I have noticed a problem in recent years in regards to authors that I have enjoyed for quite some time. It seems that a few have begun taking what could have been one great novel, and dividing it up over 2 or 3 books that endlessly repeat the same information, or stretch things out to far.
I'm curious if this is because the publishing company insists they do this to make more money, or because the author has gotten greedy.
(By the way I applaud Mr. Card for NOT doing this.)
Posted by El JT de Spang (Member # 7742) on :
OSC actually has the opposite problem: he starts out writing a single novel but it ends up taking a trilogy to tell the story.
Actually, I guess that's similar to what you're complaining about, except he doesn't stretch at all, the story just seems to get more complicated as it develops.
Posted by camus (Member # 8052) on :
quote:It seems that a few have begun taking what could have been one great novel, and dividing it up over 2 or 3 books that endlessly repeat the same information, or stretch things out to far.
I think in many cases the author might disagree over whether he is endlessly repeating information or stretching things out to far. Sometimes they just don't feel like they can capture all the ideas and characters that they want to in one book. This is even so with several of OSC's novels. Some of the Ender books resulted mainly because of that reason, there was too much story to tell to fit into one book.
While I don't doubt that some authors may do so because of contractual obligations or maybe even solely based on greed, I wouldn't automatically assume such is the case if a book seems to drag on with no apparent point.
Posted by neo-dragon (Member # 7168) on :
Xenocide and Children of the Mind were originally supposed to be one book, weren't they?
Posted by mr_porteiro_head (Member # 4644) on :
Yes.
Shadow of the Hegemon, Shadow Puppets, and Shadow of the Giant were supposed to be one book.
Leah an Racheal and its upcoming sequels were supposed to be one book.
Posted by Scott R (Member # 567) on :
>>he starts out writing a single novel but it ends up taking a trilogy to tell the story.
I don't think this is the case at all. OSC has a number (a good, rich, wonderful number) of standalone novels.
The series he's writing now (Alvin Maker, Shadow/Ender, Women of Genesis) all started as series, and were understood as series on their publication date.
Posted by trance (Member # 6623) on :
In my personal opinion (and I mean no offence when saying this) I think that 'Children of the Mind' and 'Xenocide' might have sold better and been a better novel if it had been just one novel. There was so much going on in 'Speaker for the Dead' and yet hardly so much for the lesser two books. But together as one... Anyways, I'm glad that 'Shadow of the Hegemon', 'Shadow Puppets' and 'Shadow of the Giant' weren't simply one or two books. And just a reminder-this is just my personal opinion and I am not a published author.
Posted by mr_porteiro_head (Member # 4644) on :
quote:The series he's writing now (Alvin Maker, Shadow/Ender, Women of Genesis) all started as series, and were understood as series on their publication date.
The Shadow Series was not intended to be a series from the beginning.
Posted by Noemon (Member # 1115) on :
quote:>>he starts out writing a single novel but it ends up taking a trilogy to tell the story.
I don't think this is the case at all. OSC has a number (a good, rich, wonderful number) of standalone novels.
But Stephen explicitly states that he does not consider OSC to be an author that does this.
Posted by odouls268 (Member # 2145) on :
quote: But together as one...
...might have been an 800 page novel Posted by Uprooted (Member # 8353) on :
I remember many years ago reading The Far Pavilions. About 2/3 of the way through that big fat book, as far as I could tell, the book ended. And then the author started another whole book that wasn't nearly as interesting. So I guess I thought the opposite about that novel--it could have been divided in two (and I could have done w/o the second one!).
I just have to qualify that by saying that it was a LONG time ago and I might feel otherwise now--I don't really remember the plot or anything.
One last story--before I'd read that book, a friend of mine was talking about it. I thought it was a science fiction or fantasy novel with a really funny title: The Farp of Ilions. "What's a Farp?" I asked. Really. ;-)
Posted by Treason (Member # 7587) on :
quote:But together as one...
...might have been an 800 page novel
Pshaw! Read some Stephen King. Posted by Stephan (Member # 7549) on :
quote:Originally posted by Noemon:
quote:>>he starts out writing a single novel but it ends up taking a trilogy to tell the story.
I don't think this is the case at all. OSC has a number (a good, rich, wonderful number) of standalone novels.
But Stephen explicitly states that he does not consider OSC to be an author that does this.
When Mr. Card does multiple books, each one to me has its own individual coherent plot, without incessant reminders of what came before.
Posted by Orson Scott Card (Member # 209) on :
Thank you, Stephan. I try very, very hard to make that true of all my books that are in a series. I never want a reader to be repelled because he hasn't read the earlier books. Nor do I ever want a reader to feel cheated because the book she's reading doesn't actually END. Some HAVE felt that way because I thought I had brought the main storyline of that volume to fruition (e.g., Xenocide) but many readers didn't regard that as the main story of the particular book.
Posted by Icarus (Member # 3162) on :
quote:I don't think this is the case at all. OSC has a number (a good, rich, wonderful number) of standalone novels.
The series he's writing now (Alvin Maker, Shadow/Ender, Women of Genesis) all started as series, and were understood as series on their publication date.
I thought I heard somewhere that there would eventually be series (sp?) revolving around Enchantment and Pastwatch.
Also, I think the argument could be made that Hot Sleep is not a standalone.
Posted by Reticulum (Member # 8776) on :
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