runsforcelery wrote:runsforcelery wrote:I, personally, like this book a lot although I do rather resent the comparison to self indulging in a guitar solo at a concert. I wrote the story I thought --- and think --- needed writing within the in-universe time constraints that were set in stone. Now, i could have just waved my hands and said "The hell with the timing; it turns out they can get people back and forth five times as rapidly as the streak drive. Just take my word for it." But I don't do that. My characters have to live with the constraints of the technology and the transit times I gave them in the beginning. Obviously, a lot of people wish I'd done just that, and to those who do feel that way, all I can say is it's not going to happen.
This book is what I wanted it to be from the time I started actually writing on it. It may not be what I would have wanted --- and written --- if my characters' constraints had been different, but they weren't, and one reason the series as a whole works is because I refuse to just slide around those constraints. i did not "phone it in" (and, BTW, I resent the hell out of that particular implication), I did not decide to "indulge" myself (in fact, I worked my butt off to get it done, including 14-hour days. Trust me, you are not "indulging" yourself), and there was not a single scene in the book that I had cut from an earlier book and decided to just shove in to make up word count.
Bottom line, it is what it is, and if the disappointment is too severe for some of my readers, I'm sorry but not at all apologeitc for the story or for the quality of the storytelling.
I enjoyed the book a lot. True, like some readers I thought at first it might be a follow-on to A Rising Thunder, but quickly realized given the first chapter that it was adding flesh and substance to Shadow of Freedom. Personally, I find some of the criticisms totally uncalled for and if I were in your place, Mr. Weber, I probably would have gone a bit more ballistic. Looking forward to future novels in the series.
I figure part of the problem is that the complaints are coming from inside the onion.
These are the hard core readers, many of whom have been with the series for a long time. That gives them a somewhat privileged position with me . . . although one or two of you (and you
know who you are!
) are getting perilously close to terminal red shirts Sometime Real Soon Now. I think some of the people who have invested 20 years or so of interest in the series have developed a certain proprietary attitude and a strong sense of where they think the series should be going and/or where they
thought it was going on the basis of past books. In that sense, this is
their story as much as it’s mine, and I respect their opinions even when — as the author — I don’t share them. I do think some of the language has been a bit . . . intemperate, shall we say? But as someone else pointed out upthread, I write professionally for a living and few of my readers do. I don’t think that absolves someone of the responsibilities involved in simple courtesy and civil discourse, but I do realize that it means someone may not be aware/thinking about the way in which a given word may be perceived by its recipient. And let’s face it, written communication has always been susceptible to correspondents who use language they would
never use in a face-to-face conversation with the same person because the parties to the correspondence don’t have the advantage of face-to-face
feedback of facial expression, body language, or immediate response to help them realize when they’re putting a foot wrong with the other fellow.
I try to bear all of that in mind when I visit the boards. Sometimes I succeed; sometimes I fail. But my awareness of that is also why the only professional writer in my immediate family (that would be
me, guys) uses more emojis than anyone else in it.
As an aside, I’m one of those people who believes the internet , email, and texting has significantly undermined the sense of courtesy in discourse. Even people who would never dream of giving offense in a personal conversation lose that since of immediate intimacy and frequently write or pose things which give
enormous offense. It’s even worse when the poster/writer is anonymous, but
all of us are isolated/protected by that electronic interface which prevents the other party from ripping our lungs out for some utterly egregious comment made either carelessly or with malice aforethought. And for come of us, unfortunately, the fashion in which we communicate [poorly] in electronic formats seems to spill over into our face-to-face lives, which can have unhappy consequences.
But I digress.
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I am not criticizing the craftsmanship as you are still my current favorite author and greatly appreciate the effort and the 14 hour days to get your work to your readers ASAP after the schedule slipped. I think the disappointment, such as it is and what there is of it, is due to the fact that the last three books have all ended at basically the same point in time and we really wanted the story to move forward.
I believe you had said that you had wanted to consolidate the various story lines, like Torch and the shadow series, into the main honorverse story. You clearly believed that the plot needed to be thickened and all the back stories of the various characters filled in before you could move forward and that is the source of the self indulgent comment. I had really wanted the story to move forward and didn't think so much back filling of so many minor characters, like Damien Harahap was really
Necessary.
BTW, I resent the implication that I am some anonymous internet troll just trying to upset you and get a reaction. My real name and email are known to you and your mods and my criticisms are my real opinions and I would say the same things FTF.
