How long is long enough?
What could I possibly mean by that?? I was walking around Barnes and Noble and noticed that there are several authors that have written over 10 books about the same character. I won’t name names, cause I think we all know who this could be. I would just like to know when is enough, enough. Can you really read book 15 about a character and know something new about them? Can this villain or crime be the worst they have ever faced? Do you really think they won’t make it out alive? These are the things that they keep writing on the cover, etc. Does the public really believe that? I think that if you have a series, you should tell the readers right off the bat how many books you will have and stick with it. Some examples: Stephen King had 7 books in the Dark Tower series, long enough. JK Rowling had 7 books for Harry Potter, perfect length. I’ve interviewed and talked with many authors and most say they will keep writing their character as long as they stay fresh. Do you think that the author is the best judge for that? Less is more. That is a very powerful statement and not used enough in writing. If you are an author that has written several books about your character, start thinking of a way to end the series. Expand you writing by starting a new challenge and new adventures for people to read. I think that is why there are only a handful of authors that really stand out to me as “The Best of the Best”, because they have that ability to write different things. This is what is lacking in popular fiction today and especially in Suspense / Thriller / Mystery and Horror.
Not sure where everyone stands on this topic, but I would love to hear some of your thoughts.
Suspense Magazine
Posted on March 29th, 2011 at 5:19 pm
I don’t mind it. We all have characters that are close to our hearts. What I do mind is characters that never grow or change after 15+ books. At some point you have to get bored and give up. I did. I kept reading more than I should have simply because I was expecting something different to happen. I want to see growth and pain like we do in real life.
I try to make my characters learn something along the way. They are human and they make mistakes. I love the hero with a tortured soul.
Posted on March 29th, 2011 at 5:29 pm
I totally agree, and I simply don’t read them anymore. How much more do we need to know about [insert character name here]?
Posted on March 29th, 2011 at 6:27 pm
I agree to a degree. But being a huge comic book fan, there are just some characters I look forward to every year: Harry Dresden (Dresden Files), John Taylor (Nightside), and Penderghast (Preston and Child). I think that, especially in King’s case, he set out to tell a single story, but one that couldn’t be contained in a single book. But in the case of Dresden and The Nightside, these authors have established complex mythologies with multiple villains, much like comic book universes, which allow for expansive stories that can span many, many books. These books are more like serialized stories. With suspense and fantasy, it’s easy to set up a single main protagonist and set different villains against them in every book, like a comic book or TV show. I think it’s much more difficult with a pure horror story, though. Look at the SAW series and Nightmare on Elm Street and Friday the 13th series- they got weaker over time. I think horror works much better as individual books because the stories really need to be different to prevent banality, but with many other genres, I don’t mind a single character existing in a complex Universe. I have yet to grow bored with Dresden or Taylor, Lincoln Rhyme and Agent Penderghast, though I’ll let you know when I do.