Wednesday, July 23, 2008

Having Fun

Just a quick update to let you know that I'm loving every minute of working on THE MAZE RUNNER rewrite. It's just so fun to immerse myself back in this story that I love so much. I'm expanding it drastically, and adding a depth that was flat out lacking the first time around.

I've also added a couple of completely new scenes that are AWESOME! Well, in my humble opinion. An example of the overall change: the scene I just finished ends on page 114. In the old version, it ended on page 64. Those extra 50 pages have made it SO much better.

So, I'm officially at 27,134 words. I'm estimating it will be around 90,000 when finished. Stay tuned for further updates.

My wife and I saw THE DARK KNIGHT yesterday. Loved it, but maybe a little bit less than I thought I would. I think that's purely based on my ridiculous expectations. If I had to ever be part of a three-headed monster, I'd love to be with Christian Bale and Christopher Nolan. Those guys are talented geniuses.

And how awesome is it that Bale is John Connor in the upcoming Terminator trilogy? Too bad he has a crazy mom and sister that accused him of assaulting them. Christian Bale do that? Never I say! Hello? His name is Christian!

Life is good, hope all is well with you. My family is having a BBQ with the infamous (it's when someone's not just famous, they're infamous - name that movie) Brandon Sanderson and his lovely wife Emily. They're going to share their infinite wisdom with me as I take on this bold undertaking of being a full-time author.

Oh, and I found out today that we may have a cover for THE HUNT FOR DARK INFINITY in 2 or 3 weeks. Can't wait!!!!!!

10 comments:

Dedee said...

I want to have a barbeque with Brandon Sanderson and you too. (That was horrible English. Sorry.) Can I come?

Have fun an all counts.

Tamra Norton said...

Dashner, you big name-dropper, poo-poo head! The day Stephenie Meyer calls to invite me out to sushi, you're going to be the first person I tell!

Glad to hear Maze is going so well.

Kimberly Vanderhorst said...

Your enthusiasm is just leaping out of the screen at me here, love it!

I'm engaged in a similar process, except doing it in my own amateurish way (way to go pro, James!). Taking a 50,000 word first draft and adding another 30,000 words or so. It's been incredible. I love that wanting to punch the air feeling that comes from adding a scene that just sparkles, or tweaking things to that there's more depth to what was originally a fairly shallow story.

Reading this post makes me want to get back to work on it. Thanks for the inspiration!

And hey, I know that Eowyn chick. I'd invite her. Her cooking is fab.

LaFemmeSimple said...

I can't believe you didn't fall out of your seat over TDK...I went in w/ medium expectations though, so I was blown away...

I wanna go see it again lol...

Tell Brandon I said hi, and I schilled his book (sort of) on my blog today...and yours...and Savage's lol...

J.N. Future Author said...

i have not seen dark knight...*pouts*

thats awesome that your getting a cover! thats always one of my favorite parts of a book. finding out what the cover looks like

J.N. Future Author said...

i just came back from Dark Knight (I saw it with some friends)

it was very good! but very dark as well. and the ending scene! wow. it was simply amazing

Rachelle Christensen said...

Wow, Maze Runner is going to rock! I'll have to think about Dark Knight, if being the joker made Heath Ledger commit suicide, it sounds pretty scary. But I loved the first Batman, Christian Bale was awesome!

Q said...

Oh, oh, oh! Brandon Sanderson? I am jealous. I'm GREEN with envy.

Scoops Mangum said...

James, the movie quote is from "The Three Amigos" CLASSIC! So many great lines in that film!

Just an FYI to Rachelle, Ledger completed "The Dark Knight" several months before his accidental overdose of prescription pills. He didn't commit suicide. He said playing the Joker was the most fun he ever had as an actor.

He was working on the film "The Imaginarium of Dr. Parnasus" directed by Terry Gilliam when he died. He was shooting in Europe, came to New York after shooting the first half of the movie, developed pneumonia and that coupled with the drug interactions caused his death. The film will be completed with Johnny Depp, Colin Farrell and Jude Law playing Ledger's character after he travels through a magic mirror. Each actor will play Ledger's character at different times. It was a tragic accident, not suicide. Terrible loss.

See the movie, and honor his skills. The film is amazing.

tapestry100 said...

TDK was amazing! I'm heading back to see it in the IMAX - if it was that good on a small screen, I can't imagine what it's going to be like on a huge screen!

And just to let you know, I'm nominating your blog for an award. I love stopping by and seeing what you are writing about (be it about the next great Dashner book or whatever else you've got going on). Thanks for some great reading time with your blog!