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HOLY COW! STUART VAUGHN STOCKTON COMMENTED ON TUESDAY'S POST!
Okay, I'm better now. Deep breath.
For those of you who don't remember, Stuart wrote the totally-amazing-and-utterly-depressing to-me-as-a-writer Starfire, the book with dinosaurs as main characters. Look up "book review" in my labels and you can read about it.
As a nerd before a true geek, I humbly kneel and offer my gratitude for noticing such a crawling worm as I. I am deeply honored. I'm also a little curious about how you found me. Do you also randomly type in references to your name and book on Google to see what comes up, or is that just me?
When I wrote Tuesday's post, I didn't have any particular series in mind, except the Dragon Wheel Cycle or whatever it was called that started with book 1 of 7. The irony is I did end up buying the book and really enjoying it until they killed my favorite character. Without him, I...I wasn't willing to read on. It's been 25 years, and I'm still raw about it.
What spurred yesterday's post is the number of writers from the contest who seem to have sequels on the brain. It began to seem like every other entry was the first of a series. It was a little scary to me as a poor cat caretaker. How could I afford all these books I couldn't finish?
Jeff the Publisher isn't afraid of sequels, either. I'm reading Hero, Second Class, part of a series. I will read By Darkness Hid (I think that's the name) and its sequel is coming out this spring.
I had forgotten Starfire is one of a series. Oops!
I suppose all writers are poor, and a series is one way to keep the income flowing. Plus, if you like the characters, it is logical you want to continue reading about them. I have to admit, as much as I don't like continuing story lines, I'm just as reluctant to start a new book because I don't know if I'll be happy at the end.
It occurs to me I'm a very difficult audience.
Maybe that's why I choose to write. I don't trust anyone else.
I'm waiting for your sequel, Stuart. Write on!
PS: Apparently, he commented on the book review, too, so now you all have to go re-read it. Man, I wish I had my Amazon Associates link set up right now! Well, it'll come.
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You are worthy! Especially if you really are a worm as I imagine squirming across a keyboard every day to write must be exhausting. It's hard enough to do with fingers! :D
ReplyDeleteI think most authors google themselves quite often to check up on what's being said out there. I also have some google alerts set up that alert me when certain phrases or words are found, which is how I discovered your review.
I think publishers like series because if the books catch on then that means the following ones are easier to sell. Authors like series for many reasons, be it more time to spend with characters or publishers don't want to put out a 300k word book and that's how long their story is or a host of other reasons.
In Sci-fi and fantasy I think some of it comes from having to do so much work on world-building that it seems a bit of a waste to just shoot a single story out there and move on to a new world.
I know I've got about 15 or more stories I want to tell in the Galactic Lore universe. And every time I sit down to work more start popping into my head.
For instance, Starfire wasn't the original book I was wanting to write for the world of Sauria. Most of my early work was done from the Herian viewpoint, in a timeframe that took place just after the end of Starfire. I still hope to get back to that story some day, though it will be quite different now from what it was then.
Also, if you could post your incredible review over on Amazon and BN.com I would be forever grateful.