They're not hard reads. Only one which took me a full day was the most recent (had to break for lunch at the worst possible time). Go ahead and give it a shot.
Lol, not really that easy for me I do a lot of stuff and while I read regularly and my reading tempo is decent, I rarely just sacrifice a whole day to reading. BUt like I said, I'll probably look into it one day!
You can get through a book a day easy, and be caught up in two weeks. I'd tell you to just start with The Warrior, but you probably need the background info from the series to get everything out of that story. But, really, worth it. And I'd love to discuss it with you. It has elements of SMT that you like. Like the incorporation of various mythologies...
I will probably read them at some point! I still have a humongous backlog of books I own at this point, though I think I'm gonna read something by Murakami next.
Still, I know I've made people angry with my writing on occasion, so that's at least a step in the right direction Following Wolf Kanno's strategy, I've started writing by hand. It feels much less like I'm at work now so maybe I can get that fanfic online soon, as well as working on my actual novel!
Yeah, maybe it's the lesser exposure or the stories of yours that I've read just being more inline with my tastes. And it's true that authors can improve over time (though not guaranteed). My favorite author currently writing, Jim Butcher, showed notable improvement through The Dresden Files.
Pshhh. Flattery will get you nowhere, Sky I've not written nearly enough of anything for anyone to really be able to determine how good I am at world building or characters. Heck, I have no idea if anything I do is really going anywhere at this point so who knows? I can only hope I reach someone in The future. As for Cornoran Strike - yeah, it exploded a bit when it was revealed it was JK, but then died down and now it's kind of obscure again despite the fact that the third book is the best one yet. And don't denounce her characters so easily - remember that a writer only keeps evolving as they write more and I can guarantee that these characters are really fantastic. I myself wasn't a big reader of mystery novels before this, but now I'm hooked.
You forget that I worked at a bookstore for seven years. As such, I remember when Cuckoo's Calling was released...and met with a "meh" reception and mediocre reviews. Until she revealed that she wrote it, when it suddenly exploded in popularity and started getting rave reviews. Which basically killed any interest in it I may have had (though, TBH, I don't like mysteries unless they're short stories), and just told me that it was selling on name brand alone. I do admire her writing skills, in so far as the actual, technical quality of the writing goes. And I do VERY much appreciate that she got kids reading again, and revitalized a lot of interest in books, and I think the world owes her a debt there. And I owe her further for getting you interested in writing. But I don't think she's good at writing fleshed out characters, and I don't think she plans her world building at all (just makes it up as she goes along). You're far superior to her in both of those aspects. The writing itself is good, but a good story, a good world, takes so much more than that. It resonated with people, sure. The idea that you are magical and special and better than everyone else usually does. People like feeling that way, which is why all the fans consider themselves a part of the privileged wizard of elite instead of the worthless muggles that they would be in that world. That doesn't make it good writing, or a particularly healthy or moral message for a story. The more serious it took itself, the more glaring its problems became. And, again, the more disillusioned with it I became, the more intensely negative the fan base became. It has its positive points, sure. But it is a deeply flawed series that is treated like it's the second coming of Tolkien.
Sorry you feel that way. Of course it had its flaws, but it has resonated with many people. And people who get passionate about stories that they consider part of their lives can be dicks if you don't like it (cough FFX fans cough). I think it's sad ghat the fan base has managed to taint it so much for you because to me personally it has been one of the most important parts of my life, what made me want to become a writer. But to each their own! Still would recommend Fantastic Beasts. It was well received and it was one of my most fun experiences at the movies in recent years, right alongside the Nice Guys. It's not strictly a prequel because the connection to Harry Potter is really loose. It's still really worth watching, if only for the awesomeness that is Jacob Kowalski If you still respect JK's writing but just don't like the world, concept, and story, I recommend the Cotmoran Strike novels she wrote as Robert Galbraith. The first book is called Cuckoo's Calling and there are three books so far, and they are excellent, only keep getting better and better. They're interesting Detective stories on their own, but it's the characters and their relationships where the series really shines. Although it got a lot of attention at first and is pretty much universally praised, it's not talked about nearly enough which is just criminal. So I recommend it to everyone that I can. Great stuff. Robin is one of my favorite book characters, period.
Sorry, I got way more worked up about that than I thought I would.
