I think that in general, I would say either Addergoole Year 9 or the Aunt Family.
Addergoole Year 9 Pros: Organized, chronological order, has its own distinct site and a good-sized archive. Cons: Lots of characters to keep track of, dystopic setting, many people object to magical slavery.
Aunt Family Pros: Light-hearted, interesting characters, talking cats Cons: Disjointed collection, lack of a clear storyline, much smaller archive.
The main determiner there, I think, would be how much the new readers in question enjoy (or don't enjoy) reading relatively erratic short bits of fiction, and how much they enjoy (or don't enjoy) legitimately dark fantasy settings.
As an addendum, Dragons Next Door has many of the same pros and cons as Aunt Family, but as it currently stands, it hints significantly at several plot lines that have yet to actually be treated/addressed, which is why I would put Aunt Family over it.
I do agree with that, but personally I think you write in too many genres to pick one specific setting to start with. When I was writing a start here for my stuff I created the Beginner's Guide, giving a start point for all of my collections (or settings if the collection has more than one setting) and also some information about how I crowdfund. That might work for you, although it might take up a bit of time you'd rather spend writing.
My major con with starting with Addergoole is the magical slavery, because I think that could put people off your writing a little, even though something like the Planners or the Stranded World are totally different. It's never been a problem for me - I love the magical slavery aspect - but I know that when I read some of your other fiction I was pleasantly surprised at the difference between them.
I don't think writing in a lot of genres is really a point of difficulty. If you know that the person is a big fan of genre A, then of course, point them at your writings in genre A.
But really, most of Lyn's writing is fantasy, with a dusting of science fiction or surreal here and there with some of the one-offs. Different flavors of fantasy but still fantasy, so I don't think there's much of a genre divide. It mainly comes down to the level of darkness, which I (and you) remarked on.
But my main reason for replying is, I personally do not think that an introduction to all of the things Lyn writes/has written is a good place to start someone who is interested in reading her work. The sheer largess of her portfolio is, I think, potentially intimidating and offputting to the typical casual new interest.
Giving a potential new reader a link to a specific piece, be it story or setting collection, is (in my entirely-not-humble opinion) a much better way of introducing them to your writing. Then from there you'd want to have an easily navigable index of your entire body of work so that when they go "oh this is great, I want to read more of your stuff!" you can point them to it and they, having already been hooked, can then peruse it at their leisure.
The problem is with giving a reader a link to one specific piece is that sometimes they might not like that specific piece and chose not to read more. When I thought about it some more I do wonder if something like the ebook Lyn created for when she did the prompt session would work better. It doesn't need to include all of the settings she works within, but the ones she knows to be people's favourites, maybe including some little pieces written by readers that tell newbies why they enjoy those setting in particular. Then they can go on to peruse the landing pages, if they so wish.
I do see different fantasies as different genres, but that's probably a me thing. There are such huge differences between them that it's always been the way I viewed them, especially with the massive differences between urban fantasy and something like Tolkien. Same main genre, very different minor genre. *shrug* I think it's all down to the way our brains work (not brians).
I found the Aunt Family also confusing in terms of characters to keep track of... There are obviously less of them than in Addergoole, but I think the disjointedness contributed there.
How about picking 2 or 3 settings, and giving prospective readers the kind of information you mentioned here?
That's a good idea! Putting together a list of pros/cons for each of the stories and settings, that is.
I don't think the question is about "prospective readers" so much as what to give someone in a one-on-one interaction, when they express interest in one's writing. There's no real need for a generalized default case in those kinds of situations.
![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
timeasmymeasure
no subject
Date: 2013-03-21 05:50 pm (UTC)I think that in general, I would say either Addergoole Year 9 or the Aunt Family.
Addergoole Year 9
Pros: Organized, chronological order, has its own distinct site and a good-sized archive.
Cons: Lots of characters to keep track of, dystopic setting, many people object to magical slavery.
Aunt Family
Pros: Light-hearted, interesting characters, talking cats
Cons: Disjointed collection, lack of a clear storyline, much smaller archive.
The main determiner there, I think, would be how much the new readers in question enjoy (or don't enjoy) reading relatively erratic short bits of fiction, and how much they enjoy (or don't enjoy) legitimately dark fantasy settings.
no subject
Date: 2013-03-21 05:52 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2013-03-21 06:09 pm (UTC)My major con with starting with Addergoole is the magical slavery, because I think that could put people off your writing a little, even though something like the Planners or the Stranded World are totally different. It's never been a problem for me - I love the magical slavery aspect - but I know that when I read some of your other fiction I was pleasantly surprised at the difference between them.
no subject
Date: 2013-03-21 07:13 pm (UTC)But really, most of Lyn's writing is fantasy, with a dusting of science fiction or surreal here and there with some of the one-offs. Different flavors of fantasy but still fantasy, so I don't think there's much of a genre divide. It mainly comes down to the level of darkness, which I (and you) remarked on.
But my main reason for replying is, I personally do not think that an introduction to all of the things Lyn writes/has written is a good place to start someone who is interested in reading her work. The sheer largess of her portfolio is, I think, potentially intimidating and offputting to the typical casual new interest.
Giving a potential new reader a link to a specific piece, be it story or setting collection, is (in my entirely-not-humble opinion) a much better way of introducing them to your writing. Then from there you'd want to have an easily navigable index of your entire body of work so that when they go "oh this is great, I want to read more of your stuff!" you can point them to it and they, having already been hooked, can then peruse it at their leisure.
no subject
Date: 2013-03-21 07:59 pm (UTC)I do see different fantasies as different genres, but that's probably a me thing. There are such huge differences between them that it's always been the way I viewed them, especially with the massive differences between urban fantasy and something like Tolkien. Same main genre, very different minor genre. *shrug* I think it's all down to the way our brains work (not brians).
no subject
Date: 2013-03-21 08:27 pm (UTC)How about picking 2 or 3 settings, and giving prospective readers the kind of information you mentioned here?
no subject
Date: 2013-03-22 12:01 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2013-03-22 12:32 am (UTC)I don't think the question is about "prospective readers" so much as what to give someone in a one-on-one interaction, when they express interest in one's writing. There's no real need for a generalized default case in those kinds of situations.