Well, I think I figured it out...

[lithera]

Going to the gym is doing something. I have yet to figure out what it is really, other than making me want to sleep more and more. And the general soreness in my muscles. Those two I've got down. I just want to sleep all the time and I find I actually want to go to the gym. How strange. Now that I have this reading and elliptical at the same time thing down, the time goes a lot better, I've found.

Speaking of reading, I finished New Spring. Wow. That was really good. It reminded me of why I started reading Robert Jordan in the first place. At the end of the books I had an amazingly good feeling about everything and was certain that Lan and Moiraine were going to go off and do good things and win the day and so on and so forth.

So, I hypothisized something to Cody. I think Robert Jordan got caught up in what I have begun to call the Mercedes Lackey Syndrome. See, Mercedes Lackey's books were good reads. Lots of fun. Excellent characters. In fact, the characters were why I read the books. The plot was nice and all but I fell in love with the people. (This is unlike say Tad Williams where I read for plot, Stephen King because of the plot and Neil Gaiman which I read for the characters /and/ the plot.) Then things fell apart.

There were a few of her books (primarily after the Winds triology though you could see it starting there) where it's plot, plot, plot, plot.... Blah, blah, blah. It felt like someone commented to her that her books didn't have enough plot or something and she took it to heart. Sure, there is the huge war happening but the war istelf isn't that fascnating.

I think this is what happened to Robert Jordan. He wrote three books that were excellent and then started writing a fourth and as he was finishing that up realized that he'd only meant there to be three books and not nearly enough had happened. In the fifth book, he presses on harder and so on and so forth until you get books seven and eight where all you get is the armies marching.... and marching. Book 9 was great beacuse things with the characters happen. Yes, they advanced the plot but they were very character driven.

Book ten was plot advancement, catching up all of these other characters to where Rand had drug the plot, laughing the whole time.

Make any sense to anyone but me?

Comments

[mizkit.livejournal.com]

The first several weeks of going to the gym frequently make me feel very, very sleepy too. At least, this is what memory tells me, since I haven't managed to *get* my fat ass to the gym lately.

Hrm. I stopped reading both Lackey and Jordan a long time ago, so I'm not sure I've seen the problems you're talking about, but it *does* make *sense*, at least.

I shall endeavor not to fall into that trap with my own writing. You may smack me if you notice me doing it. :)

[lithera.livejournal.com]

I don't know why. I mean, I've been going to the gym for awhile now. I don't know. I swing between needing 5-6 hours of sleep to needing 10 hours of sleep. I don't know what the trigger is, either.

Authors should stay with their strengths, you know? Of course, to stay with it, it has to be known to the author in the first place...

Sure. I'd have to see more of it to know when to smack you, of course, but I will certainly feel comfortable in writing you comments about these things in the future.

[mizkit.livejournal.com]

*grin* Well, yeah, it'll help when my books are actually PUBLISHED. But I'm getting there! :)

[lithera.livejournal.com]

I know you are, my dear. I know. I look forward to seeing a copy around here.

[tomthedog.livejournal.com]

I LOVED Robert Jordan back in college. But then it slowly became clear that he was NEVER going to end the series.

I still loved them up through the fifth one. Then the main characters started disappearing for entire 800 page books at a time. I think Mat was gone for the 6th, Perrin was gone for the 7th, and Rand was gone for almost all of the 8th (this is just from memory, I could be mixing up books). I was irritated by the 6th, because Mat was my favorite, but at least things still seemed to be happening. I was angry with the 7th, because almost nothing happened, and it happened for over 800 pages. And I said the hell with it with the 8th, because absolutely NOTHING happened, and I gave up the series.

Maybe when Jordan ends the series, or frickin' dies, I'll go reread the whole thing beginning to end. But for now, Jordan has worn out his welcome. Hell, with his newest book, he's not even PRETENDING to advance the plot, he's going back in time for a prequel instead. He's got some nerve, that guy.

I've got friends from college that have CHILDREN old enough to start reading this series now.

[lithera.livejournal.com]

The preqeul, which I read, came out of them asking him to do a story for the first Legends compliation. He wrote it but it was far, far too long for them to put into that. The novel is the rest of that story, for the most part.

I talked to the President of Tor at NorWesCon last year. He told me that he'd bought through book 13. He also said he wasn't planning on buying anymore. I was apparently not the only person to bring up the frustration to him.