Demons...

An artist is a creature driven by demons. He doesn't know why they choose him and he's usually too busy to wonder why. - William Faulkner, 1897 - 1962

Series...

for September 30, 2010: If you read series, do you ever find a series “jumping the shark?” How do you feel about that? And, do you keep reading anyway?

If I'm not enjoying myself, I stop reading, regardless of whether it's a short story, a novel, or a series of novels.

And of course I am disappointed when a series that was good starts to be less so. On the other hand, some series gain depth and get better as they go, so I guess there's compensation.

I am more likely to stop reading if I'm not enjoying a single book, and hang in a little longer for a series, just because a series often has more hooks - I'm already more invested in the action.

Series I stopped reading would include the Dune books by Frank Herbert, or the Pern series by Ann McCaffery. At one point I stopped reading the Marcus Didius Falco books by Lindsay Davis, but then they got better again, so I resumed - with a gap in the middle.