Joaquin asked H. Paul Honsinger:

Than you for taking the time to answer questions here. I was reading your answer to the question on the aliens and surprised that you have already planned what will come in Book VI. Could you please shed some light on the writing process? Do you have in your mind (or in paper) all the story arc and what goes into each book? Do you make changes based on how your writing develops/ readers' feedback?

H. Paul Honsinger I don't want to give the impression that I have a detailed idea of what is going to happen in Book VI, because I don't, at least in terms of the main plot. This is not the way most people who write series write, but I don't do anything like most people--I'll try to explain. The universe in which my books exist is fully developed in my mind and has been almost from the beginning. So, I know who the aliens are who transplanted the life forms that evolved into the Krag, how Max and the Vaaach know each other (btw, that flashback was cut from Book III in editing--I'm seriously considering issuing it as a self-published novella), etc. It is just a matter of when I'm going to reveal it since you don't dump all your back story on readers right away or, in fact, you never give them all of it--there must always be thing that they want to know that you haven't shown them yet.

As for the main story, I have only the most general idea what it is when I start the book and am often surprised to see it develop in a different direction. I frequently write Max into tactical jams without having any idea how he is going to get out of them. The development of the story is organic--my characters and universe are very real to me, so I sort of just set them in motion, watch what they do, and then describe it for my readers, almost as though I am watching a movie (complete with James Horner or Joel Goldsmith or Basil Poledouris soundtrack--and, yes, I know that Poledouris is dead).

I don't remember ever making a specific change to a manuscript in response to reader feedback, but I suspect that reader feedback influences my writing in a general way by giving me a sense of what people like and don't like. It's hard to ignore something like 800 customer reviews.

But specifics from reviews aren't part of what I consider when I write. Well, um, er, except that there was one very long review by one (really nasty and condescending plus navally and militarily ignorant) reader on Amazon lambasting me for being so staggeringly stupid as to not equip the Cumberland with a particular feature. I put that feature on a Krag ship in Book III and Max used it to bring about the painful death of its senior officers. I had long ago thought about that feature and decided not to use it because of the result that took place in the book--but the decision to make that result part of the story in Book III was probably triggered by that review. There is also one reader who said "stealth is life" in an Amazon review--I used that formulation in Book II (with his permission).

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