Curious writer is curious

[rolanni]

One of the interesting things about writing in a large-ish universe for, oh, a quarter-century, is that you're pretty often meeting people who have read your work (or, even more interestingly, haven't read your work), and who have formed opinions about the plot-line, the characters, the theme, the authors' childhoods, and adult proclivities. .
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That being so, and because  people will say things either to me or within my hearing, I find myself with a question, which I will now throw out to you, the readers of the Liaden Universe®:

What is, in your opinion, the Big Story (also known as the Real Story) of the Liaden Universe® novels?

There are no right answers, or wrong answers.  Curious author is, as advertised above, curious.

Comments

Re: I am, perhaps, one of the people the author refers to

[rolanni.livejournal.com]

I have copied libertariansold reply below, with spoiler space, to spare the feelings of those who have not yet read Dragon Ship. The post below is complete as originally posted; the new material is this note and the space. SLee


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I am, perhaps, one of the people the author refers to
I have never thought that there was a single arc for the entire universe. For example, I loved the book about how Shan and Priscilla met, even though the DOI does not appear in it. And the short stories are soem of my favorite works. However, it seems to me that the DOI has been the central arc since Agent of Change (minus Fledgling and Saltation, but including the next two Theo books), and I do not consider it unreasonable to expect that subsequent books further that plot towards resolution, or, at least, a resolution. Dragon Ship, for example, resolved nothing concerning the DOI/Korval conflict. Yes, Theo bonded and Win Ton was cloned--which could have been done in a chapter. Yes, Asu has grown up and Theo hooked up with Kara. Fine, I like them both. Yes, Cantra's ship with sapling showed up. Great. But none of that moved forward the DOI plot. What I personally dislike is establishing such a central plot, and then leaving it, while still remaining in that universe, or, as happened in the WoT series, let that/those plots "simmer", for books on end. And, since I adore several of the main characters, I am disappointed when new books are published that essentially ignore them.

Re: I am, perhaps, one of the people the author refers to

[libertariansold.livejournal.com]

My apologies. It did not occur to me that discussing events in a novel published that long ago could be spoiling. Sorry

Re: I am, perhaps, one of the people the author refers to

[rolanni.livejournal.com]

It's hard to keep track, especially with things like eArcs and eEditions thrown into the mix.

For the purposes of at least having a rule of thumb, I assume that everyone has had their chance at the story after the paperback edition has been out for three months.

The hardcover edition of Dragon Ship was published in September 2012 -- just five months ago. The paperback is scheduled to be published in August 2013.