AMA Questions that might actually be answered (Gathering topic)

[vultur]

When the intended last book of the Wheel of Time series got split into 3, there were some pacing issues resulting from that.

Admittedly, in that case a different author had also taken over, but I believe the pacing stuff was specifically because of the split.

[magical_liopleurodon]

I doubt it's burnout. It's probably a timing issue. If the decision to split the book was probably made fairly late in the process, that could have messed up the editing in a lot of ways.

The book doesn't feel like "burnout" to me, but that's totally IMO. It just feels less-professionally/less-well edited.

I agree with this as well

[Mira]

When the intended last book of the Wheel of Time series got split into 3, there were some pacing issues resulting from that.

Admittedly, in that case a different author had also taken over, but I believe the pacing stuff was specifically because of the split.

Yeah, but he had six years to write the book, even if he took a couple of years off as a break from Dresden..   Where is the planning?

[TheCuriousFan]

AMA seems to be up.

EDIT: Never mind, penguin made the thread an hour in advance by the looks of it.

EDIT2: NOW it's going.

[Dina]

As I can't watch it, I expect a full report later (said in Police Captain tone  )

[vultur]

Yeah, but he had six years to write the book, even if he took a couple of years off as a break from Dresden..   Where is the planning?

I don't think the editing side had more time than usual... possibly less time in some ways depending on when the decision to split the book was made.

That's why I made the Wheel of Time comparison. Lots of time, tons of editing and continuity effort since those books were ultra-high-profile... and we still got weird pacing things like two characters' perspective on the same event being in two different books 500 pages apart, which kind of messed up the impact of the second one.

The thing is that the issues in PT look to me like editing issues not writing ones. Repetition, continuity issues, Harry not thinking of things he really should have... these are likely things that ought to be caught in editing passes.

[ClintACK]

I don't think the editing side had more time than usual... possibly less time in some ways depending on when the decision to split the book was made.

This is a good point. Especially with all the Covid craziness -- I'd assume editors can easily work from home, but I don't know what that does to productivity.

[Dina]

I agree, Vultur. I am wondering what to expect for BG.

[vultur]

I agree, Vultur. I am wondering what to expect for BG.

I would expect it to be more "complete" because PT started a lot of threads/asked a lot of questions left for BG to finish, but the editing may still be less good than usual. It might be better than in PT though depending on how the timelines worked out (when was the decision to split made? If it was late in the game, a lot of PT editing might have been done in a huge rush).