[Cirdan]

We constantly discuss what is going to happen next and why this and that happened. Soo many theories a presented that several books could be written on that alone.

Do you think the writers look at this and other boards and get ideas for the next books?

Jordan, Martin, Rowling end Erikson are the prime candidates as they are put through the grinder constantly.

I guess it would be hard not to be influenced to some extent if a good idea presented itself.

[Holbrook]

We constantly discuss what is going to happen next and why this and that happened. Soo many theories a presented that several books could be written on that alone.

Do you think the writers look at this and other boards and get ideas for the next books?

Jordan, Martin, Rowling end Erikson are the prime candidates as they are put through the grinder constantly.

I guess it would be hard not to be influenced to some extent if a good idea presented itself.

I would say they look, but doubt if they take notice of any ideas, no matter how good they are. A writer has their own vision of where the story is going and what is going to happen. I seriously doubt they would alter that just because of something on a message board or review. Writers are very protective of their visions and ideas, as well as being a little stubborn about them as well ;) To start taking note of what others think of where it is going would confuse the issue of the original idea, and also in this day and age, lay them open to all sorts of accusations.

[Cirdan]

I see the point but look at the witers I mention. They may a have a general idea of the story they are telling but in order to fill out the structure a lot work have to be done. Some of it many years ahead (Jordan, Martin :rolleyes: )
So they may pick up a good minor storyline along the way...

Another problem they face is the many ideas presented is that it may not be possible to avoid some of them in the writing vene though they were not inspired by the boards. To people may get the same idea over time in isolation from each other.
Does it ruing the writers good mood that someone accidently revealed the plot before the book was written :mad: ?

[Brys]

Some writers do look closely at message boards like this - just look at the number of published authors here - Gary Wassner and R Scott Bakker in epic fantasy for major examples. Erikson does occasionally look at message boards, but he's said in interviews that he tries to keep looking at the criticism limited so he doesn't spend forever changing it to find that only some fans want it this way, and he can do best by trying to write without too much fan input (though he does take account of some general criticisms). What I doubt though is writers actually taking ideas directly from message boards. It would make their book worse in their eyes - (we're assuming here that the authors are dedicated to their writing, not just to money), and it would take away the best part of the writing - coming up with the plot.
What's more likely, eg in the case of Erikson, is that he'll see a lot debating what might happen in the next books on the Malazan forums, and he'll ignore those. He'll briefly look at criticisms of the last book, see where the general consensus lies, and try and use them to improve it - so when writing Gardens of the Moon, he may have seen the regular criticism that it was too complex and characters weren't well enough developed and that there wasn't a clear plot through it, so in DG there was a much clearer plot thread. (Purely hypothetical example - I don't think the internet Erikson fans were anything like as prevalent then).

[BarVybe]

IMO, having spoken with several authors - though largely outside Fantasy - i think the size / popularity of the author has a lot to do with this.

- when authors are small time, they may be too sensitive to criticism of their work.
- when authors have had one or two successes, i think they become less sensitive but are still humble enough to want to listen.
- when authors are huge (Jordan for example), i don't think they really care anymore...their books are selling like hotcakes so they must be doing something right.

of course that's all generalization, but largely true for most cases i think.

also, i think authors generally take better to comments / criticism about their craft / technique, and not the plot or subject line.

[Yobmod]

I would hope (and expect) that authors would completely ignore any fan criticism, as the vast majority is simply incoherent.

Looking at the RJ and Goodkind forums here you might think that they wrote terrible prose, terrible characters, terrible plots, terrible desciptions, terrible everything - clearly this isn't true, as shown by the number of haters who are ex-fans who 'only' read the first 8 books before realising the books were so awful. :rolleyes: They must be doing something right. Whereas GRRM is the perfect writer who have sever used an incorrect word. :rolleyes:

Fans (particularly on the web) are just not qualified to advise on how books should be written - that why editors get paid.

[BarVybe]

editors don't get paid much, and hardly (in general) actually edit books to the extent that they were years ago.

but i 100% disagree with your comments on fans and their criticism. Just like anything else, the majority of comments are going to be worthless. But if a writer hears time and again that their character names are confusing, or a particular element of the plot was confusing, or their dialogue doesn't seem natural - when there's a consistent and specific strain of comments - they'd do well to consider them.

Doesn't mean they should change...maybe they have reason for doing things certain way...but its well know that readers find inconsistencies, errors, etc. that the writer and editor miss, or if they are too close to the material, can't find easily on their own.

[Yobmod]

editors don't get paid much, and hardly (in general) actually edit books to the extent that they were years ago.

well, i'm sure they paid more than i do, and they manage to make a whole career out of it.

but i 100% disagree with your comments on fans and their criticism. Just like anything else, the majority of comments are going to be worthless. But if a writer hears time and again that their character names are confusing, or a particular element of the plot was confusing, or their dialogue doesn't seem natural - when there's a consistent and specific strain of comments - they'd do well to consider them.

The big writers seem to sell loads no matter the criticism on the web. RJ was criticised by lots of people for various reasons, but it made no difference to his sales. Maybe doing what the haters wanted (killing most of the female characters?) would have improved the books, but i doubt it.

If fan critism was useful, wouldn't we expect a better quality of book since the internet came into force? IMO that hasn't happened at all.

If fans critisicm is just as knowledgable and useful as an editor's, why do editors even still exist? :confused:

[Gary Wassner]

It's hard not to take criticism seriously. I know that all of the authors with whom I am friendly who post on this site and others, take so much to what is said about them to heart that you would probably be surprised. In fact, we talk privately about the comments often, just as you talk about us and our books. Some criticisms of comments we can dismiss, as the posters are so frequently negative or simply don't like one of us for whatever reasons. But most are thoughtful and need to be listened to. I don't take ideas from other people though. My books are on their own course and they evolve naturally as I write them. Fortunately, my imagination is still very very active, and the ideas continue to surface on their own. I will try to minimize stylistic faults that people may find annoying or unenjoyable, if I hear a number of people comment on them. And I do listen, more than you might imagine, when someone says something negative.

[Bond]

Having been on this site for a while and seen the kinds of advice people are prone to giving I would be concerned if authors took too much of it to heart. From my own observations even when posters are correct that there is something going wrong with a series, I believe they most often misdiagnose exactly what is going wrong, often recommending changes to some of the things that actually helped make the writing good.

There is at least one popular fantasy author I can think of who after initial success I think became far too conscious with the craft of writing and lost touch with what made his writing good in the first place. He's been producing increasingly lacklustre stories ever since.

It is better that a writer succeed or fail based on their own vision and not someone else's.