The Jim Butcher Files: Dresden . Codex Alera . Cinder Spires & More

[DuckieTigger]

↑Guess plans changed as Skin Game came before first Cinder Spires book. Hopefully Peace Talks really is next - and hopefully before Christmas. (2015 that is, don't think a month will do).

[Toxaris]

So, Cinder Spires will probably be released early March as it usually takes 3 months to get it polished and published. If we want Peace Talks at Christmas 2015, it means that Jim has to finish it early September. That would give him about 6-9 months. That will be hard, he takes more time writing nowadays (as he should).
I would love a release of PT in 2015, but somehow I doubt it. It depends how much of the story he already has outlined I guess.

[DuckieTigger]

Why should he be allowed to take his time? He got more ideas that he wants to write than he can do in his life. I doubt the fame gotten to his head already. And Jim's name is not George R. R. Martin. The one reason I could see that he drags his feet is by squeezing and starting as much other books / series inbetween Dresden books. The main story line is all done, all he has to do is fill in the details. According to him that goes relatively easy for him.

[alansplace]

Originally Posted by DuckieTigger

Why should he be allowed to take his time? He got more ideas that he wants to write than he can do in his life. I doubt the fame gotten to his head already. And Jim's name is not George R. R. Martin. The one reason I could see that he drags his feet is by squeezing and starting as much other books / series inbetween Dresden books. The main story line is all done, all he has to do is fill in the details. According to him that goes relatively easy for him.

You need to give the guy some slack and remember that the first 10 or so Dresden books and all 6 of the Alera books were written before he got so popular and that back then he wasn't required to travel and attend all the book store signings and conventions that he's now taking part in (damn these dangling participles!!!).

[DuckieTigger]

Originally Posted by alansplace

You need to give the guy some slack and remember that the first 10 or so Dresden books and all 6 of the Alera books were written before he got so popular and that back then he wasn't required to travel and attend all the book store signings and conventions that he's now taking part in (damn these dangling participles!!!).

No No No!!!I want the last 10 books as fast as the first 10. Only thinking about me here and everybody that is waiting too.

I suppose I have to learn more patience.

[Nyssa]

Personally, I rather he take his time and continue writing a good story, then rush through and end up delivering crap!

Its also a good idea for him to take a break from the series so that he doesn't burn out and/or get stale. Writing something else should help him improve those skills that need it, keep strong his existing writing assets, take a breath and reset.

[DuckieTigger]

Originally Posted by Nyssa

Personally, I rather he take his time and continue writing a good story, then rush through and end up delivering crap!

Its also a good idea for him to take a break from the series so that he doesn't burn out and/or get stale. Writing something else should help him improve those skills that need it, keep strong his existing writing assets, take a breath and reset.

So far he seems to be incapable to create crap - even when he combines roman legion with pokemon. I wouldn't even mind if his skills don't improve any - Peace Talks only needs to be as good the others. Trying to outdo the last book is eventually run him into a wall, IMO. He has been surprising us though, even if some things can hardly be topped (e.g. the fantastic dinosaur ride). I think you said it even better with "keep strong his existing writing assets."

[alansplace]

Found on s1161.photobucket.com

[alansplace]

.....The Erl King and his hellhounds!!!

[eschwartz]

Personally, I don't mind if the book takes a while to finish. Not everyone can be as prolific as Brandon Sanderson...

Just so long as he doesn't pull a GRRM on us.

[alansplace]

The Dresden Files started life as a class project in my Writing a Genre Fiction Novel class. In point of fact, it was my attempt to prove to my writing teacher how wrong she was about all this structured, story-craft nonsense she was trying to teach me about. You see, I knew about these things because I had a bachelor’s degree in English Literature with an emphasis in Creative Writing–whereas she merely had a master’s in journalism (and had published forty novels). So to prove her wrong, I set out to do absolutely everything she said exactly the way she said it–to be her good little writing monkey and show her exactly what horrible things resulted from such a restrictive, cookie-cutter approach to writing would create

And I wrote the first book of the Dresden Files.

Which showed her. Hah.
-----
Overall, the series gets better or at least it gets different. Storm Front is by far the closest book to the series' pulp noir roots. It's a very dark book; Dresden's an antisocial asshole; there's a lot of chauvinism in the narrative. All of these things fade (though don't entirely disappear) as the series goes on.

The plot is very noir too and the fantasy elements are limited in the first book. Storm Front deals with the real world almost exclusively. You get glimpses of the supernatural world (the Council, the Red Court, etc) but for the most part it deals with human beings doing human things for human reasons. Fool Moon is similar, dealing mostly with the real world, but it does feature pockets of supernatural society with the werewolves. Grave Peril, the third book, delves deeply into the fantasy world dealing extensively with the Red Court and even going into the Never-Never for the first time. The subsequent books follow Grave Peril's lead.

Storm Front and Fool Moon also feel like "Monster-of-the-Week" books because of this. The thru-plot of the series starts in Grave Peril because the thru-plot deals with the supernatural world.

But anyway, I'd say the part of Storm Front most representative of the rest of the series is probably the scorpion scene. The Dresden Files is a lot of a guy doing his best to do the right thing and things constantly getting worse for him. It's a lot like Indiana Jones in that way.

Dresden Files changes from Philip Marlowe with magic to Indiana Jones with magic starting with Grave Peril, best book is Dead Beat.

[DuckieTigger]

Originally Posted by alansplace

Oh nice, thanks for digging that up, Alan. I remember reading about it a long time ago somewhere buried in this thread. It is interesting how Jim writes and how much he likes sarcasm when retelling real life stories. Dresden Files has the strange effect of being absolutely believeable. There is other books that go a little bit overboard with trying to explain everything that is different than our own world - especially when it comes to explaining futuristic gadgets in SF books. The way Harry is telling us the story, there is nothing that needs explained because we don't grasp the technology yet. It needs explained because while it already exists and some magic much longer than ever, we are simply unaware of it. I guess that is a feature of urban fantasy. It has to be in a real setting without a completely strange world that is all made up. You know right away that middle earth doesn't exist, not even a long time ago. As compared to the made up fantasy elements mixed in with the real world in the Dresden-verse. Makes you wonder ...

[eschwartz]

Originally Posted by DuckieTigger

You know right away that middle earth doesn't exist, not even a long time ago. As compared to the made up fantasy elements mixed in with the real world in the Dresden-verse. Makes you wonder ...

[bizzybody]

Originally Posted by eschwartz

Just so long as he doesn't pull a GRRM on us.

Like an April Fools joke that to speed things up the next book will be told from the POV of Sue the Dinosaur?

[eschwartz]

Originally Posted by bizzybody

Like an April Fools joke that to speed things up the next book will be told from the POV of Sue the Dinosaur?

That one was evil and despicable and cruel.

(The part where it was being sped up. )