Reckoning (33 page)

In the top left is the triangle I never ended up using – but the numbers of Elites, Members, Intermediates and Trogs are the same in my initial notes as they are in the book. On the top right was the structure of the overall book. The first act is Silver's realisation of what the system is, the second is the escape from the castle. As it was, the escape ended up being my final act in this book. It's more introduction/realisation/ escape.

In my first draft, the book started with Silver being distracted by Opie. I say she is fishing here, but that never made it into the final draft. Also, I hadn't worked out Opie's name – he's just a line. The Reckoning was called the Awakening and the Offerings are called the Chosen. Neither of those made it into the first draft. The notes are still a bit scattered but a lot of the plot points exist in the final book – such as the King skewering someone at a feast.

At the top of this third notepad page, much of the conversation with Hart is exactly how it happens, some of it word for word. This was always going to be the moment where Silver realises exactly what's going on. Before that, she doesn't really know what to think. The idea of the King's ‘public face' is what gave me the ultimate ending of
Reckoning.

Imrin is introduced on this page in much the same way as in the actual book, although I have him working in electronics rather than textiles. I was unsure about everyone's roles here and didn't really know what sort of jobs would be on offer around the castle. That all came later when I was actually writing. There's also the first aborted escape on here too.

I don't really know where the idea of the hidden zoo came from on this fourth page. I liked the idea that the castle, and therefore the King, had all these wonderful creatures, Noah's Ark style, and then wasn't bothered about it.

Pietra is rather tactfully called ‘girl' here but Silver ending up in the hospital again happens almost exactly like the actual book. After the first quarter of this page, most of the beats of the story are untouched.

The idea next to the ‘XX' at the bottom is something to which I didn't quite get. I wanted to show what a ‘normal' day was like when you were working in the castle. I couldn't make it work because Silver's day is different to what the others' was like; Porter isn't as horrible to her as some of the other Head Kingsmen. Most of the ideas noted down still crop up, just not how I'd originally thought.

The top line of this page is perhaps key to the core message of the books: people can have power without knowing it if they work together. I know that sounds a bit socialist! The point was supposed to be that the King might expect his Kingsmen and Head Kingsmen to betray him, but he'd never expect the people at the bottom of the chain to try.

The ending is sort of here but not really, which gives you the clue that I didn't have the exact finish. Broadly, it's there: ‘Run for it' – which pretty much sums up what happens. The intricacies around that came through writing the rest of the book.

Before I started writing
Reckoning,
I wanted to make sure I knew how the world had got to the point at which it started. The first three words on this final page spell out a lot of that – ‘Oil ran out'. After that it is general odds and ends. Some of this fed into the main book but some of it doesn't really matter. For example, ‘Most of Mid East wiped out' is something to which I never quite got.

When I write, it's entirely electronically. I send myself emails, I write plots in Notepad and back them up on pen drives and through things like Dropbox. This is more or less the only thing I've ever plotted with pen and paper. The only problem was trying to decipher it when I got home – my handwriting is appalling, as you can see.

After all of that, the existence of this series is down to two things: the fact I love
Doctor Who
and the sunshine. The reason it's got this far is, for the most part, down to two people.

Firstly, there is my agent, Nicola. I say ‘agent' but it's hard to think of her like that. We talk, text, or email pretty much every day. She was the first person to read the Silver books and instantly set out to get them into your hands.

Secondly is the person who edited these books: Natasha. I have a barely concealed secret that I am awful at being edited, which is the irony of ironies considering that was my day job for a decade. It's not that I mind people tinkering with my words, or that I think I'm always right. It's that I hate looking backwards. I always want to be working on the next project, not bothering myself with things with which I'm done. Most of the time, I can't even remember large amounts of the plot. Frequently, I'll have to re-read something I've written in the editing process and I'll be surprised by the twists because I don't remember writing them. What that means is that when an editor asks me a question about something, I'm as blank as they are. So the editing process for the first Silver book was a long and, for me, frustrating one.

Anyway, the truth is that if it wasn't for Natasha championing the character and the series, and putting up with my complaining, then it wouldn't be in your hands now. For that, we should all send her tweets and emails saying she has good taste. She does.

Also by Kerry Wilkinson

BEHIND CLOSED DOORS

THICKER THAN WATER

PLAYING WITH FIRE

THINK OF THE CHILDREN

THE WOMAN IN BLACK

VIGILANTE

LOCKED IN

RECKONING.
Copyright © 2014 by Kerry Wilkinson. All rights reserved. For information, address St. Martin's Press, 175 Fifth Avenue, New York, N.Y. 10010.

www.stmartins.com

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First published in Great Britain by Pan Books, an imprint of Pan Macmillan Ltd., a division of Macmillan Publishers Limited

First U.S. Edition: July 2014

eISBN 9781466838543

First eBook edition: May 2014

RENEGADE

the second book in the Silver Blackthorn trilogy

BY KERRY WILKINSON

 

Silver Blackthorn is on the run.

All she really wants is to be reunited with her family and friends but the time for thinking about herself has passed. Now the fates of eleven other teenagers are in her hands – and they are all looking to her for a plan.

With an entire country searching for the escaped Offerings, Silver is under pressure to keep them all from the clutches of the Minister Prime, King Victor and the Kingsmen. As expectations are piled upon the girl with the silver streak in her hair, she realises that life will never be the same again.

Huge changes are on the horizon and Silver will be forced to face them head on …

 

ISBN 978-1-4472-3531-6