Discuss: Why do some authors get bad over time?

[Rowan]

Anyone else feel this way? Why is it for some authors have a great first few (or even 10) books and then fall flat.

Some examples for me are:

Jonathan Kellerman
Patricia Cornwell
James Patterson
John Grisham
Stephen King

Thoughts? Do the ideas just get old after a while?

[Spudd]

I can't say I agree with your Stephen King example. I think he's just uneven. But some of his later books have still been really good - I liked Bag of Bones, and I'm enjoying the Dark Tower series a lot.

However, I do think that in general it can sometimes be true. I think probably part of it is that when they're new at it, they have all these great ideas, but after some time, they kinda run out of their stock of ideas. I wonder if success might have something to do with it too - if you're new, you don't feel the pressure to succeed the same way maybe?

[Sílvia]

You know, maybe it's just me, but I think ALL authors get bad after a while. Ok, maybe not bad, but repetitive. I haven't found a single writer whose books didn't start to sound the same to me after 4 or 5 books. Ok, that sentence sounds terrible, but you know what I mean. I have given up on several different authors because of that. Isabel Allende, Paul Auster, Marian Keyes come to mind. So you see, it's not even a question of me reading just one style, these are widely different authors. I'm not saying I've given up on them forever, but I need a break.

[Crystal Meth]

Because writing books is HARD.

Okay, that probably sounds glib, but I don't know. How many wholly original 300-page works can a person have inside them? I'm sure pressure from publishers and readers doesn't help either, because then they're just writing to get it out the door.

Huh, interesting. This question feels heavy and could be pondered by me for hours...

[mellenhead]

It seems like a lot of them just keep writing the same thing over and over and over. I used to really like James Patterson until every.single.book was the same story, just different names. Now he has a new book out every week it seems like. I can't read them anymore.

I think Stephen King at least wrote in different styles, some hits, some misses......but at least it wasn't the exact same formula.

[Rowan]

Ok, I will give Mr King props for switching it up. I did read Cell and liked it.

I agree with you Crystal that its hard to come up with new ideas all the time.

That said, isn't it weird that a book becomes a NYT bestseller just because of the author. I would bet its harder to break that top 10 than music lists.

[Anna]

I think it's just that we get used to their style and can guess what's going to happen.