Now, don't get me wrong: it is entirely possible that this is a valid criticism, especially with shorter works. "Velveteen vs." for example: if you say "I don't like how Jacqueline is acting in this story," I can absolutely address that in the next story, because they're being written and posted at a pace that allows for that sort of thing. But with novels?
Not so much.
Right now, we're a little under six months out from Chimes at Midnight. I have the page proofs for review, and it's locked to any major editorial changes. I'm also writing The Winter Long, which is due at DAW before the end of the year. Technically, this means I would have time to read reviews of Chimes and incorporate any criticism into the finished Winter manuscript, but let's be honest here: I won't. I never have. By the time Chimes comes out, I'll be finishing draft two, the plot will be locked into place, and nothing structural will happen that doesn't come from my editor or agent (or Vixy, but she has a unique place in this ecosystem).
As the first reviews for Midnight Blue-Light Special were coming out, I was finishing the second draft of Half-Off Ragnarok. And yes, I have cringed every time someone said, seriously or in jest, that book three would suck because it wouldn't be about Verity. I couldn't bench this book and write another one about Very if I wanted to, because there isn't time, even if it were her place in the story (which it's not). I'll get back to her eventually—with book five, to be specific—but the fact that some people don't want her to go doesn't make her stay. Hell, I don't want her to go. The narrative is set.
This is not to say that writers don't listen to criticism or commentary, because we do. I have made it a point to include more QUILTBAG characters in the Toby series since I realized that, due to most fae marriages being about procreation, the majority of the on-screen relationships were monogamous and heterosexual. I've clarified things that people found confusing...but I've done it three books down the line, because that was when the schedule allowed for it to happen. At any moment in time, my world looks like this:
1. The book that just came out.
2. The next book in the series, which I just finished.
3. The book after that, which is very tightly plotted.
4. The book where comments about book #1 can be considered.
With series like Newsflesh, which was only three books long, or Parasitology, which is only going to be two books long, we literally never get to step #4 in the conversation. By the time you see book #1, I'm either writing book #3, or I'm about to get started. With Newsflesh, I wrote book one, outlined books two and three, and then rewrote book one to fit the series outline and account for feedback from my editor. Book two was done before book one saw shelves, and so on.
I love reviews. I often wish that I could go back and change things, and sometimes I fantasize about the Feed: 20th Anniversary Edition where I get to revise and rewrite and address the accidentally problematic aspects of the story and do my job as a storyteller a little better in some places, because oh man that would be amazing. (And some people would hate it and accuse me of pandering, and I would then dream about hitting them with the book, because it would totally be a hardcover big enough to stun rabid wolves.) But I've never gotten feedback about book #1 and then gone into book #2 with the idea that I'LL SHOW THEM I'LL SHOW THEM ALL HOW DARE THEY QUESTION MY GENIUS. I can't.
Because the publishing cycle? It's longer than you think.
April 26 2013, 16:31:33 UTC 4 years ago
And my current music is "Cosmic Love"!
I often wish that I could go back and change things, and sometimes I fantasize about the Feed: 20th Anniversary Edition
Pretty sure we'll all be eaten by zombies by then.
May 13 2013, 15:39:46 UTC 4 years ago
Deleted comment
May 13 2013, 15:39:57 UTC 4 years ago
April 26 2013, 17:36:24 UTC 4 years ago
May 13 2013, 15:40:05 UTC 4 years ago
April 26 2013, 18:16:06 UTC 4 years ago
Kari
May 13 2013, 15:40:22 UTC 4 years ago
April 26 2013, 19:24:57 UTC 4 years ago
Never mind. I can't think of anything you can't think of better.
Have fun writing!
May 13 2013, 15:40:30 UTC 4 years ago
April 26 2013, 19:46:20 UTC 4 years ago
April 26 2013, 19:50:53 UTC 4 years ago
4 years ago
April 26 2013, 19:58:39 UTC 4 years ago
This is the best idea I've heard all day. Possibly all week. *_* (And hey, sometimes such fantasies work out!)
May 13 2013, 15:41:46 UTC 4 years ago
Deleted comment
May 13 2013, 15:42:48 UTC 4 years ago
Deleted comment
4 years ago
April 26 2013, 21:14:04 UTC 4 years ago
You're transparent enough about your work and publication schedules that anyone who pays even casual attention should know that you're already working on Book C before Book A hits shelves, so anyone who says that such-and-such in Book B is clearly an answer to something said about this-and-that in Book A should be ignored because they have no idea what they're talking about. You've also made it clear the only thing you're a slave to is the story, not public opinion and approval.
May 13 2013, 16:00:32 UTC 4 years ago
April 26 2013, 22:05:34 UTC 4 years ago
April 29 2013, 09:13:46 UTC 4 years ago
4 years ago
4 years ago
April 26 2013, 22:53:59 UTC 4 years ago
May 13 2013, 16:06:29 UTC 4 years ago
April 26 2013, 23:17:34 UTC 4 years ago Edited: April 26 2013, 23:18:01 UTC
(Disclaimer: would not make accusation, did believe 2.0 was the better book, would kill for tech updates on so many books every 10-20 years, am aware that wish is impossible, will die surrounded by unposted Tumblr drafts full of headcanon.)
April 27 2013, 00:06:26 UTC 4 years ago
4 years ago
April 27 2013, 00:05:59 UTC 4 years ago
ain't that the truth!
May 13 2013, 16:06:51 UTC 4 years ago
April 27 2013, 00:20:27 UTC 4 years ago Edited: April 27 2013, 00:21:11 UTC
And to warm the cockles of your heart, I celebrated a recent cash windfall by buying all your books on paper I hadn't bought yet. So, a nice little parcel showed up, and I started reading about Verity for the first time. Got about 150 pages in, and I couldn't find the book anywhere when I was next reading.
Eventually found it, somewhere I wouldn't have left it. Asked the husband about it, and he'd picked it up, started reading it, and borrowed it from me. I did invoke the "Mine" rule and snagged it back, but you've got another fan in this household.
*edited to change a from to a for.*
May 15 2013, 15:47:37 UTC 4 years ago
Glee.
April 27 2013, 00:36:35 UTC 4 years ago
In the box set of Newsflesh I just bought, you reference George as having died in 2032, AND in 2040. I was very confused :( I wasn't sure if it just got past your editors, or was a printing error. :p
May 11 2013, 08:01:35 UTC 4 years ago
4 years ago
April 27 2013, 03:41:56 UTC 4 years ago
So, do the characters tell you what to do? My crafts do that sometimes - I've had a few art dolls that had to be walked around the fabric store (side-eyes a certain mermaid) because nothing I already had was quite right...
May 15 2013, 15:48:35 UTC 4 years ago
April 27 2013, 07:32:30 UTC 4 years ago
Re Verity and co - for what it's worth, I love Verity, I find Dominic adorable, but frankly, that whole world is so much fun to read, I don't really care whose point of view I get, provided I get to spend more time there! And, after all, while I could happily watch Verity and Dominic snarking at each other all day, I kind of want more time with Sarah, and with Antimony, and we hardly even know Very's brother yet, and then there are all the assorted cryptids...
So yeah, any sadness at not getting more Verity next book is more than made up for by the fact that there is a next book!
Much love,
Catherine, trying not to fangirl too rabidly, but it's a while since I found a series that was so utterly enjoyable and relaxing to spend time in.
May 15 2013, 15:48:54 UTC 4 years ago
April 27 2013, 07:58:04 UTC 4 years ago
May 15 2013, 15:49:27 UTC 4 years ago
April 27 2013, 11:38:08 UTC 4 years ago
May 15 2013, 15:49:36 UTC 4 years ago
April 27 2013, 14:03:09 UTC 4 years ago
Who says this? I'm really excited to read books about the rest of the family.
May 15 2013, 15:49:45 UTC 4 years ago
April 28 2013, 04:30:05 UTC 4 years ago
Is their world so finite that it can only be experienced through the lens of a single camera? That they only want to hear the song in a single voice??
I don't expect authors or their characters to make the same choices I would make any more than I expect that from my friends and family. I read and watch to experience a different world, a different story, a different life. Sometimes I wish I could stay there forever. Sometimes I'm glad the story or episode is finite and I can come back to my own story. And sometimes I can't decide. :-)
If you (or any author/artist) catered always to my expectations, the end result would be a pale shadow of what it could be.
May 15 2013, 15:53:06 UTC 4 years ago
May 2 2013, 05:20:10 UTC 4 years ago
May 15 2013, 15:53:19 UTC 4 years ago
May 2 2013, 12:02:13 UTC 4 years ago
A FEED 20th Anniversary edition would rock. Especially a Subterranean Press 20th edition...
May 15 2013, 15:55:29 UTC 4 years ago
...man, that would be great.
May 8 2013, 10:21:43 UTC 4 years ago
Thanks for information.
May 15 2013, 15:55:40 UTC 4 years ago