When I find a story I enjoy, I want to gobble up every single bit about it I can. After all, there is so much shit out there, when you find something good, you want more. And more. And more.
But what if there isn’t any more?
It took until I became a writer myself before I understood
that not everything needs to be expanded, that not every book needs to
continue. As I was looking back through TheDamned Trilogy, I remember wanting more from that universe. Did humanity ever come into conflict with The
Weave? Did the Amplitur stay in their
box? Was there an Earth Confederation
kind of thing for us to find our place among the other races? And, dammit, why didn’t the author write that
for me?
Well, maybe there was no more to write. The story wrapped up decently enough, and
although I’m sure Alan Dean Foster could’ve come up with more stuff, if he felt
he’d said all he needed to, anything further would’ve felt forced.
This is one of the problems with sequels. Authors tend to write with a specific set of
storyline principles in mind. There’s
usually a beginning, a middle, and an end.
However, if something sells, those involved in making money want to pile
on more in hopes of making even more money.
The lure of the dollar is powerful, so that’s how we end up with garbage
like Thrawn(look, I love me some Timothy Zahn, but taking the mystery out of
Grand Admiral Thrawn just about ruined the character).
It may be tough, but I think it’s up to writers to know
when to say no to the audience. Yes, we
might be able to make more money, and yes, we want to be nice to our readers by
giving them more of what they want, but we risk watering down our creation and
retroactively making stuff stupid. I’d
rather leave the reader itching for just a little bit more than to overstay my
welcome and have him or her throw something of mine down in disgust, never to
pick it up again.
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