to come out in 2013, Donaldson will make it happen. If it comes out later, that's just how it had to be.
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Post by MsMary »

Orlion wrote:
Avatar wrote:But it wouldn't mean as much to you if you could just sit down and read the whole series straight through and be done with it.

--A
Agreed. There's something magical about reading a series as it's being written... the speculation is funner and can amount to more than just "well, why don't you read the next book and find out?"
Agreed! :)
"The Cheat is GROUNDED! We had that lightswitch installed for you so you could turn the lights on and off, not so you could throw lightswitch raves!"
***************************************
- I'm always all right.
- Is all right special Time Lord code for really not all right at all?

- You're all irresponsible fools!
- The Doctor: But we're very experienced irresponsible fools.



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Post by Shaun das Schaf »

Avatar wrote:But it wouldn't mean as much to you if you could just sit down and read the whole series straight through and be done with it.

--A
This makes me think of binge-eating, how the eater doesn't really taste things, that it's more a rushed, unconscious and addictive consumption.

And it certainly reminds me of how I read the Last Chronicles!
I didn't actually find out about their existence until September this year 8O :oops: and as I was on annual leave at the time, I ate all three available morsels at an indigestion-inducing speed.

I'm wondering if I hadn't had all three boxes of chocolates on the table in front of me, if I had known I was going to have to wait a few years for the next box, whether I would have slowed down and savoured things more?
I think the answer to that is no. :lol:

Also wondering whether I'm inclined to binge-read fantasy more than I would stand-alone novels or non-fiction.
I think the answer to that is yes.

What about you guys and girls? Any binge-readers here and do you binge-read certain book foods or all of them? Or are you a disciplined, small-savoured bites consumer? (You strange, weird thing you ;))
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Post by Ananda »

Is there going to be a new book? I wonder what it is going to be about?
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