The Rewrites!

[labellementeuse.livejournal.com]

DD posted about the New Millenium Editions that she's self-pubbing as ebooks. Go and read the post, but the bullet points are:

• DD gets a lot of feedback from readers, which is reflected in sales, that the early four books are confusing, alienating, boring, or weird in their technology. "Readers" here means new readers, young readers, readers in the actual target market who are sort of essential.


• She wants to fix those pesky timeline issues.


• She wants to fix what she describes as "quality of writing issues", clunky bits, etc
.

• If she does it herself and releases them now, she'll have solid new versions to give to the publishers if they ever do a reprint (possibly when #10 happens).

So?! What do we think? Shall we have a bitter old fan bitchfest?

Comments

[labellementeuse.livejournal.com]

My thoughts!

1. I'm not as violently opposed as I thought I was going to be; I found DD pretty convincing in her post and I do trust her. At the end of the day, if this is a sales issue, it's a sales issue, and I care more about sales and new readers than ... um, than the integrity of the original work. That sounds a little bad! More, then, that I don't think DD will or could make changes that affect the integrity of the original work, only perhaps some surface details.

2. On the other hand, although I know plenty of people find SYWTBAW clunky, it is prooooobably my favourite book. I mean, I think Deep Wizardry is a better book, and the most recent book is always my favourite, but dollar for dollar on re-reads, I think SYWTBAW wins by quite a bit. So ugh, I feel nervous about that.

3. I'm kind of torn about the timeline and chronology issues. On the one hand, it would be nice to know if Dairine was nine or eleven when she took the Oath. On the other hand ... I always kind of loved DD's attitude about settings and ages, and I loved how it sort of didn't make sense. I felt that the books had a transcendent spirit because of these, so that it was always now everywhere for Nita and Kit, that Nita is always in a library finding the Manual and Dairine is always somewhere on the other side of the Universe discovering what it means to be a mother and Kit is always grieving Ponch and Carmela is always frying aliens with an eggbeater --- always, right now. so their datedness never made them seem oldfashioned to me; perversely, they made them seem more immediate.

[labellementeuse.livejournal.com]

oh, one more thing - I don't have any kind of mobile reading device, so it bugs me that the books aren't available in pdf. :-/ Trivial I know and I guess it's a piracy issue, maybe, but argh, it bugs, I'd much rather read a pdf on my laptop than use whatever other software, Calibre or whatnot, to read.

[persephone-kore.livejournal.com]

I... hope that when I have kids, they will have enough imagination/or and enough awareness of technological change that they can read a book written and set in the "present" of 30 years ago without being confused or alienated.

And I know everybody raves over Deep Wizardry, but my favorite is High Wizardry with SYW a close second, and while I'm glad she decided to continue the series, none of the later ones have ever come close even temporarily. I don't think she's going to mess it up, but I admit to being a little afraid that little things I really liked will go away.

Edit: That said, I can definitely understand wanting to fix continuity issues, and I can see how the ever-changing "now is the time of publication" timeline could throw people. While part of me wants to say that it's good to expose people to different ways of constructing a story/series, I can't say I'd want to insist on it against the author's wishes and against the interest of sales of an ongoing series. :P

[fiveforsilver]

That's so interesting, because I've mostly seen people pan DW as the boring, slow one (which I don't understand at all, I think it's amazing, but whatever :).

[readingredhead.livejournal.com]

I don't think DD will or could make changes that affect the integrity of the original work

This is pretty much my view on the whole thing. (I mean, it's not like this is going to be the Star Wars original trilogy DVD re-release where they cut in footage of Hayden Christensen as Darth Vader, or added new scenes willy nilly.) I firmly believe that if everyone read YW the world could be a better place, and I'm a supporter of anything that gets people closer to that goal! That said, if the "updates" do get issued as physical books and overtake the "original" editions, I will count my "originals" as even prouder possessions.

I know what you mean about loving SYWTBAW despite its clunkiness. It's also up there on my favorites list, but every time I try to get a new friend to start the series, they make it past there and stop (or don't even make it through).

On chronology: it gets frustrating after a while not knowing, like you say, but I love how you pinned the "timelessness" of this series. So true.

[borg-princess.livejournal.com]

I...what? People are complaining that a book written years ago doesn't reflect our modern society? I just wiki'd and SYWTBAW was written in 1982. Of course the kids aren't going to be running around with mobile phones! And I re-read the first few books this year and even from a modern perspective, I didn't find it 'lame'. I just think it's a bit ridiculous that kids are whining about her not being psychic enough to see all the advances in society and incorporate it in her books back in the 80s. Jeez.

[mat-t.livejournal.com]

I'm sort of glad she's doing the tech update. While I love the books, I do tend to skip over High Wizardry when I'm rereading because it feels so very dated. None of the others strike me that way, just HW.

I wonder if she's going to alter Dairine's Star Wars love too, since it's unlikely that a kid born in the 21st century would have had SW sheets and been fixated on the original trilogy.

[persephone-kore.livejournal.com]

I wonder if she's going to alter Dairine's Star Wars love too, since it's unlikely that a kid born in the 21st century would have had SW sheets and been fixated on the original trilogy.

That would be... unfortunate.

[ariastar.livejournal.com]

I wonder if she's going to alter Dairine's Star Wars love too, since it's unlikely that a kid born in the 21st century would have had SW sheets and been fixated on the original trilogy.

Nah, Dairine could've grown up when the prequel trilogy was coming out and still use that as a gateway to being all enthusiastic about the original trilogy and having Yoda sheets and wanting to battle Vader. That doesn't seem far-fetched or in need of handwaving.

[mat-t.livejournal.com]

I just wonder if she'll alter the text all to indicate that. :)

[ariastar.livejournal.com]

Fair enough! I just think (& hope) it's more likely DD won't bother with an explanation for Dairine's Star Wars love than change it to, I dunno, her wanting to battle space Voldemort.

[persephone-kore.livejournal.com]

The story parallels wouldn't work with Voldemort -- he doesn't repent and get redeemed in the last (or third, or any) installment.

[vr-trakowski.livejournal.com]

Depends on the parents...some geeky parents raise their kids on the good stuff!

[ariastar.livejournal.com]

I ... am kind of looking forward to this! I think I would be UTTERLY HORRIFIED, except that I have the comfy old paperback editions of the first four, y'know, the ones where the cover of SYWTBAW looks like a Dali-esque nightmare, &c -- so even if she does rewrites, I still have the proper ones.

Mostly I am very excited because the timelines frequently make my head explode. I only really have two timeline issues -- Dairine giving her manual her date of birth complete with year, and the fact that I can't figure out whether all nine books have taken place over a year and change, or over a bit more than two. Other than that I do like that they always take place Now, but if DD's updating them, maybe she can iron out the timeline issues also.

...This, and I constantly go back and forth on which of the books is my favorite, but High Wizardry especially does have a very important place in my heart. I would therefore be extremely interested in seeing an update of Spot and the mobiles and all that good stuff.

I am not very good at being a bitter old fan. :)

[readingredhead.livejournal.com]

Oh god, I have that SYWTBAW cover, and the first time I gave the book to someone else to read, they glanced at the cover and handed it back, saying that it looked nothing like their kind of book! Although I do think it shows exactly how ahead-of-time these books are: even today, I don't know of many people doing YA urban fantasy, which is what SYWTBAW really is.

[senri.livejournal.com]

OT but I love that Dali-esque nightmare of a cover +_+

[starlady38.livejournal.com]

Yeah, I agree, I'm pretty excited, perhaps even more for the timeline stuff than for the tech updates (though, if AWoM conforms to DD's preferred timeline/character ages, I think I'll wind up disagreeing with her official version. ah well).

[ariastar.livejournal.com]

What do you think the updated timeline might be? I can't for the life of me figure it out.

[starlady38.livejournal.com]

There was something in AWoM that made me think that DD was going for a really compressed timeline…I've always thought it's been about two years in-books since SYWtBaW. AWoM also confirmed Dairine as eleven, which was at the lower end of my range for what I thought her age was.

[tortoises.livejournal.com]

After reading DD's post about it I'm not as D: as I was at first, but I have to admit I don't like the idea of having the revised versions as the only ones available in print. I know she said they'll be available as ebook/POD, but it's not the same. I honestly don't find SYT clunky (it's probably my second favourite after AWA, tied with HW) and I'm worried it would lose some of its charm in a rewrite. That said, I probably wouldn't mind a SYT rewrite/rework without the update as much as one with - the charm thing again. (

[fiveforsilver]

Even though I've been a fan of these books for half my life - and High Wizardry with all its outdated tech was the first one I read and will always be one of my favorites - I'm looking forward to this. As long as she manages to keep as light a touch as she says she's going to, I think it will be good.

I mean, for us long-time fans, the goofy timeline and dated technology is part of the charm of the series. But, for example, rereading SYWTBAW with a critical eye, I can see how it's clunky at times, especially compared to her more recent books. If she can put out a "revised for the new millennium" shiny new edition that will be interesting for us to read and bring her new fans and more sales, and make one of my absolute favorite series fun and relevant for new generations of kids, I am all about that.

[persephone-kore.livejournal.com]

You know what I think would be neat but unlikely? If instead of just-the-past-few-years, she set it when the top Mac laptop was a Powerbook. ;)

[gfish.livejournal.com]

Even when I first read it (~1990?) High Wizardry felt dated and awkward, more like YW fanfic. I wouldn't mind seeing that one revised. But I really fear seeing ipods and iphones shoved into the first two.

And why must they always be Apple products? Are The Powers That Be really so hipsterly obsessed with Cupertino? The closed, restrictive Apple dev model doesn't seem very wizardly, much less the focus on surface appearance over direct access. Real wizards use a unix command prompt, obviously.

Grr, I guess I'm feeling curmudgeonly today. Damned kids! :)

[posicat.livejournal.com]

Apple products do tend to be overbuilt, and on errantry something that's hard to destroy would be a great benefit. Though I keep hoping the manual shows up in the Android store someday.

I imagine the main reason is that DD is most familiar with Apple, and the old saying goes "write what you know"

[kd7sov]

Back in my day...

No, no real problems here. Like other people have said, I trust DD. I don't feel like it's a problem, but if the people who haven't bought the books yet tend to, then the person who stands to make or lose money has a perfect right to make cosmetic changes.

[readingredhead.livejournal.com]

Am I the only one who also saw that she's planning on adding in "extra" scenes in addition to general rewrite stuff? Frankly, I would probably buy the books for those alone. Yes, it will change the way I see the originals, but I am ALWAYS up for more Kit, Nita, and Dairine! (Now, if only she'd find some way to give us "deleted scenes" from later editions, like Dairine & Roshaun's visit to the moon in WH...)

[dduane.livejournal.com]

So here's something for you guys to chew over. (This has been posted over at the YW forums (http://www.youngwizards.com/forums/young-wizards-new-millennium-editions/2452-go-date.html#post54072) as well, for those of you who are forum members.)

Potential "go" date for the events of SYWTBAW: Spring 2000. Discuss.

[labellementeuse.livejournal.com]

I went through this whole list of objections and then I had to delete them all feeling silly because I forgot that spring is April, not September. (Hemisphere issues ...) Right. *flexes fingers*

So, if I follow this correctly (thanks as always to Peter (http://web.archive.org/web/20060211135759/http://www.table76.demon.co.uk/YW/timeline.html); when is someone going to rehost that, by the way?):
- SYWTBAW: spring 2000 (March?) Nita is 13. Kit is 12. Dairine is 11.
- DW: early summer, 2000
- HW: late summer, 2000
- Kit has a summer birthday so at some point here turns 13. (After DW?)
- AWAb: late summer, 2001. Nita is 14. Kit is about to turn or has turned 14. Dairine is 12.
- Sometime before Dilemma: dinosaurs in Central Park and the events of TBONWM. (Possibly between HW and AWAb.)
- Dilemma: very early fall 2001. Nita is 14, Kit is 14, Dairine is 12 but about to turn 13. (Peter has a September date for this which I don't think works because I think if 9/11 happened in the middle Nita and Kit probably would notice, and I think if it was just before they would mention. Which means Nita has just found out her mom is going to die when 9/11 happens. That's really cheery. :()
- Nita's mom dies around Christmas 2001. Nita is 14, Kit is 14, Dairine is 13. (Wow, they're old.)
- AWAl: winter 2002, after Christmas. Nita is 14, Kit is 14, Dairine is 13.
- AWH: spring break, 2002. Harry discusses 9/11 with Tom (it seems like it's recent enough that AWAb must be 2001, not 2002). Nita is 14 about to turn 15, Kit is 14, Dairine is 14.
- W@W: also spring 2002. Same ages - Nita possibly turns 15 between the books. Darryl has a wizpod that is significantly shinier than iPods of that era. Spot is also a little fancier than might be expected. But that's OK. WIZARD TECHNOLOGY.
- WOM: early summer 2002. (Although there's a Julian date in there for 2007). Nita is 15, Kit is 14, Dairine is 13. Peter has a stated intention from DD for Kit to turn 15 in here, but I don't think that quite plays. But 14 and 15 is a pretty respectable dating age IMO.

Opinions, everybody? That looks pretty solid to me although it's only my guesses. ??

[eavanmoore.livejournal.com]

I'm torn on whether the events of AWAb and Dilemma are more plausible in 2000 or 2001. If there's a whole year between Dairine's Ordeal and the trip to Ireland, that's a lot of empty space to fill. It gives the 'rents too much time to get worried, and it gives Dairine a lot of time with her peak powers.

On the other hand, it felt as though there was not enough breathing room between DW and HW, and between HW and AWAb, if we interpreted it as all occurring in June and July of 2000 (which it would have to be, for the six weeks in Ireland to go as planned.) You turn around and *snap* Dairine's a wizard! Turn around and *snap* Nita's parents are freaking out!

All of which is to say, there are some important interpersonal developments that don't hang well with either the compressed or elongated timelines. I'd go with the one that doesn't have major events taking place during 9/11, because as you say, that would be a an unavoidable problem.

[odette-river.livejournal.com]

The a re-boot of the Animorphs series has just started being printed, and that's been highly anticipated in the fandom, so I can't really say that I'm against a re-print here as well. Of course, with Animorphs a lot of the excitement is because the original series is out of print. Still, the concept is similar--update 90's references, make computers less clunky, etc.

I will also say that when I was reading High Wizardry for the first time, back in 2001 or so, I found it very outdated. I was able to cope, but that was partially because I'd played around with computers like the one Dairine had when I was a kid. Most kids my age had never done something like that.