(commenting on this a month after the fact because some how I missed it when you posted it, and I was looking through back posts for one to link a friend to)
I agree with most people here - I mean, you're the author! And each author is their own species, with their own gestational period. I think an important thing is having SOME kind of dialog with your readers. Let them know what you're working on. I'm always impatient for the next book if it's a series or author I love, but I enjoy the waiting. The Harry Potter books were a public expression of something that, for me, is standard for ANY book I've been waiting for. Meet with other fans, talk about the book, reread past books in the series, and wait like a kid before Christmas. You know it's coming if you're patient. And you can get things set ahead of time so you can take the time on release day to sit down and read it all at once.
The only time this becomes a problem is when you have a trilogy that is firmly established in that format, and you get to the end of the second one, leaving cliffhangers right and left, and then...stop. Disappear for a while, then start working on other projects. It's like suddenly, Christmas isn't coming any more. You'll get Easter or Halloween, but it's not the same. Melanie Rawn's Exiles trilogy has been like that for me. I understand there was a long hiatus from writing (for health reasons, I think), but even once she returned to writing, there seems to be no hope of a conclusion on the horizon, more than 10 years after the second book. And that's when it starts to really be a problem for me. I am patient, but only if I know it's coming (even putting a general number on it would work: 'I'm working on it, and given my general writing speed, it'll be published in 2010', with 2010 being an over-estimate, so I'm not getting myself excited early, but if it shows up early, it's even better!).
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branchandroot
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Date: 2008-05-23 08:05 am (UTC)I agree with most people here - I mean, you're the author! And each author is their own species, with their own gestational period. I think an important thing is having SOME kind of dialog with your readers. Let them know what you're working on. I'm always impatient for the next book if it's a series or author I love, but I enjoy the waiting. The Harry Potter books were a public expression of something that, for me, is standard for ANY book I've been waiting for. Meet with other fans, talk about the book, reread past books in the series, and wait like a kid before Christmas. You know it's coming if you're patient. And you can get things set ahead of time so you can take the time on release day to sit down and read it all at once.
The only time this becomes a problem is when you have a trilogy that is firmly established in that format, and you get to the end of the second one, leaving cliffhangers right and left, and then...stop. Disappear for a while, then start working on other projects. It's like suddenly, Christmas isn't coming any more. You'll get Easter or Halloween, but it's not the same. Melanie Rawn's Exiles trilogy has been like that for me. I understand there was a long hiatus from writing (for health reasons, I think), but even once she returned to writing, there seems to be no hope of a conclusion on the horizon, more than 10 years after the second book. And that's when it starts to really be a problem for me. I am patient, but only if I know it's coming (even putting a general number on it would work: 'I'm working on it, and given my general writing speed, it'll be published in 2010', with 2010 being an over-estimate, so I'm not getting myself excited early, but if it shows up early, it's even better!).