Re my Dune reading lately - on book three and getting a little tired of the exposition, and where the characters keep being like "of course I know what X will do" as if the reader has already got it, but I haven't. I have to wait until a chapter or two later when someone explains themselves.
And how did person Y realise complicated situation Z - is it just becoz they is special and have lots of people and time inside them?
And so much treachery!!
@sarajw as someone who has read all the sci fi the Dune books head downhill fast after book 2. I never recommend folks progress past 1 or at most the 2nd.
@slightlyoff @macdonst @sarajw I like 2 because it's short and 4 because of the themes it treats. But in general an editor should have taken a hatchet to 3-6 and reduced them by 50%.
@ppk @slightlyoff @sarajw yeah, this is a problem with a lot of sci-fi/fantasy series. They get popular and the editor seems to be relieved of all duties.
I think “The Wheel of Time” could have been much shorter, better and finished by Robert Jordan if only there was an editor who did more than spell check.
@macdonst @ppk @slightlyoff @sarajw
I totally agree with the role the editor must have. But the state most book end being published suggests editors are more interested in publishing the darn thing ASAP than polishing it. They need to make money, not literary masterpieces.
The only way to guarantee a long book series is going to be finished is doing what Moorcock did with his Elric series: writing the last book first.
Everything else can fail.
If you are going to write a really long story, write the end first, then work backwards. You don't need to really publish it first.
