thoughtfulThis? 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.)
January 4 2013, 19:45:15 UTC 4 years ago
That's a hell of a sense of entitlement. "Stop writing this theme or I'll stop reading!" really? I mean, yeah, we all have stuff we do and don't enjoy reading about, but I'm pretty sure most mature adults, when reading books or series that utilize themes they don't like, just quietly stop reading the books and find something they *do* like. From reading the rest of the comments it doesn't sound like it's a trigger issue, just that reader whinging because you're writing something they don't like, so yeah, I'm going to go with entitlement here. It's not really any reader's place to contact a writer out of the blue to make a comment like that, unless they're a beta reader or someone else who has specifically been asked to provide that kind of criticism. (And honestly, anyone in a position like that would probably be a lot classier, more professional, and more constructive than that person was anyway.)
And as others have pointed out, Toby is a detective. Of course she's going to be called on for the occasional missing-child case. And the occasional murder. The fact that she takes on multiple types of cases is part of what makes her feel real, in my opinion. And the fact that she brings those children home and people do say - to quote your post - ""I want my baby back alive, get that October woman" demonstrates that she does that job really well, even though that's the kind of case that wrecks her the most, says a lot about Toby, both as a character and as a person.
Getting rambly, but yeah. Your books are fantastic, getting my hands on a new installment of any of your series is always a huge treat, and I hope you keep on doing what you're doing with many successes to come because what you do is obviously working well for both you and your readers. :)
(Unrelated to absolutely anything in this post, but I just have to tell you: I recently realized that I have copy #42 of When Will You Rise. The answer to the ultimate question is zombies! XD)
January 9 2013, 19:15:02 UTC 4 years ago
(ZOMBIES.)