Ask the Author: Mark A. King
Answered Questions (1)
Mark A. King
My sincere apologies for such a late reply. Thanks for the very thoughtful question.
Writing the book was one of the most challenging tasks I have faced. Fitting in work, children, life (and very occasional breaks), proved to be even more difficult than I imagined it would be.
The editing part was particularly difficult. Much of this was my own doing as I could have made the global stage of editing less intensive than it needed to be. In the efforts to get the first draft, I had a reasonable idea of where I wanted to go, but, as with most drafts, getting to the end was the primary objective. In my opinion, the first draft of the novel had strengths in the themes, the locations and the characters, but it became clear (from the sterling advice of an exceptional editor,) that it lacked cohesion between the threads, and that the genre elements needed to be teased out more than I had originally crafted. The first half of the book required a great deal of unplanned linking, the second half explored the subterranean world and underbelly of London significantly more than it had in the first draft.
The editing stage was, in many ways, also the most rewarding. The book became a living thing, and while many people are said to cringe at their first attempts at a novel, Metropolitan Dreams is something I am intensely proud of.
Writing the book was one of the most challenging tasks I have faced. Fitting in work, children, life (and very occasional breaks), proved to be even more difficult than I imagined it would be.
The editing part was particularly difficult. Much of this was my own doing as I could have made the global stage of editing less intensive than it needed to be. In the efforts to get the first draft, I had a reasonable idea of where I wanted to go, but, as with most drafts, getting to the end was the primary objective. In my opinion, the first draft of the novel had strengths in the themes, the locations and the characters, but it became clear (from the sterling advice of an exceptional editor,) that it lacked cohesion between the threads, and that the genre elements needed to be teased out more than I had originally crafted. The first half of the book required a great deal of unplanned linking, the second half explored the subterranean world and underbelly of London significantly more than it had in the first draft.
The editing stage was, in many ways, also the most rewarding. The book became a living thing, and while many people are said to cringe at their first attempts at a novel, Metropolitan Dreams is something I am intensely proud of.
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