On one of his many blogs (don't ask me which one) Briane Pagel made the prediction that JK Rowling would write more Harry Potter books after getting this whole "Pottermore" thing going. What's Pottermore? I don't know and I don't care.
Anyway, I commented how sad it would be for her to do more books. Because it's like George Lucas where he's been locked in the Star Wars universe for 35 years now. (And Indiana Jones for about 30 years.) At some point it does get sad to me because I start to think, "Can't you think of anything else? Or is this all you got?" Well sure one billion-dollar idea is probably better than a lot of zero-dollar ideas, but still, as artistes, us authors, filmmakers, etc are supposed to stretch our horizons a little. Just working in the same universe forever because that's what makes you money is sad.
(I make an exception for Terry Pratchett with his Discworld series because the Discworld involves a wide variety of stories and characters, many of which aren't really connected.)
When Lucas comes out with another Star Wars thing or Rowling another Harry Potter book, it's like when an old boxer gets back in the ring for one last big fight to make a bunch of money. Or like when Michael Jordan came back to basketball for the Washington Wizards. It was sad because you knew he wasn't really Michael Jordan anymore. He was a good player still, but he wasn't the greatest anymore. The same was true for Muhammad Ali, George Foreman, Evander Holyfield, etc. in boxing. And "Rocky Balboa." It's like saying, "Hey, this is all I can do." That becomes a sad reminder for me about how getting older the world becomes narrower and narrower as there are more things you can't do and will never do.
The thing for me, I've written pretty much four series as an adult. None of those I ever felt the need to continue on with forever. (Because in part no one was paying me a billion dollars to continue it.) The closest is the "Tales of the Scarlet Knight" series that has 8 stories. It was really only going to be a trilogy, but then I had some ideas to keep it going so I did. But when I got to the end of #8, I felt that was it. I had gone as far as I wanted to. There was no need to go on. I could go on if I ever feel like it (like if a lot of people buy the eBooks and then I get an 8-movie deal and stuff) but I felt where I left it was where it should end.
It was like that with the other series as well. There was just a point at the end of the last one where I felt I had everything wrapped up nice and tidy, so why go fucking with it? (Again because no one was paying me a billion dollars.) And also, I had other things I wanted to do. As much as I liked the characters and their world, I wanted to set them and myself free.
In the end even if things like Bill Shatner "singing" or Seth MacFarlane crooning or Steve Martin playing the banjo aren't the best ideas in the world, you have to appreciate that at least they're trying something different. The same for authors like Philip Roth or John Updike or (grudgingly) Michael Chabon when they write something like alternate history or South American mysticism; at least they aren't just living in the past, trying to cash in on previous glory. It's better for the author and the audience to try something new and fail than keep flogging the dead horse.
Speaking of that, tomorrow's entry is more of the same! Only concerning reality TV...
Steve Martin on the banjo is genius. :) My kids have devoured the Harry Potter books, so I wouldn't mind if she wrote more.
ReplyDeleteI like the one Steve Martin on the banjo song I have. Maybe I should have looked for a YouTube clip of it.
DeleteI'm mixed on this one.
ReplyDeleteOn the one hand, I think that people should go on getting paid for what they do as long as they can (while they still need the money.) So I supported Matt LeBlanc's decision to keep being "Joey" because he was getting paid to do that (although I bet he didn't need the money then.) So I'm not opposed to writers getting a paycheck. Typically, we don't insist that anyone else switch up what they do just to keep things interesting. I do consumer litigation; nobody is saying "Well, you've done that for 14 years now, time to try something else."
My real opposition to it comes when it seems like it IS milking it. John Grisham's books got boring, and his efforts at writing other things like "Skipping Christmas" and "A Painted House" showed that he had some real talent that could have used a little flexing. So why keep going back and making more by-the-numbers thrillers?
In Lucas' case, I realize I'm alone in liking the first three movies (at least a little). But he's just fleshing out the story like you said Terry Pratchett is with Discworld. Tolkien wrote a lot of Narnia books, some of which are only tangentially related to the original Pevensie kids' stories.
So if there are still stories to tell and they're well done, I'm okay with it.
And the flip side is that trying something different is frequently rewarded with "Screw you, give us what we love!" People savaged U2 for not releasing another "Joshua Tree", David Bowie had to give up his plans to not perform his hits, and not many people follow an author to a new type of book.
I wouldn't call what Pratchett does "fleshing out" the Discworld. It's more like "The Simpsons" where he uses it as a platform to lampoon a wide variety of social subjects, genres, etc.
DeleteAnd I assume you mean CS Lewis, not Tolkien. Or Middle Earth instead of Narnia. Whatever.
Really I should probably clarify that it doesn't have to be something radically different. I don't want JK Rowling to write erotica or George Lucas to do the next "Sex and the City" movie. They can do stuff that's in similar genres, just that isn't Harry Potter or Star Wars. Is that too much to ask for?
I can see why it's harder to start a new series. If you stick with the old it's easier. You have the characters, the world building already done and ready to use. With the authors you mentioned, they already have the fans to buy their books. So to pull away from that is not going to be easy. Although it would be interesting to see JK Rowling do something different.
ReplyDeleteCindy is right; it IS harder to start something new. That means you can't rely on characters and settings that readers already like. You have to start from scratch, and a blank page is probably a writer's greatest fear.
ReplyDeleteI completely agree. For a writer to grow, they have to venture into new territory. I heard a rumor years ago that JK Rowling was going to write a detective series, but I haven't seen anything about it since.
ReplyDeleteI'm going to disagree with you on George Lucas. I honestly wish that he had continued to make new movies. That he had expanded the franchise to include the stuff that is being written by others via the Clone Wars cartoons and the comic books and novels.
ReplyDeleteInstead, he has done only six movies and then reworks them forever.
The universe is absolutely huge. There is so much that could happen on this and this planet. Or with new and interesting characters that have nothing to do with the main storyline. He could give us new villains, new strange dark dwellings in the force. The possibilities are almost limitless.
So I don't think that him writing an entirely original Star Wars script and then filming it would be met with ridicule at all. Nor would it be sad. I think it would be welcome.
Just to say it, Red Tails, by George Lucas, is coming out soon. It's something completely different. Also, George spent about a decade doing historical documentary stuff (in relation to the Young Indiana Jones series), because he loves history. It was an exploration of history, especially the WWI era, that was really behind the series. All of that stuff is beyond excellent. I can't really say that Mr. Lucas has been beating the Star Wars horse exclusively for the last 3 decades. It's just that people have been less interested in his other endeavors, so they get overlooked. Like Tucker, an excellent movie and one of Jeff Bridges best of his early roles.
ReplyDeleteAnd to agree with Michael, I really do wish he had decided to do the final trilogy of the series, and I love the expanded Clone Wars universe. It might be Star Wars, but they focus on real stories and different kinds of stories. It's an excellent series and full of variety.
I'm not sure I have anything meaningful to add here. Well, that hasn't already been said.
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