McAnally's (The Community Pub) > Author Craft

On Writing a Series

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the neurovore of Zur-En-Aargh:

--- Quote from: Josh on April 23, 2007, 07:39:47 PM ---"OK, maybe I was unclear here.  To my mind, if each book is standalone, then they are
separate stories."

Right. I know. But separate stories doesn't make each book a different series. You have all sorts of stories within a single series, especially if the series is focused on a single character, like you seem to be planning.

--- End quote ---

I think we've got turned around here somewhere as to who's talking to whom. I have no idea how connected pharis81's series is; of the things I've written that occur in the same world as each other, one of which is now sitting on an editor's desk awaiting decision, there's only a tiny bit of continuity of character, as the level of a one-chapter walk-on whom the protagonist of one book meets turning out to be the protagonist of one set a lot later - which surprised me.  I'd kind of prefer those two stories to come out in the order they were written, actually, so it doesn't look like I was shoehorning protagonist of book B into book A for no in-story reason.


--- Quote ---What I'm saying is, each book in a series is part of a cohesive story itself. Trying to write a 450k+ monster and then lobbing the marketing and publicity efforts on the publishing house...that's going to make it very very hard to sell in the first place, because, ask around. How many editors and agents want to even touch a 450k+ story, plus have to put all the work into figuring out what part goes where in the series, plus editing the whole thing, plus...

--- End quote ---

I have no expectation of the 450k+ monster being sellable unless I can establish myself and sell other things first, which is why I have been focusing on other things for quite a while.  With regard to how they might want to divide it, that's really their decision; the story will fall internally into nine parts, most of which have a reasonable climax, so cutting it into two parts, three or four, would none of them do any violence to the thing.  I'd be extremely happy to see it sell as a single volume if anyone could actually market it at that size. [ Have solid drafts of seven of those parts and a first draft of the eighth at the moment; it's not at the top of the pile right now, but I expect to finish it within six months of whenever I next settlee down to focus on it, barring having to move house or change jobs or something within that six months. ]


--- Quote ---As for editors buying habits...Just because an editor buys your story doesn't mean they think it's perfect. Every story is going to need some work, and pretty much every story that gets published goes through several revisions before it hits the presses and experiences significant changes to the text.

--- End quote ---

My point is, that editors, particularly well-known editors at major publishing houses, who are the people I will try to sell to first, are incredibly busy people.  And that there's only so much time they will have to actaully edit as well as all the other business of publishing stuff, and that a first-time author isn't reasonably going to get as much of what time as they do have as whoever is making that publisher Stephen King-sized amounts of money.  Therefore, not to send out stories unless you're pretty sure you've already made them as good as you can.


--- Quote ---Things do change in that process, and if you want your series to be set in stone, its going to make it incredibly difficult to sell, because editors much more prefer working with an author who is willing to accept some criticism and work to make their story stronger based on feedback.

--- End quote ---

I think you may be reading "set in stone" differently from how I meant it, I'd certainly be willing to accept positive feedback if I were told it would make something sellable.  I was more thinking that offering an editor the first third of a story is only proving you can write a beginning, not a middle or an end; and sending in a beginning when you do not know what the end will be, and then realising that what you really want to make your end work is to be able to go back and fix the beginning after the beginning is already in print, seems a no-win situation for anyone, author, editor, or readers.


--- Quote ---What I'm talking about is...you've got a character who appears in four of your...however many books you end up with. They play a part in several key scenes. They're a romantic interest for the hero. Problem is, when you try to sell the story, nobody likes this character. They're flat, distracting, and uninteresting. No matter how hard you try, this character just doesn't come across well, and it would help the story if they were surgically removed.

--- End quote ---

There may be people who can write plots which do not fall apart like a house of cards if you take out a central character, but I am pretty sure I'm not one of them.


--- Quote ---Unless you have every detail mapped out from start to finish before you even start the first book, it's going to be practically impossible to get every book "perfect" within an entire series. You can't predict what may happen. What if you actually get tired of the this series or this character? (I know, you won't, but what if?)

--- End quote ---

I'll put it down and work on something else for a bit. I've got plenty of other things to be going on with.


--- Quote ---The reality is, you're always going to be able to look back at something you've written and see a way you could've done it better. But if you spend all your time going back and revising, then that story will never get finished, will never be perfect, and will never have a chance to get shopped around because you won't ever be satisfied with it

--- End quote ---

I agree that you can't revise forever, but I'm not sure it isn't possible to get a story reasonably close to the best one can possibly tell it, and as close to that as possible seems a sensible goal.


--- Quote ---Doesn't it make sense to take that first book, polish it as best you can so it's as attractive as it can be, and then start shopping it around while writing the second book?

--- End quote ---

Oh aye, and that's why I've done so.  And at this point if that editor does like it there are two more in that setting which would be one through-read short of ready to go and a third half-way through which would certainly go to the top of the to-do list if the prospect of a contract were attached.  But while that one's under consideration, I feel most inclined to work on unrelated things which could be sold to different publishers.

pharis81:
You both have some good points. I guess I've got a lot to think about. Thanks guys.

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