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Serious change of tone within a series?

Amanita

Maester
Once again, a problem with my story concept.
I've talked about the story in question quite a few times here, but I haven't asked this yet. Would it be possible to have a series of books with a relatively large time gap between the first one and the second one.(I don't know if there will be more than one afterwards yet.) where the first one is a relatively light, adventurous story, while the second one is much darker?
There are definitely hints that things might go wrong later in the first book, but it won't be clear and the two stories might be interesting for different people.
I've already considered to keep the first part in the backstory, but I really like the story line and it's also a good way to gain ther readers' sympathy for the characters which would be much harder later.
What do you think? Possibly or not.
 
Possible, yes. Look at Harry Potter, at book 5 the fairy tale ended and the darker part began. Although, I think most people will have figured out it would have to happen eventually.

What you need to remember is you can't expect that the reader will have read book one before reading book two. So book two must be complete by itself.
 

Shadoe

Sage
The problem with changing the tone of a book from one to the next is that your readers will be expecting the same thing. I have authors I read when I want something funny, for instance. If, suddenly, the next book in the series was all gloom and doom, I would probably have a hard time finishing it - and I'd never buy that author again.
 

Chilari

Staff
Moderator
I think that provided there are hints of darkness towards the end of the first book to suggest the tone of the second book, which itself starts in a lighter tone than it ends in, you should be alright. A sudden change is jarring; a gradual one more enticing.
 
I think it would be sad if an author was only ever expected to write a single type of story. Harry Harrison, wrote the stainless steel rat series, which was comedy, and also west of eden trilogy which was a very serious set of books. Even a series can change from one book to the next, assuming that the proper preparation was done before the change happens. In HP the bad guy is constantly trying to regain a body, we know he is, so when it happens, the change works.

Should you change the story drastically from one to the other? That I couldn't answer, but you can.
 

Xaiver

Dreamer
What you need to remember is you can't expect that the reader will have read book one before reading book two. So book two must be complete by itself.

This... That drives me nuts when I'm reading a series. Why on earth would you skip book 1 in a series? Doesn't the fact that most of them say "Book two of blahblahblah" give them a hint that they're starting in the middle? I sometimes have to skim the first chapter or two, as they're re-introducing the characters that I went on a journey with in the last book. */end rant*
 

Shadoe

Sage
I think it would be sad if an author was only ever expected to write a single type of story. Harry Harrison, wrote the stainless steel rat series, which was comedy, and also west of eden trilogy which was a very serious set of books. Even a series can change from one book to the next, assuming that the proper preparation was done before the change happens. In HP the bad guy is constantly trying to regain a body, we know he is, so when it happens, the change works.
The Stainless Steel Rat series was very comical. If Harrison had suddenly changed it to dramatic, say, in the 4th book, how happy do you think his readers would have been with the book? How many of them do you think would read the 5th book? Probably not many.

The Anita Blake series is an example of changing the tone - though not as drastic. The series started out about a tough-as-nails woman who was a vampire executioner. There was a little bit of sex in the first book, which was part of the plot. By the tenth book, however, the plot was one long, drawn-out f*ckfest with occasional moments of plot that had very little to do with executing vampires. Even the people who'd invested in the first ten books started giving up.

The Harry Potter series may seem to have changed tone during the length of the series, but the themes of death and sacrifice were a part of the series from the beginning - they were just treated differently as the series moved on - and the readers grew up.

There are lots of authors who write different types of books, and that's fine. Just don't start off with one tone then change it drastically with the next book. It's jarring to the reader.
 

Shadoe

Sage
This... That drives me nuts when I'm reading a series. Why on earth would you skip book 1 in a series? Doesn't the fact that most of them say "Book two of blahblahblah" give them a hint that they're starting in the middle? I sometimes have to skim the first chapter or two, as they're re-introducing the characters that I went on a journey with in the last book. */end rant*
I don't get it either, but there are people out there who just don't care if they're reading the middle book. These people scare me.

Also, one should remember that some readers are... a bit on the elderly side, like myself. Sometimes, we don't remember everything that happened in the previous book, and need to be reminded of things.
 
Prime example, which isn't as big of a deal anymore with the ability to buy used books online, but book one in a series is out of print, and you get book two. I've actually read a few series backwards, since that was the order I got the books in. In the past, authors used to use the prolog as place to dump the background for those who didn't read the previous books.

Andre Norton did two books on Janus. I had book two, and didn't know there was a book one. Couldn't read the second one the first time I tried because it didn't make sense. She didn't put enough in the second book to make it readable by someone who didn't know what had already happened. After getting the first book and reading it, the second was a good book.

If you are going to write for other people, you are a providing a form of entertainment, and that means you have to contend with the possibility that someone might not read book one, two, or three of the dozen plus series that are becoming the norm.

I miss the days I could buy a book and it be complete, without finding out there are more, which may or may not be written yet. Which should be a concern for most of us that have more than one idea for a story. I like fantasy and scifi, and I like to write both, so it would really suck if I only could create one world to write in...
 

Johnny Cosmo

Inkling
I think it'd be better for one series to retain a similar tone throughout, and then to let single volumes or separate series that are set in the same universe have a different tone.
 

Amanita

Maester
Thank you for your answers so far.
The story in question isn't really a series in the usual meaning of the term. It's one book where the main characters are in their late teens/early twenties and another one about twenty years later. It's about the same characters and some of the same themes, but the world around them has changed a lot and so have they. To understand the second book it's not necessary to know the first one, and that will be finished in itself.
 

Johnny Cosmo

Inkling
Actually, that sounds like a nice way to change tone. In their youth they may have been more optimistic, more forgiving of wrongdoings, more open to new experiences, with a positive outlook on life - but as probably often occurs in real life - it could be very different when they're grown up. However, this sounds like something that could also be compressed into a single volume - using that contrast as part of the story, and having it emphasise the problems and issues of their more pessimistic adult selves.
 
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