Desert Spear Update
Patrick Rothfuss had a recent blog post about the status of his second book, The Wise Man’s Fear. It was a post that really touched me, because while I do not know Mr. Rothfuss personally, his story in many ways felt like my story. I don’t have a legion of fanatics harassing me, but I know well the stress of suddenly having your hobby become your life, and how it can knock your feet out from under you, even as you put immense pressure on yourself to measure up against a successful first novel.
But Pat wrote a long post about the status of his book, and I think it lifted some of the weight off him. George RR Martin did something similar a few weeks ago.
So in that tradition, I would like to take a moment to update everyone on the status of The Desert Spear.
It’s done.
Sort of.
I woke up this morning knowing I was going to finish the book. I went to sleep at 3am last night, my eyes practically closing by themselves, knowing that I only had a little bit left to write, and that there would be no real obstacles left in doing so. Dani knew it, too, and packed up the baby to go to her parents’ house, so I could finish up in peace.
But then an interesting thing happened. I had an anxiety attack. A pretty bad one, as these things are measured. Usually these came when I was despairing that the book would never be finished, but I never imagined I would have one at the idea of writing “the end”.
Of course, it was the first time in my life I ever wrote the words “the end” knowing there was a paycheck on the other side of them. Not to mention the crippling fear that people won’t like Desert Spear because I didn’t just re-use the proven-successful template of The Painted Man/The Warded Man.
When Kermit the Frog was nervous before his movie audition in The Muppet Movie, Dr. Teeth gave him a valuable piece of advice: “Ain’t nothin’ to it, but to do it,” he said.
Despite the fact that it came from a gold-toothed drug addict made of felt, I never forgot that advice, and I cling to it whenever fear or anxiety or nerves try to stop me from doing something. It’s gotten me through some difficult times.
So I pushed forward and did it. It’s done.
Sort of.
By “done”, I mean I have a complete first draft, beginning to end, that I finished mere minutes ago, and will shortly be sending to my editors at Del Rey and Voyager.
It does NOT mean the book is finalized, or that it will be out anytime soon, which includes the entirely arbitrary dates you see on Amazon.co.uk, where it is currently listed to publish in August/September. It may yet be out by then, or not. I don’t know and no one else does, either.
Why? Because there will be edits. Rewrites. More edits. More rewrites. Typesetting. Copyediting. Proofreading. It may be many months before the manuscript meets everyone’s standards, and don’t think I am exaggerating when I say my own standards will be twice as high as anyone else’s. Thrice as high. It’s my name on the damn thing, not to mention my grandfather’s name, and that is something I take very seriously. I will scrutinize every sentence, every word, every piece of punctuation in that massive 231,000 word file until I am convinced it is fit to stay. I daresay the final version released into the world will be a good deal shorter, and much better for it.
What I will say now, though, is that despite all the anxiety I have had (and will have in the future) over this manuscript, I look back at what I’ve done, and I am damn proud of it.
Can you picture that?
Both your books were simply amazing, you were pushed to #1 on my list of favorite authors after The Warded Man but the Desert Spear sealed the deal permanently i mean i have never in my life(started reading chapter books in 1st grade, now im a Senior) have i cared about the characters in books as i have in yours because you put so much thought into each character that i feel as if i have known them for many years. i am new to your series just hearing about it last year because of my brother, i have read his copies of The Warded Man and The Desert Spear at least idk 4-5 times each before he moved to Texas and i have only read my copies once because honestly im scared to use my copies for fear of damaging them i have had them both for awhile but they look almost new because i want them to last since they are paperback and paperbacks get wear and tear way too easily. i cannot wait for The Daylight War, Sharak Sun, im just sad i have to wait until 2012 thankfully i will be 18 then so i can actually travel to make sure i make it to a book signing 🙂
sorry for length of post, i tend to carry on when writing. teachers always complain that i cant shorten what i want to say easily.
P.S. every time i pick up your books, i hate setting it down for ANYTHING because the storyline is SO engaging and exciting. since both your books have been this way, with The Desert Spear being the best of the two i have high hopes for the rest of the series and i pray(metaphorically since im atheist) that each one is better than the last though to me that task seems pretty daunting i mean it might be hard to top The Desert Spear even let alone the future books but either way the continuation of the storyline is what i have a hard time waiting for, i need to know is Arlen really turning into a demon? will Jardir succeed in Sharak Sun? The Desert Spear made me actually care about Jardir, i initially skipped all the chapters in the beginning dedicated to him because i was mad at him for betraying Arlen and went back to them and made me rethink my views on him because in a way i understand where he is coming from now. I just now found out that there is a Thesan Wiki finally i been searching for something like this for ages
Just finished Desert Spear – and rang my son to see if he had the next book in the series, as he was the one who put me on to your books. I love the characters, the language, the setting can’t wait to read the next one. Thank you for helping me chill out after a day in the classroom (even though i love my job and i’m a teacher) and thank you for giving me another world to sink into. Can’t wait for the next one!
The word’s “The End” at the the end of Desert Spear left me cussing at my adroid phone where I was listening to the audio book.
I haven’t seen any mention of the 3rd book in the “Demon Trilogy.” Is there a title or anticipated publishing date for it yet?
Hey Spirit Rover,
Thanks!
I did a big post on Daylight War last month:
https://www.petervbrett.com/2012/01/01/daylight-war-release-dates-and-the-demon-cycle/