originally posted by Jeff
Hi, Janny.
Now that the third arc is complete, I'm wondering if you'd share the points in the arc where you had originally planned to divide the story; before it was expanded to five volumes.
Thank you.
originally posted by Sandra Jacob
I'll second that request!
originally posted by Laneth Sffarlenn
And I'll form the head!
Wait… no, wrong 'verse.
I'll third that request!
The break point I wanted was after the Maze of Davien.
IMPOSSIBLE.
They couldn't have bound the book.
originally posted by Sleo
You mean it would have been one book from the beginning of Fugitive Prince to the end of the Maze of Davien? Wow. That would have been one big book!
That's what I said: impossible!
originally posted by Sleo
LOL 
originally posted by Jeff
Thanks for the answer, Janny.
On my next re-read, I'll keep that break point in mind.
That brings to mind the finale to
Robert Jordan's Wheel of Time series.
He had planned for book 12 to be in one volume regardless of the size.
After his passing, his wife permitted it to be
completed and split eventually into three volumes.
I can imagine how excess depth could be an obstacle, but I wonder if he'd planned to have it published in an oversize format, such as 8.5"Wide x 11"High. He had a "…World of Wheel of Time"
illustrated companion volume to the series in that size.
Janny, are those dimensions something you would have considered or would the nonstandard size (for fiction) have been too daunting for the casual reader? Too costly to produce?
Of course there may be other factors I haven't considered…
That would be a good size for a map!
Jeff, too costly to produce, and it would have hefted (to read) like an unabridged dictionary - That Fat.
Simply impossible.
I was thinking (for that break point) in terms of STORY RHYTHM, and Peril's Gate is the tipping point - after the Maze, everything rearranges and converges - there would have been no 'bastard start' - no Fugitive Prince where people (some) 'assumed' the books were slowing down and sprawling.
It would have contiguously built to that point, and then, vol II would denoue it all.
Given the physical constraints of the SIZE of this work, it was not possible - I don't think I did a bad job of engineering the breakpoints to subdivide. I didn't just write until I had to stop. Each book's start and finale was re-crafted to work in sections.
Arc III had the largest leaps to cover.
Arc IV's vol I is straight up on schedule, so I have no worries it will fall in as planned.
And Arc V is all denouement.
originally posted by Mark Stephen Kominski
*Gets out dictionary and thumbs through it furiously…muttering…*
No, no, she CAN'T mean resolution of narrative plot…surely, she phonetically meant "da new bent", alluding to the departing plot twists in Arc V that will cause the series to continue for another 10 books…! 
originally posted by Sleo
Thanks for the chuckle, Mark. Wouldn't it be nice if all good things didn't have to end?