The first draft of Hell’s Horizon was radically different to the finished book. Not only was the story a lot simpler, but the style was far more clumsy. I was 23 years old when I started work on the book, in September 1995, and I still had a LOT to learn about how to write.
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When Hell’s Horizon was first published back in February 2000, it opened with a prologue set when Al Jeery was a baby. I thought the prologue was an interesting place to start, and it gave an early indication that Al was special, that he was linked in with the Incans.
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Below you can find two scans of the first set of notes I wrote up for Hell’s Horizon, back in September 1995 when I started work on the first draft of the book. As you’ll see, this was a VERY different beast to the finished novel!
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One of the pieces of advice I give to young authors is to plot out a book as clearly as you can — if you have a clear idea of where you want to go with a story, it makes the actual job of writing a whole lot easier. But it’s advice I didn’t follow myself when I was starting out — I often worked from the barest of notes. Below you can find all the notes I used when writing the first draft of Ayuamarca. As you can see, they’re fairly skimpy!
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When Procession of the Dead was first published in 1999 as Ayuamarca, there was a scene where the Cardinal explained to Capac how he played the stock market so skillfully. I decided, when revisiting the book, that the scene was a bit too ridiculous, so I altered it extensively. This is how it originally appeared.
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When Procession of the Dead was first published in 1999 as Ayuamarca, it began with a prologue set in Macchu Picchu. This explained more about the Incas and why they set off in search of the City. While the prologue served an important purpose, I felt in retrospect that it was confusing and off-putting to new readers. I decided this time round to begin with Capac and thrust readers immediately into the action. But for those of you who wish to know more of those mysterious blind priests, here is the original prologue as it appeared in the first printing of the book.
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When I came to write the second draft of Ayuamarca, in 1994/1995, I expanded vastly on the first draft, almost doubling the length. I also added a prologue, which I later discarded — in fact, I forgot about it completely until I went back through my paperwork in preparation for work on this site! It’s easy to see why I never used this prologue — it presents too much information too fast, and would be very confusing for anyone unfamiliar with the story. But for those who have read the book, I think it provides another interesting insight into the world of the Cardinal and the Incas, albeit a not-fully-formed insight — this came from a time when I was still working on the dynamics of the plot and the powers of the blind priests, so some of the details here jar with later excerpts in the novels. Still, for the curious, here it is in its entirety, seeing life for the first time anywhere beyond the confines of my office. Enjoy!
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