Does a series being popular ruin the books?

[unbeastly]

I was looking back over the last JK Rowling interview where she said she wished that she had more time on some of the books and could go back and re-write them. It made me wonder that if the books weren't so popular would she have been able to take more time rather than being pretty much forced to stick to one book a year.

Personally I think if she had been able to take more than a year per book there would be less issues with the series, forcing the story out in that amount of time caused her to to make errors with timing and many other issues.

I think this goes for other books as well. Whether or not you like the Twilight books the series is a smash hit and I think it's popularity is solely responsible for the complete travesty of Breaking Dawn, a truly awful finale to an already mediocre series. Quite frankly I also think that the hype is responsible for Jacob's rather annoying prominence to please her "Team Jacob" fans.

I think any series that becomes a "world wide sensation" or the next teen crush will always suffer from to many demands to make it truly what it could be rather than what the author can get done before the deadline.

[Kitty279]

Hm ... was there not the additional issue of the movies already being filmed while the series wasn't finished yet, and they needed to get done before the actors were too old for the roles?

The problem is probably more when the author allows publishers and public to pressure them into pushing the next book out faster. I know an author who keeps people updated on her website, and there were some rather amusing posts, explaining in great detail what goes into writing and why a book isn't available in a shop the day after the author wrote the last sentence. She takes as much time as she herself needs and wants and the others simply have to wait.

I certainly wish JKR had taken longer to write. We might have had to wait longer, yes, but I'd have prefered that over some of what she did. A friend of mine insists that the last three books read like they were done by a ghostwriter.

[unbeastly]

I can kind of see their point about the last three books.

I remember an interview with JKR once where she said she had the whole story planned from beginning to end. However from all the continuity and timeline errors in the books she clearly altered things as she went. I think she really needed a break half-way through to re-organize her plans a she left herself with a few too many holes that could of been more filled with a bit more time. However with the popularity of the books I doubt her publishers were willing to loose any momentum by giving her the time she truly needed.

[eskimoRock]

You know, I wouldn't actually say so. Jo took quite a lot time to write the first book, and I personally don't think it's as good as some of the others. I think the hunger games got quite successful when Suzanne Collins hadn't finished the books yet, and she still lead it to quite the controversial ending. I know a lot of the fans were very unhappy with the last book, but the author decided to doing the way she has always imagined it and didnt bend to their pressures.

I also find that if I don't have that bit of pressure from people actually reading, I struggle to get the motivation. I can't help but think that writing seven books, and them not really being popular would be a little disappointing, and it might have caused her to maybe out her effort into another, possibly more successful project?

[unbeastly]

There's a difference between having a loyal fanbase and a massive portion of the worlds population waiting impatianly for your next book.

I haven't read the Hunger Games but good on her for sticking to her guns and not trying to do a Stephanie Myers and make everyone the best of friends like at the end of Breaking Dawn. I swear it's the only book that I've read and truly wondered if instead of reading the actual book I'd got a copy of a truly terrible fanfiction.

[eskimoRock]

I agree wi that, I just think it's hard for us to understand how she might felt doing it, because hers is such a unique experience nothing can compare to that, I can't even think about how se must have felt writing them!

The last book was very... Controversial, at least with the people I talked to it about. It's one of those series where she kills all my favourite characters off, and it took me a few times to read through and notice some of the things that influence the characters. Even now, I'm not delighted with the last one, but she she stuck to her guns and knew how she wanted to do it. But I felt the same with Stephenie Meyer too... the sex and the creepy baby imprint thing made it pretty fanfiction-y.

[Kitty279]

You know, I know a Twilight reader that always complains that the fanfictions she reads are often better than the books themselves. Isn't that saying a lot about the original when even real fans feel that way?

[eskimoRock]

I read an absolutely incredible fic that genuinely made me cry, and I read the whole thing in one sitting. It was just amazing and I was gutted when it ended- if that had been the book, I'd have been a huge fan. :/ I used to be a twilight fan when I was younger, and I have to say that the last film was really good for the fight scene alone, but I always preferred that story.

[unbeastly]

I completely agree, some of the best fanfic I've ever read has been Twilight. There are some all human fics that would make fantastic novels and I wouldn't hesitate to buy them.

[Kitty279]

Actually, some you could buy. My friend prefers the all human ones, too, and she told me that at least one author pulled her story from the net, changed the names and published it.

[unbeastly]

Jan 30, 2013 15:55:45 GMT -5 eskimoRock said:

I read an absolutely incredible fic that genuinely made me cry, and I read the whole thing in one sitting. It was just amazing and I was gutted when it ended- if that had been the book, I'd have been a huge fan.

I'm always on the look out for good fics, can you remeber what one it was.

[eskimoRock]

I've been searching for it again myself if I find it, I'll let you know!