Mistborn Reads

[stacer]

I'll send you specific comments when I'm through, but I just want to say that I can't put it down, regardless of how I have to read it onscreen. I'm up to chapter 6 and I'm really enjoying it so far.

[Peter Ahlstrom]

urk. Didn't check this forum for a few days. I've been feverishly lettering and retouching a manga book (with some editing as I go) this week and last. But I'm almost done so might have time to read tomorrow.

[email protected] should work fine

[Gemm: Rock & Roll Star; Born to Rock]

EUOL, my inbox was full of surprises. Not including yours though! And yes, it will stay in my computers mind, forever and completly, pending a loose invasion of the Gou`ald.

[The Holy Saint, Grand High Poobah, Master of Monkeys, Ehlers]

EUOL, why didn't you ask me on Friday? We could have just popped it onto my flash drive.

But yeah, if you still need a reader, consider me a volunteer.

[GorgonlaVacaTremendo]

This is wonderful.  Just wonderful.  I can't seem to read anything except it.  If I start reading something else, it seems dull... you have ruined all literature for me...

On another note, this angers me.  My computer which I have in my basement, you know, decently private, does not wish to read this, so I have to read it in the middle of the house.  My mom refuses to let me read for more than twenty minuites at a time...

And do you plan on keeping the words underlined when you have a character thinking, and sometimes talking?  I think that it would come across better if you used italics, not to be mean...

From now on I will e-mail you comments...

[stacer]

The underlining is just standard manuscript format. That's the way most authors submit their works. I wouldn't worry about formatting issues like that--they're kind of hard to read in manuscript form, but that stuff will work out through the publishing process.

[EUOL]

Gorgon:  I'm glad you like it!

If the underlining bothers you, just do a search and replace in MS Word for blank text 'Underlined' and replace it with blank text 'italicized' (you have to use the formatting button at the bottom to get that.)  It's standard process for writers, in text, to underline instead of italicize.  Otherwise, when the book gets typsetted, it's too easy to miss a word that needs to be italicized.  In the final copy, it will be changed.  

Also, if you want to move it to another computer, you can just try saving it as an 'RTF' on your upstairs computer, then move it via disk to the one below.  That should work.

Gemm:  I sent it to your Kaven100 account.  You didn't get it?  Is there another account I should try?

SE:  I wasn't sure if you wanted to read another one, since you just got through KINGS.  I'll send it off, though!

[Brenna]

I'd like to read the paper copy (as long as it's before August, since we'll be moving who knows where at that point).

[Gemm: Rock & Roll Star; Born to Rock]

Hmmm, still not coming. Ok, send it to [email protected] Let's see if that one works.

[EUOL]

Done.

[Gemm: Rock & Roll Star; Born to Rock]

Got it! And not to be Entropy-ish about it, but where does the character that I've inspired come in?

[Gemm: Rock & Roll Star; Born to Rock]

Opening this document was rather humorous. Right now I'm waiting for it to finish figuring out how many pages there are.

But yes, amazing. 1167 pages. 226,899 words. Indeed. You will be wrought EUOL, wrought.

[EUOL]

Heh.  Notice the little sig beneath my avatar.   I got it from an email of that title sent to me by my editor after I told him that I'd 'accidentally' written a new novel when he wasn't looking.  

As for the character...well, anticipation is part of the enjoyment, right?  You'll know the character when he shows up.

[Peter Ahlstrom]

Heh.  Notice the little sig beneath my avatar.   I got it from an email of that title sent to me by my editor after I told him that I'd 'accidentally' written a new novel when he wasn't looking.

...I would love to see both sides of that exchange. (That's not just a rhetorical remark.)

I'm 500 pages into the book and am enjoying it thoroughly. Been a bit busy though so I don't think I'll be able to blow through it. So far it's a much more fun read than Way of Kings. At this point it seems your purpose in writing this one is very different from that one.

[EUOL]

Good eye, Ookla.  I wrote MISTBORN to have a very different feel and tone from KINGS.  When I finished KINGS, I realized I'd written a book that might surprise my editor, since it was so different from ELANTRIS.  Concerned about this, I figured I would write another book more thematically similar to ELANTRIS, in case Moshe wanted to publish that one instead.

He told me to send him both, once they're edited.  I've started the rewrite of KINGS, and it's a bit of a daunting task.  We'll see how it goes, and then we'll see which of the two books he'd rather publish.

As for the email exchange, here you go:

My Email

Re: July 4th Weekend

Moshe:

Perhaps this is the place to come clean.  While I've been waiting between ELANTRIS pages and things, I...kinda wrote another book.  I know you told me to focus on short stories, but I just couldn't help myself!  Honestly.  This is kind what I do--I write books.  When I finish one (like I did with WAY OF KINGS back in November) I start working on another.  I postponed it for a while, spending my time editing KINGS, ELANTRIS, and that short story I sent you.  However, I eventually ran out of things to do, and I had this really great idea....

Anyway, It's called MISTBORN.  I was a bit worried about WAY OF KINGS, since it's such a different style of book from ELANTRIS.  KINGS is a deeply character-intensive book, and it's a bit bulky, with a lot of backstory and complex world elements.  There are a lot of war chapters, and it has six major viewpoint characters--which makes its 'learning curve' rather steep.  (I'm working on this, trying to find a way to cut one of the character or at least hold off their viewpoints until the middle of the book.)


Whenever I write a book like KINGS--a book that's intended to be a straight series (not 'episodic' sequel-wise, like ELANTRIS is) I tend to have to do more editing work with it than I do to ELANTRIS style books.  There's just so much information there, it needs to be refined and polished.

Anyway, the short of it is, I figured that we'd like to have another ELANTRIS-style book to consider as a follow-up before we got into something more like KINGS.  (I actually wouldn't be adverse to doing an ELANTRIS trilogy and a MISTBORN trilogy to get some name recognition before we launch me into a 'true' epic fantasy series.  If we did this, I could probably finish the entire WAY OF KINGS series before we put it out--which would be VERY nice.)

Anyway, MISTBORN is similar, stylistically, to ELANTRIS--it has a very interesting, clever magic system.  It has a distinctive setting, fun characters, and has a mystery/intrigue plot.  It's a very good book, and I think people will enjoy it--and I think it says the things about my writing that we want it to.

I know the contract says KINGS, but I was hoping I could send you both KINGS and MISTBORN (after I'm finished revising them this summer) and let you decide which would be the better book to publish next.  Who knows, maybe I'm worried about nothing with KINGS--maybe this IS the time to put me into a big epic series.  (Tad Williams did it after just one 'introduction' book.)  Anyway, would it be all right if I sent you both? (I mean eventually--neither is in a shape to be read by another human being right now.)


Curious,

Brandon