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Getting ready for the road again…sigh. I'm starting to feel old here, believe me.

Okay, page 21:

Bennie Telmarini: Doubt it. Jarlaxle married? Seriously doubt it.

Jonathan: Doubt it. Jarlaxle, Lolth worshipper? Seriously doubt it.

Benetelmarini: He "could" do a lot of things, but he won't.

Amaranthdru: I think that sounds about right.

Laethyn: Never can have too many threads about Jarlaxle.

Shalafi: A little of both. I try to wind some subplots into the original outline, obviously (or it'd be REALLY shot), but the truth is that most of the book evolves as I write it. For example, last night (this morning, actually) I woke up with a revelation about something in the book, a new twist of fate that will befall one of the core characters, in a bad, bad way. I didn't expect it - I don't even like it (personally - it's great for the story!). But it works. It makes sense.

Dedman: First of all, welcome home. Second of all, welcome home! And third, yeah you get it, WELCOME HOME! If my "escapism" in any way helped you get through the tour, then I humbly accept you thanks and offer a tenfold one from me.

Okay, your first question seems like one of outlining. Almost all novelists, particularly beginning ones, need to do an outline. What is the story? How does it begin? What's the middle? How does it end? You need to settle on this right away. Now, will you be a slave to that outline? Certainly not! As new ideas/characters/plot twists come to you, inject them into the outline instead of into the story itself. Work out the flow there and always remember where in the tale you are (because most of all, you need to keep moving it forward). If the story winds up in a completely different place, then so be it. That certainly won't be the end of the world. Think of the original outline like a telephone pole, and as you write over it, it becomes with wild tree, with branches growing every which way. It may grow straight, it may not. It doesn't matter.

I know of writers who read voraciously throughout the process. George Martin, for example. Others, like myself, simply can't do it. One of the curses of being a writer for me is that I've lost my reading. I'm always writing and reading others' works simply inserts their voices into my style, resulting in…well, trouble. The bright spot is that I have found a couple of books that don't seem to do that to me. Ah well.

Jonathan Wild: Yeah, but you don't know any drow. I know it's easy to think of Drizzt as a person, a fellow human, but he's not, remember? He's a drow, and blessed with ambidexterity humans could never know (at least, that's the way it WAS when I created him). There actually is a fighting style that resembles Drizzt's techniques. I can't remember the name of it off-hand, but let me tell you, it's pretty impressive.

Jahala: I would consider it, but honestly, the thought of whatever it is that produced Pikel scares the heck out of me.

Mattymoron: I haven't moved on that notion yet. I'm just trying to get through the next year and a half!

Matsuya: Well hello Italy. I was there last year…simply magical. Art-ah-miss and Jarl-axe-el will be back in ways you can't imagine. Trust me on this. These guys won't let go.

Laethyn: More than you can imagine.

Hot Sauce: Well, that was just…wrong. Hehe. You're very welcome - for the reading experience, I mean. Sheesh.

Symphonys Run: I believe you're talking about what happened in Passage to Dawn. I thought that was my last book with TSR, and worse, I knew they had lined up another (perhaps several other) author(s) to continue the story. So I made it all end nice and neat. Wulfgar, the eye, Guen…all of it. Yeah, I admit it, part of it was out of spite.

Plisskin: Ha, damned gargoyle wiped out my whole party. It's amazing how just changing the perspective of the place led to some good dungeoning, isn't it? Thanks for the plug on that old product - I'm quite proud of it. The Seven Swords' gang did some great work there.

Okay, got to run. I'll try to get Page 22 done soon, and finish up before the road trip (doubt it).

Peace (and make sure you're registered to vote, and make sure you VOTE!),

Bob