Quote:
Originally Posted by ZodWallop
I think the question is too simplistic or my interpretation of it is off.
I don't know if there is such a thing as a perfect author. I don't know that you need to love everything an author wrote to think they are a great author.
My favorite author is John Steinbeck. I haven't read everything he wrote, but I have read the majority of it. I haven't read a bad book by him, though not every book he wrote is The Grapes of Wrath.
It could be I'm just not very picky. I love Stephen King. Not everything he's written over the years has been my cuppa. But his overall average is so much higher than most contemporary authors in any genre.
Not sure if any of that is of any help to you.
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I'm really just throwing out some things for discussion. I don't think there is such a thing as a perfect author either, but I figured that a 3 paragraph long title would be a bit offputting to some. <grin>
I would argue that a great author isn't necessarily one beloved by English Lit teachers around the world, but rather a great author is an author who writes books that I really enjoy and will re-read. Thus I would argue that Eddings might very well be a great author from that stand point.
When I first started thinking about this subject, I was thinking more along the lines of my normal progression of stages for an author. They are
1) initial discovery. I run across some book that I pick up, say "This looking interesting" and buy. For some books it's "Oh my god, this guy is the best!" (the first book in the Wheel of Time fell into that category, as did the first Honor Harrington book).
2) Pick up as much of the author's backlist as I can. Much harder in the pre ebook era. Eventually, the I either put the author on my pre-order list or I grow tired of the author.
3) Over time, an author starts to lose steam. I keep buying the books but they are harder and harder to get through. Once again, WOT was a classic example, though I would tend to point to series by authors like Robert Asprin, or Alan Dean Foster as more typical examples. They start a series and by book 4 or 5 it starts petering out.
4) Author starts to fade into obscurity. I suspect this is at least one reason that many authors use multiple nom de plumes. It allows them to start in a new genre or a new series without the baggage of their previous books.
Some authors continue to churn out very readable books for their entire career, others fade away or stop writing. I have a number of authors on must buy list. Some stay on the list for a long time, others drop of the list after putting out a few clunkers. I suspect that is what I was really driving at. Do others approach books like that?