Elfsorrow
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Elfsorrow brought its own pressures during initial drafting and the trickiest editing process I’ve been through so far. This is the first ‘Legends’ book and I was very keen to make sure it was the right start, developed the issues laid in Nightchild, and repaid the faith that Gollancz had shown in me to sign me up for another three Raven novels. At the same time, I wanted to write a book that had greater depth than its predecessors and, well yes, was in every way an improvement on the Chronicles series.
I think I’ve achieved that to a large extent but I found it a tricky book to write, particularly in balancing the detail I wanted to include with the pace that has become a vital trademark. This book was the first written with my new ‘part-time’ working arrangement – four days at the office doing the suit-wearing thing and the other day at home novelising. It’s fair to say I was sometimes phased by the extra time I had and actually didn’t make the most of my free day for a few months.
Editing was tough. My editor identified a problem with my time-line and this sparked considerable redrafting. I was, at this time, living in my kitchen since the flat was being totally revonated and needless to say that was not conducive to clarity of thought. But, the effort was worth it. The result is a novel I really like, one that contains a couple of excellent new characters (even if I say so myself!) and that brings a new dimension to that staple of fantasy – the elves. I hope you feel the same way.
