[Merenwen]

Sounds good :rolleyes: :D (sweet parrots???????)

[Eámanë]

well well well Merenwen!
Yep Im new and guess who got me addicted to these books that Merenwen girl!!
anyhoo I'm the one she talks to evry day in art about the gift and the riddle (drives me mad)
Ok im addicted to it as well but shes the freak!!
Well cant wait until the crow comes out really excited!!! :D

[Merenwen]

well well well Merenwen!
Yep Im new and guess who got me addicted to these books that Merenwen girl!!
anyhoo I'm the one she talks to evry day in art about the gift and the riddle (drives me mad)
Ok im addicted to it as well but shes the freak!!
Well cant wait until the crow comes out really excited!!! :D

Errrr yeah am the freak lol :rolleyes: :D In this forum u cant get away wit callin people who are slightly obsessed by pellinor freaks or there could be a kidnap plot involvin ducks!!!

Anyhoo yup this is another person who is usin valuble education time to talk bout ur books Alison u should feel TERRIBLE (lol) :rolleyes: :D

[Merenwen]

I will say (feeling chatty tonight, and thrown out of the room where we usually chat by my kids and their friends, who are watching a Vincent Price movie) that I'm pretty sure that Cadvan has quite deep feelings for Maerad. But I don't think he really approves of them within himself.

Ahhhh givin us all these little hints and sample chapters is makin me slightly crazy ahhh 2006!!!!

Sorry mad moment has now officially past :rolleyes: :D (well maybe not quite but hey a lil bit of madness isnt all bad)

[Radthorne]

I have a question on the subject of editing: for your various additional releases (U.K., U.S.) was there any extra editing done on the books? And if so, what sorts of things were changed?

[alison]

I have a question on the subject of editing: for your various additional releases (U.K., U.S.) was there any extra editing done on the books? And if so, what sorts of things were changed?

Hi Rad - the short answer is, yes. The biggest difference is probably between the Australian and UK editions of The Gift, where it went through a complete re-edit. I much prefer the UK text for that reason: it's much more precisely edited - (and Penguin put some things in at the last proof stage - exclamation points and italics and so on - which I was able to take out). They're mainly tiny differences, but they do make - I think anyway - a huge difference in the reading, and as far as I'm concerned the English one is the "proper" edition. For the US edition, they had to translate it into American - you guys spell differently - and that was quite a fascinating process. So, "turnips" got changed into "ratabugas" - or is it "rutabagas"?

The editing process is a bit more streamlined now; my UK editor is also my Australian editor. Ideally by The Crow, the texts should be the same for all, apart from US spelling - but that's probably too much to hope for. It's bizarre how typos can escape, even after ten proofings by five different people - but they do!

[Radthorne]

It's bizarre how typos can escape, even after ten proofings by five different people - but they do!
Don't I know it! Amazing how those pesky critters sneak in there...

My publisher released a second edition of my first book, and it was wonderful to be able to go in there and eradicate those remaining typos (and clean up a few things along the way, too...)

[alison]

Yes, it's a good feeling, to get rid of those annoying glitches, and to have the chance of a second go.

The typo thing is scary. With one of my books of poetry, the publisher sent me no less than five sets of proofs (this is the advantage of electronic proofs, of course, it's much easier). I was absolutely sure that, for once, I MUST have a book with no mistakes in it. I mean, proofing poems is not like proofing a big thick wad of prose - for one thing, there aren't nearly so many words. But noooo!!!! I got the book, and there it was!

Maybe it's a bit like carpet makers deliberately putting a flaw in their carpets, so that they cannot be seen to be rivalling the perfection of Allah. :D

I must say, the more I do this stuff, the more that editing matters to me.

[Tari]

i remember a workshop i had with Markus Zusaks . . i think he said this anyway . . . . .but he said that editting yourself should be a painful process. i mean you're getting rid of things that you created. i do think though that you need an outside source to edit your work because you can become too attached to your characters etc and that can effect your editting. what do you think?

~ Tari

[alison]

well well well Merenwen!
Yep Im new and guess who got me addicted to these books that Merenwen girl!!
anyhoo I'm the one she talks to evry day in art about the gift and the riddle (drives me mad)
Ok im addicted to it as well but shes the freak!!
Well cant wait until the crow comes out really excited!!!

Hi Eámanë - nice to see you here! So it's Merewen's fault? It's a nice thought that there are these secret agents out there, spreading the word on Pellinor. :) And for sure, a little bit of madness isn't all bad.