I found this interesting interview dated back in February (not sure if it's been posted here), in which pTerry talked about his new book Nation, well, sort of.
Meeting Mr Pratchett - Books - Entertainment - theage.com.au
Meeting Mr Pratchett - Books - Entertainment - theage.com.au
"...At the moment I'm just writing. If it needs to be Discworld it will be Discworld. It could be set in this world 150 years ago while still more or less being a fantasy. The codename for it is Nation."
He doesn't want to give too much away at this stage. It was a surprise to his editors, who were expecting Midnight, the fourth book about Tiffany Aching. That series, which began with The Wee Free Men, is aimed at the young adult reader - I found them hilarious and keenly crafted.
Wintersmith, the third in the series, was a runaway bestseller. He knows exactly how Midnight is going to go, so he will write it when he finishes Nation, which occupies his thoughts. "I want to write this one so much I can taste it," he says.
It's an answer to those who distrust his extraordinary productivity (34 books in the Discworld series alone). Anyone who actually reads him sees he doesn't write to order or formulae. With Nation, he says he's doing the classic thing of inventing something and going back to find research to justify it.
'IT'S MOVING VERY FAST and I'm not sure how it's going to end; I want to see how it turns out. I think it might get finished quite quickly because, frankly, if I wasn't out here, I would be sitting at my computer banging the thing out."
I say: "Do you keep office hours when you write?"
He grins. "Nah, office hours are for wimps."He goes on: "Sometimes there are the chores to do and I don't get into the office until about 10, but it's quite likely I'll be in the office at midnight. But in the middle of that at about 3, 4, and 5, I go and do something else. But the process of writing is continually in my head anyway. There are times when just one little insight is worth a day of banging your head on the screen."
So if it's set 150 years in the past, is Nation going to be in the same vein as Monstrous Regiment?
"You're fishing," he says firmly.
It's too early to talk about the nuts and bolts. But he does say Nation is going to be for kids, bought by adults.
"Monstrous Regiment wasn't for kids anyway," he adds.
No, I say. I was thinking in terms of going back in history. Nation, nationalism, this all makes me think of Jingo, I say.
"I'm pleased to say," he replies triumphantly, "that you're haring off along an entirely different direction. You're in the right desert but the wrong tent."
