What's coming up for Toby.: seanan

So I received an email recently, from someone* who wanted me to know that, while they enjoyed the October Daye books, they didn't like the fact that the plot for Ashes of Honor involved a missing child case, since this had come up before. Furthermore, if there was any hint of a missing child in the back cover text of Chimes at Midnight, they would be dropping the series.

This? Is totally, absolutely, 100% fair. You should never have to read anything you don't want to, unless it's for a class (and even then, only if you want to actually pass said class). Life is too short! Don't read bad books unless reading bad books brings you joy, and don't read books that don't interest you unless you have a damn good reason.

At the same time, while I can totally appreciate the sentiment, I'm not sure it's a sentiment that I, as a reader, would ever feel comfortable expressing to a writer. Especially not now that I'm a writer myself, which means I know that a) the story will go where the story will go, and b) by the time you get your hands on book one in a series, book two is finished and turned in, making it impossible for the writer to avoid the plot elements you've said that you dislike. "Don't do this or else" is a wasted statement. It is already too late to avoid doing whatever it is you want to have avoided.

But still, for every person who speaks, there are ten more who don't, so I thought this might be a good time to say something about what's coming up for Toby. Specifically: yes, there will be more missing people, because after defeating Blind Michael and preventing a war, finding people is what she has a reputation for being good at. Ironically, Toby herself prefers murder cases; they're less time-sensitive, and she's less terrified of getting it wrong. But if she gets a call from out-Kingdom, there's a very good chance that it's going to be about somebody's missing son, daughter, or heir.

The plot of Chimes at Midnight doesn't center around missing children, but it does involve someone who has been lost. The Winter Long is still in progress, and is more about people being found than people being lost; there's also a murder, which is good for Toby's admittedly frayed nerves. This doesn't mean that there won't be missing children somewhere down the road, because those are the cases that make people sit up and say "I want my baby back alive, get that October woman."

Losing and finding people are huge themes in the Toby series, and that's a very intentional thing; that's never going to change. If that isn't the sort of thing you want to read, I'm really sorry. InCryptid has different themes, and changes narrators periodically, which should help to keep things more varied. But much like Newsflesh was about truth, Toby is about loss. At least until we find the ending.

So that's what's going on for Toby, and why things are the way that they are. I hope it makes sense; I hope you'll all stick around. And if not, I hope you'll at least understand why I write it this way.

This is how the story goes.

(*Names are withheld, as always, because that's how we roll around here. Playing nicely is the new black.)

anderyn

January 3 2013, 22:18:41 UTC 4 years ago

New comment

That's very interesting, that someone felt comfortable enough to actually tell you as an author that they would be so outta there if you had more missing children. I don't think I would have the nerve, even if it was someone who I *emphatically* think took a wrong turn at Albuquerque with their plots/characterizations (LKH, I'm looking at you!). I like the InCryptid books more than the Toby Daye ones, I admit, but I own both series, and I trust you enough as a writer that I will follow both series to their ends, and will at least pick up the first books in any other series that you happen to write -- but even if I didn't, that's my personal issue as a reader, not anything to do with you as an author, per se. While I might mightily desire to have, say, Toby end up with a fat and happy househusband and twenty-three children (I don't, but it's the best example my at-work brain can conjure on the fly), I don't see any reason to subvert the author with my personal wishes -- they came up with the character and the plots, and, yeah, "the story goes where the story goes". If I really want that, I know where my private journal and my fountain pen are -- but I'd never flat-out ask you for it. Seems kind of an assumption of privilege (in the non-social-justice sense) to me on the part of any reader who'd do that.

seanan_mcguire

January 4 2013, 05:13:16 UTC 4 years ago

I try to read things like this as "wow, this person feels comfortable with me," but then I wind up so uncomfortable that it doesn't help.

Log in

What's coming up for Toby.

Error