Let me ask a general question about WoJ - does he never change his mind? Writing is usually a fluid process. You can suddenly wake up with a great idea - even if it's not the way you were originally planning to go. Anything he said recently is probably what he intends to do [now], but older quotes might only show where his mind was tending then - 5 years ago, 7 years ago. Im only asking. Or is he the kind of writer who maps the whole series out beforehand and never deviates.
I
really enjoy answering questions like this one.
I started writing up a potential topic discussing this very thing, so sorry if my response to this topic is a bit long, it’s something I’ve put a lot of thought into.
This section of the WoJ compilation is my main reference for my answer to your question
Jim started the series as a class project when he was in grad school back in the Mid 90’s. Up to that point none of his novels were worth publishing, and he had been ignoring lots of good advice from his writing teacher, and that semester he decided to do everything the way she says to prove that her techniques would suck for him. The result was Storm Front. As he says, "I guess I showed her." The class was actually about how to write a successful
series, and after writing the first couple chapters of Storm Front and having the prof, deem them publishable, he went home and mapped out his idea for a series of 20 books with a 3 book capstone "Big Apocalyptic Trilogy." Apparently he still has an old notebook in his closet somewhere with the original notes from that class.
The way I understand it, that outline included approximately one sentence ideas for each of the 20 books, and (I think) a general outline of certain overarching story threads he wanted to weave into those 20 novels. My guess is that these one sentence ideas were something along the lines of book themes with maybe some of the overarching plot points weaved in. Stuff like, “werewolf fun, Vampire Ball/vampire war starts, Summer Court fun/Harry meets Mab & secures Winter Court support, Denarian intro, White court porno/Harry realizes he has a brother, Movie Monsters/Harry gains an apprentice, Necromancer Fun (breaking the 5th law)/Vamp war escalates…
Notice I put “Movie Monsters” before “Necromancer fun.” That’s because Jim originally intended them in that order, but his editor asked for something special for book seven because it was the first hard cover release, and he went with Zombie T-Rex. Jim has also said that as he has written the series there have been a few new ideas for the books that he has come up with, and he swapped them out with ones from the original ideas.
Jim has said that there are many details that have changed or been added, but that the overarching things he wanted to accomplish in the series are still right on track. These things are where things are with the White Council, and probably things like his relationship with Mab, what Harry knows about his family, Denarian books at numbers that are divisible by 5…
Things that Jim has said he did not originally plan are:
- The entire Lash plot was put in on a whim when he finished Death Masks
- Susan’s Infection, (and anything to do with Harry’s love life, he lets that come organically)
- Maggie was conceived because Jim took on a bet that he could make a sex scene plot relevant
- Characters that became important through the course of writing:
- Butters
- Freaking IVY
- Vince Graver (Jim says he wants to use this guy more)
- Zombie T-Rex was inspired something like 5 years before writing Dead Beat when he was watching a documentary on Sue and realized that she was in Chicago. She wasn’t put on display until 5 years after he wrote Storm Front.
- Switch of order between DB and PG as mentioned earlier
Between books 12 and 13 Jim had said several times that he had expected Harry to die by the midpoint of the series and that since it’s happened a little late he might end up putting out more like 22 books rather than 20, but since the release of Ghost Story, he has said that he has caught up on things and is on schedule for a 20 book series… He has also said that traveling through time is a Law of Magic so at some point Harry is going to have to break it, implying that each law has a book associated with it like Dead Beat. He has also said that he fully intends to do a
Mirror Mirror (TTW) book, which will have a BA Marcone character.
I think that covers that question. One more thing on Ivy, I think Small Favor is the book Jim refers to when he says he has replaced some ideas from his original notebook.
I have responses for the rest of your comments, but I’ll post this part up first, and follow up later.
Edit: I forgot to put in the obligitory TTW (TV Tropes Warning)
ETA: One more thing, Jim does not travel well, and his preferred medium of communication with us is text (imagine that) so sometimes questions he's asked at Q&A sessions can put him on the spot, and as such his answers might not always be quite as gosple as what is in the books. He does have several stories/answers that he has already worked out, and which tend to get repeated multiple times.
I've been to 2 Q&A sessions with him now, and the questions I asked at the 2nd were intentionally crafted to have less deep meaning, and thus easier to answer. At some point I wish to have a 1 on 1 Q&A session with him (something that has been looked upon favorably by both Jim and Prisc), but after all the work I put in on the compilation from it's inseption to about a month after the GS release, I ended up taking a long break from the community and I'm not as confident of my worthyness.
