Results tagged “editor”

I promised myself when I began talking about my foray into writing a book and seeing it published that I would be forthright about the good things that happened in the process as well as the negative.

Here is a moment that is quite cool—and annoying to all ends.

When I finished writing and editing The Dark Thorn, I gave a copy to author Terry Brooks. Terry offered to read the book when it was completed, willing to go over it with his critical teaching and mentoring eye, wishing to help me on my journey. Since he teaches classes every so often at writing conferences and retreats, I willingly gave the book over to him in hopes of strengthening what I hoped was already a good book. Who better to critique my writing and set me upon a better path?

He was unbelievably kind to use his valuable time to read it.

In a way, I suppose, this is his way of giving back. Terry had a mentor as well when he entered the publishing field—Lester del Rey. Terry has ever been adamant he learned the majority of his writing craft from Lester, the latter molding the former into a professional writer. In his writing guide and memoir Sometimes the Magic Works, Terry speaks of that education and how it came about:

“I can’t being to imagine how much time and effort he must have put into going through all 375-plus pages of The Song of Lorelei, writing out his thoughts as he did so on those scraps of yellow tablet paper each step of the way. What he had given me was the kind of education young writers can only dream about—the kind you hope and pray you might find in college writing programs, writing conferences, or even from editors, but seldom do.” — Terry Brooks, Sometimes the Magic Works

After the great success of The Sword of Shannara, Terry immediately dove into writing The Song of Lorelei, the sequel to The Sword of Shannara, one centering on the son of Menion Leah. Terry did not show Lester what he was working on, hoping to surprise his editor with a great second book. But when Terry got more than halfway finished he could not continue. He did not know how to wrap up the tale, the various plot threads not weaving into the tapestry he had hoped. He reluctantly handed it over to Lester, hoping his editor had the magic to figure out the problem.

Lester returned the unfinished manuscript to Terry buried with notes—and said he wouldn’t publish the book.

One of our number here at Del Rey was incensed this week at being inflicted with the aptly named Annoy-a-tron, a nifty little electronic device that beeps intermittently, sounding like some kind of message alert or dead-battery warning. It’s practically impossible to pin down its location, as the sound seems omnidirectional and the time lag between beeps varies unpredictably; it’s also magnetized so that it can be hidden practically anywhere in a loved one’s vicinity.

My colleague was so annoyed by the noise that he unplugged every electronic device in his office, and when the beeps continued started complaining to everybody in sight, finally arousing the pity of another colleague who let him in on the joke.

The rest of us considered this episode the height of hilarity. I am not quite certain what this says about us, except that we all needed a good laugh and could actually fit in a few moments to enjoy one. Next week will be all business, as the Del Rey editors present their Fall ‘09 titles in what we call the launch meeting. [more after the jump]