I agree with you, in some cases. There are some books (GRRM/JC) that would be very bad if cut too short.
However there are some authors who would do better with shorter lengths. Robin Hobb comes to mind. I am firmly of the opinion that she writes duologies that are padded into triologies because that is the expected length. Her latest trilogy (Tawny Man: Fool's Errand) starts out at 688 pages, mm. And I would have been fine cutting about half of the opening chapters. Not the chapters in full, but shortening each of them by half. And the second book (Golden Fool) didn't even have a clear climax/resolution, IMO. She could have easily cut a lot out of that one. Not sure about the third. Her previous two series (LiveShip Traders & Farseer) had a middle book problem as well as slow starts, IIRC.
So, I can see the desire to head toward shorter books because many authors do pad and do not need the 500+ page books to tell their stories. But I agree that there are exceptions. I think I would be happier if publishers were just more willing to push the appropriate authors to cut, rather than force good authors to butcher their books.
I also think there can be stories told in short form and that those have been being under-represented due to the epic length tradition.
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branchandroot
no subject
Date: 2004-09-13 04:00 pm (UTC)However there are some authors who would do better with shorter lengths. Robin Hobb comes to mind. I am firmly of the opinion that she writes duologies that are padded into triologies because that is the expected length. Her latest trilogy (Tawny Man: Fool's Errand) starts out at 688 pages, mm. And I would have been fine cutting about half of the opening chapters. Not the chapters in full, but shortening each of them by half. And the second book (Golden Fool) didn't even have a clear climax/resolution, IMO. She could have easily cut a lot out of that one. Not sure about the third. Her previous two series (LiveShip Traders & Farseer) had a middle book problem as well as slow starts, IIRC.
So, I can see the desire to head toward shorter books because many authors do pad and do not need the 500+ page books to tell their stories. But I agree that there are exceptions. I think I would be happier if publishers were just more willing to push the appropriate authors to cut, rather than force good authors to butcher their books.
I also think there can be stories told in short form and that those have been being under-represented due to the epic length tradition.
Zhaneel