Vanity, thy name is Ian Fallis?

It must seem really vain for someone named Ian Fallis to to start a blog named “by Ian Fallis” with the URL ian-fallis.com.

I assure you, it’s not just vanity. I’m also hoping this will help sell more books. So it’s greed and vanity.

But there’s another reason too. A good reason.

While I had my first book, The House in the Old Wood, out to a few critical readers before releasing it, I got some feedback that improved not only the first book, but subsequent books.

For instance, one reader mentioned that they really liked a particular character. But at the time, that character did not make an appearance in the series past the first book. And I realized that was a shame. I liked the character too.

So now, as a result of feedback from a reader, the character appears in the second book as well – she even has a pivotal line. I’m also trying to figure out where I can fit her into future books in the series.

And one of those early readers mentioned to me Sunday, “It’s neat to be able to talk to the writer and ask him questions and stuff.”

I’m hoping this blog will turn into a place where readers can give me their thoughts on the books, and thus be involved in the process. I’m also hoping people will feel free to ask questions, to which I hope I have answers. (There’s a rather complex backstory to the series, The Day Magic Died, and one of my struggles has been to find the balance where readers know enough that things make sense, and don’t get overwhelmed and, perhaps, bored by the backstory.)

So let’s see how this works, shall we?

(By the way, Shakespeare’s line was, “Frailty, thy name is woman,” in Hamlet. This has been widely paraphrased, most often as “Vanity, thy name is woman,” and even, on the Simpsons, as “Comedy, thy name is Krusty.”)

Tags: The House in the Old Wood