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Michael T. Owens
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Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Monday, January 06, 2003 - 02:05 pm: | 
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Does the quality of writing drop off after an author's first book? What makes that happen: corporate deadlines, lack of desire? |
Mike Evans[ME]
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Tuesday, January 07, 2003 - 09:26 am: |
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I don't think you can make such a broad accusation. I think of writers like Charles Johnson, Ishmael Reed, John Edgar Wideman, John A. Williams, James McBride, Clarence Major, Toni Morrison, Leon Forrest, Walter Mosley, Barbara Neely, Percival Everett, Al Young, Toni Cade Bambara, Gloria Naylor & many, many more who have written more than one book and have consistently put out interesting, engaging and quality work. I believe that sometimes that "thrill of the new" may be gone once one continues to read the work of a particular writer, but the true writers always manage to engage their readers. There are probably writers to whom you're accusation might apply; but I'm not particularly interested in reading their work. The one major literary figure I can think of who had a falling off is one of my all time favorites Ralph Ellison but it's not because he lost interest but because his first novel became an instant classic that I believe he was intimidated by its success. Though he continued to work on his second novel until he passed [and left several excellent essays and short stories] the novel that was released as JUNETEENTH was a disappointment [yes I know about the fire that destroyed most of Ellison's manuscript].
Perhaps your disappointment stems from the type of fiction or writers you are reading. |
Bayou Lights
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Tuesday, January 07, 2003 - 05:42 pm: |
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This very topic has garnered a lot of press lately, but from the point of view of the writers. There was an excellent article in an October issue of Village Voice, in the Washington Post and in Readerville magazine. I am going to assume that the pressure from book one to two is tremendous, and the few writers who may have "fallen off" get it together by two and come to terms with the changes in their lives and art. Think about it...you write something solely for yourself with the hope of publication, then after publication you're faced with the new animal of "deadlines, editors, publicists, fans, reviewers". It might throw the strongest person off their game until they learn how to quiet all the voices and get back to the craft of writing.
In the Village Voice article both Donna Tartt (Secret History, Little Friend) and Jeffrey Eugenides (Virgin Suicides, Middlesex) talk about the fact that it took them both 10 years to complete their second books. They had a lot of false starts, a rumored nervous breakdown, and the inability to find the peace it took to create because both of their first novels created so much thunder. Zadie Smith has spoke of the same thing since the publication of "White Teeth".
If I can find the Voice article I'll post it here.
Bayou |
Michael T. Owens
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Saturday, January 11, 2003 - 01:11 am: |
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Mike Evans,
To clarify things...I didn't make an acusation as you stated, I simply asked a question. It's just a topic I've heard people discuss. |
Tee C. Royal
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Sunday, January 12, 2003 - 04:27 pm: |
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Hey Michael, what an interesting topic and one quite hard to answer. <vbg> I would say that the quality in some author's writing has declined with the second or third book, however with others it has improved. The reasons you listed seemed valid to me...but I'm sure there could be more.
One thing I do notice is that for author's writing sequels, it's sometimes hard to match the level of the first book. Some authors do, others don't.
-Tee |
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