Oh no, not again....
There are rumors swirling around that Kim Jong-Un is dying (of a failed heart operation, of coronavirus, of who knows what) and/or already dead.
My first thought on hearing this was goddammit, I am not re-writing the Haley novel again. I already had to throw out the original plot and completely rework both the plot and the theme of the thing when Kim Jong-Il unexpected croaked as I was about 30,000 words in. And that was when it was still in progress and I didn't really have to change much I'd already written, just redirect my aim for the rest. I'm sure not tearing the thing apart like that now it's done.
Of course, the rumors about Junior are just that, at this point. Getting accurate news out of North Korea is always a challenge, and people do like to sound alarm bells at the least possibility. I'll believe it when it's on the BBC (link goes to Asia page; scroll down to 27 April 2020 2:07 for KJU rumor clip).
(ETA: South Korean intelligence seems pretty sure he's at the beach.)
But that said, I know my luck. And of course I couldn't help contingency-planning; it's what I do. Could I salvage the lost-heir plot, given, what, four years? for things to settle down? When was the Haley novel set, exactly? 2024?
I've been stressing a little about that date, anyway, because the book was set in the near-future when I wrote it, and the time is fast approaching when it won't be in the future anymore. And I really meant for it to be published while it still was. And, well.
So I checked. And no. The Haley novel is explicitly set in June 2021.
1) This is almost a relief, in terms of is-it-still-the-future. There's no way the thing'd see print before then, even if it was the book I'm currently shopping around. So the ship has sailed, therefore the pressure's off.
2) If Junior has kicked the bucket, there's no way things would have settled down enough in just a year for my lost-heir plot to fly.
3) Also, coronavirus. I'm not one of those people going on about how "this will change us forever"; I fully expect the world to snap back to pretty much pre-pandemic normal as soon as there's a vaccine/cure. But there'll still be side-effects, especially as soon as a year from now. I might be able to get away without mentioning the virus, but there'd have to be some reference to the ongoing economic recovery. And the college student characters would definitely say something about the interruption to their studies, and having to play catch-up.
All of which makes me think: What if I just moved the novel back to 2019?
It neatly dodges the is-Junior-dead question. If he is, it would add a certain irony to the lost-heir and meet-your-father elements, but I'm okay with that; in fact, I kind of like it.
It gets around the whole coronavirus issue. Pre-plague novels may even be a thing, in a few years; who knows?
It would also alleviate the issue of Oscar's age in Highway of Mirrors. While it's entirely feasible for him to be, what did I figure, 92 or thereabouts? (must check my notes), I'd already been contemplating making him a bit younger in his OSS days, so's to scale back his age a bit in HoM. If I move the Haley novel back two years, I'd also have to move HoM back two years (Haley really can't be younger than 25 in her novel), but that might be a good thing at least where Oscar's concerned.
At first glance, it sounds like an easy solution that not only deals with the immediate problem, but solves several other issues as well. There are things I'll have to check:
Haley:
- Haley still has to be 25 during the book. Older is potentially too sophisticated; younger just doesn't fly for her to have the history in Berlin and the independence for this mission.
- I know what Zurich looked like in 2019, because I was there. ;-) This should actually be an advantage for all the real-world restaurants and such, because it gives them two less years to go out of business on me, and the made-up ones are already made-up anyway.
- Does the timing still work for Gabe's parentage, and his position at the University? This is the big one; almost everything else can be worked around as needed. I seem to recall that I was pushing the upper limit of KJU's time in Switzerland, for the hook-up with Gabe's mom? Rolling that back might be good, but then how "precocious" would Junior have had to have been? I might need to make Gabe an undergrad (or was he already)? The timing on this is going to be very tight.
Highway of Mirrors:
- Check all the Chicago landmarks. I think the Bean, etc. were established well before novel (which is when, 2010?) (really need to check my notes), but make sure.
- A couple years earlier may actually be a benefit for lack of quality surveillance cameras in the underground L, and also for the Ball of Twine-themed art in Cawker City.
- When was the Mississippi flood that closed the crossings? Might need to incorporate that. (Which would be a good thing; I was tempted to do that originally.)
- Peoria's under construction in the novel, but Peoria's always under construction.
- Double-check cell phone usage. It's probably fine, since the author was behind the times on that topic anyway, but make sure.
Other:
- Roll back Oscar's age in HoM by two years. This doesn't need to change his age in his own novel, though you may also want to look into that while you're at it. (If changing his age in OSS, change his age in HoM even more.)
- Redo the timeline spreadsheet, where everything is based off of the year of HoM. Make sure both Haley and Oscar dates work. Probably needed to update that for Haley novel, etc. anyway.
There's doubtless other things I've forgotten; I'll need to do a full read-through of both novels to check for any stray anachronisms. The big thing is to make sure Gabe can still be old enough to be doing what he's doing in the novel, though I'll need to make sure there aren't any little traps waiting, either. But assuming I can tweak that to work, this could actually be a good thing.
This entry was originally posted at https://lizvogel.dreamwidth.org/218278.html because I got tired of dealing with whatever LiveJournal had broken this time. Comment whereever.
My first thought on hearing this was goddammit, I am not re-writing the Haley novel again. I already had to throw out the original plot and completely rework both the plot and the theme of the thing when Kim Jong-Il unexpected croaked as I was about 30,000 words in. And that was when it was still in progress and I didn't really have to change much I'd already written, just redirect my aim for the rest. I'm sure not tearing the thing apart like that now it's done.
Of course, the rumors about Junior are just that, at this point. Getting accurate news out of North Korea is always a challenge, and people do like to sound alarm bells at the least possibility. I'll believe it when it's on the BBC (link goes to Asia page; scroll down to 27 April 2020 2:07 for KJU rumor clip).
(ETA: South Korean intelligence seems pretty sure he's at the beach.)
But that said, I know my luck. And of course I couldn't help contingency-planning; it's what I do. Could I salvage the lost-heir plot, given, what, four years? for things to settle down? When was the Haley novel set, exactly? 2024?
I've been stressing a little about that date, anyway, because the book was set in the near-future when I wrote it, and the time is fast approaching when it won't be in the future anymore. And I really meant for it to be published while it still was. And, well.
So I checked. And no. The Haley novel is explicitly set in June 2021.
1) This is almost a relief, in terms of is-it-still-the-future. There's no way the thing'd see print before then, even if it was the book I'm currently shopping around. So the ship has sailed, therefore the pressure's off.
2) If Junior has kicked the bucket, there's no way things would have settled down enough in just a year for my lost-heir plot to fly.
3) Also, coronavirus. I'm not one of those people going on about how "this will change us forever"; I fully expect the world to snap back to pretty much pre-pandemic normal as soon as there's a vaccine/cure. But there'll still be side-effects, especially as soon as a year from now. I might be able to get away without mentioning the virus, but there'd have to be some reference to the ongoing economic recovery. And the college student characters would definitely say something about the interruption to their studies, and having to play catch-up.
All of which makes me think: What if I just moved the novel back to 2019?
It neatly dodges the is-Junior-dead question. If he is, it would add a certain irony to the lost-heir and meet-your-father elements, but I'm okay with that; in fact, I kind of like it.
It gets around the whole coronavirus issue. Pre-plague novels may even be a thing, in a few years; who knows?
It would also alleviate the issue of Oscar's age in Highway of Mirrors. While it's entirely feasible for him to be, what did I figure, 92 or thereabouts? (must check my notes), I'd already been contemplating making him a bit younger in his OSS days, so's to scale back his age a bit in HoM. If I move the Haley novel back two years, I'd also have to move HoM back two years (Haley really can't be younger than 25 in her novel), but that might be a good thing at least where Oscar's concerned.
At first glance, it sounds like an easy solution that not only deals with the immediate problem, but solves several other issues as well. There are things I'll have to check:
Haley:
- Haley still has to be 25 during the book. Older is potentially too sophisticated; younger just doesn't fly for her to have the history in Berlin and the independence for this mission.
- I know what Zurich looked like in 2019, because I was there. ;-) This should actually be an advantage for all the real-world restaurants and such, because it gives them two less years to go out of business on me, and the made-up ones are already made-up anyway.
- Does the timing still work for Gabe's parentage, and his position at the University? This is the big one; almost everything else can be worked around as needed. I seem to recall that I was pushing the upper limit of KJU's time in Switzerland, for the hook-up with Gabe's mom? Rolling that back might be good, but then how "precocious" would Junior have had to have been? I might need to make Gabe an undergrad (or was he already)? The timing on this is going to be very tight.
Highway of Mirrors:
- Check all the Chicago landmarks. I think the Bean, etc. were established well before novel (which is when, 2010?) (really need to check my notes), but make sure.
- A couple years earlier may actually be a benefit for lack of quality surveillance cameras in the underground L, and also for the Ball of Twine-themed art in Cawker City.
- When was the Mississippi flood that closed the crossings? Might need to incorporate that. (Which would be a good thing; I was tempted to do that originally.)
- Peoria's under construction in the novel, but Peoria's always under construction.
- Double-check cell phone usage. It's probably fine, since the author was behind the times on that topic anyway, but make sure.
Other:
- Roll back Oscar's age in HoM by two years. This doesn't need to change his age in his own novel, though you may also want to look into that while you're at it. (If changing his age in OSS, change his age in HoM even more.)
- Redo the timeline spreadsheet, where everything is based off of the year of HoM. Make sure both Haley and Oscar dates work. Probably needed to update that for Haley novel, etc. anyway.
There's doubtless other things I've forgotten; I'll need to do a full read-through of both novels to check for any stray anachronisms. The big thing is to make sure Gabe can still be old enough to be doing what he's doing in the novel, though I'll need to make sure there aren't any little traps waiting, either. But assuming I can tweak that to work, this could actually be a good thing.
This entry was originally posted at https://lizvogel.dreamwidth.org/218278.html because I got tired of dealing with whatever LiveJournal had broken this time. Comment whereever.