If Jim handed off the series to someone else...

[groinkick]

This I doubt will ever happen, but just for fun....  Who would you like to see take over based on their writing style?  Brandon Sanderson?  He's the first that comes to my mind.


This is also a good exercise because it might turn some of us on to authors to read that we'd never thought of.

[Lost Merlin]

George RR Martin, So it could be turned in to a successful HBO franchise that finishes the book story before the books get written if the books ever get written.  /snark #maybeiambitter

[LordDresden2]

This I doubt will ever happen, but just for fun....  Who would you like to see take over based on their writing style?  Brandon Sanderson?  He's the first that comes to my mind.

Nobody.  If JB abandons it or has to stop for some reason, I'd prefer to see it allowed to die with dignity than be mutated into something different.

If there's one lesson I've learned from my enjoyment of SF and fantasy all my life, it's that authors are not fungible.  This is most visible in things like comic books and soap operas, where a (supposedly) single ongoing story goes through writer after writer.  In practice, when the writing team changes, the characters become different people and the story changes into something else.

This even happens with the same author, if he pauses from the story and then returns to it after too long a time.  The author changes too much over the long time gap to pick up the story without changes, even if only in tone.  Ten years is about my thumb rule on that.  If there's been more than a decade since the previous installment of a series, or the earlier book, or whatever, I usually don't let myself invest much excitement or interest, because I can be pretty sure the sequel won't 'work' well.

Only JB can write Harry Dresden.  If someone else wrote Harry, no matter how skilled or well-informed and 'up on the story so far' the writer might be, Harry wouldn't be Harry Dresden anymore, and the story would no longer be The Dresden Files.

[groinkick]

Nobody.  If JB abandons it or has to stop for some reason, I'd prefer to see it allowed to die with dignity than me mutated into something different.

If there's one lesson I've learned from my enjoyment of SF and fantasy all my life, it's that authors are not fungible.  This is most visible in things like comic books and soap operas, where a (supposedly) single ongoing story goes through writer after writer.  In practice, when the writing team changes, the characters become different people and the story changes into something else.

This even happens with the same author, if he pauses from the story and then returns to it after too long a time.  The author changes too much over the long time gap to pick up the story without changes, even if only in tone.  Ten years is about my thumb rule on that.  If there's been more than a decade since the previous installment of a series, or the earlier book, or whatever, I usually don't let myself invest much excitement or interest, because I can be pretty sure the sequel won't 'work' well.

Only JB can write Harry Dresden.  If someone else wrote Harry, no matter how skilled or well-informed and 'up on the story so far' the writer might be, Harry wouldn't be Harry Dresden anymore, and the story would no longer be The Dresden Files.

Maybe and maybe not.  I know people who are fans of the Wheel of time series, and they actually preferred the books that Brandon Sanderson did when he took over the book series.

[wardenferry419]

I concur with the creative team change, especially how it applies to comics. What I would give to have a return to Claremont days of X-men.

[khadgar4606]

if jim stops writing the series i want to end it with mmorpg so we can finish the story on our own decisions

[Kindler]

This I doubt will ever happen, but just for fun....  Who would you like to see take over based on their writing style?  Brandon Sanderson?  He's the first that comes to my mind.


This is also a good exercise because it might turn some of us on to authors to read that we'd never thought of.

Context matters a lot for me; in this hypothetical, is Jim handing off a completed outline? As in, "Here are all of the plot details I've been dropping cryptic hints about for twenty years," or is this a case of (knocking on wood, crossing my fingers, throwing salt over my shoulder) an unexpected...demise...on the part of Mr. Butcher?

If the former, fine. If Jim just got fed up and handed the series off to someone else, but part of the agreement was that they follow Jim's outline, I might--MIGHT--accept someone else, so long as the plot was in competent hands. That's really what I care most about; plot competence. Kevin Hearne, of the Iron Druid Chronicles, has plots that feel like they sort of just happen, though I do think he understands the importance of setting and mechanics; he's very fond of Magic A is Magic A, which I appreciate. Dean Koontz puts together plots with pretty solid detail, but can't really get by on just plain English, which is what I prefer, and most of the supernatural elements of his stories (like Odd Thomas) seem to run on whimsy and contrivance. Neil Gaiman, after reading American Gods, is, in my opinion, an extraordinarily competent writer, but left me with such a disappointingly anticlimactic ending that I wouldn't trust him with the Dresden Files as far as I could punt him underwater.

It'd have to be someone who is a genuine fan, someone who is insanely devoted to the story, setting, characters, and mechanics, and someone who can mimic writing styles, or at least write in plain English. (Personally, I don't like writing styles like House of Leaves or Fight Club, because they spend so much narrative time describing things in ludicrous detail; it feels like I'm running on a treadmill rather than moving forward in a story. I prefer narration to poetry, if that makes sense—thus, plain English. Get to the point, I say!)

If it's the second case, where Jim suddenly passes away, then the only ones who can touch the series from then on should be his kids, and that should be in a single volume that ties up loose ends based on Jim's notes. At that point, I wouldn't care about writing styles, I'd just want things to be ended.

[Lost Merlin]

Its weird to say this considering how much I love the books and how much I am attached to the story, but to be honest, I don't feel that Jim is a top tier writer.  I think he is much better about building a universe or planning an adventure then he is connecting the points of his outline.

[Kindler]

Its weird to say this considering how much I love the books and how much I am attached to the story, but to be honest, I don't feel that Jim is a top tier writer.  I think he is much better about building a universe or planning an adventure then he is connecting the points of his outline.

I disagree; the first few novels, up through (including) Summer Knight were a bit sloppy in terms of plotting. By Blood Rites/Death Masks he had figured things out so that the books no longer read like, "I went to a place, and a thing happened. I left. I went to a new place, and a thing happened. I left," et cetera.

Unless you mean his metanarrative? The ongoing story, from Storm Front through the BAT? I might be with you there; there didn't seem to be much of an ongoing story until Dead Beat. Yeah, there would be references from one book to the next, and Susan/Thomas provided some continuity, but really, you can skip around those books and read whatever you want and discard the rest without losing much overall. Joining the Wardens and giving Harry an ongoing role in the background Red Court War started to connect the books together much more fluidly, and the overarching story started to take better shape. For me, that climaxed with Turn Coat, at which point the narrative shifted to something way larger in scale.

He's doing some arc welding starting in Cold Days, wherein Nemesis was revealed to be a Greater Scope Villain (if you believe Lily, which I do, if only because the end of Blood Rites—the conversation with Eb and Harry—included the same conclusions), but that doesn't really help the early novels while you're reading them.

[Lost Merlin]

For me, The story is great and like you pointed out Kindler it has gotten better and more in-depth as the series has continued.  I feel like Jim has developed as a writer, but I always get the sense that I am in a book rather then immersed in the Dresdenverse.   Conversations seem forced or telegraph where they are going, cases magically seem to link up with what else is going on in Chicago at the time.  Don't get me wrong I am not trying to put Jim down (not that my opinion matters) I just don't think that he is up there with the best writers. 

[Snark Knight]

Benedict Jacka's Alex Verus series is already heavily similar to the DF. It might be fun to see them write a short story in each other's universe or something.

[Kindler]

For me, The story is great and like you pointed out Kindler it has gotten better and more in-depth as the series has continued.  I feel like Jim has developed as a writer, but I always get the sense that I am in a book rather then immersed in the Dresdenverse.   Conversations seem forced or telegraph where they are going, cases magically seem to link up with what else is going on in Chicago at the time.  Don't get me wrong I am not trying to put Jim down (not that my opinion matters) I just don't think that he is up there with the best writers.

I promise, I wasn't offended or trying to diminish your opinion, just stating my own. Thumbs-up!

Immersion is a challenge for a lot of books. Personally, the last time I felt fully immersed in any book or scene was the first time I read 'Salem's Lot, particularly during the description of the Marsden House, which I was reading at 4 in the morning in an empty, creaky house. That was when I was dead certain vampires were coming for me, and clutched a cross for the remainder of the night (and the following two evenings).

I don't find many books particularly immersing, and haven't since 'Salem's Lot too many years ago to count. Not even when I read The Shining in an old hotel room by myself in an attempt to recreate the conditions. Feh. Could be why I'm not judging the Dresden Files harshly enough; I'd imagine your experience isn't unique.

[jonas]

Its weird to say this considering how much I love the books and how much I am attached to the story, but to be honest, I don't feel that Jim is a top tier writer.  I think he is much better about building a universe or planning an adventure then he is connecting the points of his outline.

I'm not saying I agree... or not lol. His writing has gotten better with experience, but that's natural. However... Eek Gads Man!? If he stays the course and this whole thing drops it's going to be considered a masterpiece on par with the Edda's or Beowulf. When I 'tried' my hand at writing it was really universe creation that tickled me.. a few years later I found the DF and fell head over heels for the most potent build I've ever seen.

[groinkick]

Context matters a lot for me; in this hypothetical, is Jim handing off a completed outline? As in, "Here are all of the plot details I've been dropping cryptic hints about for twenty years," or is this a case of (knocking on wood, crossing my fingers, throwing salt over my shoulder) an unexpected...demise...on the part of Mr. Butcher?

Either or.  I'm mostly talking about Jim has decided he'd like to sell off the rights because he'd grown tired of the series but would like a strong writer to finish it for him, and gives him all his notes and ideas.  The only reason I thought of this is because Jim said he writes the dresden files to make the fans happy, and his new novel to make himself happy.

[LordDresden2]

I concur with the creative team change, especially how it applies to comics. What I would give to have a return to Claremont days of X-men.

That was in fact one of the things I was thinking about when I commented that when the author changes, the story and characters change.  I remember a change in author for the old New Mutants title, sometime around issue 50.  Literally instantly, the characters became other people, esp. Xavier.

When Claremont finally left X-Men in the early 90s, it instantly became a different book, a different story, the characters were different people, I mean the change was almost instantaneous...and I don't believe it was intentional.

JB once commented of the historical chain of Merlins of the White Council that almost all of them think they are doing roughly what Merlin himself would be doing in their situation...and mostly they have been wrong.

I think something similar happens with changing writers or writing teams in real life, they think they're continuing the story and characterization the way the previous writer would have...and usually they are wrong.