Blog: Terry Brooks and the Evolution of Writing and Reading
At DragonCon I attended a panel with Terry Brooks and his current editor. One of the questions that came up was how Terry's writing style has evolved throughout his writing career.
Terry Brooks began writing with his Shannara series. The first book was a Tolkien-like sword and sorcery type fantasy. He has also written the Word and Void series which was darker urban fantasy set in a modern-day American, and the Landover series which is a lighter series set in a magical world connected to our own - where a former lawyer turned king faces the difficulties of ruling a magic kingdom that is a lot deeper and more difficult than it appears on the surface. Eventually, the Word and Void series connected to the Shannara series which has added a completely new level of interpretation to all of the stories.
As Terry has grown as a writer, his stories have evolved into deeper pieces that have underlying commentary on the state of the world today and on issues of concern. The connection between the Shannara and the Word and Void settings best illustrates this.
Likewise, my reading preferences have changed over the years. I have gone from not understanding why people want stories with sad endings, to appreciating sad, realistic endings for what they are, to a place now where I have to be very selective in what I read because of time constraints.
Terry Brooks was one of the first fantasy authors I ever read. I loved the sword and sorcery type stories he wrote when he began his career. I knew he had the Landover and the Word and Void series, but I had no interest in reading them because I wasn't really into urban fantasy or books with the sole purpose of humor. Of course I was wrong on both counts.
A friend told me how good the Word and Void series was and when Terry went back to that setting for a new book, I decided to finally read the Word and Void series. I was pleasantly surprised. It wasn't so much urban fantasy as it was the voice of Terry Brooks in a modern setting with a dash of magic and demons. I also thought it was kind of magical how he was connecting our world to a world of magic and was slowly evolving his world of magic back into a world of technology.
And then Terry wrote The Princess of Landover and I had to read the other Landover books so I would be able to read the new book he had written. Once again, I was pleasantly surprised. The Landover series starts out slow. The entire first book felt like exposition setting up the rest of the series. I had been afraid the series would be really fluffy and I'd already had my fill of fluffy from anime club during college. But the series turned out to be really deep with lots of quirky, cute, annoying and lovable characters (all very much one of my favorite things). For example, in one book the protagonist and his two main antagonists are trapped in a world where they become the thing they fear the most. Even in a setting with such quirky characters, the story really connected to me on a deep level.
My opinion of books and my favorite books are always changing, but at this point in time my favorite series by Terry Brooks is actually the Landover series – the one I was most reluctant to read.
I've reached a point in my life where I have trouble finding free time, so when I do choose a book to read, I tend to be very selective. I tend to read authors I like, authors my friends highly recommend, and I try to support authors who I know in real life. But I have also noticed that most of my favorite stories have a happy ending these days. I want to read stories that take me on a journey mentally and emotionally. I want to enjoy the ride. Then I want to walk away at the end with a good feeling of hopefulness because everything worked out in the end. Although that might not always be realistic in real life, that's the type of story I enjoy reading.
It's interesting how writing and reading can evolve over time as a person progresses through the various stages of life. I hope my writing continues to evolve in good ways as my life progresses into the future.
