Writing Series

[Robinne Weiss]

I'm currently reading a series of books that includes a very brief (just a paragraph or two) summary of the previous book at the beginning of books 2 and 3 of the series. It's a bit unusual to see, but I'm beginning to think it's not a terrible idea. As a reader, if I haven't read the previous book, it brings me quickly up to speed. If I have read the previous book, I can easily turn the page and ignore it, and then I don't have to wade through interminable rehashing of the previous book within the story itself.

The author of the series I'm reading at the moment does this (I think) because her books don't really stand on their own--she's essentially written a 200k word story and arbitrarily broken it into three pieces. I've read other series where each book is a complete story, and a summary of the previous book isn't really important. And, of course, I've read series where the previous book is important, but the details are worked into the first chapter of the next book.

I'm curious what you all think about the balancing act of writing a series. What's the best way to ensure readers can jump into the middle and be engaged without boring those who've read the first books and just want to get on with the story?

 

[Kitty]

I would suggest ensuring that each book has its own distinct story arc and then treating the relevant content of the previous book as backstory.

 

[Paul Whybrow]

Just recently, I've been contemplating the differences between writing a standalone novel and one that's part of a series. My pondering is all to do with what elements of a book can be included to interest a potential reader and make my fictional world more convincing—things such as maps, a cast of characters, a family tree, illustrations, the use of explanatory hyperlinks in an ebook or footnotes in a printed version, as well as a preface or summary (such as you described) and a teaser extract from the start of the next book in a series.

The latter practice is common with crime novel series, particularly if the protagonist is left in peril at the end of the book you're reading. It's a way of keeping the reader's attention, making them hungry for the next story. In effect, the author is making a commitment that their hero will be back. As a writer seeking a break into publishing, one used to querying with the first three chapters of my novel, and aware of how crucial the first five pages are, I've examined these teaser samples with interest to see how they grab the reader by the throat.

Not every crime story, mystery or thriller has the beginning of the next story printed at the end of the current one. In some cases, I see why, such as Jason Webster's Fatal Sunset, part of his Max Camara detective series, in which the protagonist was seemingly shot to death by a treacherous colleague. This dramatic way of leaving everything up in the air made me want to know more, as much as reading how a protagonist's next adventure begins.

I think that recaps of what's already happened in a series are more likely to be found in fantasy, historical and science-fiction sagas. This year, I read the first three novels in Robin Hobb's Farsee Trilogy, which I really enjoyed, but I wished that I hadn't left so long between reading each story as there were scores of names and complicated relationships to remember in each 800-page novel. It would have helped me, had the author included a summary of what had already taken place.

 

[Carol Rose]

Most of my series, though the books technically are stand-alones because they involve new characters, have multiple threads running through them. If the books aren't read in order, there's a tendency to get lost. However... that is clearly spelled out on my website. And yes, I've learned to be careful doing that because although readers do tend to start at book one and read them in order, not everyone does that. I had one reviewer upset because she started with book 9 of a 12-book, complicated, popular series, and was "lost." Um...

So yes, there is a balancing act there when writing a series, especially a long one. Evernight now has a book list on my Evernight author page that includes the series, in order. They did that for several of their authors with multiple series.

I do have two series with them where the books are true stand-alones. They have nothing to do with each other except in subject matter. Curiously, my series where the books are best read in order sell just as well as the true stand-alones. Readers like series that go together and tell an overall story, it seems.

But how do I catch them up in case they haven't read the prior books? Narrative, but not too much of it. Otherwise you cross that fine line between catch-up and info dump. Or, I find a way to work in what happened before, to one or two characters, through dialogue. But in doing so, I'm careful to avoid those "As you know, Bob..." moments.

 

[Robinne Weiss]

Yeah, as a reader, I always start at book 1, and I find any backstory woven into the next book irritating (I'm an impatient sort of reader. @Paul Whybrow, I finished Robin Hobb's Farseer Trilogy--all three books--in a week and a half). That's why I was intrigued by the quick summary approach this author took. I'm headed to a children's writers workshop next week, and one of the sessions is on writing series--I'll be curious to know what the speaker and the other participants have to say about this issue.

 

[James Marinero]

One take on this (which I slavishly follow on Amazon) is to have the book description include a brief 'author interview' where one of the questions I answer is about the order in which to read the books.