Brandon Sanderson

[fall787]

I tend to notice that the more rabid/defensive fans of X are, the more likely I am to dislike X. Maybe just a coincidence.

Malazan

Brandon Sanderson

Anime

Jordan

Rothfuss

Lost

Twilight

[End of Disc One]

I tend to notice that the more rabid/defensive fans of X are, the more likely I am to dislike X. Maybe just a coincidence.

Malazan

Brandon Sanderson

Anime

Jordan

Rothfuss

Lost

Twilight

You could try ignoring the fanbase and form an opinion of your own.

[fall787]

You could try ignoring the fanbase and form an opinion of your own.

My like/dislike is independent from X's fanbase. I only notice correlations.

[macaroni]

I don't win $5, do I?

[Old Nan]

I tend to notice that the more rabid/defensive fans of X are, the more likely I am to dislike X. Maybe just a coincidence

Rearranging it this way sounds more plausible:

The more I tend to dislike X, the more likely I am to notice that fans of X are rabid/defensive.

[Liadin]

I Havn't read malazan yet to the later books, but for WoT, i think its for a few reasons - 1, Jordans meticulous writing style, describing everything, and doing it again in the next book. This isn't a bad thing, but it can create some problems when you make so, so many things to re-describe. 2, he also tried to adhere to a schedule - he wanted 12 books so hed be damned before it was any less! Which did of course result in several largely stagnant books with largely stagnant plotlines, populated by largely stagnant characters in increasingly stagnant settings.

Do you have a cite for this? I'd heard the same as the others, that it was first intended to be a trilogy then 6 books etc..... there are tons of theories as to what went wrong there, and it seems to me that the most likely cause was either indulgence (Jordan found his writing interesting throughout, even though the vast majority of readers didn't) or sticking too hard to a publishing schedule (he wasn't able to write 10 quality books in 10 years, and thus published some subpar books instead).

With GRRM I know some readers see AFFC as indulgent, although I think it was still a good book (not surprisingly, for this forum).

With Sanderson though, yeah I wonder if sticking too strictly to 10 books might be a problem. It depends. One, how wedded is he to that idea, and two, does the story really have enough plot for that? Remains to be seen.

[Cantabile]

Perhaps I am in the minority here, but I wish most authors would focus more on quality and less on production. I would much rather a novelist spend five years or a decade rewriting every scene of a novel ten times, polishing a "masterpiece" rather than just mass producing enjoyable, but ultimately mediocre works on a yearly basis. I understand that as a business, the more novels they produce, the more income earned, and the more appeased their fanbase is, but in the grand scheme of things, there are hundreds of thousands of writers, and only so much room in book stores and length in a lifetime to read. Even the classic authors of world literature are famous for only a few of their greatest works, with the rest of their material ignored and forgotten by time.

I suppose I am just a bit 'meh' towards the current trend in fantasy of producing long series, and churning out books as quickly as possible.

[Liadin]

Perhaps I am in the minority here, but I wish most authors would focus more on quality and less on production. I would much rather a novelist spend five years or a decade rewriting every scene of a novel ten times, polishing a "masterpiece" rather than just mass producing enjoyable, but ultimately mediocre works on a yearly basis. I understand that as a business, the more novels they produce, the more income earned, and the more appeased their fanbase is, but in the grand scheme of things, there are hundreds of thousands of writers, and only so much room in book stores and length in a lifetime to read. Even the classic authors of world literature are famous for only a few of their greatest works, with the rest of their material ignored and forgotten by time.

I suppose I am just a bit 'meh' towards the current trend in fantasy of producing long series, and churning out books as quickly as possible.

I agree with this, and I've certainly seen authors I originally liked go downhill sticking to a book-a-year schedule. (Somewhere I remember a well-regarded author being asked how long it takes to write a great book, and answering, "Between two and ten years.") OTOH, many of the commercial book-a-year authors may be doing the best they can with the talent they have; spending five years on those books might not make them much better.

[Cantabile]

Very true, if the talent isn't there then it doesn't really matter how much fine-tuning occurs. You can polish the hell out of a stone, but that doesn't mean it'll eventually turn into gold. But for very talented authors, who clearly have the ability for brilliant characterization, plotting, pacing, dialogue, and themes, it's a shame to see their work turn out subpar simply because enough time and energy wasn't poured into it.

Ah well, it's ultimately up to each individual writer. My bitching doesn't solve anything.

[Basileus777]

Author don't necessarily have complete control over how long they can work on a book. They have contracts and obligations to their publishers and not all of them are financial secure enough to spend years polishing a book.

[Cantabile]

Of course, I understand in cases where the author's financial stability depends upon cranking out books. But when the author is already established enough to be able to give the finger to deadlines, and has enough financial stability, it's a bit harder for me to understand. Then again, not ever author need be concerned about posterity, making my point null. Simply publishing as much as they can, and selling as much as they can in their life time is enough for many people, and that's fine :)

[macaroni]

Dickens churned out book after book...some were amazing, some were good, some were average and some were awful.

I don't think time spent on a book is necessarily a good indicator of it's quality. There's only so many rewrites one can do, either the story is good and well-written or it isn't.