Simon Ward
asked
Lois McMaster Bujold:
Looking back on a successful writing career. How has your opinion of your first book changed? Please join Madeline Miller, Kami Garcia, Alessandre Torre, who among others, have also been invited to contribute to my article and share their thoughts about their first book.
Lois McMaster Bujold
I'm not really sure what you are asking for. For some writers, I expect first books recede into the dim mists of time and memory as an increasingly vague blur. The continuing series that Shards of Honor launched in 1986, the need for proofreading reprints of various kinds over the years, and new reviews from readers still just now discovering it has kept it relatively fresh in my mind.
It's... OK, I guess? At this point, 36 years on from first publication (40 from first starting to write it), I'm pretty sure of its survival in the marketplace, so I no longer feel much need to defend it as a covertly-economically-anxious new writer struggling to hold a spot on bookstore shelves. The kids'll be all right, as some song fragment puts it.
The characters from the book still seem to be finding life in some unknown number of readers' minds, which is the only kind of life they can have. So, all good.
Ta, L.
It's... OK, I guess? At this point, 36 years on from first publication (40 from first starting to write it), I'm pretty sure of its survival in the marketplace, so I no longer feel much need to defend it as a covertly-economically-anxious new writer struggling to hold a spot on bookstore shelves. The kids'll be all right, as some song fragment puts it.
The characters from the book still seem to be finding life in some unknown number of readers' minds, which is the only kind of life they can have. So, all good.
Ta, L.
More Answered Questions
Alexandra
asked
Lois McMaster Bujold:
But wouldn't the Vor have their own accent, like the Brits with their Queen's English?
About Goodreads Q&A
Ask and answer questions about books!
You can pose questions to the Goodreads community with Reader Q&A, or ask your favorite author a question with Ask the Author.
See Featured Authors Answering Questions
Learn more