fandomsecrets | [ SECRET POST #3833 ]

[ SECRET POST #3833 ]

⌈ Secret Post #3833 ⌋

Warning: Some secrets are NOT worksafe and may contain SPOILERS.

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Notes:

Secrets Left to Post: 02 pages, 35 secrets from Secret Submission Post #549.
Secrets Not Posted: [ 0 - broken links ], [ 0 - not!secrets ], [ 0 - not!fandom ], [ 0 - too big ], [ 0 - repeat ].
Current Secret Submissions Post: here.
Suggestions, comments, and concerns should go here.

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01. https://i.imgur.com/4Q8aDYO.png

Same

I know how you feel, OP. The last book series I completed was the Heroes of Olympus series by Rick Riordan. I read the Percy Jackson series, finished the Heroes of Olympus series, took ages to get through the first book for the Kane Chronicles and probably only got three chapters into the second book, and got about seven chapters into the first Magnus Chase book. I LOVE Rick Riordan's books, but I just don't have the attention span for it anymore, and I feel bad about it.

My attention span is really shot too. Even for movies and TV sometimes.

Yeah... My memory is indeed shot. I don't remember making this secret, but here we are. Word for word for what I've felt and said many times recently.

I feel like I could've written this secret in my sleep. I can't seem to muster up the concentration to get into long series anymore, unless the individual books are okay as stand alone reads.

Just about everyone I know is like this, we're all just a little burned out after these last few years of sprawling epics, multibook series, and shared universe franchise movies. Even on tv, I'm so sick of serialization. I don't have the patience or attention span to box set stuff anymore. Give me some old style episodic tv and one off books, I'm just too burned out for anything more.

I think that's it, yeah. I don't have the time to marathon a long book series (or TV series) and the multibook series tend to have a long wait in between books. Which is totally understandable, but by the time a new book comes out, I can't remember most of the plot details of the previous books!

I've been reading more stand alone novels and older books, where the page count is a lot shorter.

I feel the same :(
Not just for books but getting into any new series. The only way I get interested is if I'm spoiled on some huge important plot point, but then wheres the fun?

Aw, that sucks.

I was/am kind of feeling that way in that so many books out there right now just don't grab me *at all*. Reading a little online, reading a summary and reviews, all makes me just shake my head and backbutton. Too many tired cliches and tropes and just bad writing.

I did recently power through all of The Expansion series that's currently out, and i think that was a big help - that I could just read and keep reading, without having to wait a year for the next installment.

I was in a bookshop recently and when I looked at the shelves all that they did was remind me all my favorite authors were either dead or retired.

It made me not-happy.

Also I found out that cover art is shocking generic right now. Where are all the great cover artists who can produce a world of wonder and adventure just through some dynamic and bright art work? The teal filter and pouty/scowly twentysomething trend that has cursed movie posters for so long has assimilated the book cover trade too.

OMG, yes? The covers tell me nothing. They're so fucking *boring*. Or they're some weird arty 'graphic' thing that equally tells me nothing and seems to have nothing to do with anything.

I miss all the Michael Whelan-type covers.

A lot of my favorite authors are dead (or were already dead, heh), but a few hang on. I just got the latest in a very long C J Cherryh epic story, which is awesome. But it makes me depressed to think there will never be another Tanith Lee book, or Pratchett.....

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(Anonymous) - 2017-07-02 23:12 (UTC) - Expand

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(Anonymous) - 2017-07-03 02:31 (UTC) - Expand

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(Anonymous) - 2017-07-03 21:17 (UTC) - Expand

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(Anonymous) - 2017-07-03 02:44 (UTC) - Expand

Don't you hate it when reality gets in the way of reading?!

There are so many series out there now that are 10 or 12 huge books in, and it's so fucking daunting. I wish there were more stand-alone books in the SF and especially Fantasy genre. Lately I just want to read a book, get a full story, and be done with it.

Unfortunately, as far as I can tell, that isn't what agents are looking for right now. They want serial stuff that will sell big and bring the publishing houses lots of money. Specifically a lot of them are asking for the next GRR Martin.

Indie authors may be a better bet. I had guy on twitter the other day asking me if I wanted a free copy of his book that he wrote back in 2014. When I checked him out, both of his books were stand alones and from 2014-ish. (I was wondering how many he had in the basement.)

Thiiiiiiiis. The problem is that readers seem to really like a series* and publishers figure that if you like one book, it'll be easier to get you to read more with the same characters-- or at least in the same universe.

* This is what I hear from friends who self publish. Series are where the money is, that's how you get book sales for your backlist. Then every time you publish a new book in the series, the rest of the books in that series get a small boost as well.

Same! Browsing the sci-fi/fantasy section of my library is ridiculous because it's like 75% 900-page trilogies and ain't nobody* got time for that shit.

*me

I wish there were more stand-alone mysteries. Don't get me wrong, there are long-running mystery series that I love, and some where I'm mostly reading to find out what happened to the characters as opposed to because I want to know the culprit.

But sometimes I just want to read someone where I don't have to be careful to start at the beginning. (I know they try not to spoil past books but sometimes it's just not possible.) Also I want to read something where I don't know that most of the characters are not going to die or turn out to be the murderer because they have to be back in the next book.

But there are very few stand-alone mysteries.

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(Anonymous) - 2017-07-03 21:31 (UTC) - Expand

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rosehiptea - 2017-07-03 21:48 (UTC) - Expand

Too relatable :c

Mine is probably at least partially due to the depression though

As a reader, I've been burned way too much in the past years on series. I gave up on trad publishing houses and...

started writing my own. (sigh) Then self publishing on Amazon.

Which gives me LESS time to read and I'm less inclined to read unless I'm feeling ill because I'd rather be writing my characters, the irony.

I read way more fanfiction than I do anything else. I read like two dozen "books" a month in fanfic, but I can't sit my ass down to read anything else. Which sucks because some sound really good. :/

This is why I started reading more classic sf&f. I didn't read much of it growing up, so there's lots still out there for me to read. I don't mind when things get a bit puply, and this is usually stuff that's easy to find at the library or get cheap at used bookstores, so if I don't like it I don't feel pressured to finish.

Yuuuup. Anything more than a trilogy is pretty much a no-go, and even those push it. Once we start talking spin-offs and prequels and sequels and extended universes, I'm out.

I find shorter SFF to be more interesting these days.

I feel this. I only have enough attention span to read fanfic nowadays.

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