The Dresden Files > DF Spoilers
Mirror Mirror Tracking on Butcher's official site!
Lord Kinbote:
--- Quote from: Mira on November 15, 2025, 05:46:56 AM ---However I still say he can finish the series with half the novels and do it well. It might even make the stories a bit more interesting as well.
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I'm sure Butcher could but he and his publisher would be leaving money on the table. I wouldn't ask Butcher to forego the payout he expects for the entire 25 books, or 26 or whatever the number is today. I've watched many a long running hit TV series continue past their expiration dates but understand that the actors are getting paid money on their second contract that offset the low pay of their first, the crew and all supporting contractors are employed and providing for their families, etc. I've no problem with that so long as they don't try to tell me "it's not about the money; we still have stories to tell."
But that doesn't mean that there aren't ways to accelerate the novel writing so that Butcher and his publisher get the financial benefits of all planned novels, while we readers get the conclusion quicker. In fact, I'd bet that Butcher would see more money by finishing the series quicker (and actually finish it and able to enjoy the rewards; he's not getting younger either) as there are readers who won't start an unfinished series because they've been burnt by other authors who don't finish. I wish they'd explore alternatives to the current pace, and figure out a quicker path to the end.
Mira:
--- Quote ---I'm sure Butcher could but he and his publisher would be leaving money on the table. I wouldn't ask Butcher to forego the payout he expects for the entire 25 books, or 26 or whatever the number is today. I've watched many a long running hit TV series continue past their expiration dates but understand that the actors are getting paid money on their second contract that offset the low pay of their first, the crew and all supporting contractors are employed and providing for their families, etc. I've no problem with that so long as they don't try to tell me "it's not about the money; we still have stories to tell."
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Yes, but there is nothing sadder than a television series that has continued past it's expiration date. The actors get older, go to other roles, even die, the series has a wonderful logical ending, only to continue often with diminishing returns. We fans are loyal and continue on, they are counting on that, the writers even try to pretend that some of the events early in the series didn't happen as they try to keep the story going. It is about the money and not about the art sadly.
--- Quote ---But that doesn't mean that there aren't ways to accelerate the novel writing so that Butcher and his publisher get the financial benefits of all planned novels, while we readers get the conclusion quicker. In fact, I'd bet that Butcher would see more money by finishing the series quicker (and actually finish it and able to enjoy the rewards; he's not getting younger either) as there are readers who won't start an unfinished series because they've been burnt by other authors who don't finish. I wish they'd explore alternatives to the current pace, and figure out a quicker path to the end.
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Agreed, the novels could have a lot more content and less filler to move the story along. I get tired of having to buy yet another book in the intervening years to get a few lines furthering the series in a short story. With each book there are also more and more loose ends that will remain, loose.. That isn't very satisfying, I also think a lot more could have been done with Murphy for example after she got a Holy Sword broken. Yeah, I am aware that was great for Butters, but the fact that she was very arrogant in thinking she knew better than the Almighty as far as the rules governing the Holy Swords would have been an interesting read. Did those differences or would those differences have ultimately split her and Harry up had she not been killed?
Lord Kinbote:
--- Quote from: Mira on November 16, 2025, 01:37:10 PM ---We fans are loyal and continue on, they are counting on that, the writers even try to pretend that some of the events early in the series didn't happen as they try to keep the story going.
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You're a better fan than me. I can walk away, and have, from series for which I was an enthusiastic early adapter, participated in forums and podcasts, and otherwise annoyed people with my thoughts and cheerleading. The X-Files comes immediately to mind as an example. I quit watching seasons before it ended; I think I even left before Duchovny. I'm hoping the Dresden Files isn't added to the list. But my relationship to the series isn't solely up to me.
Mira:
--- Quote from: Lord Kinbote on November 18, 2025, 02:14:37 AM ---You're a better fan than me. I can walk away, and have, from series for which I was an enthusiastic early adapter, participated in forums and podcasts, and otherwise annoyed people with my thoughts and cheerleading. The X-Files comes immediately to mind as an example. I quit watching seasons before it ended; I think I even left before Duchovny. I'm hoping the Dresden Files isn't added to the list. But my relationship to the series isn't solely up to me.
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Oh I have walked away, but it's hard when you make friends and contacts in the forums to totally give it up. Battlestar Galactica, Game of Thrones, and JAG,[for those who remember that show] comes to my mind.
g33k:
--- Quote from: Lord Kinbote on November 14, 2025, 08:31:39 PM --- ... I can't even say I'm cautiously optimistic that the series will be done in less than 20 years even with the recent developments (Butcher already tracking progress of Mirror, Mirror; his statements that he plans to be done with MM before touring on Twelve Months). And no matter what I can't envision he'd ever get back to a Dresden novel every 18-24 months ...
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I'm "cautiously optimistic" for just a hair under 20 years, presuming his health holds up (he's pretty fit, but no longer a youngling) and he doesn't suffer life-disrupting tragedies or logistical obstacles.
I'm figuring a 15-18 month per novel pace; alternating DresdenFiles with CinderSpires (as he says is his plan on an ongoing basis), that'd be 30-36 months before we're all abuzz with "Fight Night tracking on Butcher's Official Site". I don't think faster than that is at all likely; but I'd be thrilled to be proven wrong!
FN (or whatever the title is) will be vol.19 of the DF; then 20, 21, & 22; by my estimate (above) taking 120-144mo = 10-12 years to wrap up "the Dresden Files" proper.
Then the BigApocalypticTrilogy, which (at one point) Jim said he saw as one big story, and planned to write as one big push, not alternating other books; figuring the "same" per-novel-pace for 3-in-a-row, and presuming his "palate cleanser" novel between the DF proper and the BAT, that'd be another 60-72 months = 5-6 years.
So 15-18 years, if my Jim'stimates are right and I did my math right (and RL doesn't strike).
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