She conquered a reluctant reader
[image error]It’s the first Wednesday of the month again, time for a post for the Insecure Writer’s Support Group.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
SEPTEMBER QUESTION: If you could choose one author, living or dead, to be your beta partner, who would it be and why?
MY ANSWER: Of all the writers I love, I think I would choose Anne Bishop as a beta partner. The reason for that: I have a lot to learn from her, even though I’m not sure she has anything to learn from me.
I entered Bishop’s fandom late, only a couple years ago. By then, she has written a couple different series of traditional fantasy and one series of urban fantasy. I tried one of her traditional fantasy books years ago, didn’t like it, and didn’t read anything of hers for a long time. I read favorable reviews of her latest urban fantasy series, set in the world of The Others, but they didn’t tempt me. The reviews and descriptions mentioned that the heroine was addicted to self-cutting, and I never wanted to read about that kind of addiction.
When her book Lake Silence came out in 2018, I finally caved in and decided to try it. No self-cutting in that book, right? And I fell in love. That one novel overcame my resistance to read this author. Afterwards, I went back to the beginning of this series and devoured all 7 books of The Others cycle. Her other series still don’t work for me, but this one was amazing. It overturned my preconceived ideas of this writer and made me a fan – a feat only a Master could accomplish. I want to learn from her to write such compelling worlds and populate it with fascinating, 3D characters. I want to learn from her how to win over a reluctant reader.
Truth to tell, I loved The Others series and its characters so much, I re-read it a couple of times since. I even wrote a fan fiction novelette set in the world of The Others. If you’re a Bishop’s fan, like I’m, you might like my story too. I hope it does credit to Anne Bishop and her fertile imagination.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
My story Acting for Shapeshifters takes place in Sparkletown a year after the Great Predation. All the characters are original, but the world belongs to Anne Bishop.
Summary
Tansy Margolis is a comic TV actress, not a hero. But when she discovers a wounded Panthergard girl on her patio, she has to act before her beloved Sparkletown is destroyed by the Others.
The story is available on two sites: Wattpad or Archive of Our Own.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
What about you? Have you ever encountered a writer you disliked at first, and then read something else of hers, and your dislike melted into admiration?
