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Originally posted by Elaine Cunningham

GENERAL ANNOUNCEMENT

I've heard writers far more experienced than I admit that every now and then, they'll come up against a book that is far more difficult to write than they'd anticipated--including some stories they're never able to complete. For me, RECLAMATION was one of these problematic stories.

I rewrote the plot several times, changed the scope of the story, dropped characters and subplots and added new ones, changed Elaith Craulnober's role from a secondary character to a major character, wrote, revised, tossed out, lather-rinse-repeat. Despite all these efforts--and also because of them--I was unable to complete the book before the drop-deadline. After much consideration, the folks at WotC decided to cancel RECLAMATION.

I have absolutely no complaints about the way WotC has handled this situation. If a writer cannot, for any reason, meet a contracted deadline, the publisher has every right to cancel that book.

Yes, I'm disappointed. This story dealt with several issues I would have liked to resolve: the final mystery behind the moonblades, the identity of the child Princess Amnestria bore to Elaith Craunober, the fate of Kymil Nimesin, the royal succession of Evermeet. Elaith needed to face his past and move beyond it one way or another. Danilo needed to move beyond what my friend and current co-writer calls "a walking romantic subplot" and come into his own. Arilyn had residual issues raised by events in the last part of Dream Spheres.

But. With fourth edition around the corner, it just didn't make sense to push back the release date again. Upcoming 4th edition changes to the Realms will render many of the themes and concerns of this book irrelevant, just as the destruction of Halruaa pretty much guaranteed the irrelevance of the Counselors & Kings trilogy. Also, nine years have elapsed since the release of DREAMSPHERES, the last Songs & Swords book. Nine years. That's a long, long gap, even in as long-lived a series as Songs & Swords. ELFSHADOW, the first Songs & Swords book, has been in print longer than many FR readers have been alive. All things considered, it’s probably time to move on.

I apologize to readers who have been looking forward to this story and who are disappointed by its cancellation. You have my heartfelt thanks for all your support, kindness, and friendship over the years.

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Originally posted by ElaineCunningham

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Originally posted by Wooly Rupert

That's a grand disappointment, Elaine.

I hope that at some point, things may change, and Wizards will allow the publication of a book that many, many of us have waited a long time to read.

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Last night I couldn't fall asleep, so I came downstairs and starting reading Writing the Mystery, a writing reference book with articles by many of the top mystery writers. Lawrence Block, whose work I've long enjoyed, contributed an interesting article about "ending a story." He concluded that there were three reasons why he occasionally stalled out:

1) There was something wrong with the story itself. It went off track somewhere, but he just couldn't figure out where and how.

2) There was nothing wrong with the story, but he just wasn't able to finish it at that particular time. On more than one occasion, he pulled an abandoned ms out of the file months or years later, read it, and immediately figured out how to procede.

3) There was nothing wrong with the story, but he was having a crisis of confidence and needed to muscle his way past it.

I'm fairly sure I'm facing a Number 1 problem, because I know what a confidence crisis feels like, since I'm obliged to push through them on a regular (weekly? daily?) basis. Maybe someday I'll wake up at o-dark-thirty sitting bolt upright and exclaiming, "Yeah! That's EXACTLY what the story needed!" And maybe I'll finish it to satisfy a personal sense of closure. But barring that if-if scenario, this isn't a matter of WotC "allowing" publication. If they'd received a finished ms on schedule, they would have published it already.

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Originally posted by ElaineCunningham

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Originally posted by Faraer

I'm sorry to hear of your trouble.

You've got what makes what irrelevant backwards.

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Thanks for the kind word. As a writer, what I consider "relevant" are interesting stories, compelling characters, and carefully crafted prose. These are the things I strive for no matter what the project, with varying degrees of success. But as a FR writer, I also have to also consider the setting, which includes editorial decisions concerning directions for the world.

Many, if not most, FR readers judge a book's success not only by the story but also how it handles the setting, and by this measure, contribution/innovation is a criterion of relevance.

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Originally posted by ElaineCunningham

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Originally posted by Theophilus

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Originally posted by ElaineCunningham

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Originally posted by Faraer

I'm sorry to hear of your trouble.

You've got what makes what irrelevant backwards.

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Thanks for the kind word. As a writer, what I consider "relevant" are interesting stories, compelling characters, and carefully crafted prose. These are the things I strive for no matter what the project, with varying degrees of success. But as a FR writer, I also have to also consider the setting, which includes editorial decisions concerning directions for the world.

Many, if not most, FR readers judge a book's success not only by the story but also how it handles the setting, and by this measure, contribution/innovation is a criterion of relevance.

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I don't like speculate but if this criterion is applied across the literature isn't there a chance that Mr Greenwood's 3rd instalment could similarly be cancelled?

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I don't see any reason why it WOULD be. The issue is my inability to finish the story, not WotC's willingness to publish the story according to the contractually agreed-upon schedule.

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