The Publishing (And Editorial) History of Some Extremely Famous Fiction

What “…was written in stages between 1937 and 1949, much of it during World War II…It [being] the second best-selling novel ever written, with over 150 million copies sold.”?

And, to give a few folks a bit more time to think about that question, I’ll point out to the grammar-folk that I fully intended the .”? at the end of the previous sentence :-)

And, from the Wikipedia article I’m quoting from, here’s another clue:

It “…was initially intended…to be one volume of a two-volume set…, but this idea was dismissed by [the] publisher. For economic reasons [it] was published in three volumes over the course of a year from 29 July 1954 to 20 October 1955…”.

O.K., I can only give those racking their brains as long as it takes to say I also fully intended the …”. at the end of the previous sentence :-)

By the way, my maverick punctuation is nothing compared to the spelling idiosyncrasies of the author of the work in question…

The Answer Is:

The Lord of The Rings

“Tolkien’s unused cover designs for the three volumes which would later be used for the 50th anniversary editions of the books”

This classic work of literature had a rather torturous publishing history with some hair-pulling editorial episodes.

Again, from Wikipedia:

“A dispute with his publisher, George Allen & Unwin, led to the book being offered to Collins in 1950. Tolkien intended The Silmarillion (itself largely unrevised at this point) to be published along with The Lord of the Rings, but A&U were unwilling to do this. After Milton Waldman, his contact at Collins, expressed the belief that The Lord of the Rings itself ‘urgently wanted cutting’, Tolkien eventually demanded that they publish the book in 1952. Collins did not; and so Tolkien wrote to Allen and Unwin, saying, ‘I would gladly consider the publication of any part of the stuff.'”

And, to indicate some of the editorial challenges, from The Tolkien Society’s Site:

Tolkien “…was wondering who might want to read such a book, but cheered up on one point about the publication: ‘At any rate the proof-reader, if it comes to that, will, I hope, have very little to do’ … However, Tolkien had not reckoned with a problem which had already occurred with The Hobbit: ‘I use throughout’, he wrote, ‘the “incorrect” plural dwarves. I am afraid it is just a piece of private bad grammar, rather shocking in a philologist; but I shall have to go on with it’…”

“He did ‘go on with it’, and as a result, he comments on The Fellowship of the Ring: ‘the printing is very good, as it ought to be from an almost faultless copy; except that the impertinent compositors have taken it upon themselves to correct, as they suppose, my spelling and grammar: altering throughout dwarves to dwarfs, elvish to elfish, further to farther, and worst of all elven- to elfin. I let off my irritation in a snorter to A. and U. [the publishing firm] which produced a grovel’…”

The link to the Tolkien Society leads to a bewitching tale of the trials and tribulations of bringing this Epic Tale to the public and I heartily recommend writers and readers take the link and learn the shaded and twisting facts—one more quote about publishing and editorial shenanigans:

“Tolkien was re-editing because…Ace Books in the United States published an unauthorised edition. The Fellowship came out in May 1965, the other two volumes in July. 150,000 copies were printed of each volume! The main text was reset, and introduced new errors, but the appendices were reproduced photographically, and thus contained only the errors already there. Ace Books were exploiting a copyright loophole which meant they did not have to pay Tolkien or his publishers any royalties. Houghton Mifflin appears to have imported too many copies, and the notice they contain, ‘Printed in Great Britain’ meant that the texts were deemed to be in the public domain in the United States.”

There are those who claim literary knowledge who also claim TLoTR is trash.

One thing is certain about its history—struggling against incompetence and impertinence to become a much-loved reading experience for millions…

One last quote (bolding mine):

“There is no time today to do more than note that The Lord of the Rings has been translated into Russian, and numerous other languages. Those translations have been made from various, more or less error-free English editions, by more or less competent translators, with more or less competent typography.”

Something for those struggling to self-publish their own book to remember, eh?
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
To Leave A Comment, Use The Link At The Top-Right of The Post :-)
For Private Comments, Email: amzolt {at} gmail {dot} com
GRAB A FREE COPY of Notes from An Alien

What Are Editors Good For?

I’ve written here before about editors…

And, many writers have some interesting relationships with them.

But, first, it’ll be good to decide what kind of editor we’re talking about.

Here are a couple links that describe various types of editors:

NetRead

CareerBear

GoodReads

I gave you three because different people have different ideas about not only what kind of editors there are but also what the different editors are supposed to do…

I sincerely hope a few readers of this post who are writers and have experience with editors will weigh in on this topic in the Comments.

For those who have no experience, reading the info at those links may give you enough to make a comment or two but I have another idea.

A video with Joel Friedlander interviewing a Developmental Editor, Alan Rinzler. who’s quite well-known in the United States.

By the way, whether or not you’ve had experience with an editor, please don’t believe everything Mr. Rinzler says.

Just like I’ve warned readers about “Rules” for writers, I must warn about “Musts” with editors.

Watch the video, perhaps check the links, think about it, and I’ll meet you in the Comments :-)

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
To Leave A Comment, Use The Link At The Top-Right of The Post :-)
For Private Comments, Email: amzolt {at} gmail {dot} com
* Google Author Page
GRAB A FREE COPY of Notes from An Alien

Select as many as you like:

This post was valuable.

This post was fun.

This post was a disappointment.

This post was interesting.

This post bothered me.

I did not understand this post.

Submit

Δ

A Blogger’s Roll Call of Nations

Back in October of last year I published the post Global Blogging for Readers, Writers, and Publishers.

It shows the Top Ten countries for visitors to this blog.

I thought it was time to show all the countries…

However, due to WordPress’ statistical widget limitations, the list that follows isn’t for the full time that this blog has been in existence (since January, 2011).

The best I can do is show the totals for all countries from
February 25, 2012 through July 29, 2013:

Country	Views
United States	21,086
Australia	2,058
United Kingdom	2,006
Canada	1,739
Germany	1,162
India	645
Philippines	337
Georgia	321
Italy	194
Netherlands	181
France	180
Portugal	175
New Zealand	170
Sweden	158
Spain	133
Lithuania	128
Ecuador	122
South Africa	120
Brazil	115
Singapore	111
Virgin Islands	110
Indonesia	107
Pakistan	105
Argentina	102
Malaysia	87
Ireland	86
Israel	80
Thailand	79
Mexico	77
Romania	74
Belgium	74
Finland	69
Hong Kong	63
Japan	60
United Arab Emirates	60
Switzerland	57
Saudi Arabia	57
Norway	54
Colombia	54
Republic of Korea	54
Denmark	53
Nigeria	49
Egypt	48
Taiwan	46
Russian Federation	46
Poland	41
Turkey	41
Czech Republic	34
Greece	33
Serbia	32
Bangladesh	28
Hungary	28
Austria	27
Viet Nam	26
Croatia	25
Ukraine	24
Trinidad and Tobago	22
Slovakia	17
Kenya	16
Morocco	16
Costa Rica	16
Venezuela	16
Slovenia	15
Bulgaria	14
Cambodia	14
Kuwait	14
Lebanon	13
Sri Lanka	13
Puerto Rico	13
Iraq	12
Chile	12
Palestinian Territory, Occupied	12
Luxembourg	12
Dominican Republic	11
Jamaica	11
Iceland	10
Bahamas	10
Ghana	10
Oman	9
China	7
Belarus	7
Cyprus	6
Ethiopia	6
Bahrain	6
Estonia	6
Moldova	6
Malta	6
Guyana	5
Mongolia	5
Qatar	5
Tunisia	5
Bosnia and Herzegovina	5
Barbados	4
Nepal	4
Uruguay	4
Uganda	4
Algeria	4
Guatemala	4
Albania	4
Senegal	4
Peru	4
Cameroon	4
Mauritius	4
Jordan	4
Yemen	4
Afghanistan	4
Maldives	3
Zimbabwe	3
United Republic of Tanzania	3
Jersey	3
Latvia	3
El Salvador	3
Honduras	3
Côte d’Ivoire	2
Fiji	2
Sudan	2
Myanmar	2
Panama	2
Macedonia, the Former Yugoslav Republic	2
Armenia	2
Botswana	2
Guam	2
Antigua and Barbuda	2
Bolivia	2
Syrian Arab Republic	2
Angola	1
Saint Martin	1
Chad	1
Turks and Caicos Islands	1
Malawi	1
Libya	1
Bermuda	1
Aruba	1
Dominica	1
Uzbekistan	1
Guernsey	1
Lao People’s Democratic Republic	1
Kyrgyzstan	1
Rwanda	1
Kazakhstan	1
Azerbaijan	1
Faroe Islands	1
British Virgin Islands	1

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Our Comment Link Is At The Top of The Post :-)
For Private Comments, Email: amzolt {at} gmail {dot} com
* Google Author Page
GRAB A FREE COPY of Notes from An Alien

Select as many as you like:

This post was valuable.

This post was fun.

This post was a disappointment.

This post was interesting.

This post bothered me.

I did not understand this post.

Submit

Δ

Characters Who Make Writers Change Their Minds . . .

Welcome to the Special, Friday series of posts: Behind The Scenes of Notes from An Alien :-)

Some of these posts have “spoilers” and the best way to guard against them intruding on your enjoyment of the book is to grab a free copy and take the short amount of time to read it (only about 126 pages…).

One of the extra special features of these Friday posts is my encouraging you to ask Any questions you may have about the novel in the Comments of Any of these Special posts :-)

Now, what about a character that makes a writer change their mind about how to write their book?

Some writers say that All their characters do this…

Some writers feel that if the characters don’t challenge their expectations then they, the writer, aren’t doing their proper job…

I’ll leave an exploration of those issues for a future post and focus on one of the characters in Notes from An Alien—Morna, the artificial intelligence.

I’ve mentioned her in this blog a few times; for instance, in the posts Very Special Characters and How I Had To Change Myself In Order To Write My Book…

I’ll begin my exploration of Morna in this post by saying she’s more like me than any other character in the book…

Seem strange to you that I’d say an artificial intelligence is quite like me?

Well, she’s quite a special artificial intelligence :-)

I think I should now issue an official Spoiler Alert since I’m going to quote from the book and give you some of the reasons for why I did what I did—or, what Morna Made me do…

First, I have to repeat something I’ve said many times before—I usually have no idea what I’m going to write—I do an extreme amount of preparation (to massage my mind) and do tend to make an outline; but, when I get to the actual writing, it “just happens”.

So, in the first chapter of Notes from An Alien, I thought the artificial intelligence, Morna, would interact with Rednaxela, the leader of an expedition from the Corporate World to the Religious World, and then disappear from the book.

But, this statement she made to Rednaxela made me realize she knew more about the story than I did:

“You are the Corporation’s ambassador but I think you could also be their worst nightmare.”

Then, shortly later, I wrote this:

“You have a bad habit of repeating what you know I already know, Morna.”

“Sometimes I feel it necessary.”

“It’s going to take the whole voyage for me to figure you out.”

“I believe it will take longer than that.”

I think I said something to myself at that point along the lines of, “O.K., Morna, you’re gonna be involved much more in this story…”

Basically, from that point on, I was making sure Morna got passed on from character to character as the many years that passed in the novel progressed.

But, to stay with her interaction with Rednaxela for a bit, there’s this interchange, begun by him (NOTE: Akla, is the purported Prophet-criminal on board):

“…what I assume lies ahead are delicate negotiations that hopefully lead to free access to various parts of the planet which, in turn, give us enough information to make the expense of this voyage worthwhile.”

“And, will you return to Anga?”

“How did you come up with a question like that?”

“A bit of programming mixed with observation of your behavior.”

“So it’s like I thought. The Corporation seeded you with routines in your programming that measure my loyalty?”

“Not as simple as that.”

Rednaxela waited for Morna to continue, which she didn’t do.

“Morna?”
“Yes?”
“Care to explain?”
“No.”
“Should I worry about your future actions?”
“No.”
“Do you have input to the ship that I’m unaware of?”
“No.”
“Can you lie?”
“No.”
“Anything else you’d care to say?”
“Akla is an interesting man.”
“Agreed…”

So, she can deduce what other characters are going to do?

Oh, my… There was no way I could let a character like this get away from me :-)

Then, there’s this bit when Morna meets Rednaxela’s daughter:

“Wake up, Morna!”

The AI’s box began to glow slightly and Morna’s voice said: “I am here.”

Zena looked at Velu with total glee and said: “Morna, meet Velu, Rednaxela’s daughter!”

“Velu, I am extremely happy to meet you. Your father’s thoughts of you were always warm and respectful and he was always burdened with never having met you. Our meeting begins a new phase in my research.”

Velu felt strange, elated and depressed, wanting to faint and hyper-conscious. She took three deep breaths and said: “Morna… You have memories of my father…”

“Velu, I have many memories and many recordings.”

“Recordings!”

Velu took two more deep breaths and nearly fainted.

“Morna, will you be my best friend?”

“It appears that your desire has been anticipated. I am to be your constant companion.”

Then, later, when Morna was with Delva at a session of the World’s Council, the transcript has Delva saying:

“The education of Worlds’ citizens is, in principle, the most important task of this Council but the live-in visits to Local Councils is the most practical way to accomplish my specific task as Worlds’ Mediator. I would, of course, expect the Worlds’ Council to work with me to choose the most appropriate schedules of visits and I can assure you that my faithful assistant, Morna, will capture more information than centuries of expert analysis could utilize as practical action. Morna’s records will be our legacy to the Worlds’ citizens—a lesson in living, a catechism of the struggle to attain lasting and glorious Worlds’ peace.”

Holy Cow! This character really knows how to weave her way into the fabric of a plot, eh?

And, since religion is such an important part of the plot, there’s this interchange between Morna and Delva (begun by Morna):

“My view of religion is that it is a two-edged sword—either it carves a space for sharing and love or it cleaves the heart from the mind. There are many who love to cleave but the carvers are still with us. I think the principles of religion should be taught widely but only if the fanatic edge of faith is restrained.”

Delva chuckled and said: “So poetic, Morna.”

“I am learning, no?”

There are many other points of interaction between Morna and the other characters that add critical insights to what’s going on, but I’d like you to go read the book :-)

Still, since she wove herself so fully into the book’s happenings, it only makes sense that Ararura, daughter of Sena (the character who wrote the Prologue to the book), would end the story with these words:

“In all your efforts to live a better life, in all your efforts to aid your World’s struggle towards peace, remember these words of the Artificial Intelligence, Morna: ‘Patience is our weapon of choice.'”
~~~~~~~~~
Read more Behind the Scenes posts…
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Our Comment Link Is At The Top of The Post :-)
For Private Comments, Email: amzolt {at} gmail {dot} com
* Google Author Page
GRAB A FREE COPY of Notes from An Alien

Select as many as you like:

This post was valuable.

This post was fun.

This post was a disappointment.

This post was interesting.

This post bothered me.

I did not understand this post.

Submit

Δ

How Many Ways Can You Tell A Story?

Have you ever considered that there are many ways to tell a story?

Some folks know about 3rd person and 1st person point-of-view.

For example:

“John walked down the path thinking about his sweetheart.”, is 3rd person.

1st person might be, “Man, I wish Sheila was here. She’s my missing half!”

Not high literature but you get the idea :-)

There are many other approaches to storytelling…

I saw a post on Google Plus by Karen Woodward that linked to a blog post titled 15 Ways To Write A Story.

Karen actually lists only 7 ways but references a post by Richard Thomas on LitReactor that does list all 15.

Still, there are many other ways to tell a story and I’m hoping some of the writers that read this blog will talk about a few in the Comments :-)

I’ll list those 15 here but direct you to Richard’s post for his descriptions.

1. VIGNETTE

2. SLICE OF LIFE

3. LIST

4. EPISTOLARY

5. ALL DIALOGUE

6. CHOOSE YOUR OWN PATH

7. METAFICTION

8. SECOND PERSON

9. UNUSUAL POINT OF VIEW

10. LENGTH

11. RASHOMON

12. UNRELIABLE NARRATOR

13. REVERSE CHRONOLOGY

14. FOOTNOTES

15. STREAM OF CONSCIOUSNESS

Now, I’ll put part of Richard’s Conclusion here but, do, go over to that link at LitReactor and read his descriptions…

“IN CONCLUSION

“The bottom line is that you don’t want whatever form you use to come off as a gimmick. It has to serve the story, and in a way that adds to the narrative, and still fulfills the job of a traditional linear or modular story.”

Do, please, check out Richard’s post :-)
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Our Comment Link Is At The Top of The Post :-)
For Private Comments, Email: amzolt {at} gmail {dot} com
* Google Author Page
GRAB A FREE COPY of Notes from An Alien

Select as many as you like:

This post was valuable.

This post was fun.

This post was a disappointment.

This post was interesting.

This post bothered me.

Submit

Δ