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. .
.

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: The big story.....

[quotidian-c.livejournal.com]

The Universe is a good answer, although I would define that a bit more tightly than you. I would say the Big Story is the slow reveal of how the universe is put together and how it relates to the old one - so Uncle and timonium and old technology are definitely part of that; the connection of Nelirikk's unit to Jela; it looks like the DoI may also be a piece of the puzzle. There are tidbits sprinkled all through the books and stories that hint at these inter-connections.

But that's the extra depth that's going on in the background; a side puzzle. It's not what any specific book is about, and it's not what I read for. As other people have said, it's the characters that keep drawing me back in.

As far as there is a Real Story, I guess it is "the life and times of Clan Korval and those they affect". But that's not a single story, it's many interlocking arcs, which rise and fall out of focus.

< tries to remember Dragon Ship> I guess Dragon Ship is more of a character book and is not super plot focused. It also has quite a broad focus, with additions to several storylines. I've certainly had problems with multi-stranded books before (by other authors), where I'm really only interested in one set of characters and start skipping sections to get back to them. I can imagine that if one likes a clearly defined story arc and especially if one is only reading for a specific character's storyline, then Dragon Ship might not be one's cup of tea.