Lois McMaster Bujold
I don't always know how every book will end, no, though I often have a sort of general target in mind. Exactly how I'll get there has to be worked out as I write, and the target sometimes shifts in the process. Inspiration comes to me in visions of scenes or exchanges or loose bits, which I capture in notes and massage around till they work right, as each scene comes up. (I almost always write stories in chronological narrative order, since every scene written changes the ambit of the possible for what follows, sometimes incrementally, sometimes by a lot.)
With Cryoburn, yes, I had the last scene, and indeed the last line, in mind well before I began the book (years before); much of the book was me finding my way to it. Yours is pretty much the reader-response I was aiming to elicit, although readers who approached the book thinking it was just going to be another Miles-plot-romp were alas self-confused by their own assumed reading protocols. A lot of my books tend to repay rereading, where the reader is at last reading what's actually in front of them, instead of looking around for some other story.
Ta, L.
I don't always know how every book will end, no, though I often have a sort of general target in mind. Exactly how I'll get there has to be worked out as I write, and the target sometimes shifts in the process. Inspiration comes to me in visions of scenes or exchanges or loose bits, which I capture in notes and massage around till they work right, as each scene comes up. (I almost always write stories in chronological narrative order, since every scene written changes the ambit of the possible for what follows, sometimes incrementally, sometimes by a lot.)
With Cryoburn, yes, I had the last scene, and indeed the last line, in mind well before I began the book (years before); much of the book was me finding my way to it. Yours is pretty much the reader-response I was aiming to elicit, although readers who approached the book thinking it was just going to be another Miles-plot-romp were alas self-confused by their own assumed reading protocols. A lot of my books tend to repay rereading, where the reader is at last reading what's actually in front of them, instead of looking around for some other story.
Ta, L.
More Answered Questions
Diana
asked
Lois McMaster Bujold:
Thanks, albeit for the bad news. (Uncle Hugo's ran out some time ago, sadly.) Not only your British fans but UK public libraries buy your Vorkosigan and later books promptly, or I'd never have come across them. Why do your publishers regard the UK print market as a disaster zone?
D
asked
Lois McMaster Bujold:
As I would love to see your books made into anime, I created the Goodreads’ list “Titles You Most Wish Would be Made Into Anime” in the hope that if it gets enough voters, it might catch the attention of a decision-maker at a streaming service/anime studio. Would you share it with your followers so they can vote for your books? https://www.goodreads.com/list/show/175478.Titles_You_Most_Wish_Would_be_Made_Into_Anime
Bob
asked
Lois McMaster Bujold:
Love Your latest series of book, world of 5 gods. Going back and reading he orld of the Five Gods and keeping up with World of the Five Gods : Penric & Desdemona. You write so well. I wish I could write as well as you. Does your editor and friends help you as you write a book or when you finish? I have written a couple of books but that is far as it goes since I keep slipping into present tense from past tense.
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