Authors' Burn-out

[Nekojin]

I really, really hate it when authors I like burn out on series they're working on, but keep going anyway. It's so incredibly frustrating to buy the next book in a series, and have it be a pale shadow of the earlier books.

And of course there are a ton of reasons for WHY this could be - owes several books on a contract, likes the money too much to give up a popular franchise, or even because the publisher doesn't want the author to try something different.

A few examples:
Robert Asprin, with the Myth series. Started off great, peaked, then settled into a good, steady rhythm. But after a while, they dropped off significantly in both frequency and quality. Little Myth Marker was the last GOOD book in the series, and while the books afterwards did have their occasional moments, they've been overall lackluster, at best.

Robert Asprin again, with the Phule's Company series. First book was great. Second book was decent. The rest... are completely forgettable. Part of the problem here, of course, was that he did too much character development in the first book, and left himself somewhat painted into a corner with regard to developing the characters further.

Spider Robinson, with the Callahan series (sort of). The Callahan series (that is, the three books set in Callahan's Place) itself was good. The Lady Callahan pair were great. The post-Callahan books (set at Mary's Place and Jake's Place, respectively) were... mediocre. Having a deus ex machina magic time-travelling baby isn't exactly a great way to tie up loose ends... =>_<=

Piers Anthony's Xanth series. Everyone who ever liked the series has a point in their mind at which the series started to suck. These points vary greatly based on what features of Xanth the readers liked, but hardly anyone likes all 35 of the books. And there's no question that the series has had its ups and downs, but nearly every fan agrees that he should have stopped years ago... except the ones who clamor for more, more, more.

Anne McCaffrey's Pern series. Actually, I was never a huge fan of the Dragonriders series itself - but I loved the Harper Hall trilogy, and always wanted her to do more in that style, which she never really did. I identified with Menolly (and to a lesser extent, Piemur - which is weird, because I SHOULD have identified with Piemur, having a lot more in common with him) far more than I had any other character in my youth. And the rest of the Pern books were just sort of unsatisfying, comparatively.

[HYHYBT]

For an ongoing series, I'd rather they go on a little too long than not. If the author quits the series while it's still at its best, people *think* the next one would have been good too. And after things start going downhill, they still may be pretty good for a while yet.

And of course for a single story that happens to take several books to tell, I'd far rather get to the end than not even if it's not as well-written as the beginning.

(This thread reminds me of a clever trick I've heard of a couple of authors using when their readers insisted on books they didn't want to write. L. Frank Baum found that only his Oz books sold, so he obliged... by writing books set elsewhere in which the characters wind up in the Emerald City for a chapter or two at the end, thereby justifying the title. Agatha Christie seems to have done something similar with Poirot; some of the later books he's in, he's barely there except, of course, for the end.)

[mikoyan29]

I used to read Tom Clancy books religiously until I read the Bear and the Dragon. For some reason, that book just seemed like he phoned it in and he laced it with his political views for the added icing on the cake. But I guess after you've made Ryan President, there's really no place to go. I still wish that Red Storm Rising would have been made into a movie...or miniseries since a movie wouldn't do it justice.

[Andara Bledin]

For an ongoing series, I'd rather they go on a little too long than not. If the author quits the series while it's still at its best, people *think* the next one would have been good too. And after things start going downhill, they still may be pretty good for a while yet.

And of course for a single story that happens to take several books to tell, I'd far rather get to the end than not even if it's not as well-written as the beginning.

I have a couple of these lying about. Most recently, is a manga title that was supposed to be three volumes. The third was never released. >_< Supposedly, the author is re-releasing the entire thing with updated writing and art, but it's been quite a number of years.

But there are a number of series I've just tuned out on over the years. Zelazny's Amber series is a notable one. The fore-mentioned Dragonriders and Myth series. Anne Rice's Vampire series (particularly after it tied in with the other series, which I never liked).

^-.-^

[IDrinkaRum]

This is the problem with Sue Grafton's Alphabet series. (It's mystery). She's gone from A is for Alibi all the way to V is for Vengeance. After a while, I can't read them (but strangely I can listen to them on books on CD). She's been contracted to write books with letters from the entire alphabet in the title.

Can't think of other book series that I think were phoned in for. Though I did read Danielle Steele, but I have stopped reading those because they got so boring. (And I don't like modern romance).

[crashhelmet]

If I remember right, Stephen King's Dark Tower series was like this. It took him so long to complete it because he would get burned out on it and needed breaks so that he wouldn't put out crap. He started it in 1978 and published the last book in the series this year.

A series I've been wanting to read, but have been afraid of the burnout effect, is the Alex Cross series by James Patterson. I saw the movies they made for Kiss the Girls and Along Came a Spider, but hadn't read any of the books until Big Bad Wolfe was published. I was flying to China and a friend had just finished the book. She lent it to me and I couldn't put it down. It didn't matter that i knew very little of the backstory.

I've been wanting to go back and read them, but I didn't know where to start and what order to go in. This thread actually reminded me about it and I just checked it on Wikipedia. 18 books. 18 books to read hoping he doesn't "jump the shark" (Or would it be "Marry Irving"?) and make me not want to continue.

[Andara Bledin]

18 books to read hoping he doesn't "jump the shark" (Or would it be "Marry Irving"?) and make me not want to continue.

So, I had to look up that reference, and it goes back to the Cathy comic, which I have absolutely loathed from the very first time I laid eyes on it as a child. >_<

^-.-^

[Gravekeeper]

Wheel of Time.

<twitch>.

And to a lesser extent, Terry Goodkind and the Sword of Truth series. AKA Terry Goodkind Presents: My Weird Sexual Fetish.

[Andara Bledin]

Heh. We knew WoT would come up.

But that's more "milking it for every red cent" as opposed to burn-out.

I gave up on the series about 5 books in when I realized that he'd stopped even remotely resolving anything and it was just ratcheting up the tension with no progression. >_<

^-.-^

[RedRoseSpiral]

I have an issue with the opposite. Melanie Rawn started an amazing trilogy (Exiles) in 1994 that started with The Ruins of Ambrai. The second book, The Mageborn Traitor, came out in 1998. The third book, The Captal's Tower, has yet to be written. I'll admit she had a rough time of it in the '90s, but she always swore she would finish the trilogy.

I pretty much wrote her off when, after years of not writing, she started a different trilogy (what I read was nothing like her style and truthfully sucked), started asking her fans for notes on what she wrote (she refuses to reread what she's wrote until she's completely done), and then she went on a couple of rants where she pretty much is trying to hold her fanbase hostage. It's pretty fucking pathetic, but damn did she create an amazing world and characters. Sad that it will probably never been finished.

[Gravekeeper]

I gave up on the series about 5 books in when I realized that he'd stopped even remotely resolving anything and it was just ratcheting up the tension with no progression. >_<

Hell he didn't even have tension by book 3 or so. Just a cast too large to keep track of doing things that made them utterly unsympathetic and never for once in their lives learning a damn thing or maturing in any way shape or form. Till he a hit a point where he had so many seperate plots going on that by the time a character appeared you'd literally forgotten what they were doing since the last time they were mentioned was 12 chapters ago.

Goodkind and the Sword of Truth, however....he just seemed to be writing one big weird personal power/sex fantasy.

Oh, and Sara Douglas. Speaking of people that could flog a dead horse like a champion.

[Andara Bledin]

Speaking of unsympathethic characters that never learned a damned thing; Thomas Covenant.

I was over that series by the end of book 2. >_< I was hoping he'd actually die for sure by the time I was finished with it.

^-.-^

[Snowbird]

I couldn't make it past the Master Harper's death in the Pern series, and I had to stop at the seventh book in the Wheel of Time series because I finally realized I just didn't have time to read something that moved so slowly. Hundreds upon hundreds of pages, into thousands, and what seems like only one day has passed? That was a case of quantity over quality at that point.

The problem I'm having now is A Song of Ice and Fire series by George R.R. Martin. I started the series way back when, and the first three books are fantastic. The last two, however, have had plodding plots and detail distracted storytelling, and they don't even feel like they're written by the same author. Or at least not with the same enthusiasm, and honestly, with some of the things I've seen written by his fans, I can see why he would have lost his drive.

The last two aren't terrible books, they just aren't the same caliber as the first three, and it really smacks of burn out.

[gremcint]

I listened to the first 3 sword of truth series audio. After the first book its nothing but everyone saying they wished everyone else was there and everyone missing eachother.
I would mention thehonor harrington series here the last couple books are twice the needed length.

[Rapscallion]

Piers Anthony's Xanth series. Everyone who ever liked the series has a point in their mind at which the series started to suck. These points vary greatly based on what features of Xanth the readers liked, but hardly anyone likes all 35 of the books. And there's no question that the series has had its ups and downs, but nearly every fan agrees that he should have stopped years ago... except the ones who clamor for more, more, more.

From what I understand, the fans who clamour for more are the reason it's continued. The publishers knew that there was a guaranteed market, no matter what quality, and every time he brought a new book to them they agreed on proviso that they'd get a new Xanth book as well.

Sometimes, it's not the author - some stories can only last so long, and that goes for the meta story. I found the Incarnations of Immortality flawed in this way (same author - looks a bit like George Carlin, doesn't he?) - the first tale was good (Death), the second was so-so (Time) and some of the others were great. However, the overall tale didn't work for more than two or three books.

Rapscallion