What We Want And Need

Alan Moore said somewhere that a good writer gives his readers not what they think that they want but what he knows that they need. I agree, although the test of whether the writer is right about what his readers need is whether they buy what he writes.

Arthur Conan Doyle wanted to write fewer Sherlock Holmes stories because he thought that his historical fiction and other kinds of writing were of greater value. Poul Anderson stopped writing his Technic History because he thought that it had made its point and because there were other fictional narratives that he wanted to write. I think that Genesis is significant but would have preferred less of the Harvest Of Stars Tetralogy and of For Love And Glory and more of the Technic History. 

The Doyle and Anderson cases are not comparable. Doyle was right that detective fiction is inherently limited whereas the Technic History is inherently unlimited and could have been continued indefinitely while increasing in complexity without decreasing in creativity. We did not need any more "Captain Flandry" stories but Anderson would not have given us that. A shorter Diana Crowfeather and Targovi series? An Aycharaych novel? More about the Long Night, the Allied Planets and the Commonalty? There are no limits to the potential of this series.