Can you recognize your favorite authors by their words? If you were handed a manuscript with no name, would you know who wrote it?
My husband and I were watching a movie on Valentine's day. It had an unsatisfying ending, one where the lovers don't get to stay together (one dies.) It wasn't surprising though. The author who penned the novel often kills off one of the lovers. It's as though he believes that we can have happiness only for a short time before fate steals it from us.
Another author I read starts her books with an exciting beginning, and she keeps the pace going well through the middle of the book. But, her endings are rushed, with new characters and new situations introduced late in the book. Her endings are happy, with everyone getting what they want, but I find them unrealistic.
Graham Salisbury once came to an SCBWI event, said that authors often struggle with an issue or theme that runs through all their books. (Apologies if I mangled that, or misquoted!) He gave the example, in his own books, of the father/son relationships. I think he said that we work out our own issues, like his father/son relationship, in our writing, in order to work out unresolved issues in our own lives.
In my own books, I work out issues of growth through struggle, people pretending to be someone they are not, and living with the consequences of our choices.
So, do authors reveal more of their own selves in their books than they realize? Do we project our own needs--the need for a happy ending, the need for a poignant story of discovery and loss, and so on? Could you recognize a favorite author's work by reading their book?