Cause, Effect, and Author's Intent

[shelver506.livejournal.com]

I've always wondered when reading a book as twisty as The Thief or its sequels how exactly certain details fall into place. For instance, in the very beginning, we read this moment between the Magus and Gen:

"We might someday attain a relationship of mutual respect," he said softly. First, I thought, I will see gods walking the earth.


Obviously, exactly that happens. The gods walk, then mutual respect. But which chronology is more likely? Did MWT scribble this fairly common figure of speech down and then coincidentally make it come true later? Did she scribble it down and then later go "Oh! I can use that!"? Did she place the figure of speech in the paragraph purposely, having already anticipated what would happen next? Or did she write the later stuff, then go back and slip the phrase in during edits?

Granted, this is a fairly simple example and the penultimate option is the most likely. But in general, which do you all think happens the most? I can't come up with other examples at the moment.

Comments

[agentmaly.livejournal.com]

I definitely can't pretend to know MWT's writing process, but I actually don't think the penultimate option is the most likely. I would go for either option two or option four. Maybe she did have The Thief fully plotted before writing the first draft, but I would venture that it didn't arrive fully formed.

[bookishbabe.livejournal.com]

What would be the harm in dropping the "not telling" banner and answering this one, dear author? Or do you just want to see what we come up with? I promise we won't feel as though you have stolen the thunder of the speculation, we really would like to know how the story unfolds and is put together.
My bet is on purposeful placement, but I wonder if there were any serendipitous moments at all in the writing process.

[lylassandra.livejournal.com]

The actual gods showing up and Gen's secret identity are pretty much the whole point of the book, so I doubt she wrote that sentence beforehand. I definitely picture a mischievous look on her face when she included it, though!

[ayvara.livejournal.com]

I am never sure with MWT's writing...some of it is obviously pre-planned but details such as these are impossible to know. My guess is she uses all four options in general, and for this case, maybe option one or three?

[rosaleeluann.livejournal.com]

I think in this case it was placed deliberately, but in other cases I don't know. I know that what goes into the book and stays in is very carefully chosen. I believe in most cases its deliberate rather than serendipitous.

[booksrgood4u.livejournal.com]

I think that foreshadowing plays a big role in TT, so MWT probably had an idea what the end result was going to be and added little hints and things like this along the way.

Alternatively, she added them to keep us Sounisians busy until the next books comes out!!

[hazelwillow.livejournal.com]

I have an idea, or perhaps it's just speculation, that MWT might tell the story to herself or to someone else before actually writing it down. I have no idea if that's true or not, but I was really struck by the fact that she told the story of QoA (I think it was) to her editor (or friend? Gosh, this is getting more shoddy as it goes on!), in a coffee shop, before it was written. If that is true, she must somehow get the process of discovering what will happen over with before choosing the actual words...

And now I feel really stupid. I swear there was an interview where she talked about this stuff a little bit. Just have to go back and find whatever interview it was...

As for lines like that in The Thief, I believe she must have written the entire story (or the draft that became the book, anyway), with the entire knowledge of what would happen, because she was writing as Eugenides writing after the fact, and he had to know. the whole book is practically one whole double entendre, and I just don't think so many double meanings could have been worked in unless she was thinking in that mindset of "this is what I/Gen know, but *this* is what I want them to know", the entire time.

[crazededdisian.livejournal.com]

Yeah, I remember her saying in an interview that she makes a scene in her head, tells it to her husband, and then writes it down. I think . . . .

[(Anonymous)]

As a professional novelist, I must say that I have tens and tens of pages' worth of clearly-plotted storyline - including a fully-realized ending, with notations for foreshadowing - before the first word hits the page.

Now, even though I'm about six fathoms down the chain from MWT's magic, I simply cannot see how such a twist ending, never mind ANY ending, could be as satisfying and organic without a similar degree of planning. In other words, if MWT didn't have the entire Gen storyline planned out before she began, I'll eat my hat (or, at least, be very, very astonished.) For us lucky readers, this little gem of a sentence is early on in our adventure.... for MWT, it's the middle of a story she probably had known for a very long time already.

But hey, I still might have to eat my hat!

Scotty