Anyway: Today I went to B&N to check out their new books since I had a 25% off coupon for anything. [Of course even though it says anything in the store that does not include the Nook.] I found Patricia Briggs has a new one out. Since I read the two Dragon books,(I guess there's three of the but I will get to that later) I've loved her writing. haven't read many more though. Her UF series just doesn't quite grab me, even though I keep track of it. I have almost bought the Raven series, I think that's the one, quite a few times. Anyway I looked her new book over and found it second to one called "Masques" so I went and found "Masques". After looking it over I found that it was her first book...as far as I could tell first book written and published. Her husband calls it an extremely limited edition which means it didn't sell much. She says her second book "Stealing The Dragon" (which is not one of the two dragon books I've read) was picked up before they realized how poorly her first did.
So years later she finally got around to doing a sequel to "Masques". Her editor asked if she wanted to redo "Masques", she said yes! without realizing just how bad a job she had done on it. So the one I bought today is a redone version after all she has learned since that first book.
I think it's interesting to look over First novels. David Weber' first wasn't picked up but he did sell the second, I think. Years later he managed to get that first one published...not a bad story at all. I think it contains an earlier version of Honor Harrington . I don't recall if he said if he redid it or not.
I have also read Michael Stackpoles First novel. The same thing happened to him. His first was rejected but the editor who rejected saw something in the writing and asked him to do another novel and send it in. That one was bought. Years later he too managed to get that first one published. It's kinda long but again a good story. But again I don't know if he redid it or not. I kinda think he did by the quality of the writing.
Makes me hope there is hope for my first two novels....not to mention the ones I am working on now. But that first one I want to make a series out of...at least a sequel.
One extra thing about Briggs' First. She said she spend years writing and rewriting the first ten pages, she even dreamed them, but they were the first thing she cut for this version. Hmmm makes me want a copy of the original. They are evidently going for a lot on Ebay.
[This message has been edited by LDWriter2 (edited January 02, 2011).]
Example: Chris Paolini's Inheritance cycle. Now, I don't care much for his books, but any kid who can publish a 150,000 words ms has to have spunk. Due to his age, perhaps this development is more evident than in most. His writing grows more sophisticated, more sure of itself, as the books progress.
But then you find a writer like our beloved OSC, whose Ender's Game will remain, I believe, his crowning accomplishment no matter what else he publishes. Of course, as his readers, we can always hope I am wrong!
Maybe we should all keep a "first novel" under the desk, so after we're published and folks are begging for more, we can say, "Well, I did write this old thing long ago..."
quote:
Well, I did write this old thing long ago..
I have a feeling that is what is going to happen with some of my early short stories.
[This message has been edited by Wordcaster (edited January 03, 2011).]
Lis
[This message has been edited by Lissa (edited January 03, 2011).]
As I recall, Marion Zimmer Bradley had several minor strokes that didn't slow her down much, years before she died.
I hadn't heard that about OSC but I'm glad he is expected to recover. But even though they are doing wonders with strokes Jim Baen died from one not that many years ago. Hopefully I got his first name right, my mind just went blank on that.
I hadn't noticed any improvements in the writing of most pros but I believe Jim Levett has gotten better with each novel in his Dog Days series.
So has Seanan McGuire in her October Daye series.
I think I have seen some slight improvements with C. E. Murphy's writing also.
Not that they were bad to begin with.
Now that I think about it I think David Weber's Freehold series shows better writing than his first Honer Harrington books and especially that first one one I referenced in my original post here. But he started off pretty good.