The list
Everything that never reaches the page
A novel is the narrow part of the work. The rest — the statute that turned into a plot, the snowfall record, the map of a county that is not on any map — gets thrown away by most writers. I keep it, and this is where it goes.
- How the book got written
- The research underneath it
- What got cut, and why
- Documents from the record
- Maps, plats and bonus art
- Publication dates first
What you are getting
- How a book actually gets built: the idea that started it, the thing that was wrong with the first draft, and what got cut and why.
- The research underneath the novels — the statute, the snow, the oxidation front, the folklore — most of which never reaches the page.
- Documents out of the Sisu Bay record: a parish register, a mining charter, the carbon copy of a purchase offer.
- Maps, plats, and artwork made for the county rather than for the covers. This part is being built now.
- Word when a book is finished and when it is out, here before it is anywhere else.
- How often
- Weekly for the first six weeks, while there is a county to introduce. After that, about twice a month.
- Getting out
- Every email has an unsubscribe link at the bottom and it works immediately.
- Your address
- Your address is not sold, traded, or given to anyone, for any reason. The list is one-way — nobody on it can see anybody else, and nobody but me can post to it.
- Not the book
- Nothing sent to this list appears in any of the books. It is written for the list.
Emails come from William Penwell, 750 E. Hurd Rd., Monroe, MI 48162. The list is one-way: nobody on it can see anybody else on it, and nobody but me can post to it.