How Much Change?

Several readers have contacted me recently about my statement, in my September 02^nd posting, that I am currently re-editing book three of the series, in preparation for publishing a new edition once the HarperCollins hardcover edition goes out of print. Their concern was to know how much book 3, and the first two books that have already been republished, have been changed from the original editions, and whether the changes to the story are significant enough to warrant buying new editions of the books. Let me try to clear that up.

As I re-edit the books, I’m basically making the following four types of changes, all of which are minor:

(1)   Corrections of misspelled words, punctuation errors, and other small grammar and typographical errors. There are still  a few of these I’ve found that managed to escape discovery by the original editors and me when the books were first edited by HarperCollins, prior to being published.

(2)   Changes that undo a usage HarperCollins insisted on, that I’ve never really agreed with. There are very, very few of these, they are all very minor, and they arose from the final prepublication copy-editing done by HarperCollins. For the most part, I thought all of the suggestions made by the original HarperCollins editors, both as to the story itself and as to writing issues,  were very useful and improved the books. But every once in a while I did not agree with how they might want to restructure a sentence, for example, or substitute a different word for one I had used.  I have—again, only a very few times—recognized some these while re-editing the first three books, weighed the choices in my mind, and have decided, now that it’s my call to make, to revert to what I had originally written.

(3)   Continuity errors. That’s what I call them, anyway.  When films are made, they are shot one scene at a time, and scenes that occur sequentially once the film is edited and  assembled may be shot days apart. Because of this, close attention to continuity issues is very important. For example, if an actor is not wearing the same thing in two sequential scenes that supposedly occur only moments apart, the disparity breaks continuity and can cause the audience to be distracted from the story.

Continuity is similarly an issue when writing an ongoing story like the Strongbow Saga, told across multiple books, each of which may be written a year or sometimes even longer after the preceding book. I try to be consistent with the details from book to book, but it can be difficult. Re-editing and republishing books 1 through 3 has given me a chance to find and correct continuity errors. For example, early in book 2, Dragons from the Sea, Halfdan is offered wine by Hastein, and—never having drunk it before—he is somewhat taken aback by its blood-like appearance. That was actually a continuity error. A very astute reader named Melissa Morgan alerted me that in book 1, Viking Warrior, on the first night of the sailing voyage up to the Limfjord, Halfdan, Harald, and Harald’s men share “a skin filled with Frankish wine.” That became, in the new Northman Books edition, “a skin filled with strong brown ale.” And once aware of that error, I found another, similar one: when Halfdan and Harald are in the bathing room of the longhouse after their successful deer hunt, Sigrid brings them Frankish wine mulled with spices and honey. In the new Northman books edition, that became mulled mead.

(4)   Perfectionist changes. The last type of change I‘ve made when re-editing the first three books are reflections of the fact that I’m somewhat of a perfectionist, and am always analyzing what I’ve already written, trying to finds ways to improve it (which is in no small part why it takes me so long to complete a book). Here’s an example out of book 3, which I’m currently re-editing.

Chapter 6 of The Road to Vengeance begins on the morning after Halfdan and Genevieve were attacked in the street outside of Wulf’s house in Ruda, and Halfdan killed the two attackers. Because he fears how Ragnar, who has forbidden fighting among members of the Danish army while it is in Frankia, will react, Halfdan has hidden the bodies in Wulf’s storehouse. But Hastein, Torvald, and Ivar show up unexpectedly at Wulf’s home, and notice the large amount of recently spilled blood in the street. Hastein questions Halfdan about what happened. The portion of the scene I modified originally read:

Hastein, however, did not look pleased.

            “They were Danes?” he asked. I nodded. He stared at me silently for a time, then let out a long sigh. “Were you going to tell me of this?” he demanded.

Once Hastein learns that the attack was instigated by Toke’s henchman, Snorre, he is somewhat mollified, and tells Halfdan: 

“We will have to deal with this matter later,” he said. “For now, we must learn what these Franks at our gate desire of us.”

As I reread this scene, I realized that Hastein never asks, and never learns, where the bodies are. I found that inconsistent with Hastein’s character, and implausible—if the bodies might be found at any time, they would not have the luxury of deciding how to deal with them later. So I rewrote the above passage to read:

Hastein, however, did not look pleased.

            “Where are the dead men’s bodies?”

            “We…I…have hidden them in Wulf’s storehouse.”

            “They were Danes?” he asked. I nodded. He stared at me silently for a time, then let out a long sigh. “Were you going to tell me of this?” he demanded.

So to sum up, the changes that I’ve made to books 1 through 3 of the Strongbow Saga, during the process of republishing them, have all been very minor and do not change the story itself at all. I think a reader would have to compare each version line by line, side by side, to even be able to tell what changes have been made. If you already own an earlier edition of the books, you will not need to buy the new editions because of the changes.

The one significant change between the new editions and the old (besides, of course, the new covers), is that the new Northman Books editions each contain one or more maps that illustrate where the story took place, and the route of Halfdan’s travels. But as part of the ongoing renovation and upgrading of my website, the new maps will eventually be available here, so that owners of the older editions of the books can have access to them.