Hi,

I can't speak for all authors and for the most part can't speak for Jim!  I say "for the most part" because I've had the good fortune to attend two conventions where Jim was guest of honor and he did address this briefly.

The second time I met Jim was in April of 2013.  He had the outline done for Skin Game and was about to start writing it, telling us that the deadline for the first couple of chapters (which would be previewed in the next-released paperback) was fast approaching.  He didn't sound terribly bothered by this.

If you've read Jim's blog then you know that he outlines meticulously.  The outline is still fluid...he can go in and make changes as he goes.  I got the impression that while he hasn't written all of the books he does know precisely where the story is going.

As to the long wait for Skin Game (or any of the other books, incidentally) the first time I met Jim (2008) someone practically screamed at him "You take too long to write books!"  He was gracious and polite and very specifically explained to her that the publisher, most notably the marketing side of the organization, determines when each book will be released based on sales.  Put simply they won't release a book if they fear it will cut into sales of the previous one.  It sounded like he had very little say in the wait for books...that was exclusively a marketing decision.

I don't know if this holds true for other authors (I don't even know if it still holds true for Jim though I suspect it does) but book release dates seem to be more a business decision than anything else.  As for how far ahead a writer gets on their writing I think that really comes down to personal preference.

Fire Arms? Wait did I miss this?

Not Fire Arms...Fire Alarms!  The hotel was doing a lot of construction, and the dust set off the fire alarms three times on Saturday night/Sunday morning!  Two of the three times we were all herded out onto the sidewalk!  I won't say too much in case he wants to talk about it, but Jim had been up and got less sleep than the rest of us.  One of the vendors made up buttons, and did some saying "I survived the Polaris 23 Inferno...3 Times".  I got one and gave one to Jim (as well as one for Shannon...she wasn't with him when I gave him the buttons).

I don't do a lot of cons.  I did an early Toronto Trek (before they changed the name to Polaris) twenty-something years ago, and then didn't do another until Polaris when I saw Jim would be there.  The reasons I haven't done many are partly money-related (until not too long ago I really couldn't afford all the time off work...that's since changed) and partly not having anyone to go with.  I work an afternoon shift on a fixed schedule, making socializing difficult (my "weekend" is Wednesday/Thursday).  On top of that, all the people I'd go to cons with have since moved out of the area, and regularly going on my own just isn't as much fun.

I've known about Ad Astra for years, and always intended to go at some point.  Robert Sawyer announced that he'd be there so I checked out the website.  Seeing that Jim would be there was the clincher for me!  Rob is an acquaintance/becoming a friend in large part because he's local.  He lives in Mississauga and I live in Kitchener.  He has a lot of friends here and is down regularly...he's spoken of moving to the area!  I say "becoming a friend" simply due to not seeing him that often.  If he's in town and sees me anywhere he does make a point of coming up to say hi...we also talk online fairly regularly.  Anyway, I have him to thank for the heads up about the con, and enough lead time to book the time off!

I'm sure I'll see you there...I'll look out for you in costume!

Now I just need to work out the public transit routes to Markham...

I'm really excited that Jim is coming back to Canada.  I met him at Polaris in 2008 and absolutely loved it!

Jim, if you're reading this, here's to hoping there's no fire alarms this time!

Point of Interest #1:  They are on an announcement list for a FANTASY AUTHOR.  Does fiction make light of honesty, too?  I mean, do we have conclusive evidence that polka will never die?  Doesn't that diminish the realm of physics, which teaches us that our sun will die in 5 billion years and swallow up Mercury, Venus, and Earth, and likely polka with them?

Well, technically Polka has already been broadcast, and the radio waves should carry on through space forever...

You know, if Jim actually wrote some short stories in the series, I'd actually read it.  I think that could be a real laugh!

I got the feeling it was how Zion celebrated everything.

One could almost imagine people going about their day to day life, having conversations starting with "You going to the orgy tonight?"

I also got the feeling that they really encouraged breeding, so....

I've said this before in this forum, and probably will again...

The sad truth about fanfic writers is, like so many other things, it only takes one to ruin it.  Anne McCaffrey initially allowed Pern fanfics, until (as I recall the story) something that was written in one of her novels had been portrayed in a fanfic.  Rather than accepting that she'd simply had the same idea, the fanfic author claimed McCaffrey had copied her and looked into legal action.  In the end, McCaffrey had no choice but to officially demand that no fanfics be done based on her work.

Here's one of the dangers.  If you can write even a halfway decent story and decide to do one based on someone else's work, there's going to be some overlap.  Often times an author foreshadows things well enough that it's easy enough to come up with at least some of what they're going to do!  If people thought "cool, I figured out what they were going to write" then no harm, no foul.  The problem is people who decide they've been robbed and start harassing the author.

I remember a case of a Harry Potter fanfic writer who rewrote the first book from Hermione's POV.  Same story, same characters, different POV.  At the top of the story, that was posted on her website, she listed that she held the copywrite on all characters and the story!  Warner Brothers, who'd just paid a fortune for some of those rights, was somewhat perturbed.

The bottom line is this.  Writing fanfics isn't bad per se.  The problems occur based on what you do with the fanfics, especially in the Internet age.  Sadly, enough fanfic authors have caused the original authors problems (and cost them money) that they have to respond.

Even George Lucas, who has no problem with Star Wars fanfics, has had to stand up at least once.  About a year ago we had a discussion here about "Star Wars: Another Hope".

At MileHi he read about an hour worth from the beginning of Turn Coat off his laptop.   Worth the entire trip just for that part!

Jim was supposed to do a reading in Toronto, but asked us if we'd prefer a Q & A session instead.  He said that he felt a little wierd reading his own work!

He also said that if he starts to read, he'll wind up doing voices and (according to him) it gets a little creepy.

So, any voices?  I have to know as his saying that got a lot of us really curious!