I wish "Author X" would take a break from...

Sandlynn · Joined: 23 Mar 2007 Posts: 1601 Location: Washington, D.C.

I wish "Author X" would take a break from "Plotline Y" (Title wouldn't fit up there.)

Walking through the book store the other day, I came across Susan Eliza Phillips' new book, which is usually a treat as she's one of my favorites. But then I realized she used her "tried and true" runaway "bride" storyline. So many of her books seem to be about women running away. Am I imagining this? Why not switch it up and have the man run away. Or, better yet, think up some entirely new conflict.

Are there authors who seem attached to the same storylines and who you would like to see switch up their plotting, characters, and/or setting?

Which authors would you like to see write an entirely different type of romance and what would you like to see them tackle?

For what it's worth, I *do not* want to see SEP write about vampires or S&M or any combo ... although I'm sure it'd be a hoot.

Lynda X · Joined: 05 Apr 2007 Posts: 1249

I loved, loved SEP, but I couldn't finish her last one because the hero, like so many of hers, was just too abusive. She often does this kind of character. It's effective, I suppose, because it creates tension and you wait to the revelation that he (or she) is wrong and the redemption, but I don't think I'll probably buy her any more.

I find that many authors, if you read a lot of any favorite, use the same plot or characters repeatedly. Elizabeth Lowell, Kristen Ashley, and a host of others. I figure writing is like having a fantasy and something clicks for them and they are turned on to write. When I've tried to write a novel, sometimes, it just flows and the characters "talk" to me. I've read authors who say that they started to write one book, but the the hero or heroine took over and brought it to a different place. You know how your favorite author goes stale, even if you haven't read too much of her? Well, I think that's because she's consciously guiding the plot and characters, rather than tuning into the unconscious voice. You can see and feel the difference when you read it. Authors are at the mercy of forces they cannot control, and their fantasies are the core of their success. That's my theory, anyway.

Pop Tart · Joined: 22 Mar 2007 Posts: 122

My biggie is Jayne Ann Krentz in all her incarnations. I wish she would give up anything and everything "Arcane". It used to be that the paranormal elements were in her Jayne Castle books. Then they became part of her historicals and now have even taken over the contemporaries. They just all sound the same and the reliance on this 'power to the nth' degree thing is a crutch for the author. JAK has always had similar hero/heroine types but what I'd love right now is a straightforward contemporary romance, perhaps with a little suspense, but absolutely no paranormal elements at all.

CharlotteJ · Joined: 30 Jul 2010 Posts: 75

I wish Nora Roberts would take a break from:

1. ghosts and ghost elements.
2. Heros and heroines who have known each other for years but it takes them a decade to decide they're hot for one another.

I wish Linda Howard would take a break from:

Sticking her love scenes near the end of the book.

Tinabelle · Joined: 22 Mar 2007 Posts: 853 Location: SE Wisconsin

LynnS/AAR · Joined: 22 Mar 2007 Posts: 115

I have to say I wish Madeline Hunter would take a break from the Regency. Some of her Regency-set historicals have been good, but I miss what she could do with medieval settings.

dick · Joined: 22 Mar 2007 Posts: 2248

Until "The Lost Night," I would have disagreed with the comments about JAK/AQ/JC, for even though she always wrote essentially the same story, there was always a considerable amount of wit to entertain a reader even though the story itself was a repetition. "The Lost Night," though, in my opinion, was a collection of events, a non-story with very little purpose or point.

Not Quite Nicole · Joined: 29 May 2007 Posts: 143

I've read a few Eloisa James books, and I want to like her books, but it seems like each book or series has a couple that has a Big Mis leading to a Long Separation, leaving the heroine to sit at home and 'mature celibately' while the hero goes out and whores around, then he comes home and they patch things up.

Maybe I've just been unlucky when I pick her books, but that seems to be the plot of every book by her that I've read since she's been with Avon.
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