Laurie R. King

I had some questions about the seder songs I talked about last week.  My son-in-law’s sister tells me she took them from here and here, so now you’re all set for next year, right?

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This week I sent the first draft of the next book to my editor.  The Green Man is nothing near finished, but my editor is one of those old-fashioned editors who likes to work on a book alongside the author, and I am one of those old-fashioned writers who appreciates all the help she can get.  So I give her my early drafts, even though reading at this stage is a bit like trying to drive on a stretch of freeway that has the bulldozer work done and patches of base rock, but no bridges across the chasms or overpasses to connect the parts: the going is rough, but you can at least see where it’s leading.

And that for me is a necessary part of the writing process.  The book is bad and incomplete and frustrating and, well, not a book, really.  But now, particularly with this enforced break of five weeks while I’m first catching up on life, then flying off on tour, I have a chance to let the story bubble away on the back burner.

I’m already noticing things about it that I hadn’t planned—other than its inadequacies, that is.  For example, although I had from the beginning intended it to link closely with The Language of Bees (many of the characters continue into The Green Man) I am only beginning to realize how it is true on a deeper level, how the themes and interests I wove into Language of Bees are central to this book as well—family ties and the ancient gods of Britain being but two.

When I return to the manuscript in May, and read it with fresh eyes, those themes are what I will be looking to improve.  Along with the plot, of course: crime fiction rather requires a plot that makes sense.  And when The Green Man comes out in 2010 and you see how the arcs of the two stories tie together, you’ll think I’m a liar.  You’ll think I knew from the beginning precisely what I was doing.