McAnally's (The Community Pub) > Author Craft

On Writing a Series

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the neurovore of Zur-En-Aargh:

--- Quote from: blgarver on April 23, 2007, 02:30:45 PM ---Whatever you do, don't wait 20 years to write a sequel.   i.e.  The Dark Tower

--- End quote ---

There was never near twenty years between any two books in that series. Besides, by everything he has said about it, King does not appear to have had any choice in the matter, and I can respect not writing a sequel in preference to rushing a bad sequel you weren't ready to write.

My personal position on this is that I am not going to try to sell any story until and unless I have the last word of the last volume set down.

blgarver:
Yeah I know, I was being sarcastic.  Luckily I didn't start DT until they were all out so I didn't have to wait for any of them.

Josh:
"My personal position on this is that I am not going to try to sell any story until and unless I have the last word of the last volume set down."

Why? If you said you were planning for each book to be stand-alone, why must the entire series be finished before you even try to get them out there? What if you finish the entire series, sell the first one, and then the editors want a big change in the plot that affects a character who appears throughout the rest of the series, or some other important element? Are you going to demand they buy the whole lot as is or forgeddaboutit? One book at a time, my friend. That's all I feel a writer should really care about, otherwise the emotional investment is spread rather thin.

Just my two, shiny round metal pieces.

the neurovore of Zur-En-Aargh:

--- Quote from: Josh on April 23, 2007, 05:57:15 PM ---"My personal position on this is that I am not going to try to sell any story until and unless I have the last word of the last volume set down."

Why? If you said you were planning for each book to be stand-alone, why must the entire series be finished before you even try to get them out there?

--- End quote ---

OK, maybe I was unclear here.  To my mind, if each book is standalone, then they are
separate stories.


--- Quote ---What if you finish the entire series, sell the first one, and then the editors want a big change in the plot that affects a character who appears throughout the rest of the series, or some other important element?

--- End quote ---

Professional editors tend not to buy something they'll want to do that with, is the thing. Or rather, if they agree to buy the whole thing, it's usually as a whole thing, and anything that needed drastic changes to make saleable is hopefully a thing that one would find out about as a condition of selling the first one, and which I would make a decision on whether was appropriate or not before getting into that position.


--- Quote ---Are you going to demand they buy the whole lot as is or forgeddaboutit?

--- End quote ---

Not at all; though, as I believe I've said elsewhere on the forum, if an editor wanted to take out the sex and the socialism and make all the characters blonde Caucasians, they'd be looking for a book so different from anything I write that I would take it elsewhere.


--- Quote ---One book at a time, my friend. That's all I feel a writer should really care about, otherwise the emotional investment is spread rather thin..

--- End quote ---

I'm very much of the opinion "one story at a time"; if that story is 450,000 words long and people want to put half a dozen superfluous pieces of cardboard in the middle and sell it as four volumes, that's a production and marketing issue, not a writing one. 

The thing I do not want to happen is to realise in the middle of Volume 4 how I should have done a key scene in Volume 2 to make the end work perfectly, when Volume 2 is already out there and set in stone, because that way, the writer's essentially completely screwed.  [ Unless you're Stephen King and have clout enough to persuade people to publish your revised editions as "they should have been this way all along". And very few of us are Stephen King. ]

Josh:
"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. 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...

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. 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.

With things like taking out the sex, changing a character's hair or skin color..that's not what I'm talking about in affecting your series. 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. This happens, sometimes no matter how hard the writer tries to make it work, or how skilled they may be. But if you've committed four books to having this character around, you may well flaw the series.

I'm not trying to dissuade you from this series. Series are great. They build a career, a character, a story. But I think you are making this much more difficult on yourself than need be.

Lastly...as for finishing a book and then going back to revise previous books to make it fit better? 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?)

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. 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? Trust me for knowing (I work at a big publishing house), but lobbing several tomes of writing at an editor's or agent's head is not an attractive way to get your writing accepted. Show you can at least write one book first. Then show you're working on the second one and aren't a one-book-wonder. But don't hamstring yourself by visions of perfection and constant revision.

Pardon for the length of this. Fingers wouldn't listen when the brain said stop.

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