This final afternoon on the Outer Banks has proven an exciting day for the final Milkweed book.
We finished editorial revisions on the manuscript today, meaning that Necessary Evil is officially moving into production now. Hooray!
And, just now, I’ve received a first look at the cover. Sneak peek below the cut.
Just as with The Coldest War, we spent a lot of time tweaking the manuscript in order to make Necessary Evil the best book we could. I did the main round of revisions this winter, but we also did a second round of smaller tweaks this week. That second round of revisions was mainly focused on trying to ensure that all the information was present at the appropriate places so that readers unfamiliar with the previous two books could still pick up and enjoy the story without being hopelessly lost. (We’re optimists…) Along the way I also added a couple of scenes that I hadn’t thought about while drafting the original manuscript, but which upon later reflection felt like large omissions.
I had fun with both scenes. One is a short little action-adventure sequence, which was a blast to choreograph, and the other was a bit of quiet character interaction with two characters who don’t get much time on screen alone together.
But anyway. My editor was very pleased with the alterations and has officially moved the book into production. Next stop, copyedits! We knew that revisions had to be completed by June 1 in order to keep everything on schedule. We beat that by several weeks, meaning Necessary Evil is still on track for publication in April, 2013.
That alone was lovely news with which to start the weekend. And then this arrived in my inbox:
I declare this day a victory.
That sounds like a good day to me. Is that Raybould?
I do believe that is him.
Woot! Excellent news, Ian. And love this cover too!
Sweet! What a great way to end the week.
A stupendous, fantastic, wonderfully awesome victory!
Great cover! Congrats. And I’ve been going to the Outer Banks since I was a kid. So peaceful, and the beaches are stunning. I can’t imagine a better place to write, once you’ve managed to tear yourself away from counting the waves.
Again, congrats on all of your good news. Forward the Foundation, and all that…
Thanks, Elena! Thanks, Alex! If this doesn’t say explodey action adventure, I’m not sure what would.
Charlie, if not for the Adventure of the ‘Splodey Appendix, I’d say the week was damn near perfect.
And thanks, Mary! My first trip to the Outer Banks was fantastic; I wish I were still there right now. Though it was hard to pull myself away from counting the waves — they just keep coming…