I really shouldn't laugh....

[lagilman]

A reader (listener's) reaction to FLESH AND FIRE: "I loved her Retriever novels. This is not one of them."

I really don't know what else to say. Obviously, I'm sorry the reader was disappointed, and hope that HARD MAGIC will make her happy again. But, um, it's not like we didn't alert potential readers to what the book was about: the cover and copy were pretty explicit, there was no sneaking, no trying to distract you into thinking it was More of the Same.



So... yeah, I'm afraid I laughed. *iz bad person*


On a more serious note, this is what I discussed in my guest-blog about "Changing Gears" over at varkat's LJ -- the concern that readers won't follow you from one style/world to another -- or that, if they do, they will be upset/disappointed in the new direction, or feel somehow "betrayed" by the new books. Fear of pissing off/frustrating readers is a significant career motivator, and it can lock a writer into something until long after the enjoyment's gone out of it for them. Part of the reason I write different things (contemporary and epic fantasy, horror, paranormal romance, YA, non-fiction, short fiction of all stripes) is so that I don't feel 'caught' and can go back to a particular series feeling refreshed and eager to dive back in.

For the most part, the response to my change-overs has been really good -- readers pick and choose what they like, and if there's crossover between the two, that's great: cross-pollination is a wonderful thing, especially if I can get someone reading outside their usual comfort zone (something we all should do on a semi-regular basis). But the risk that someone will go "ack ew, too [fill in objection]" is always there. It's a risk I decided to take, for the very real, valuable upsides, and I believe it was the right thing for me to do, even at the risk of negative responses. Hell, I'm sure that someone's going to flip their wig because the PSI books are (mostly) 1st person*...



[*I am still amused as hell about the reviewer who claimed that ALL urban fantasy is written in the first person. ALL of it. Um.....]

Comments

[bentleywg.livejournal.com]

"I loved her Retriever novels. [Flesh and Fire] is not one of them."

It's the other way around for me. I couldn't get into the Retriever novels* and I was glad Flesh and Fire was not one of them. I loved Flesh and Fire and am looking forward to the next one.


*but I was distracted at the time and I'm going to try again sometime this year.

[jhetley.livejournal.com]

And here I can't sell the only piece of urban fantasy I've ever written in first-person . . .

*iz failed author*

[mtlawson.livejournal.com]

Um, there's not much you can do when confronted with a review like that. That's the only line in the review?

As for all UF is written in the first person: O Rly? I had no idea that all UF is supposed to read like Phillip Marlowe was at the helm.

[lagilman]

That's the only line in the review?

That, and although the world was interesting the pace was too slow.

[lianneb.livejournal.com]

Well, thppt to them. I liked the slow and deliberate pace. definitely leaves me looking forward to more.

[http://users.livejournal.com/la_marquise_de_/]

I'm all for variety from the writers I like. It's the difference between b & w and colour, somehow -- after a while, if someone keeps on the same track, the excitement fades.

[stacia-kane.livejournal.com]

I worry a lot about this, given how very different the Demons books are from the (coming this summer) Downside books. Much darker, totally different world. But I figure all I can do is hope people are aware of the difference.


And yeah, I love being told ALL UF is written in first person or that it must be written in first. Um...no.

[brownkitty.livejournal.com]

ALL urban fantasy is written in first person? Someone has never heard of Charles de Lint, I take it.

[jhetley.livejournal.com]

No, Charles de Lint doesn't write urban fantasy. Isn't that if/then obvious?

:-)

[lagilman]

He writes Canadian Urban fantasy. So therefore it's something else entirely. Just like Latin American urban fantasy is magic realism.

[lianneb.livejournal.com]

I've had several conversations in the last year with people who identify Urban Fantasy with the modern paranormal stuff. I've pointed out that it's been around a lot longer than that and covers a lot more ground. Paranormal is only one aspect (and yes, usually first person), overlapping in large part with Romance.

Personally, I tend more towards the Charles de Lint brand of Urban Fantasy, if only because that's what I started reading in high school (in the eighties), and I find the current trend of the genre with its completely interchangeable covers to be annoying, although I read a small handful of writers (such as the lovely lady above).

[shadowhwk.livejournal.com]

Well, for what it's worth, I enjoyed Flesh and Fire and I enjoy the Retriever novels too. You just have to read them with different brains engaged. Doesn't everyone have a collection to switch between?

[lagilman]

yes, and they keep them in a row of jars on..um... just us, then?

[blitheringpooks.livejournal.com]

And I, on the other hand, am not drawn to urban fantasy. It's not that I tried yours and found it lacking. It's that I don't read it, and haven't wanted to, and yet your Flesh and Fire drew me in from the cover, the description, the idea of the world and wine and magic--

And I adore Flesh and Fire.

If you'd stuck to urban fantasy, I wouldn't have found you. So I'm very glad you diversified.

[fakefrenchie.livejournal.com]

Count me for loving both worlds. Though I'm a epic Fantasy reader from way back!

[dianora2.livejournal.com]

Whenever I get an UF submission that is not in first person I do a dance of joy.

[anisosynchronic.livejournal.com]

Did you ever consider using different byline for Flesh and Fire? I ask because some writers differentiate the different style/eras/settings they write in that way. E.g., Jayne Ann Krentz has settled into writing books with contemporary settings as Jayne Ann Krentz, ones set in Victorian times and before (and she has said she won't write stories set in the in the time frame beyond that through the first half of the 20th century bcause that gets into the atmosphere overhanging that era of the horrors of WWI and WWII) as Amanda Quick, and ones set in the future in the lost future colony setting she is using as Jayne Ann Castle. All three she's increasing tying to together now, but is using distinct bylines for the different time-settings.

Nora Roberts also differentiates settings and time with different bylines, and others have done same for different styles of books, or even for different publishers.

[lagilman]

Nope, never considered using a pseud for this project. I am "Anna Leonard" for the paranormal romances because I was concerned that readers who came for the dark fantasy might be annoyed at picking up a more traditional romantic storyline, no matter the supernatural aspects, and i wanted to make it clear what was what, but that was it.

(and I may yet do a ParRom under my own name...so far the responses are pretty evenly split on if that would be a good choice or not)