Q&A with Josh Lanyon discussion
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What else are you reading? (June 2010 - May 2013) *closed*
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Calathea
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Mar 21, 2013 12:17PM
We're both in Germany. *nods* Still, most of the time Katharina is about 450 km up north.
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How come I overlooked this comment before? A short story? Not teasing us with any vague hints and details? None at all? ;-)
Calathea wrote: "We're both in Germany. *nods* Still, most of the time Katharina is about 450 km up north."I'll just send it to you when I'm down in Würzburg! (Not that the post fee would be any different ;D)
Katharina wrote: "Calathea wrote: "We're both in Germany. *nods* Still, most of the time Katharina is about 450 km up north."I'll just send it to you when I'm down in Würzburg! (Not that the post fee would be an..."
To not make the poor thing travel alone for so long... after it came here from Finnland. ;)
Calathea wrote: "Katharina wrote: "Calathea wrote: "We're both in Germany. *nods* Still, most of the time Katharina is about 450 km up north."I'll just send it to you when I'm down in Würzburg! (Not that the po..."
Exactly!! :)
Johanna wrote: "Josh wrote: "Yes, I am working on the H&M book in between editing MOM and working on a short story that suddenly hit me out of the blue."How come I overlooked this comment before? A short story? ..."
Hey, I tried to be all Zen about it and not asking excited questions... ;)
suddenly hit me out of the blue."
I've heard somewhere those were the best ones... ^^
Johanna wrote: "Josh wrote: "Yes, I am working on the H&M book in between editing MOM and working on a short story that suddenly hit me out of the blue."How come I overlooked this comment before? A short story? ..."
Holy cow! I overlooked the comment too...
And I'm supposed to take every word from Josh's lips as holy to qualify for the gold fan badge.
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How come I overlooked this comment before? A short story? ..."
I'm too guilty over being distracted in the middle of H&M. I used not to work like this. My focus is kind of MIA.
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Did you realise that A..."
Those notes are helpful! They remind me of the parts not to skimp on. They remind me that it's okay to be goofy. That you're still enjoying sex scenes.
Plus those discussion threads are really entertaining!
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..."
You already got the gold badge, remember? You're working on your platinum badge now.
Who is running this fan club? Must I keep track of EVERYTHING myself?!?!
I think its funny that jr ward had to have a warning at the front of her black dagger brotherhood books informing the reader that they are a work of fiction.
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I say ..."
Yes!
I guess I'll have to read that one
Josh wrote: "Are any of you planning to read the new JR Ward book?" I honestly planned to. But after reading this review... I guess, I'll read it anyway just to have some kind of closure. And then I give up on Ward. I've been waiting for this book for some years. I really enjoyed the first 5-6 of the series (the plot, the development) but I don't like her writing style. Sometimes it's not reading, it's fighting with printed words to get the meaning. Maybe that's because I'm Russian, but I read Josh's books with ease and greatest pleasure, and Alex, and Witt, and Anne and Dev here. :)
So, the answer was - yes, I still plan to read it.
I was reading the review and I'm already on the ninth book, so I will, if I'm not still reading all of Josh's books.
I've just read a lovely coda - on Josh's website!
Anna wrote: " Josh wrote: "Are any of you planning to read the new JR Ward book?" I honestly planned to. But after reading this review... I guess, I'll read it anyway just to have some kind of closure. And the..."
Anna, it's not just because you're Russian. I can't follow her books half the time anymore. I'm like you; I liked the first 5 pretty well, but after that... she's got about 14 different storylines going on in any given book; none of them get more than a few pages at a time before moving on to a different one; some of them only get half a dozen pages all together. And each one is told from a different character's headspace. It's too much work! For one of them -- John Matthew's -- I had this elaborate system of different colored markers for each story line, so I could go back and read them consecutively, and the book was just such a MESS! I haven't read 9 or 10 and feel no particular desire to do so. I WANT to read Lover at Last, because this was one of the few stories that I was actually invested in after the trainwreck of the last few I read, but I haven't trusted her to write it since her books have been just so AWFUL since... well, since Phury's. It's like, at some point she just said "Logic? Coherence? BAH!" and some poor editor just threw his/her hands up in exhaustion, and it's all been downhill from there.
Josh wrote: "Eed99 wrote: "Tina Kay wrote: "Regarding long versus short stories: When I'm in love with a book's characters, I want the story to go on and on. I feel sad when I reach the last page... like I've h..."Don't know.
Stephan King has been in the business for over 30 years and don't know if it is poor editing or what, but his more recent books often leave me thinking they needed better editing compared to his earlier books. I think sometimes success in publishing leads authors to falsely believe every word of their 500 page book is sacred and a key part of the story.
I have found that as a lot of authors gain large mass market success the editing in books often suffers. Not so much the grammar and similar errors, but more in becoming overly wordy and failing to keep a tight plot line with each scene driving the story forward.
I think once authors get too successful (definitely in the mainstream), they have a huge amount of bargaining power with the editing department ("You dare edit me? Fine, I'll take my next blockbuster elsewhere!"). Imagine you're an underpaid, overworked editorial intern and you get a name like Grisham or King or Rowling - the balance of power is definitely with the author in that case.
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How come I overlooked this comment before?..."
Well, you SHOULD feel guilty over being distracted in the middle of H&M 3!!! Shame on you!
JUST KIDDING... ;-)
Really, maybe it's a good thing that your mind wanders. Not all those who wander are lost — remember? I think it's great that you have all these new ideas and also passion to make them happen. :-) Only thing you need is some extra hours to the day... no biggie...
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Hey, we are happy to entertain you. :-)
Aleksandr wrote: "I think once authors get too successful (definitely in the mainstream), they have a huge amount of bargaining power with the editing department ("You dare edit me? Fine, I'll take my next blockbust..."That would definitely explain Harry Potter 4+ ;D *duck*
Katharina - I think it explains a LOT about wordy latter installments in much-hyped series overall, whether you look at Anne Rice's vampire stuff or the current fantasy blockbuster series.
Mod
Great! I'm really looking forward to discussing CUTYS with all of you! :-)
I would add that readers who love characters are far more aware of story/plot lines, continuity and "voice" in dialogue because they are invested in them.
Tracy wrote: "Anna wrote: " Josh wrote: "Are any of you planning to read the new JR Ward book?" I honestly planned to. But after reading this review... I guess, I'll read it anyway just to have some kind of clo..."
I totally agree. Although I did love Lover Avenged because of Rhev and Wrath's stories. It's one of my favorites. I thought Lover Mine was good but It did't really grasp my attention like the first 5 and book 7 did. I couldn't even make it through book 9.
Na wrote: "Do readers complain a lot about that ? Once characters are well known and liked, most readers read the books for the characters interactions then the plot."I don't think readers complain as much as they just drop the series. However by that time the series has so much sales momentum that the loss of the older readers just isn't noticed, so the author and publisher continues to publish well-selling, poorly edited crap.
Na wrote: "lol, too late ! what about HP4 ? Too wordy ?"Absolutely. I actually DNF'd that one and only read the first few pages of HP 5. I wasn't a total fan before, just thought it was nice enough and they were easy books to read for an English beginner like me at that time. But starting with the fourth installment the books got so bloated up - I didn't enjoy reading it anymore.
Lou wrote: "In the case of HP I thought that the last few books were bloated, but by then I was deeply invested in the story and the characters and had to carry through. However, I'm not interested in picking ..."Exactly!
Aleksandr wrote: "Katharina - I think it explains a LOT about wordy latter installments in much-hyped series overall, whether you look at Anne Rice's vampire stuff or the current fantasy blockbuster series."I don't know that many blockbuster series, but I believe that in a heartbeat. The whole concept kind of invites the author to bloat up books at some point, doesn't it? I keep away from them for that reason (among others :D).
Josh wrote: "I read the single most glowing review of any m/m novel EVER in Publisher's Weekly for 
I mean, they could not say enough wonderful things about this book -- whic..."
I've just finished reading Line and Orbit and I have to say that I agree with each one of those glorious reviews. It's not a book without fail (a few passages could have done with some more editing, a few rather unbelievable happenings even for Sci-Fi, some scenes could have been a bit more drawn out for my taste), BUT the rest was just so damn brilliant and engaging and breathtaking and bloody GREAT, that I really didn't care. I LOVED this book. I want a sequel right now. :D
Tracy wrote: "'m like you; I liked the first 5 pretty well, but after that... she's got about 14 different storylines going on in any given book; none of them get more than a few pages at a time before moving on to a different one; some of them only get half a dozen pages all together. I thought it was just me, I've been stuck on Chapter 24 of the Revenge book. It's like she said, ok... they like sex, I'll just throw it at them. I like a story that has nice stuff in between the sex. But, I do hope she's been kind in her m/m story. I loved the first 5 or 6 as well.
Carlita wrote: "OK! Just ordered it. :-)":D
Oh and Lover Reborn is awesome! I am totally caught up, and I'm 70% through. Should finish it tonight.
Na wrote: "I've also started to read in English thanks to JKR. I've had enough to wait six months for the translation and to risk being tempted to read all those spoilers posted by English speakers. I'm, in a..."Those were awesome books to start reading English! Maybe after the first three books the challenge wasn't big enough anymore and that's another reason why I strayed away from them ;D
I remember that back then I desperately wanted to try reading more difficult books... but English was my third foreign language and I started learning it pretty late (I was 14, I think), so I wanted to make up for lost time :D
Mod
Oh! That would be pretty cool. I bought the ebook but have yet to read it.
Mod
Oh cool, Jordan! You'll LOVE it! It's such a wonderful book. :)
Aleksandr wrote: "I think once authors get too successful (definitely in the mainstream), they have a huge amount of bargaining power with the editing department ("You dare edit me? Fine, I'll take my next blockbust..."I agree. I think this is what I was getting at, but you phrased it much better than I did.
Katharina wrote: "Aleksandr wrote: "I think once authors get too successful (definitely in the mainstream), they have a huge amount of bargaining power with the editing department ("You dare edit me? Fine, I'll take..."No reason to duck. I almost mentioned the Harry Potter series myself. While I enjoyed it overall, the latter books-especially book #7 left me thinking it could have used better editing.
I think these books are a great example of success breeding poorly edited writing.
Eed99 wrote: "I think these books are a great example of success breeding poorly edited writing."*noddinghappily*
Na wrote: "Nah ! :D They would say "I like this book" or "I don't like this book", "The story is good" or "the story is bad". You use the word Plot, if you know the word Plot. You say a plot is too wordy, wh..."
I don't write, and I know what a plot is. I sat through enough lit courses in high school to know the basics of plot, types of plot, characters and conflict.
And I can easily say I loved the Harry Potter series, and enjoyed the characters and the basic plot but still felt the story could have been written more tightly and that there was a lot of fluff that didn't really develop the characters more or drive the plot forward. It was just writing for the sake of writing.
I recently read a book that was almost 400 pages long. It was a sort of romance and the basic conflict was really resolved about 200 pages in, but the author opted to write about 200 more pages just because-I am not really sure, I think maybe she just didn't want to let go of her characters. I liked the beginning, but the end bored me and I eventually abandoned it, because the real conflict was resolved and the last 200 pages were just there.
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:-D
Mod
Yes, there is always that. There is a tendency to get more self-indulgent with your literary whims? It's probably worse if you're the kind of writer who overwrites? Like if your editor is constantly having to yank you back on track or tell you to cut, that would probably be the sort of writing tic that could get worse with time.
If you were a Robert Parker, someone who wrote lean and tight from the start, you'd probably successfully stick to that formula forever. Which he did -- and with minimal editing.
So, yes, it would partly depend on the writer's ego and whatever their particular bad habits were, I guess.
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Thank you! I'm glad you enjoyed that.
I'm planning to do one of those obscure character interviews a month. Someone on my Facebook Fan page came up with the idea.
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I honestly planned to. But after reading this review... I guess, I'll read it anyway just to have some kind of clo..."
Colored markers.
I love you guys.
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How come I overlooked this co..."
It's like working without a net! :-D
It is weird though to just go with that creative impulse. It's not terribly practical, but maybe it will be productive.
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I think maybe what Na is saying is when readers start discussing plot in workmanlike terms they are often either reviewers or aspiring writers?
Not always, of course. But when I think of my reading friends and family who don't review, don't write...just read for amusement, they tend to talk about stories in much more general terms?
The interesting thing about Goodreads is everyone here is a potential reviewer -- that's how the site works -- and so the level of reader engagement is more intense than that of offline readers.
That's my experience, anyway.
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I don't think readers compla..."
Yes. There is natural reader attrition, anyway. For all books and all series. What we all hope is that we're building enough momentum to cover the lost readers and continue to build on the existing.
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I mean, they could not say enough wonderful things about this..."
Wonderful! I bought it when I read that review. Now I just have to make time to read it!
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