As to following a writer to new genres, it truly depends on the writer, what's next, etc. I don't think it's good as a writer to keep doing the same thing over and over again, so I'm glad to hear you're wanting to try different things. As to whether I'd read something in another genre by the same author, it really depends on the genre and how well the author does at it, frankly.
If it's my favoritest author evar, I'll give anything she does a try. If it isn't, it depends on whether I have an interest in the genre. That is to say, even if an author's good at what she does, it doesn't mean I'm necessarily going to want to spend any time reading in a genre I dislike. Of course, there are always new readers to be found in new genres, and maybe they're hungry for someone new. :)
[Sidebar: I read and thoroughly enjoyed The First Betrayal yesterday, and I've requested The Sea Change at my library. While I liked Devlin & co., they did not give me the gotta-read-more feeling I had last night when I closed the book on Josan and Ysobel. That is to say, I liked the storyline a bit more personally, but I also thought the story felt richer overall -- more detail, more fleshed out, etc. Looking forward to the rest of the trilogy!]
I'll be interested to hear what you think of THE SEA CHANGE.
As for me, I also have some authors that I'll read anything by, while with other authors I may read their urban fantasies but not their romances, or will read their SF but not their fantasy.
Anything in THE SEA CHANGE you're particularly curious about reader reactions to? I know you've written about having to write some darker, more difficult stuff in this trilogy...
Well it's the middle book of a trilogy, so the main question is does it work? Does it carry the story forward, while still leaving you wanting more?
The biggest thing I struggled with in this book is balancing the action, as the two main viewpoint characters are literally on opposite sides of the ocean having their own adventures for much of the book. In this way, it's much more epic in scope than the Devlin books were.
I'm getting mixed reactions to the dark scene (you'll know it when you see it). Some readers thought the scene worked well in context. A few readers have told me they weren't comfortable with it, but they also mentioned they don't normally read epic fantasy, so I'm still waiting to see if there winds up being any consensus.
In general, I trust authors more than I trust genres: if I've liked an author's work in time-travel fantasy and her next book is more SF-y and about a doctor researching near-death experiences, I'm far more likely to try it out than I would be to pick up an SF book about a doctor researching near-death experience by somebody I'd never heard of. Writing matters to me -- I'm not willing to put up with craparoni prose style for very long, no matter how good the plot may be, because craparoni prose style is (largely) what I read (and fix) all day at work, and enough already! -- so if I know I like someone's writing, I'll follow him or her into new genres.
Within reason, though. There are some genres (or subgenres, perhaps) that I've just never enjoyed much -- "true-crime fiction" and "chick lit" come to mind -- and am kind of congenitally wary of, although I'd be inclined to take one chance on them for an author whose work I really like, to see if I could be converted. And sometimes people just seem to be better at one genre than at others: I adore Jasper Fforde's Thursday Next books, but Nursery Crimes? Meh. (Of course, it could just be me.)
I'm torn on the subject of branching into new worlds in the same genre. On the one hand, the fangirl's earnest desire for more of the characters I love; on the other hand, the feeling that the author is starting to phone it in and needs to try something new. Perhaps the best blend of familiarity and novelty, for me as a reader, is same world/next generation/new character and story arcs. But then again, sometimes an author's next world grabs me even more than the first one did!
And sometimes I don't know what I want, until the author writes it. Then I'll find myself saying "Well her first books were good, but this new one is awesome!"
*sighs* I tried to comment over at sfnovelists, and it wouldn't let me :P
Anyway, I haven't been published (yet) but I've encountered this same sort of thing in fanfiction. It seems like if you write a long, popular story, it doesn't matter how neatly you tie everything up at the end, someone (and probably several someones) will beg and plead for more.
One time, many years ago, I caved and wracked my brain and came up with more that I could write, and started writing a sequal. I HATED it. It felt tacked on and forced, and it didn't live and breathe like the first story had. I never did finish it.
Because of that experience I know I would never ask an author to continue to write a story that she has finished and put to bed. If there's more to write, I have no doubt that she'll go back there naturally, and that would be wonderful. But I find that if I like an author, I'll like any series that she writes, and I'll follow hither and yon, wherever she ends up going.
Speaking of which, are your books distributed in Canada? I looked you up at the library, with no luck, but I haven't tried Chapters yet.
My books are sold in Canada, but I'm in paperback so most libraries don't automatically stock them unless someone asks. But Chapters should have them.
And no matter what, whether it's fanfiction or the latest bestseller, there's always someone who thinks a sequel is a good idea. And sometimes authors don't need even need to be prompted. I've known authors who are so in love with their creation that they keep writing chapter upon chapter, even as you try to gently point out to them that while each chapter is good, as a whole the story isn't actually going anywhere, it's just endlessly rehashing the same ground. It happens in critique groups, and I suspect much the same happens in fanfiction where many stories are posted in serial fashion.
I'd rather leave my readers wanting more than have themselves asking "Why the heck is she doing this again?"
and I suspect much the same happens in fanfiction where many stories are posted in serial fashion.
You suspect correctly. Much fanfiction is in any case the writing of "deleted scenes", the imagining (or reimagining) of offstage action within a book or between books in a series, the exploration of just what exactly those two characters said and did after the door was closed, and so on; and inevitably a lot of it is repetitious and can be ... well ... boring. Even stories with plots, and I'm including my own multi-chapter fics here, often kind of stop for several chapters for everyone to emote, or for humorous but essentially meaningless things to happen, in a way that no editor would ever tolerate ;^).
And people keep reading it, is the thing. The first fanfic I ever wrote qua fanfic (and this is going back only a couple of years) I now find so embarrassing that I'm seriously considering taking it down -- but hundreds of people have read it and a couple of dozen have reviewed it, and only maybe one or two of those readers said "Hey, by the way, this is a little cheesy"; everyone else said, essentially, "Wow, this is awesome!" ::squirms::
For a while after I discovered fanfic, I read a lot of it. Then I started to read new stuff the way agents are reputed to read unsolicited submissions: discarding each at the first sign of poor grammar, blatant Mary-Sue-ism, or being a 12-year-old trying to write a love scene.* Now I don't even go looking for new material anymore; I only read the fanfic authors I know and trust.
* I used to write a lot of love scenes when I was a young teen. They were -- still are, if nobody's thrown those notebooks out -- eyeball-sporkingly awful. Thank goodness I grew out of it.
>>They were -- still are, if nobody's thrown those notebooks out -- eyeball-sporkingly awful. Thank goodness I grew out of it.
Hee! Somewhere in my house I have a box of notebooks with my early teenage scribblings. As I recall there are ore or possibly two horrifically bad Star Trek stories in there, along with the start of an "original" fantasy that featured a character just like me, only special!
I was big into the hurt/comfort during my teen years. I wrote, IIRC, several hundred notebook pages of a story* about a teenage girl who loses her entire family in a car accident which also renders her a paraplegic, and how she is saved from suicidal depression by a teenage boy she meets in the hospital who has cancer (I think it was leukaemia to begin with, and then bone cancer; at some point I introduced the refinement of an amputated leg) and his large, extremely selfless and welcoming family ...
If I had to choose just one word to describe about 85% of my pre-2002 output, that word would be "emo". Since I started writing mindless, plotless drivel fiction around about 1985, that's a lot of emo. ::winces::
I've known authors who are so in love with their creation that they keep writing chapter upon chapter, even as you try to gently point out to them that while each chapter is good, as a whole the story isn't actually going anywhere, it's just endlessly rehashing the same ground.
*gasps* That never happens, does it? *coughs*LKH*coughs*
Um. Yes. I totally agree with you. Better to not have every tiny thing tied up neatly with a bow. It's way more evilfun evil that way.
There are actually several authors whose series I've stopped reading part way through. Some of them continue to publish new boooks and have huge followings, but I've long since lost interest.
And I'll be doing a booksigning at Indigo in Toronto in January :-)
A friend is coordinating the details (it's a multi-author signing), but I believe it is the weekend of January 12th-13th. Weather permitting, of course, since we'll have to drive around the western part of the lake to make it from New York to Toronto.
As far as which store, I have no clue :-) All I have so far is the name of the signing coordinator. But I promise to post details as soon as I have them.
Whatever store it is, I'm sure I can find it. If it's really far, I'll make DH drive me. He owes me big for the time I shlepped out to Mississauga with him because some 1980s wrestler was signing books at a mall there ;^).
Of course I'd love to meet you. And DH, if he's pressed into duty as chauffeur.
It should be a fun weekend. Because it's a 5+ hour drive (not counting border crossing) we'll be spending the weekend there, and hope to get to explore the city. Or at least the bookstores and bars, which is really all any writer needs.
Toronto in January can be, um, not the most fun place to walk around outdoors in. (Well, I guess it's probably a lot like the other side of the lake, actually. My dad in Ann Arbor is always ringing me up to ask what the weather's like here and then tell me it's exactly the same there. So I don't suppose it will come as any surprise to you!) But should you happen to be staying downtown, there's a whole subterranean network you can tootle around in to get from place to place. Even bars. Well, some bars ;).
Oh, the World's Biggest Bookstore*! Excellent -- totally accessible by subway :)
* That is, it used to be the World's Biggest Bookstore, before Chapters ate it, along with Coles and W.H. Smith aka Smithbooks, and before Indigo ate the lot.
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(no subject)
Date: 2007-08-28 02:04 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2007-08-28 05:10 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2007-08-28 10:29 pm (UTC)Incidentally, I picked up THE SEA CHANGE while in the States, and am dancing impatiently to be able to read it. I hope I'll get to before WFC. Argh!
(no subject)
Date: 2007-08-28 02:25 pm (UTC)If it's my favoritest author evar, I'll give anything she does a try. If it isn't, it depends on whether I have an interest in the genre. That is to say, even if an author's good at what she does, it doesn't mean I'm necessarily going to want to spend any time reading in a genre I dislike. Of course, there are always new readers to be found in new genres, and maybe they're hungry for someone new. :)
[Sidebar: I read and thoroughly enjoyed The First Betrayal yesterday, and I've requested The Sea Change at my library. While I liked Devlin & co., they did not give me the gotta-read-more feeling I had last night when I closed the book on Josan and Ysobel. That is to say, I liked the storyline a bit more personally, but I also thought the story felt richer overall -- more detail, more fleshed out, etc. Looking forward to the rest of the trilogy!]
(no subject)
Date: 2007-08-28 05:13 pm (UTC)As for me, I also have some authors that I'll read anything by, while with other authors I may read their urban fantasies but not their romances, or will read their SF but not their fantasy.
(no subject)
Date: 2007-08-28 05:33 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2007-08-28 06:52 pm (UTC)The biggest thing I struggled with in this book is balancing the action, as the two main viewpoint characters are literally on opposite sides of the ocean having their own adventures for much of the book. In this way, it's much more epic in scope than the Devlin books were.
I'm getting mixed reactions to the dark scene (you'll know it when you see it). Some readers thought the scene worked well in context. A few readers have told me they weren't comfortable with it, but they also mentioned they don't normally read epic fantasy, so I'm still waiting to see if there winds up being any consensus.
(no subject)
Date: 2007-08-28 03:24 pm (UTC)In general, I trust authors more than I trust genres: if I've liked an author's work in time-travel fantasy and her next book is more SF-y and about a doctor researching near-death experiences, I'm far more likely to try it out than I would be to pick up an SF book about a doctor researching near-death experience by somebody I'd never heard of. Writing matters to me -- I'm not willing to put up with craparoni prose style for very long, no matter how good the plot may be, because craparoni prose style is (largely) what I read (and fix) all day at work, and enough already! -- so if I know I like someone's writing, I'll follow him or her into new genres.
Within reason, though. There are some genres (or subgenres, perhaps) that I've just never enjoyed much -- "true-crime fiction" and "chick lit" come to mind -- and am kind of congenitally wary of, although I'd be inclined to take one chance on them for an author whose work I really like, to see if I could be converted. And sometimes people just seem to be better at one genre than at others: I adore Jasper Fforde's Thursday Next books, but Nursery Crimes? Meh. (Of course, it could just be me.)
I'm torn on the subject of branching into new worlds in the same genre. On the one hand, the fangirl's earnest desire for more of the characters I love; on the other hand, the feeling that the author is starting to phone it in and needs to try something new. Perhaps the best blend of familiarity and novelty, for me as a reader, is same world/next generation/new character and story arcs. But then again, sometimes an author's next world grabs me even more than the first one did!
(no subject)
Date: 2007-08-28 05:16 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2007-08-28 06:10 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2007-08-28 04:55 pm (UTC)Anyway, I haven't been published (yet) but I've encountered this same sort of thing in fanfiction. It seems like if you write a long, popular story, it doesn't matter how neatly you tie everything up at the end, someone (and probably several someones) will beg and plead for more.
One time, many years ago, I caved and wracked my brain and came up with more that I could write, and started writing a sequal. I HATED it. It felt tacked on and forced, and it didn't live and breathe like the first story had. I never did finish it.
Because of that experience I know I would never ask an author to continue to write a story that she has finished and put to bed. If there's more to write, I have no doubt that she'll go back there naturally, and that would be wonderful. But I find that if I like an author, I'll like any series that she writes, and I'll follow hither and yon, wherever she ends up going.
Speaking of which, are your books distributed in Canada? I looked you up at the library, with no luck, but I haven't tried Chapters yet.
(no subject)
Date: 2007-08-28 05:25 pm (UTC)And no matter what, whether it's fanfiction or the latest bestseller, there's always someone who thinks a sequel is a good idea. And sometimes authors don't need even need to be prompted. I've known authors who are so in love with their creation that they keep writing chapter upon chapter, even as you try to gently point out to them that while each chapter is good, as a whole the story isn't actually going anywhere, it's just endlessly rehashing the same ground. It happens in critique groups, and I suspect much the same happens in fanfiction where many stories are posted in serial fashion.
I'd rather leave my readers wanting more than have themselves asking "Why the heck is she doing this again?"
(no subject)
Date: 2007-08-28 06:25 pm (UTC)You suspect correctly. Much fanfiction is in any case the writing of "deleted scenes", the imagining (or reimagining) of offstage action within a book or between books in a series, the exploration of just what exactly those two characters said and did after the door was closed, and so on; and inevitably a lot of it is repetitious and can be ... well ... boring. Even stories with plots, and I'm including my own multi-chapter fics here, often kind of stop for several chapters for everyone to emote, or for humorous but essentially meaningless things to happen, in a way that no editor would ever tolerate ;^).
And people keep reading it, is the thing. The first fanfic I ever wrote qua fanfic (and this is going back only a couple of years) I now find so embarrassing that I'm seriously considering taking it down -- but hundreds of people have read it and a couple of dozen have reviewed it, and only maybe one or two of those readers said "Hey, by the way, this is a little cheesy"; everyone else said, essentially, "Wow, this is awesome!" ::squirms::
For a while after I discovered fanfic, I read a lot of it. Then I started to read new stuff the way agents are reputed to read unsolicited submissions: discarding each at the first sign of poor grammar, blatant Mary-Sue-ism, or being a 12-year-old trying to write a love scene.* Now I don't even go looking for new material anymore; I only read the fanfic authors I know and trust.
* I used to write a lot of love scenes when I was a young teen. They were -- still are, if nobody's thrown those notebooks out -- eyeball-sporkingly awful. Thank goodness I grew out of it.
(no subject)
Date: 2007-08-28 06:55 pm (UTC)Hee! Somewhere in my house I have a box of notebooks with my early teenage scribblings. As I recall there are ore or possibly two horrifically bad Star Trek stories in there, along with the start of an "original" fantasy that featured a character just like me, only special!
I really need to find those and burn them.
(no subject)
Date: 2007-08-28 07:45 pm (UTC)I was big into the hurt/comfort during my teen years. I wrote, IIRC, several hundred notebook pages of a story* about a teenage girl who loses her entire family in a car accident which also renders her a paraplegic, and how she is saved from suicidal depression by a teenage boy she meets in the hospital who has cancer (I think it was leukaemia to begin with, and then bone cancer; at some point I introduced the refinement of an amputated leg) and his large, extremely selfless and welcoming family ...
If I had to choose just one word to describe about 85% of my pre-2002 output, that word would be "emo". Since I started writing
mindless, plotless drivelfiction around about 1985, that's a lot of emo. ::winces::(no subject)
Date: 2007-08-28 06:50 pm (UTC)*gasps* That never happens, does it? *coughs*
LKH*coughs*Um. Yes. I totally agree with you. Better to not have every tiny thing tied up neatly with a bow. It's way more
evilfunevil that way.(no subject)
Date: 2007-08-28 06:57 pm (UTC)There are actually several authors whose series I've stopped reading part way through. Some of them continue to publish new boooks and have huge followings, but I've long since lost interest.
(no subject)
Date: 2007-08-28 06:11 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2007-08-28 07:14 pm (UTC)A friend is coordinating the details (it's a multi-author signing), but I believe it is the weekend of January 12th-13th. Weather permitting, of course, since we'll have to drive around the western part of the lake to make it from New York to Toronto.
(no subject)
Date: 2007-08-28 07:20 pm (UTC)Any idea which Indigo? (We have lots. Or, at any rate, four or five.) ::plots subway routes to known Indigo stores in head::
(no subject)
Date: 2007-08-28 07:41 pm (UTC)As far as which store, I have no clue :-) All I have so far is the name of the signing coordinator. But I promise to post details as soon as I have them.
(no subject)
Date: 2007-08-28 07:46 pm (UTC)Whatever store it is, I'm sure I can find it. If it's really far, I'll make DH drive me. He owes me big for the time I shlepped out to Mississauga with him because some 1980s wrestler was signing books at a mall there ;^).
(no subject)
Date: 2007-08-28 08:04 pm (UTC)It should be a fun weekend. Because it's a 5+ hour drive (not counting border crossing) we'll be spending the weekend there, and hope to get to explore the city. Or at least the bookstores and bars, which is really all any writer needs.
(no subject)
Date: 2007-08-28 11:27 pm (UTC)Toronto in January can be, um, not the most fun place to walk around outdoors in. (Well, I guess it's probably a lot like the other side of the lake, actually. My dad in Ann Arbor is always ringing me up to ask what the weather's like here and then tell me it's exactly the same there. So I don't suppose it will come as any surprise to you!) But should you happen to be staying downtown, there's a whole subterranean network you can tootle around in to get from place to place. Even bars. Well, some bars ;).
(no subject)
Date: 2007-09-01 12:02 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2007-09-01 01:18 pm (UTC)* That is, it used to be the World's Biggest Bookstore, before Chapters ate it, along with Coles and W.H. Smith aka Smithbooks, and before Indigo ate the lot.