I like big books. Don’t get me wrong when I see a novel sitting at 500 plus pages I am initially just as wary as anyone. Will I have the time? How long will it take? Is there something shorter I would enjoy reading just as much? What’s on Netflix?
But then I remember so many of the books I’ve loved most in my life were long books I got lost in. The books where I felt like I spent time with the characters so that I really cared how things turned out for them. There was the first time I read King’s “The Shining" when I was twelve, staying up late, reading in bed by flashlight, so scared that afterward, I would always have to read an "Archie" comic in order to get to sleep. There was the all-nighter I pulled on a train traveling from Munich to Amsterdam as I feverishly finished Leon Uris’s "Exodus" before the train pulled into the station. There was the Christmas break years ago that I spent tearing through the first tome in George R.R. Martin’s Game of Thrones: A Song of Fire and Ice.
Not surprising, when it came to writing my own stuff, the first novel I published was a fairly long one. This wasn't by design. In fact, it runs contrary to the conventional logic in indie publishing which is to write shorter books and release them more often. In my case, I didn’t plot the story. I just wrote it. My novel, Beatrice Clover, (shameless plug: available at Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/Beatri.../dp/B09ML6MFCK/ref=sr_1_1...) ended up being about the same length as King's "The Dead Zone" (okay, Bachman's) which is a favorite and certainly inspired Beatrice. It's just a touch longer than "Gone Girl" shorter than "Pet Semetary" and "The Shining" I don't claim to be in the same league as any of those giants, only that I loved the time I spent in their worlds, and I suppose I sought to do the same with the story of "Beatrice Clover" (well, that and entertain and scare you). So, if you're like me and you like stories you can get lost in, where you come to know the characters as real people...then go read or King or Flynn. Obviously. But, if they don't have any books out or you have a few extra bucks to drop and you want to get lost in a book, then maybe click the link above and check it out.
