DUNE 7 BLOG

Sunday, February 12, 2006

A Recap

I've been writing regular entries to this blog for more than three months now, keeping you all up to date with the step-by-step progress and development of HUNTERS and SANDWORMS. Now it's time to step back and give a summary of the project and provide the big picture and overview.

When Brian and I first spoke about DUNE in 1997, my original suggestion was to write the sequel to CHAPTERHOUSE: DUNE, to complete the obviously unfinished story Frank Herbert had left behind. Not long afterward, when we found Frank's outline and notes for "Dune 7" we realized, for a variety of reasons (which will merit a full blog article of their own), that we had to lay substantial groundwork first.

But we've been building toward "Dune 7" for the past nine years, and it was with both intimidation and enthusiasm that we finally tackled the project, to be done in two volumes.

In February 2004, having finished the three books in the "Legends of Dune" trilogy, we submitted a proposal to our publishers for the compilation ROAD TO DUNE, as well as the two volumes of "Dune 7." Both Tor Books (US) and Hodder (UK) sent us a contract, which also included PAUL OF DUNE (the first book in another trilogy, to come).

Last year by publishing THE ROAD TO DUNE (which required less writing than a typical 700-page DUNE manuscript), and by staying home from our traditional ( and exhausting) book-signing tour, Brian and I bought ourselves a little extra breathing room and rampup time to get ready for "Dune 7" -- to reread and study all the other novels, to compile notes, study backgrounds, and put ourselves into the proper frame of mind to write the books that DUNE fans have been waiting twenty years to read.

I flew up to stay with Brian in his home in Washington State in late January 2005 so that we could begin the detailed outlining and planning of the two books. We had Frank Herbert's outline and summary of "Dune 7" which gave the broad-strokes picture of the whole story, but now we needed to focus in, get down to specifics, and start dissecting the full plot in great detail. After spending many days brainstorming, jotting down notes on colored index cards spread across the floor of Brian's office, fleshing out plotlines and characters, rearranging the specific chapters (like the scenes in a very long movie), we settled on our outlines for HUNTERS and SANDWORMS, deciding where to break the two novels, then dividing up the chapters 50/50.

Brian and I then spent until summer writing our first drafts of all the chapters, both novels straight through. We each gave a rough polish to our drafts (but couldn't fine-tune it too much, because we hadn't yet seen what the other person wrote). Then by early fall, I received all of Brian's drafts and did the first cut of trying to make the chapters fit together. When I was finished, I sent the files to Brian, who did his edit. And so on. I'm currently finishing the sixth iteration this week.

In the meantime, I was in touch with the cover artist Stephen Youll, discussing possible scenes for the cover; he developed the concept, the sketch, and then the final cover painting by December. The editors interacted with us to distill the dust-jacket and catalog copy.

Meanwhile, I've had several test readers go over the HUNTERS manuscript to make their comments. Both of our editors have read the book and sent us their suggestions. Brian and I have incorporated all of the fixes. When I finish my draft this week, my wife Rebecca -- who has more than 15 years experience as a professional copy-editor, not to mention being a bestselling writer in her own right -- will go over every line with an editor's crysknife. After I make her corrections, then I'll read the novel one more time from start to finish, before we deliver the final manuscript to the publisher, probably in mid-March.

Then their copy-editors go over it, our editors read it yet again, and then the novel is typeset. Brian and I will proofread the typeset galleys as soon as we receive them, and around September/October HUNTERS OF DUNE will be on your bookshelves, and Brian and I will be running around the country for several weeks to a month doing booksignings.

And in the midst of all this, we're in the same process for SANDWORMS OF DUNE, while I have to write a SEVEN SUNS novel and other projects, and Brian is writing his "Timeweb" series.

(I don't know why Hollywood usually portrays a writer as somebody who sits around waiting for the Muse to strike all day...)

--KJA