Screening and Comment Threads

[merlinscribe]

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Comments

[merlinscribe]

Thank you so much for commenting. (I was very disappointed by SW3 as well.) I'm not sure whether or not I've already answered this, but here goes:

"[W]ho does most of the actual writing of the books in the Obsidian world?" -- Partly it depends on the book, of course. In the first trilogy, Ms. Lackey outlined the story and contributed large blocks of scenes, which I incorporated (since they weren't entirely in sequence, so I had to get from where I was to where she was). She then reviewed the finished draft at the same time Tor did, after which I incorporated her tweaks and Tor Editorial's notes into the final draft. Generally speaking, regardless of who does what, I do the final draft of the book.

"How much say do you as the author have in the formatting of the book itself? Did you have any say in any of the cover art? Are you satisfied with the way the cover art portrays your characters? What changes, if any, would you make?" -- Any author (except perhaps for dear Mr. Stephen King) has absolutely zero say about the design of the finished work: font, formatting, size, cover art, and cover artist, are all in the publisher's hands, not ours.

The question of whether I'm satisfied with the art is a complicated one. The covers don't accurately depict any of the characters or situations in the books, but they *do* give an overall impression of the tone of the books, and also make it clear to reviewers and distributors that this book (whichever book it is at the time) is a very big deal in Tor's opinion, which should be taken seriously by bookstores, libraries, and review media.

So in terms of the covers being good for sales, which means I get to write further installments in the series, I am satisfied. In terms of the covers actually looking like what's going on in the book, not so much. I'm not sure what I'd do differently were I given the chance. Other than wish somebody would make these books into a nice long miniseries.