I have a confession. I started out with my teen daughters loving the series of Grey’s Anatomy. We were faithful viewers. We would rush home on Thursday nights to see the next installment in the tv medical drama. We were there to giggle with the reveal of McDreamy, McSteamy, McHottie.
Then somewhere along the line we fell away. Like any habit we got “out of it”. Too much of the McWierd, McDrama, McOMG unbelievable happened.
Do writers of series feel the same way. How do you continue a 10 book or more legacy in the world you have built. Anne McCaffrey did it well with her Dragon Riders of Pern world and ensuing so-many-I-lost-count trilogy after trilogy. JR Ward does it quite well with the Black Dagger Brotherhood series. Fans are rabid for the characters. Sherilyn Kenyon does it…. The list can go on.
How do writers sustain and feed the flames of giddy fangirldom for such a long run?
I think it must be the characters. The intricate layers of personality and emotion within a well built world and finely crafted story.
Similar to our Fantasy Men each week. There is mystery and depth. I can look at a lot of fantasy men. Yet, they eyes draw me in to make the picture more. Often I have seen the photograph of a model and the ideas for a character have launched.
Take a look at Mathias Lauriden of Denmark. He is a sizzling sensation in the modeling industry, yes even high fashion. Okay I guess today is cougar day cause these ‘boys’ are pretty young.
The moment I saw him I recognized a character I had been thinking of.
And the second model I chose today…Sadly was promoted on another blog and I couldn’t find his name. I did a lot of model searches trying to find out his name and where they had copped his photo from. So, sorry mystery fantasy man. But those eyes… I had to show him.
(If anyone knows who he is, please advise. I like to give credit where credit is due.)
The men I have chosen over the course of a year plus for Fantasy Man Monday have a commonality. Their image is engaging. You see their face, their body and you see more…the visual representation draws you in and you ‘see’ a story.
I hope my writing work has the same qualities as my fantasy men. I hope to be able to sustain a readership through my worlds and stories as successfully as my writing role models have done.
What do you think? Is this quality craft that you can learn? Or is there an innate talent that some authors have and the rest of us will never ever be able to touch?
Eden Glenn 