I for one would enjoy more of your wisdom on story craft. I feel there’s more to say here. Many authors seem to see “justice served” and “restoration of order” as an emotionally satisfying ending, often giving short shrift to how it’s affected/changed/evolved the main POV character. THAT is what I’m looking for, and rarely finding: earned growth in a series protagonist, the thing that makes them different going forward but still recognizable.
In my experience, a series often goes like this:
Book 1: Fresh, exciting, new.
Books 2-4: Growing the community of secondary characters as a way of drawing out something new about the series lead.
Book 5-8: Divergence. Some series take risks with their regular cast, continue growing them in ways that astonish us, delight us and sometimes go too far in exploring their darkness. Others lapse into grand-protection more and tell one story after another in which the threats always come from outside the community so that the author can distract us from their unwillingness to take the first path for fear or angering/alienating established series readers.
I don't know if I could generalize, other than to say that the series I most enjoy seem to get better after, say, book 3. True to me for both JDM and JLB though many would disagree.
Both Chris Offutt and Samantha Jayne Allen wrote really good follow-ups to excellent first in series books.
But it's tough to balance growth with whatever elements made you want to write or read the series in the first place.
True. My point is that at some point between 2-8, you see the author’s motivations emerge: grow their characters and community, and take risks with them ... or protect the brand and find as many ways as possible to tell essentially the same story over and over with minimal risk to the readers’ established emotional bonds with the characters. And if they take the latter path, the third-act problems often reveal themselves through highly coincidental stage management, dropped plot threads, and rushed confrontations that skip incremental suspense go straight to plot-in-a-blender mode. Once I detect a whiff of “protect the world I’ve built,” things go slack and I start to drift away.
That's a good point. In my own experience I had no idea what the brand was with book one--I like the character going on an emotional journey along with the mystery or crime they're investigating.
I did so little series planning ahead with Wakeland. With the new series, I'm trying to think of a character and their community that can grow together over a few books...I think you need both. But very tough to pull off...
I for one would enjoy more of your wisdom on story craft. I feel there’s more to say here. Many authors seem to see “justice served” and “restoration of order” as an emotionally satisfying ending, often giving short shrift to how it’s affected/changed/evolved the main POV character. THAT is what I’m looking for, and rarely finding: earned growth in a series protagonist, the thing that makes them different going forward but still recognizable.
In my experience, a series often goes like this:
Book 1: Fresh, exciting, new.
Books 2-4: Growing the community of secondary characters as a way of drawing out something new about the series lead.
Book 5-8: Divergence. Some series take risks with their regular cast, continue growing them in ways that astonish us, delight us and sometimes go too far in exploring their darkness. Others lapse into grand-protection more and tell one story after another in which the threats always come from outside the community so that the author can distract us from their unwillingness to take the first path for fear or angering/alienating established series readers.
Good to see you at Noir At The Bar Seattle, Sam!
Thanks, Jim! And good to see you too!
I don't know if I could generalize, other than to say that the series I most enjoy seem to get better after, say, book 3. True to me for both JDM and JLB though many would disagree.
Both Chris Offutt and Samantha Jayne Allen wrote really good follow-ups to excellent first in series books.
But it's tough to balance growth with whatever elements made you want to write or read the series in the first place.
True. My point is that at some point between 2-8, you see the author’s motivations emerge: grow their characters and community, and take risks with them ... or protect the brand and find as many ways as possible to tell essentially the same story over and over with minimal risk to the readers’ established emotional bonds with the characters. And if they take the latter path, the third-act problems often reveal themselves through highly coincidental stage management, dropped plot threads, and rushed confrontations that skip incremental suspense go straight to plot-in-a-blender mode. Once I detect a whiff of “protect the world I’ve built,” things go slack and I start to drift away.
That's a good point. In my own experience I had no idea what the brand was with book one--I like the character going on an emotional journey along with the mystery or crime they're investigating.
I did so little series planning ahead with Wakeland. With the new series, I'm trying to think of a character and their community that can grow together over a few books...I think you need both. But very tough to pull off...
The ending of SUNSET AND JERICHO showed that you are definitely willing to take risks. I did NOT see that coming.
Aw thanks!
The ending to Sunset & Jericho KICKED ASS.
Thank you!