The Dresden Files > DF Spoilers

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

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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:

--- Quote from: groinkick on March 05, 2018, 07:30:06 PM ---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.

--- End quote ---

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:

--- Quote from: Lost Merlin on March 06, 2018, 03:36:39 PM ---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.

--- End quote ---

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. 

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