Same Ol’ Same Ol’

Does this happen to you? Every few years, you look at books, movies or video games, and they all seem the same. Or you hear these rave reviews, but when you check it out, the work just seems… ordinary.

I guess it’s the nature of the marketplace. Publishers and producers identify something that’s been successful, and they replicate that until it’s completely run into the ground.

Sometimes I wonder if I’m too demanding, with unreasonable expectations that new work might actually contain original thoughts and ideas.

This isn’t just a complaint for me. It’s something that’s spurred me on. Back in the 1990s, I had that feeling about fantasy books. Everything on the shelves seemed like something I’d read before. Maybe more than once.

What that did was challenge me. If I couldn’t find the stories I wanted on bookstore shelves, then it was up to me to write them. And I’ve done that. My first book was a fantasy/murder mystery, The Magister’s Mask. There wasn’t exactly a ready market for this. It didn’t fit into the neat categories that publishing is built on. I did get it into print, though, in 2004.

Even today, as I work on my Minstrels of Skaythe series, it continues the project of creating the stories I want to read, vs. what the publishing industry thinks I should want. I have a lot of questions for publishers and producers. What are these stories we present? When every problem is solved at the point of a sword or gun, do those stories make the world better, or in fact do they push us all toward increased violence?

Writing outside the box isn’t always commercially successful, and people may look at me like I’m crazy when I ask for more than what conventional work provides. That’s the reality. I accept it, but I’m still writing the stories I think this world needs.

Have you read one of my books? Then it would be great for you to leave a review! Meanwhile, if you’d like to learn more about me and my work, check out my web site, Facebook, Instagram and/or Twitter.

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