I’ve long been a fan of satirical fantasy writer Terry Pratchett and have just reread his last book: “The Shepherd’s Crown” where I spotted a little postscript that I hadn’t noticed before, written by Rob Wilkins, who now manages the Pratchett estate. It describes Sir Terry’s way of working, and it sounds so like mine:

“Terry usually had more than one book on the go at a time, and he discovered what each was about as he went along. He would start somewhere, telling himself the story as he wrote it, writing the bits he could see clearly and assembling it all into a whole like a giant literary jigsaw when he was done. Once it was shaped he would keep writing it too, adding to it, fixing bits, constantly polishing and adding linking sequences, tossing in just one more event. The manuscript often had to be prised away from him, as there was always more he felt he could do, though by then he would be well into the next story which was tugging at his elbow.”

Yes that all sounds very familiar, although in my case the books also keep splitting in two, or in the case of ‘Sisters’ which I am working on at the moment, has so far split in five!