Planning ahead further and further and further…

I was surprised to read recently that JK Rowling was lambasted for having “the gall” to write the final chapter of the final HP book even before the first one was published. I ask you, what the hell is wrong with that?

I think it shows common sense to plan that far. I’ve been on a few writers’ sites who talk about going with the flow and writing with no real end in sight (it’s natural plotting, apparently) and then a few months later they complain that they’ve written themselves into a dead end and need a couple of months to re-plot the book. With multiple characters and subplots squirming out of my imagination, I thought it always handy to plan ahead and know what kind of story you’re aiming for.

Indeed, even while I write the follow-up to The Secret War, I have every chapter mapped out for the third book, The Fortress of Black Glass . In fact, the rough plans for this and The Burning Sands of Time were mapped out long before Macmillan entered my life and snapped up the rights to The Secret War. Is it arrogance that guided me to write all these notes down, believing that one day I would be published? If any critic asked me that (honestly believing it themselves) I think I would just smile sweetly and tell them they obviously have never written simply for their own enjoyment.

You see, what motivates me to plan far ahead is the whole fun idea of “world building”. We’re not just talking fantasy books here, like writing reams and reams of notes on “The Shire” or “Majipoor”, but the everyday “world” my characters live in. By building this world and letting my characters truly live, the idea of planning their exploits for as far as I can see, is appealing. In the short term it feels as though you’ve achieved something with your days (indeed, you’ve mapped out the story of one book and possibly more), but in the long term you avoid those horrid revelations where you have written yourself into a rather big and deep hole where daylight seems oh so far away.
Of course planning doesn’t always mean you navigate the obstacles with all the panache of a rally driver. Sometimes you get a little stuck even with planning, but all it takes is a few minor amendments to a couple of pages and you’re away again.

Yes PLANNING PAYS, PEOPLE!

So in the spirit of all this planning, I’ve started planning the launch-do for The Secret War in January. The launch takes place in good ol’ Sheffield after the book is published on January 5th 2007. And I think I’m going down the whole “big do” track with about 200 people attending. After all, you only get published for the first time once, so why not make a big fuss about it? Yep, it’ll cost me a few pennies, yep it will mean more planning, and yep it will mean being a bit insufferable over Christmas as I count down the days to publishing day, (my wife Sarah, bless her, will no doubt rein me in when I need it the most) - but bugger it, I’ve been waiting for most my life to get this far (and that’s “waiting” not “planning” by the way – hell if I’d been planning this, I would have been published years ago and currently living in a nice house in the Peak District) - and if I can’t shout about it, what’s the point in celebrating such an event?

So once again, and altogether…

PLANNING PAYS!!

(Note to self: I guess I’ll also need to “plan” that Friday off work too, as I envisage an extremely unpleasant hangover the morning after the launch-do).



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