Anyway, got the (insert 2006 description) for Pale Immortal today. They are due back in a week.
Repeated words. That's probably the thing I deal with the most when a ms reaches this stage. I've already spotted a repeat on the very first page! Of course when it was in ms form those words were on different pages, but still....
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Ok, so I have a question. Might be a dumb one and if so I apologize. Do you get every page back in this format to look over or is it like pages here and there, etc? Thanks for sharing. I've actually never seen a ms in this stage before! Very cool, or at least to someone who doesn't have to go through it with a fine toothed comb!
It's gotta feel good to be in the final stretch. Annoying repeated words aside, in a week you'll have it off your desk! Congrats!
tami: Yes, we get every page. This isn't a very accurate photo because i placed the cover page over another page. it's on regular typing paper, with two pages on the front of each sheet.
angie: yep. once this is mailed in, that's it. and actually this part is kind of fun because it reads differently even though it's just a different format. it always give me a much better sense of the finished book.
Thanks for the feedback Anne! Congrats on being in the final stages. It must feel great!
On a completely different topic, do you keep a journal for ideas that pop into your head? I'm a very new writer and I find I come up with ideas at the worst possible time (i.e. in the car, falling asleep.) I tried keeping a journal with me at all times, but it seems like I never need it when I have it and vice versa. I posted on my blog today about this exact problem. It happened to me just last night, great idea right before I fell asleep and then as soon as I woke up POOF, it was gone. Just wanted to know what you do to solve this problem (if you even have it.) Thanks in advance for letting me pick your brain! You're awesome! (By the way, i'm going to be a fan right here...I LOVED Play Dead. It was the first book I had read of yours...just came upon it on a table at B&N one day. What a find! Thanks for letting me get that out.)
tami, thanks for letting me know about play dead! i'm so glad you liked it!! i think it's my favorite of the four books that are out. if i can say that about my own books. ;)
i TRY to keep paper everywhere. I usually buy several small tablets and keep one by the bed, one in the living room, and one in my purse -- which i hardly ever carry, but it's there. and then i also write on random scraps of paper. right now my kitchen table is covered with pieces of paper. i used to throw them all in a box, but now i hook them together with a clipboard.
i also try to make myself turn on the light and write down everything i think of at night. sometimes i'm too lazy and think i will remember -- i never do! most of the middle of the night stuff is crap, but sometimes it actually makes sense. :D
so cool.
This is so neat! Is this what your arcs look like too? Or do not all pubs give out arcs? Still learning here... ;D
kelly, it really depends on the publisher and where they've put you in their list. the ARCs for Hush looked exactly like the finished paperback other than having not for sale printed on them. the following ones have been about the size of a trade paperback, with a plain cover. covers are usually pink! huh? baby blue, or cream.
Cool! Except for a thriller arc with a pink or blue temp cover. lol! ;D No, but those colors might have to do with printing. Printing colors are cyan, magenta, and yellow and they may just be easier to use for arcs. Would be interesting to find out. I've seen a lot of arcs those colors.
Ahhh. A beautiful sight.
I hope you don't forget to just pet the pages once in a while, Anne. :)
okay, i'm about 1/4 of the way through the first read.
two things:
I'm currently working on a sequel to this book, and it's amazing how much more I know about these people now than I did way back at the beginning of PI.
for those of you who know what i went through with editors -- PI does have a fractured feel to it, as if it can't decide what it wants to be. but I don't think it's glaring.
I've also come upon a few artifacts left over from the horrible, horrible freelance editor's edit, things I didn't get removed and thought maybe were okay. Or at the time thought he might be right. Just a few lines here and there that hopefully won't be as jarring to readers as they are to me.
if a word is removed, i have to try to replace it with a word of the same length in order to avoid the whole page or even the entire chapter having to be reset. anything small, as long as it's not a typo, is better off being ignored.
i have been trying to figure out how to replace an entire sentence. not having much luck, and doing so could also set up more problems.
I wonder if typesetters hate authors...
hi, jason!
we were posting at the same time. :)
pet it...or kick it.
this poor book.
i feel the concept was probably better than the execution. too many cooks. that's my take on it, but i still feel the book will be a really fun read.
emeraldcite: i wonder that too. and i also wonder what is considered a normal amount of editing and correcting at this stage. am i requesting a lot, or a little? i have no idea.
Hi, just popped over from PI and thought I would put in my .02 worth. I think it's great that you share so many aspects of the writing journey with us unpubs. I've read about other authors reading proofs, galleys or whatever you call it, but I never knew exactly what they were talking about before. And I never thought about the colors of ARC's - I have two shades of pink and one that's red. Odd.
And I have notes all over my desk. Little scraps of paper filled with paragraphs, sentences, fragments of words.
Looks good, Anne. Good luck with the final edit. :)
eve -- thanks! i almost didn't post or mention the galleys because i thought everybody would know what they were and would think it boring. unpublished writers are so savvy!
paper scraps -- i find notes everywhere. things i don't even remember writing! :O
jeff -- thanks!!
I knew what they were, I had just never seen one - its kind of hard to picture from just a description.
If someone had never read you before, which book would you recommend?
if you like traditional police procedurals, i would say hush. but i've gotten the idea you like spooky stuff. if that's the case, you might prefer play dead.
some people really liked before i wake. it's my daughter's favorite, but some people hated it. it's much more internal than the others. and not only internal, it's told from the perspective of more than one unreliable narrator. that's what some readers seemed to dislike.
i like spooky stuff and i really liked play dead.
How exciting! I'm on to my new book which is a thriller- new territory for me.
Neat!
Thanks for sharing that... I'd never seen galleys/proofs or whatever they're called before.
One week? Ouch.
emeraldcite -- thanks! i saw the play dead review. big, big thanks!! :)
Jude -- good luck with the new direction!
prnewland -- ouch is right. one week really cuts it close. two weeks is about the norm for proofs. and it looks like i'm getting a damn root canal tomorrow. :( wah!!!
but i've gone through the proofs once already so i think i'll be okay.
WTG, anne. It just gets more and more real, doesn't it? :)
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