Authors' Burn-out

[Lace Neil Singer]

I stopped reading Anne Rice after all that religeus shit got dragged into her books.

[mandersdawn]

As far as Anne Rice goes, I have only ever been able to get through the first three of the vampires (Interview, Lestat & QotD). Tried The Servant of the Bones but couldn't get through it.

Charlene Harris. The last book of TSVS was so hard to get through... Mediocre writing at best. (I think she jumped the shark by getting Eric and Sookie together too soon, honestly.)

J.K. Rowling... I LOVE Harry Potter, but the last three books were overly long.

[Pixilated]

I started a series years ago that just ... stopped, and I kinda wish it hadn't. However, if the author had had enough of the character/series, well ...
It was the Lord Meren series, by Lynda S. Robinson. They were murder mysteries set in the court of Tutankhamen. I think she wrote six books and has never written another.

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. *snip*

I really liked her books at the beginning but now they're pretty much filler material -- the sort of thing I'll take with me if I think I'll be sitting in the doctor's office for any length of time, not something I want to sit down and read through at one go. I think I just got tired of Kinsey Milhone's life dramas.

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.

Oh dear ... a friend is urging me to read Goodkind's stuff ...

*snip*

I live in perpetual fear of some of my fav series going this way. Dresden Files, Discworld...*shudder* I don't think either will happen, but if it did, it'd break my heart.

Dresden Files ... I don't know if it's me or the books, but for the foreseeable future I'll either be getting them at the library or buying them second-hand. I read Ghost Story recently and it sounded like a cross between an action movie (explosions!every!three!seconds!) and the original Dark Shadows series, with everybody having gone all Goth and gloomy and uttering nonstop ominous portents. They're no longer something I want to rush out and buy.

[Kheldarson]

Oh dear ... a friend is urging me to read Goodkind's stuff ...

The premise is....interesting, I'll grant him that, but after a couple of books, I don't really want to know more detail about how sex basically rules the land. Really.

Dresden Files ... I don't know if it's me or the books, but for the foreseeable future I'll either be getting them at the library or buying them second-hand. I read Ghost Story recently and it sounded like a cross between an action movie (explosions!every!three!seconds!) and the original Dark Shadows series, with everybody having gone all Goth and gloomy and uttering nonstop ominous portents. They're no longer something I want to rush out and buy.

Ghost Story had the major issue of being a Dresden book...without Dresden. He was doing stuff, but he couldn't be a very active participant due to his condition. Have you read Cold Days yet? It's definitively better.


As for series that went on too long, I'm on the Pern train there. I loved Anne's stuff (I'm still trying to get all of her books) but Todd's just read like fanfic filler. I am disappoint.

Another series would be Fables. I love the setting and the idea, but I think the comic definitely made a jump for the worse there in the middle. I still read it when I see it and have time in the bookstore, but I haven't bought a new one in a while.

Oh, and the Parasol Protectorate. The books were great! Until the last one. That one felt rushed and forced like she knew she had to end it somehow, but wasn't really sure how to do it.

[PepperElf]

The Xanth series is what it is because the fans harass him into writing more. It's easier for him to just write another one than to put up with the hate mail for stopping. He's been phoning them in for ages.

^-.-^

To be honest, that's the worst reason to write in my opinion.

I rather prefer the responses on this from Neil Gaiman and John Ringo.

Neil Gaiman: Entitlement issues

George R.R. Martin is not your bitch.

For John Ringo's comment I can't find it online anymore but I still remember it... He was replying to a fan's request to write faster:

writing at the speed of light: 22 books in 6 years, how much faster do you want?

and a pern update: i found the original Lessa book. ... is it bad that I dislike her and find her childish?

[Kheldarson]

and a pern update: i found the original Lessa book. ... is it bad that I dislike her and find her childish?

Nah, she kinda is, especially in the first book. I've always been a bigger fan of the Harper books.

[PepperElf]

Nah, she kinda is, especially in the first book. I've always been a bigger fan of the Harper books.

o good it's not just me then. i left it half read. dunno if i'll go back to it or not.

[Kheldarson]

The plot itself is pretty good, and Lessa grows up a bit (I always took it as rough early writing. Lessa's definitely better in later books!). But it mostly sets the continuing conflict of the current age in the setting.

[PepperElf]

well i read them before really. i was revisiting them. kinda. the library here doesn't have much of the series tho.

i broke off somewhere around when they were rediscovering the history. and i haven't touched juniors books yet.

and i don't remember where here, but i remember someone saying that Lackey gets offended if you don't love her latest etc. or maybe it was on the main site. cos i was thinking....

i don't mind the valdemar series (my fav so far is the thief books and the guy who wears gray). but i noticed in the Joust series the protagonist was kinda a twisted Gary Stu.

The hero did nothing wrong. Ever. he was abused, starved, etc. but he always did everything perfectly. it wasn't a bad read but... he had no bad side really. his "bad side" was that he had been abused before he got picked out to be a servant with dragon riders. so really... kinda a gary stu (male version of a mary sue)



and this is actually why i don't hold TNG close to my heart either. bunch of mary sues in a perfect utopia. where people's bad sides seem... contrived. Except the people who got sent to DS9. they had bad sides. i like that. makes them seem... less sickly-perfect.

[Jaden]

My favorite modern author is George R.R. Martin. Some people thought he dropped the ball with Feast for Crows, but while it's not quite as good as the others, I still thought it was quite good and just fine. Dance With Dragons is a full return to form (and he wasn't out of form long), as far as I'm concerned, although some people disagree with that as well. Which is fine, everybody's entitled to their opinions

I'm starting the Wheel of Time series now. I've just about finished the first book. I've heard it gets really, really slow in the middle but ends very well, so I'm determined to make it through no matter what.

[Kheldarson]

Really, really slow?

Try mind-numbingly.

Dear Lord, how can anyone write enough words to fill 5-6 books and still not move the plot forward?

The first three are great. The fourth starts dragging, but is okay. The fifth makes me want to fall asleep. And 6-9/10 just...sit there.

[ExRetailDrone]

I want to go back and read the Wheel of Time books again. I've only made it through book 9 I think. I had cruised through the first 8 books years ago, and then I moved 400 miles back to my parents' house and subsequently stopped reading anything. After a while I completely forgot what had been happening and had to start all over, but kept getting sidetracked by other books and series that weren't so time-intensive. Now, I don't remember crap and would have to start from book 1, which is a very daunting thought.

[Jaden]

I want to go back and read the Wheel of Time books again. I've only made it through book 9 I think. I had cruised through the first 8 books years ago, and then I moved 400 miles back to my parents' house and subsequently stopped reading anything. After a while I completely forgot what had been happening and had to start all over, but kept getting sidetracked by other books and series that weren't so time-intensive. Now, I don't remember crap and would have to start from book 1, which is a very daunting thought.

There's a website I'd be happy to guide you to which has chapter summaries. If you've already read them once, that might be the best way to go about it =)

[HYHYBT]

I have to disagree about Wheel of Time. Lots of stuff happens in every book; it's just that there are lots of DIFFERENT things happening in various places involving different members of a very large cast.

[Kheldarson]

But none of it's very important. Or could have been summarized. Or, you know, explained without introducing another POV cast member.

That's what really bugged me. You already have five main characters that you have POV plotlines for, does each book really have to introduce at least one more to the mix? I'm sure one of the five can find out about or be told about the other issues.