Bestselling author Peter V. Brett participates in another Reddit AMA
Over at his REDDIT AMA, Peter V. Brett answered questions about writing, publishing, THE DEMON CYCLE, and his new book THE GREAT BAZAAR & BRAYAN’S GOLD.
Mr. Brett, How hard is it switching from radical viewpoints mid-story? The more European traditional story line interrupted by mid-Eastern value influenced characters and vise-versa adds interesting depth as a reader. I find myself not wanting to wait to get back to the Warded Man and crew, but then I don’t want to leave the Shar’Dama Ka’s entourage. How do you lay out the timelines and mesh them together to create the books? Thank you for the AMA and the wonderful world.
I plot out each viewpoint storyline in advance before I start writing, giving each a (usually) three-act story arc, using dates on the Thesan calendar to keep the timeline straight. Then I move the chapters around to weave the stories together more or less chronologically, tying deeper flashback chapters in to events in the “present”.
Once I have the full outline of the book complete, I then write the prose chapters in in proper order. This usually results in writing every character’s act 1, then every character’s act 2, then the climax which usually brings many of them together.
I also have a detailed series wiki, and a lot of headaches.
Defensive ward against: Snow Demons
First appeared: Brayan’s Gold
Ward by Lauren K. Cannon, copyright by Peter V. Brett.
Hello Mr. Brett! I recently finished my debut manuscript about the life of a young professional in New York City set against the rise and fall of the 2008 stock market.
Can you detail for us the process you went through to get signed by your first literary agent?
I met Joshua Bilmes of JABberwocky Literary at a Science Fiction Writers of America event, and again at an SF convention. After telling him about my novel, he asked me to submit it.
He rejected it, but said he would read other books if I had them. So I sent him another book. He rejected that, too, then told me to read Writing to Sell by Scott Meredith, and gut-rewrite the first book. I took a year to do that, and came back with The Warded Man, which went on to sell in 27 different languages worldwide. It was a good lesson in the power of being stubborn but able to accept criticism.
Good luck!
Hey Peter. Thanks for doing another AMA, it’s great to have authors doing these more often. It’s great that fans can connect with their favourite world builders. How do you think social media has best helped authors interact with fans and establish a really awesome fanbase? Do you feel that it sometimes takes too much out of your day to be constantly updating things once you start?
I love your books and I can’t wait to see how everything turns out in the end.
Oh, one last thing. I haven’t yet read your novellas, I plan to but I wanted to know if there’s some really interesting things I’m missing out on. Thanks again.
Thank you!
Social media has been great in letting authors establish themselves apart from their books and publishers as real people. For me it has been an incredible boon, letting me interact with people all over the world. I am published in 27 languages, and thanks to social media and translation software, all of my readers can feel included and that I hear and care about them. Writing is also an incredibly lonely occupation, so it’s nice to have the reminder that we’re not just shouting in the dark.
I think most social media users are learning that it sometimes takes up too much of their IRL day. Every couple I know is establishing device time rules to keep it from interfering in their relationships. This is typical of new technology, so it’s not shocking, but we are in as big a flux as the introduction of television. Takes discipline and getting used to in order to keep it from taking over.
Regarding the novellas, it isn’t strictly necessary to read them to enjoy the novels, but they definitely enhance and add a lot IMO, and I’m very proud of them. The Great Bazaar and Messenger’s Legacy, in particular, were written to tie directly into Desert Spear and Skull Throne respectively.
The events in Bryan’s Gold are mentioned as an aside, and it is good reading, but contributes relatively little to understanding of the series. I haven’t read Great Bazaar, but I hope/suspect it is in a similar place. Messenger’s Legacy, however, is a pretty direct prequel to Skull Throne, and without reading it xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx will come out of the blue.
Great Bazaar ties into Desert Spear quite closely. It was meant as a bridge between the books. Brayan’s Gold is the most standalone of the bunch.
Read the rest of Brett’s AMA at REDDIT.
Defensive ward against: Clay Demons
First appeared: The Great Bazaar
Ward by Lauren K. Cannon, copyright by Peter V. Brett.
For more info about THE GREAT BAZAAR & BRAYAN’S GOLD, visit the Tachyon page.
Cover design by Elizabeth Story.
