[vrabinec]

Is this gonna be another "if you put out a lot of books quickly, you're not putting out quality writing" thread? I love those. Where's sicklove? I wanna get his input so we can tick off half the board.  

 

[vrabinec]

I don't think that's what Jan was getting at. More of a reminder to actually think about what you're writing, and not just slop words on the page and call it a book for the sake of publishing and/or money.

Ah, a sensible thread. Well, that's not nearly as much fun.

 

[vrabinec]

Just think, if 50 Shades was repeatedly revised and polished, then all that introspective fidgetting would have surely been taken out and the character would never have come across as neurotic as she did based on the opening. Or.....was the character originally more composed and James put all that fidgeting in there, knowing it would appeal to to bookwormish, meek secretary types who had a little freak in them waiting to be dragged out by the hair at the hands of a wealthy control freak?

I think Kathleen's right. Know your audience, and write for THEM. If what you've written will fly with them, then quit. If you need to change it to better suit the audience you're trying to reach, polish it some more.

 

[vrabinec]

Anyone can sell a boatload of books if they are willing to push enough buttons, to give readers what they obviously really, really want, given human nature--sex, gore, glamour, psychic harm done by one character to another, stories of power exercised and taken away.

Errrr....hmm. Anyone? I'm not so sure. I get what you're saying, and I know I'm making a few conscious choices in my own writing AWAY from a quicker paced read that might've been geared more toward what I know has been popular in the past, so my WIP will probably be too slow-paced for mass popular appeal. But I don't know that I could write something even if I made the conscious choice to go all out for that mass appeal that could even come close to touching the heights the best sellers reach. I don't think sex, gore, glamour, etc.. in and of themselves are what makes those books popular.