The Laurell K. Hamilton Syndrome

http://www.penny-arcade.com/comic/2008/6/2/

This comic highly amuses me while making a great point. Some people like the Anita Blake series, some don't, and then there are those of us who followed the damn series through the first three books filled with rough writing until it finally smoothed out and wasn't painful to read. And then about book 12 or so, something strange happened. Ms. Hamilton started writing only about sex and Anita's feelings and relationships with the many people she was having sex with. Any pretense of a storyline went out the window and we were taken from books with interesting crime-solving storylines to erotica that would make the new Christian Anne Rice blush. (Before Xtianity she probably wouldn't have blushed... probably.) I have nothing against erotica but that wasn't what I was reading the damn Anita Blake series for! I wanted to read about the necromancer investigator who had emotional issues and too many men in her life fighting over her while she tried to keep any of them from touching her. To suddenly go from that to an entire novel blathering about shit I would expect a therapist to say was a letdown that left a bad taste in my mouth.

But I digress...

I like to call what happened to these books The Laurell K. Hamilton Syndrome. Generally, this Syndrome appears at two times in a novel's life. The first is when the book is still a rough draft, much like my novel Drunk. I was so fascinated by the characters writing the story the first time that the actual storyline and suspense became a garnish instead of the full meal. The second time this occurs is when a series is done but for various reasons an author keeps it going. Anita Blake's series should have ended at least five books ago, or at least delayed until she could think of an actual storyline that doesn't involve me having to read about Anita having sex with a new man... again (and when I'm complaining about the level of sex in a book, you know there's an issue). Back in the day I would have been very sad to see it end but now that I've discovered what happens when a storyline continues far past it's prime, I am willing to lose a series rather than have to suffer through this badness ever again.