I've been hard at work on editing City of the Snakes. I've been getting through more than 50 pages every day. I haven't had to make any real structural changes, just tighten it up a lot. There was a nice twist halfway through, a scene that made me grin when I came back to it again. Most of the time when I'm writing, I don't think about my audience or consider how people are going to react. But every so often I find myself thinking about my readers and how they'll respond, and those are some of the best moments of writing for me. I'm certain, when people who've read the first two books come to this point, they're going to have the same grin on their faces that I had when I hit it yesterday, and that connection - even though nobody will get to read the book for another two years - pleases me greatly. What's even better is that it's a twist that sharp readers will be able to anticipate if they're paying attention, but one that I think most will miss. Those are always my favourite twists -- the ones which are obvious in retrospect (such as the one involving the title in Book 12 of The Saga, or Harkat Mulds or Juni Swan's true identities), but which most readers never realise until it's revealed, at which point they groan, "Why the hell didn't I see THAT coming?!?"

Of course, those who DO see it coming never have quite the same reaction -- indeed, some don't like it when I allow them to second-guess me; they want complete surprises, twists that are impossible to predict. (They're wrong, by the way, as I've said before -- the best twists are always those which can be predicted. A good story should always signpost its twists, not TOO obviously, but having unexpected things happen all the time, just to keep throwing readers, is bad story-telling.) Those people often find it hard to believe that not all readers saw what they saw. Like those who figured out the twist in The Sixth Sense, they think that surely EVERYONE must have been able to do it, since - to them - it's so obvious. But that's the trick about a really cool twist -- yes, it IS obvious when you figure it out, but most people don't!!! After book 10 of The Saga came out, my Message Boards were full of people claiming they'd cracked the Harkat mystery far in advance, and saying how obvious it was, and anyone who didn't see it coming was a fool -- but I have a long memory, and I can't recall more than 2 or 3 mentioning it before that book was released. Maybe all those super-sleuths kept quiet beforehand, so as not to spoil the twist for others. Or maybe they were just being wise after the fact ...

Anyway, I love a good, slyly telegraphed twist, and City of the Snakes contains one of my favourites, so I hope you all enjoy it when you get to read the book in 2010!!!!

On the movie front, recently I saw Notes on a Scandal, a very sly, dark comedy (or tragedy, depending on how you look at it), brilliantly acted and sharply paced -- strongly recommended. I finally caught up with The Faculty (I can't believe I never saw it before!!), and while it's totally throwaway trash, it's nicely handled and lots of fun. Thank You For Smoking is an amusing satire of the spin-doctor syndrome, which neatly avoids the sentimental pitfalls such films normally fall into. And I've just seen half of the third Pirates of the Caribbean film -- I'll probably watch the second half later tonight. Johnny Depp is still wonderful as Captain Jack, and the effects are commendable, but boy is it long!!! The second film was at least half an hour too long, and this one's even longer!! I really do enjoy this series, but how much better it would have been if someone had just told the director to make each segment no longer than two hours ... Aaarrrrrrr!!!!!!