I admit, I am flattered by people's interest in my writing. But I find myself reluctant to send my writing out into the world at this point, with my hopes to soon ctb. My art is a part of me, and I don't want any part of me to remain. Like a child, it would be different had it been "born" and exist on its own, but incomplete, ungestated, unrealized, it is something of myself that I want to end at the same time as the rest of me.
Part of that is because my ex, my Muse, whose leaving me solidified this writer's block, tried to demand that she be given equal say over the copyrights, and was furious when she learned I had willed them to my sister. She felt that because she had been my Muse, my encouragement, that the stories were equally hers. But my stories are my own. Not until they have come into this world by my choice are they anyone else's to control. So I am now very protective of them.
Do you think publishers these days might be antsier about unfinished series due to readers' reactions to some modern writers? I find it very sad personally... some very great fiction is incomplete, including fantasy.
Mostly the publishers are twitchy about gambling on a nine-book series by an unknown. They want to see the story complete, or they want a publishing record that assures them the writer can deliver the goods. It's a reasonable fear, in today's market, but it doesn't make it any easier for the writers.
