Some readers complain about the direction a series is taking, or that the author takes too long between books (this is especially annoying for a series). Or that the work has become repetitive. These are all valid points, but there isn’t much an author can do about them.
I’m still at the point where I read the reviews of my book, not just looking for praise, but also looking for things that interest readers. Reading the plot points that some of them find the most intriguing, I’m afraid they’ll be disappointed with the direction the story takes in subsequent installments. I hope they like it anyway. I also hope they’re smart enough to know that I’m not doing this to annoy them; the story was set long before The Bretton Katt Alliance ever saw print. I can’t change it now.
Yet I’m also aware that once a book, or a film, or an album, is out before the public, it no longer belongs solely to its creator; now it has a life of its own. Readers will see it differently than the author, and they will see it differently from each other. The best course for the author, probably the only course, is to write the way you want-you can’t tailor your work to the desires of readers.
This is especially true with a series. By the time I got The Bretton Katt Alliance out, I had already completed the second book. By the time I get that one out, by the end of this year, the third book will also be complete, or close to it. I have the benefit of foreknowledge; I must remember that readers don’t.
Timeliness? Yes, I do think that writers with a real fan-base (no, I can’t claim to be one of those) shouldn’t make their readers wait too long. Eighteen months to two years is a decent interval; a three-year wait is pushing it. Longer than that really taxes people’s patience.
But no matter how much people clamor for more, all writers should resist the urge to write sequels to books that don’t need them, especially after several years, when the writer’s interest has clearly grown stale. There’s a six-year gap between Dune and Dune Messiah, and a ten-year gap between The Silence of the Lambs and Hannibal. Both sequels are lousy books.
Okay, so what if anything, do writers owe their fans? Certainly not ‘nothing’. No writers can dismiss the people who read and enjoy their books. It’s a weird relationship, very close, very intense, sometimes one-sided, often stormy (Anne Rice, anyone?); and it’s between the writer and dozens/hundreds/thousands/millions of people whom the writer will never meet, or know anything about. Is this symbiotic, or parasitic?
I haven’t the faintest idea. All I can do it produce the best work I can, and hope that people will enjoy it enough to pick up the next volume. Of course I’m mindful of readers’ comments and opinions, but writers must write their stories the way they believe the stories should be written.
