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

[mbarker.livejournal.com]

I'm feeling sophical today, so let me see if I can make some sort of a useful comment. I'll ignore the question of whether the Liaden Universe books really are the kind of series that has a golden thread, an overarching arc, some kind of a theme that ties it all together.

Certainly there are series that have this sort of common framework. There's the strong version, where you really need to read all of the books in order because it's really one extended story just divided into multiple volumes. A slightly weaker version at least provides some closure within each volume, so they are somewhat independent. And then there are the series where the books are relatively independent, although reading them together provides a richer experience. Finally, at the other end of the dimension, there are books that are completely independent, even though they share a common universe or world.

Personally, I think the Liaden Universe is more of a collection of tales with a shared history and universe than a single unified arc. We have been shown several sequences or threads in the tapestry, including The Agent of Change sequence, Theo Waitley (Fledgling and so forth), the romances, Balance of Trade, and the Befores, along with a cornucopia of short stories. But even there, while Conflict of Honors is one of my favorites, it is relatively independent of the Agent of Change arc. Do we really want or need the series to push one story in multiple volumes? I like having individual books that can be read and have a whole story, all between two covers, as we used to say (I guess now we should say all in one file?).

But I said I was going to ignore that question, didn't I?

So, assuming there is something that ties all of the books together? What is that big story?

I think I would say it is Clan Korval's slogan – I Dare. I dare to love, to be honest, to be honorable – I dare to do what necessity calls for, even knowing the cost.

It's not really Korval versus the Department of the Interior or whoever. Oh sure, sometimes those others get in the way. But that overarching thread also ties in a young woman breaking free of the cultural bindings, Pat Rin rebuilding Surebleak, even what happens when a young boy takes a young girl as his sister. And many, many other stories.

I will admit, I am looking forward to finding out what Theo and company dare to do. At the same time, I'm also interested in hearing more about family secrets, the dastardly doings of old Delms, or whatever else the authors think worthy of sharing with us.

Thanks! Very interesting question.