{"id":239,"date":"2008-08-26T14:14:23","date_gmt":"2008-08-26T22:14:23","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/aidanmoher.com\/blog\/?p=239"},"modified":"2008-08-26T14:14:23","modified_gmt":"2008-08-26T22:14:23","slug":"an-aside-scalzi-pulls-back-the-curtain","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/aidanmoher.com\/blog\/2008\/08\/news\/an-aside-scalzi-pulls-back-the-curtain\/","title":{"rendered":"An Aside | Scalzi Pulls Back the Curtain"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"OldIn a particularily candid move, John Scalzi, the author of Old Man’s War<\/strong> (REVIEW<\/a>), The Ghost Brigades<\/strong> (REVIEW<\/a>) and The Last Colony<\/strong>, pulled back the curtain a bit and is giving fans a look at some of the things that just weren’t good enough to make it into The Last Colony<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

From the Subterranean Press<\/strong> web site<\/a>:<\/p>\n

\n

This particular excised chapter comes from an iteration of The Last Colony that I didn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t write (or more accurately, didn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t complete): the second iteration, in which I had planned to write the books in alternating chapters of first person and third person, the first person chapters featuring John Perry, the hero of Old Man\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s War, and the third person chapter featuring other characters, particularly General Tarsem Gau, the leader of the Conclave. Eventually, I abandoned the idea for two reasons: it rapidly became clear it would be a structural nightmare, and also because if I wrote it this way, the book would end up in the 180,000 word range \u00e2\u20ac\u201d i.e., I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122d have written enough for two books, and would only be paid for one. Bad writer, no cookie.<\/p>\n

…<\/p>\n

And as it turns out, I mined it again for part of Zoe\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s Tale. You\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ll have to wait to see which part and how, but the fact that I could (and did) goes to show that nothing has to be wasted. This excised chapter itself will never see the light of day as part of a larger story, but little bits and pieces can be moved around and used and recycled. Waste not, want not.<\/p>\n

…<\/p>\n

The lesson here for writing is that even your \u00e2\u20ac\u0153failures\u00e2\u20ac\u009d \u00e2\u20ac\u201d the stuff that doesn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t work for your book, for whatever reason \u00e2\u20ac\u201d can still have value to you as you\u00e2\u20ac\u2122re wrestling with your work. This is one reason way, whenever I chop out a significant chunk of text from a book I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122m writing, I don\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t simply delete it: I cut it and paste it into an \u00e2\u20ac\u0153excisions\u00e2\u20ac\u009d document that I keep handy. That way I can go back to that material for reference, or to drop a line or an idea into the final version, perhaps in a completely different context, but where it will do some real good. This is what I do, and it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s worked for me so far.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

The whole article can be found HERE<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Having just finished The Last Colony<\/strong>, it’s certainly interesting to get a peek at some of the process that goes into writing, and editing it. Look for a review of The Last Colony<\/strong> soon.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

In a particularily candid move, John Scalzi, the author of Old Man’s War (REVIEW), The Ghost Brigades (REVIEW) and The Last Colony, pulled back the curtain a bit and is giving fans a look at some of the things that just weren’t good enough to make it into The Last Colony. From the Subterranean Press… Read more »<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":40,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"spay_email":"","footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":""},"categories":[39],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-239","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-news"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"yoast_head":"\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n