We are living in the age of on-demand media, so this post might rankle some of those who read it. For the uninitiated, Lent started a week ago, and it’s got me thinking about the nature of sacrifice. I always hated Lent growing up, but as an adult, I’ve found it an invaluable way to break bad habits and/or try new things. 40 days is an excellent length of time to give something up. It’s short enough that it’s achievable, but long enough that your routine can be changed for the better. I actually wrote that a couple days ago in reference to a little beer hiatus (er, quasi-hiatus) I’m going through, but the notion of delayed gratification is powerful, and it applies to lots of other things. Namely, media.
What got me started on this post was Neil Gaiman’s eloquent response to a fan’s query about the growing dissatisfaction that George R.R. Martin takes so damn long between installments of A Song of Ice and Fire. In short, Gaiman said “George R.R. Martin is not your bitch.” And he is correct.
I consume a lot of media. Television, movies, books, you name it. I find it astounding that this sort of thing is possible. On Sunday, I posted a list of TV shows I’d like to catch up with. I probably won’t watch all of it, because it’s likely that I won’t particularly love all of it. But I can just about guarantee that I’m going to get hooked on one of those shows and burn through several seasons in a couple weeks. It’s fantastic when it happens, and the novelty whore inside of me rejoices, but it is never sustainable. When I think of the amount of work that goes into producing a TV show, my mind boggles. Hundreds of people working thousands of person-hours, all to produce something that can be consumed in 22-42 minutes (pay-cable TV shows have a higher range of 50-60 minutes or so, but the point holds). Obviously, I’m not the only viewer, but it’s still a wide discrepancy. Binging is fun and it’s really awesome to hit that great show high, but the show will invariably end (or you’ll catch up with it and have to wait agonizing weeks or months, months I tell you, before a new episode airs) and that can lead to a serious crash, followed by withdrawal symptoms.
Writers are a little different in that they are a single person, but they’re no different in terms of the amount of work they put in to write, and the corresponding pittance we spend reading their work. Someone like George R.R. Martin is writing an obscenely long story, with dozens of main characters and a convoluted plot. It’s going to take him a lot of time to keep it all straight, write the story, edit the story, go through the obscenely long publication process, etc… I can accept that. But then, I would say that, as I’ve not read any of his books (though I am currently whinging about having to wait for Season 4 of Game of Thrones). Still, I think it’s fair to say that the dude’s earned his time, and we the readers aren’t really entitled to anything. It would, of course, be really nice if he would, you know, finish the series. He’s not getting any younger, and it’s not like certain fears are entirely unfounded (on the other hand, by all accounts, that particular situation turned out pretty well.)
There is some hand wringing that occurs when an author takes time away from a series (that they haven’t finished yet, jeeze!) to dedicate time to other things. But as Gaiman notes, writers aren’t machines. They’re just people, and sometimes they get worn out or inspired by something else. Maybe that something else will be another book, and maybe no one will buy it because they’re frustrated at not getting the series book they wanted. Then the author becomes a victim of their own success. That would be a crushing situation for them, but I suspect it doesn’t happen that often. The word “fan” is short for “fanatic”, and despite what you may think from reading vitriolic comments on the internet, most people aren’t really that fanatical about this stuff.
There are plenty of authors that I wish would publish more often. Neal Stephenson only publishes something once every 3-4 years (come to think of it, Reamde came out 2.5 years ago, and I don’t know what’s next – oh noes!) I’ve read just about every published word that guy’s written, from his lowly first novel, to his pseudonymous novels, to non-fiction and op-eds. And you know what? That entitles me to nothing. Stephenson isn’t obligated to write another word. I’m sure there are folks who look at his work on projects like Clang and get frustrated because it seems like he’s not working on his next novel. But then, Stephenson has been very clear about his writing habits. Mainly, he finds that he can get the best results by writing a few hours a day, after which he gets burnt out and needs to engage in something else to clear his head (or allow his subconscious to work stuff out so that he can write stuff the next day). Eminently reasonable, and he’s very clear and upfront about that. Plus, his books are great.
I was supremely disappointed about some aspects of John Scalzi’s The Human Division. He sold the book as a series of short stories and novellas that could be put together in the end to tell a whole story. Only, it didn’t. The book ends on a cliffhanger. Then he admits that he did this before he even knew if he could get the follow-up published, which just seems wrong. Fortunately, he did get the go-ahead from his publisher, so the sequel is forthcoming (and will hopefully resolve the story). In the meantime, he’s publishing a different novel, which I’m actually looking forward to. So all is well, I guess, but this does bring up a good point about how authors interact with fans.
And here’s where I go all Gollum to the above’s Smeagol. Authors (or any creators) are not obligated to write what fans want or even really to interact with fans. But it is possible to interact poorly. I was upset and felt deceived by Scalzi’s quasi-bait-and-switch with The Human Division, but then, he was really good about asking for feedback and (seemingly) taking it to heart. So I don’t hold it against him at all that he went and wrote another novel before working on the sequel to The Human Division. I’m not entitled to anything in this situation, but I think it’s fair to say that if Scalzi does start promoting the sequel, that he should be clear about what he’s delivering.
But Scalzi’s a bad example, because he’s really good at that sort of thing and the sequel is forthcoming and even if it doesn’t complete the story, I’m sure he’ll finish it off at some point in the near future. And again, writing an unrelated novel (or working on other projects) between entries in the series? That’s fine too. But there is an extreme here that can be extremely frustrating, and his name is Clive Barker.
About 20 years ago (Jesus, has it really been that long?), I read a great book called The Great and Secret Show. One of the best openings I’ve ever read in a story, and the rest of the book wasn’t too shabby either. It was the first Book of the Art, a planned trilogy, and it was published in 1989. Five years (and two other novels, including the most excellent and rather epic Imajica) later, and the sequel came out. Everville was not nearly as compelling as the first novel, but then, middle parts of a trilogy often feel that way when isolated from their siblings. So I waited. And waited. Barker has published 9 novels in the interim, worked on several plays, painted a crapton of artwork, produced some movies, and probably a bunch of other stuff I don’t even know about. And he hasn’t been silent on the third Book of the Art (you’ll need to scroll down past all the other “current” projects he has going on). He’s been talking about it in interviews since 1990. In 1996, he said “The final part of the Art Trilogy will be published before the end of the century, I promise!” Well, fourteen years after the turn of the century, and we’re still not that close. He wants to finish his Abarat books first, and he’s got two of them left.
As I understand it, this third book is going to be massive and ambitious, so I get it, it will take a while, and I’m sure he’s burnt out on it a few times and worked on other stuff. But 20 years? That’s pushing it a bit, dontcha think? He’s still not obligated to deliver it just because I want it, but I think you can understand the frustration fans are going through right now.
Back to the Smeagol side, Barker is ambitious and clearly very excited about wayyy too many things. There’s a good chance that this sort of thing is what lead me to enjoy his work in the first place. And I really do believe he’ll eventually finish out the Art books, if only because we’ve had the relatively recent news that The Scarlet Gospels is completed and with the publisher (looking at a 2015 release). This is another novel he’s been talking about delivering since the early 1990s, though in fairness, when he originally brought it up, it was going to be a short story, and it will be published next year as a 243,000 word behemoth. So when he says he’ll finish off Abarat and move on to the final Art book, I’m on board. But I ain’t expecting it anytime soon.
The digital era is the bearer of great tidings, and while there are often frustrating and arbitrary constraints tied to it (and those should totes be fixed, they are not covered under this immunity that artists and creators get), artists are not obligated to deliver exactly what we want all the time. 20 years may be pushing it, Clive, but what can I really do about it? I can scream “Don’t care how I want it now!” at the top of my lungs, but acting childish on the internets isn’t going to get me anywhere and it’s not going to help Clive finish his book. So let’s show some self control and glory in the knowledge that delayed gratification can be oh so very sweet.