A Question of Money

A common misconception I have heard/read on several occasions is that epic storylines (longer than the traditional trilogy) are all about the money.  You know, I could be a bit naive about this, but I will have to strongly disagree.

23 years and 14 books long, Robert Jordan's Wheel of Time series was wrapped up last week.  For those who have read the books, we know the length of the story was in large part due to Jordan's penchant for foreshadowing.  Chapters of non-consequential scenes littered the series, but those scenes were used to set up things that often didn't happen until two or three books later.

Millions of people enjoyed his writing style.  Millions of people, not two or three friends at work, but millions of people around the world.  I enjoyed his style, my wife doesn't care for it.  His writing style and the breadth of the story contributed to the length of the series.  Did I mention that millions of people liked it?

Money was not the bottom line.

Jordan had a story to tell, and if he was anything like myself, he wasn't going to cut it short just to meet some arbitrary number of acceptable books.  Sure, there were ways to crop the story; cut down on the characters (which he had aplenty), don't tell the readers about the sub-plots that contribute to the final page, knock it off with the foreshadowing, etc.  Jordan stuck to his guns and told the story HE wanted to tell and the story the READERS wanted to read.

My Drums of Rallinwar story is being told in the same manner.  I am telling you the story that I want to tell, and I hope the you want to read.  Granted, my story isn't fourteen volumes.  My story may only last three books, or it may go four books, but there is no number that I am tied to.  The story will end when it chooses to end.  Money has absolutely no bearing on the length of the tale.  I have other stories to tell.

While I'm rambling on, keep in mind that some author's tire of their stories and want to wrap them up.  Some have wrapped them up despite the cries for more from their readers.  Aren't they losing money by not continuing the story?

Just because your world revolves around the money that other people make, does not mean that their world revolves around your desires.

Here you go, shameless plug:  BUY MY BOOK!  Blood of Two: Book One in the Drums of Rallinwar series.  Available where you buy your ebooks and you can even find it in paperback on Amazon (do a search for C. Hollis Gunter).  Buy it, rate it, review it, and if nothing else, I hope you enjoy it.  However long the series is.