Why we can't write like James Michener anymore-sigh!

HawaiiCentennialTexasAlaskaOne of the reasons authors read other people's fiction is to learn how to write your own. However, the fiction you read has to be the kind that shows you how to write for a contemporary market. At an early age, I picked all the older writers that wrote for a time when people read more than they watched TV. Or, writers that were so darn famous it didn't matter how much they put in their books, publishers would take the chance just because the writer was who he was. James Michener is one such example.

I loved James Michener's books. I read Centennial (the story of Colorado), Texas (ditto), Alaska (ditto), and Hawaii (ditto). A guy who can write the whole history of a state as a novel was my hero. I loved the details and the links between one generation of epic characters to the next. Naturally, when I started writing my first fiction, I followed suit. What readers wanted, I believed, was a sweeping epic that followed generations of characters and chronicled their every move down to a gnat's eyelash. Thankfully, I had an agent and experienced author who broke me of that habit, but I kinda miss the old days and the old ways.

I love to develop a backstory around my characters. Even in a novel that's purely fictional, like the Revere series, there's so much to tell about John, Andre, Dennis, and Steve. How much more so would there be in a grand family saga built around real characters, such as I hope to write someday about the Seymour family of England? Well, so? I'm an indie author now. I can write as little or as much as I want. Right? Well, no, you still have to keep the reader in mind. Sadly, I don't think readers, unless they are hardcore readers, want those good old days back. People want a book they can pick up and finish on a long plane ride, a weekend at the beach or their summer cabin. Chewing through pages of backstory and detail isn't going to make a reader want to pick up a book nowadays.

Still, if you are a hardcore reader and come across those old books on Amazon or in a bookstore, try one. The research and the detail is amazing.