Ahira's Hangar

According to Donaldson's website in the news section at , the rough draft of his next (third of four) novel in the Final Chronicles of Thomas Covenant is finished.

I appreciate the professionalism of this author in completing his manuscript in about the time he estimated (though he admits to being a bit late) - and the fact that he plans on at least two full revisions/edits of it.

It sounds like if it will be delayed at all, it will still be within a couple of months (at most) of the original estimate - and given the problems other fantasy writers are having meeting their deadlines these days (though some like Patrick Rothfuss have the best and most understandbale reasons in the world) - I really appreciate hearing Donaldson is right on top of things.

However, I have to admit that I do not like the title of this book, though I hope it someday will grow on me.

I feel the title is a bit ungainly myself. I've said that it sounds better suited to the Gap books.

I'm guessing Donaldson is just anxious about the revisions, as any writer would be. That's when all the second-guessing and fights with the editors get serious, I suppose.

That would be an interesting option, though highly unlikely. Maybe in the heyday of Lester del Rey when SRD was under contract to him, such a scenario would have been more plausible.

...right, sadly, I fear that his US and UK publishers have him on a timetable, easily more lenient than Bantam/Spectra imposed on the Gap, but a timetable, regardless...

Well, I was thinking that SRD would be the one against splitting Book Four into two, because (as I understand it) he had a very clear vision of the Last Chrons as being 4 books...and because he's just a very stubborn guy.

Wouldn't his publishers warm to the idea of 5 books, since they might get more sales out of two separate releases than out of one?

I get the impression that even if split into two books, the writing wouldn't be any easier, nor a time frame. I think what he is dreading, and what he has been avoiding writing, for 25+ years is what he has to write. That is what is making writing AATE difficult, and will make The Last Dark even more so...

And it also makes you wonder if the writing is that technically difficult (and if so why given what an experienced writer SRD is) or if the writing the content is that emotionally difficult for the author. and if the latter, how bloody dark is this thing going to get?

At KW it was suggested that the time travel aspect is the main difficulty for SRD, but I think it unlikely. The crisis over time and the Arch of Time certainly needs some kind of resolution, but that's a "technical" issue. I think it's surely the emotional/psychological content of the story that scares SRD. I'm not going to try to guess why the remaining story spooks him so much. Anything could happen now, after the end of Fatal Revenant. All bets are off.

I recall SRD saying somewhere in the GI how drained he was after writing the Gap books. But now with the Last Chronicles, he's apparently set himself up for even greater levels of exhaustion. He doesn't make things easy for himself.

--A