Some folks have already touched on it, but with the Anita Blake series, as far as I can tell, what it came down to (in me at least, but which I think is a reaction mirrored in a portion of other readers) was a perceived bait and switch.
"Anita Blake" is a brand; it was even marketed as a brand, a series of novels about this "Anita Blake" character. The first nine books had a specific mixture of elements, with the mystery Anita had to solve or plot as the driving force, with a few side romantic/erotic subplots around the sides for spice. With Narcissus in Chains and the later books, the mystery became a subplot, and the erotica came very, very heavily to the fore as the driving force of the books. After nine years, and nine books, fans can get pretty emotionally invested in a series, and when you pick up the next installment of your favorite series only to find it's actually shifted subgenres and demographics--without specifically telling you this by a change in marketing or title or the like so you can bow out before you start reading the book--you kind of feel like a bait and switch was pulled on you. You went in expecting something that 9 books and 9 years of experience have taught you to expect. You really, really wanted another installment of what you had before. And instead you get something different--that still has the brand name attached to it, some how, some way. Bait and switch. The reader feels betrayed.
And like others have pointed out, the reaction really is sort of like breaking up with a boyfriend or girlfriend...they spring something out of the blue on you, something really big, and they're suddenly not the man or woman you began dating years ago. (That doesn't say it excuses bad behavior of ex fans either, any more than becoming vicious to an ex after you break up with them is acceptable.) The Anita Blake series went through a sudden, abrupt shift in focus, and suddenly a certain set of people who had loved and championed the series for years felt...baffled. Surprised. Confused. Very, very disappointed. It's easy for this to turn into bitterness, and vitriol on the web.
I agree with the person who mentioned how the Merry Gentry series, which are the same "kind" of stories as the newer Anita Blake books, doesn't really bother anyone because it's a new series that started out that way in the first place. And I do think it's because there was no previous brand that was being thrown out the window. Thus far, you sort of know what to expect from a Merry Gentry book. There was no previous standard to judge it by. It makes it a lot easier to accept a set of ideas or way of writing that vastly deviates from the before established "norm" (such as a prior series by that author) if you make sure to call it out some way.
Jacqueline Carey is actually pretty good with this; while she's almost completed 3 trilogies of Kushiel books (which is her best known world), but she also has Santa Olivia which is SO different in style and tone that it's hard to believe it's still the same author penning it, and the Sundering duology which is sort of a reply to the tropes set forth in LOTR and copied everywhere since. She has set expectations with fans that yeah, she'll write the stories she wishes to, but she'll be clear on marking them so that the reader knows if it'll be a Kushiel book or not.
So I think setting expectations for a reader by making it clear where the switch will happen--because I also agree that it's not a writer's job to endlessly slave for their fanbase without bothering or being "allowed" to explore and grow and tell new stories--is something to ponder if you're a writer planning to do a series, or a writer planning on being prolific and building up a devoted fanbase over the course of decades. That way, you can set expectations beforehand, and avoid the whole fan outcry fiasco.
Although I do suppose there's still a point in that despite the fiasco among a vocal portion of her fandom, she's still a bestselling author. I'm still pondering what forces are at work there.
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branchandroot
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Date: 2010-10-14 05:49 am (UTC)"Anita Blake" is a brand; it was even marketed as a brand, a series of novels about this "Anita Blake" character. The first nine books had a specific mixture of elements, with the mystery Anita had to solve or plot as the driving force, with a few side romantic/erotic subplots around the sides for spice. With Narcissus in Chains and the later books, the mystery became a subplot, and the erotica came very, very heavily to the fore as the driving force of the books. After nine years, and nine books, fans can get pretty emotionally invested in a series, and when you pick up the next installment of your favorite series only to find it's actually shifted subgenres and demographics--without specifically telling you this by a change in marketing or title or the like so you can bow out before you start reading the book--you kind of feel like a bait and switch was pulled on you. You went in expecting something that 9 books and 9 years of experience have taught you to expect. You really, really wanted another installment of what you had before. And instead you get something different--that still has the brand name attached to it, some how, some way. Bait and switch. The reader feels betrayed.
And like others have pointed out, the reaction really is sort of like breaking up with a boyfriend or girlfriend...they spring something out of the blue on you, something really big, and they're suddenly not the man or woman you began dating years ago. (That doesn't say it excuses bad behavior of ex fans either, any more than becoming vicious to an ex after you break up with them is acceptable.) The Anita Blake series went through a sudden, abrupt shift in focus, and suddenly a certain set of people who had loved and championed the series for years felt...baffled. Surprised. Confused. Very, very disappointed. It's easy for this to turn into bitterness, and vitriol on the web.
I agree with the person who mentioned how the Merry Gentry series, which are the same "kind" of stories as the newer Anita Blake books, doesn't really bother anyone because it's a new series that started out that way in the first place. And I do think it's because there was no previous brand that was being thrown out the window. Thus far, you sort of know what to expect from a Merry Gentry book. There was no previous standard to judge it by. It makes it a lot easier to accept a set of ideas or way of writing that vastly deviates from the before established "norm" (such as a prior series by that author) if you make sure to call it out some way.
Jacqueline Carey is actually pretty good with this; while she's almost completed 3 trilogies of Kushiel books (which is her best known world), but she also has Santa Olivia which is SO different in style and tone that it's hard to believe it's still the same author penning it, and the Sundering duology which is sort of a reply to the tropes set forth in LOTR and copied everywhere since. She has set expectations with fans that yeah, she'll write the stories she wishes to, but she'll be clear on marking them so that the reader knows if it'll be a Kushiel book or not.
So I think setting expectations for a reader by making it clear where the switch will happen--because I also agree that it's not a writer's job to endlessly slave for their fanbase without bothering or being "allowed" to explore and grow and tell new stories--is something to ponder if you're a writer planning to do a series, or a writer planning on being prolific and building up a devoted fanbase over the course of decades. That way, you can set expectations beforehand, and avoid the whole fan outcry fiasco.
Although I do suppose there's still a point in that despite the fiasco among a vocal portion of her fandom, she's still a bestselling author. I'm still pondering what forces are at work there.