Growing

   I mentioned in my last post that I am currently reading Eragon, by Christoper Paolini. It has been out for a long time and he has written a few more books in the series. I remember people talking about what a great book it is.
    It's a good book. It's holding my interest. The story is not unusual and the writing isn't exceptional. There's nothing really phenomenal about it, except for why people talked so much about it:  it was written by a nineteen-year-old.
    That fact is more incredible to a writer than to the average reader. Even great writers could not write so well at that age, no matter what age they started writing. It takes most of us decades of writing consistently and learning how to improve before we can produce the kind of writing in Eragon.
     What is really making me want to finish this book is so I can read the next one. Because the next book is sure to be better, and the next one better than that. And I love to see how writers grow and improve with experience.
    I remember being very aware of this in Jim Butcher's Dresden series. I don't think the first Harry Dresden book was Butcher's first novel, but it was truly great. Even so, I noticed a marked improvement in the writing - all aspects of it - in the next few books. And they just keep getting better.
     Another example is Charlaine Harris, best known for her Sookie Stackhouse/Southern Vampire Novels. They are consistently great. But she published two mystery series before starting Sookie; the Shakespeare Series and the Aurora Teagarden books. I've read all of them and, even from the perspective of one of her biggest fans, the Shakespeare books are mediocre. The Aurora Teagarden books are good, but not anything special. But again, I loved seeing the author's growth as a writer over the years.
     It's important to keep in mind that no matter where we are in our profession and what our skill level is, we can continue to grow and get better if we keep learning and practicing.  This is true for writing or anything else.  Sometimes it's hard to see our own improvement, so being able to recognize it others can keep us inspired.

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More Good Books

On the recommendation of a friend, I have just finished reading Joe Hill's "Horns". The story was good and extremely well written, but not my kind of thing. I did really enjoy Hill's "20th Century Ghosts", an eclectic group of short stories.
     I have also just finished The Hunger Games, which I loved and I can't wait to read the rest of the series. This is a book I put off reading - like many that I ignored the hype about, because I figure if the masses love it, I probably won't. Which is ridiculous, since I ended up liking (among other titles I can't call to mind at the moment) Harry Potter and The Percy Jackson Series - both also written for YA, but loved by readers of every age. If you haven't read The Hunger Games, give it a try.
    I am in the middle of reading Stephen King's latest tome, 11/22/63 (also on the recommendation of a friend) and it is really good. I have just started reading Eragon, another YA phenomenon that went mainstream that I never got around to reading when everyone was raving about it.
    Not long ago I read the latest in the Sookie Stackhouse/Southern Vampire Series by Charlaine Harris, which was as consistently enjoyable as all the previous books in the series. I can think of a few other authors could take lessons from Harris on how to do that.
    I received an email the other day telling me that the new Janet Evanovich title in the "Wicked" something series is about to be released. I read the first one and it is a fun if frivolous story and I am looking forward to the next one.
    Like many bibliophiles, I sometimes get anxious when there are many new (and old) books that I want to read, but that is preferable to (those very rare times of) not having any new reading to look forward to.

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What We Can Learn From Our Idols (part 3)

     Another of my very favorite writers in the world is Charlaine Harris, particularly her Southern Vampire (Sookie Stackhouse) series.   What I love most about these books is that no matter how odd the situation or the characters/creatures that the heroine becomes involved with, the story is grounded in the real world.  In some urban fantasies, the supernatural aspects make the reader feel that whatever's happening couldn't really be in our world. There's the feeling that "our" world as it is depicted in the novel is not as we have always percieved it. In the Sookie books, the reader has the sense that events and beings in the story could very well be part of the reality we know.
     My Daylight's End books feature unusual beings and occurances and I feel I accomplish what Charlaine Harris does with her Southern Vampire Novels. I am pleased about that because that is exactly how I want the books and stories to be. However, I did not manage that through writerly skill; more because of lack of it. I'm just not adept enough to create a world significantly different from the reality I know.
     My other series, Trust In Darkness, needs to convey more of a feeling that the world of the characters both is and is not exactly as they have always seen it. That may prove harder to do, but so far I think I'm succeeding.

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