I was recently reading a discussion where someone was reviewing an early work by an author that I’m not too familiar with. They claimed you see a lot of early concepts the author “fully fleshed out” in his later more well known work.
This got me thinking, what does that REALLY even mean? Is it fully explaining something with no room for interpretation? Is it adding details to increase the flavor of the concept? Is it developing a unique characteristic in your work that other people avoid? What do you think
by slimeyellow
2 Comments
It means giving the world and the character more than is strictly necessary to tell the story. Because only at that point they start feeling alive and not like cardboard that you shove from a to b to tell a particular story.
It’s more a sign that an author played with an idea over many books. For example, Lois Bujold was playing with morality and belief structures for decades before she delved into it more directly with her recent novellas. Another example the way that Guy Gravial Kay has developed his female leaders and those that are adjacent to power has changed a lot in the last 30 years.
A fun thing to do with an author who has a long backlist over decades is to see how they have revisted themes and character types. People change over the years and a lot of authors grow in their craft to the point where the early work is not like the latest.
It could also be that in a long series different bits got developed more as things progressed.