Stand alone or series?

[Caged Maiden]

I'm finishing my WiP, a stand alone novel I've called Dangerous Beauty meets Assassin's Creed II. I love the historical-ish world I created and the characters. But the ending is a tragedy. There is no plan to reuse characters or world ever again. So to you scribes, I pose a question. What would you do?

Do you as readers find yourself feeling shortchanged when you enjoy a book and find out there is no sequel?

Do you more often want to see the world or characters continued, if only partially (since some people died)?

Do you as writers feel confident in a stand alone you will never reuse?

How do you make the decision whether to continue a story past one book?

Would that decision be based upon reader feedback, overall sales, or your personal feelings?

My questions are in part due to the fact that I have a series of ten novels in first draft. When I read through the stories, I like some and others are so shit I cannot possibly salvage the stories. They would be complete rewrites from outlines.

The problem with series is that you cannot simply say, "Oh, well book four and nine are really good, so I'll edit those ones and publish them". I mean, a lot happens between four and nine and I find myself not wanting to work on any of them because to do so, I'd have to commit to rewriting huge chunks of material (about 1.5m words). So I'd like to know whether readers tend to enjoy series more, or whether it's time better spent to write stand alone books that don't rely on each other for understanding.

Basically, those million words are not time wasted yet, because they were my practice to get where I am now. But I really like a couple of those books and it's daunting to select a new "starting place" for my series. I'm finding myself drawn a lot more to the idea of publishing stand alone novels in varying genres, as I push forward and try to get past old work begging for my attention.

Any thoughts are welcome. i'm about to begin a new project and I'm torn between selecting a couple old novels to edit or beginning a few short stories that I have outlined and really am excited about writing.

Thank you, scribes.

 

[Penpilot]

Do you as readers find yourself feeling shortchanged when you enjoy a book and find out there is no sequel?

Nope. Sad maybe, but never short changed. For example, after a very-very long journey reading the five Game of Thrones books, I find reading stand-alones refreshing. Generally speaking, I tend to like reading stand-alones more because there's no big commitment. Knowing I'll have to read at least 3 books to get the complete story can sometimes turn me away.

Do you more often want to see the world or characters continued, if only partially (since some people died)?

Sure, if the book is good, but if it doesn't happen, it doesn't matter. If the author did a good job with the ending, I can use my imagination to fill out what I think happened next.

Do you as writers feel confident in a stand alone you will never reuse?

Oh yeah. Right now all I write are stand-alones. Writing a long series is a huge task. One that I might tackle one day, but having the freedom to move from one story world to the next and one genre to the next is pretty fun. I do have ideas for sequels to my books but most of them tend toward tangential stories rather than direct sequels.

How do you make the decision whether to continue a story past one book?

Generally speaking, it's as simple as if there's more story to tell, when The End isn't really the end.

Would that decision be based upon reader feedback, overall sales, or your personal feelings?

Yes.

But if I didn't think there was anything more story to tell, I wouldn't proceed. Or at the very least, the sequel would be a dramatic shift, with maybe the same world using different or side characters.

My questions are in part due to the fact that I have a series of ten novels in first draft. When I read through the stories, I like some and others are so shit I cannot possibly salvage the stories. They would be complete rewrites from outlines.

One of the biggest things a writer has to deal with is when to let a story go or when to set it aside. I have a 275k first novel in 3rd draft that I left behind because, IMHO if I kept working on it, I wouldn't have progressed as a writer as much as starting a new story from scratch. I may one day go back to that story, because well... that's a story I've been developing since I was 18. But for now, it carries too much baggage (good and bad), too much work, and I have too many other stories I want to tell.

In away, I've already told that story. Told it poorly, but it's been told, and for me, it's in my best interest to let it sit. Maybe one day if I'm ever in a pinch for a story, I'll dust that one off and retell it.

 

[Incanus]

I think I pretty well always know beforehand if there is a sequel to the book I’ve picked up or not, so I’ve never felt shortchanged.

Of course, if I’ve really enjoyed a book, I’d like to read more about the world or characters, but being stand-alone doesn’t detract from the story in any way that I can see.

For the most part, I’d have to say that a writer shouldn’t feel obligated to write more stories in a given world, simply because the work on it got done for the completion of a stand-alone novel.

Since I have favorite books that are either stand-alone, or part of a series, I don’t think that one criterion makes or breaks it for me. Both are enjoyable, for different reasons.

It seems the place you find yourself in can’t be easy. It’s a tough call. Knowing what I do about your situation, I think you might be happier (for now) starting a brand new project that will fully utilize all the knowledge and experience you have acquired up to this point. The down side I see to this, is that the further you progress ahead, the less likely you may be inclined or motivated to go back to the old stuff.

Wish I could be more helpful, but I feel confident you will make the right choice (and maybe you could work on the shorts you mentioned while you deliberate).

 

[Russ]

I really don't know much about you or your goals but I will take a stab at your thoughtful question anyways.

There are two factors from my perspective that go into that decision. The first is the artistic factor.

If you feel the story is done it is done. If the characters or the world call out to you to tell more of their stories than you can keep going. There is nothing wrong with a well done stand alone, in fact their is a magnificent tradition of great books that are one offs. A beautiful tragic ending for one book might just be the place to call it and leave it. In fact some series strike me as being a bit forced, like the story is (or should have been done) but the author just keeps on writing because they feel a series is what is expected of them. If I had a one book world/story in me (I suspect I do) I would have no problem writing it, finishing it and leaving it done.

It also depends on your personality. I can think of one writer in particular who is a very successful writer who almost never returns to the same character or time period in his original work (his novelizations are a different story but that is a whole different industry). He likes to immerse himself in new topics, periods and characters and then move on. His books are great and very commercially successful. So stand alones are just his thing.

It sounds like you have the capacity to do both. You should count your blessings on that one.

The commercial equation is a little bit different.

The standard wisdom is that a stand alone is easier to sell for an unpublished writer. There is some data that contradicts this lately but it is still the conventional wisdom. It allows the publisher to take less of a risk by putting your first book out there.

Your goals must also be taken into account. If you are starting out your publishing career with a smaller publisher and hoping to use them as a stepping stone, do you really want to be in a deal with them that gives them your "life's work" series or even worse a contract that could split or trap your series. In that case a stand alone is your best option.

Once you are established in the traditional publishing field there is no doubt that good series and series characters will make you much more money than most stand alones. This holds true in both this genre and other genres.

If you are indy publishing I think both ways work well. There is some data that by publishing a series and cross-promoting volumes in the series you can increase sales but the correlation is not great.

Perhaps that is a long winded way of saying, if you are in the position that this choice will make a big commercial difference for you, your agent will tell you what to do. If not, you are pretty safe going either way, especially if money is not your top priority.

I certainly would not hesitate to buy your stand alone book.

 

[Terry Greer]

Knowing there are multiple books in a series can be daunting - the more books the more daunting.

I have a book series now - it was one large book which I chopped into 3 volumes - mainly for pragmatic reasons of size and cost (for the print version). But I wish I hadn't. i wish I'd kept it as a single volume - with perhaps 1 sequel (which i'm working on now).

I have made an omnibus edition of the three volumes - which goes some way to fixing the problem - but I won't make the same mistake again.

There's nothing wrong with series - but unless you've already a good fan base for the first volume I now think the existence of a second/third/fourth etc. can be a barrier - mainly because subconcioulsy you know that the story won't be complete in one volume - which is good if you LIKE the story - but not good if you don't know if you will like it.

 

[skip.knox]

I shy away from series. I have found very few, as in count-on-one-hand, series where the author's writing, character development, etc. was equally strong throughout.

If I were to make a list of the 50 best books I've read, it would have maybe two series--LoTR, and the Foundation trilogy. OTOH, I can easily make a list of 50 series that were a waste of paper and electrons.

I would rather read one book of yours and think well of you, than to read eight and wind up disappointed.

You say you have several in various stages of being done. The first one must surely be one of the best, or the rest will be a waste, right? So why not just work on that one, get it all the way to Published, and then revisit the rest?

 

[Russ]

I have a book series now - it was one large book which I chopped into 3 volumes - mainly for pragmatic reasons of size and cost (for the print version). But I wish I hadn't. i wish I'd kept it as a single volume - with perhaps 1 sequel (which i'm working on now).
.

At least you are in good company IIRC LOTR was also written as one big volume and then broken into 3.

 

[Svrtnsse]

When I finish a good story, I always feel a little empty. I'd have been happy to stay in the world and get to know more about the characters and what they do. I think this applies regardless of whether the story comes in a single book, or in a series of books.

It's like what Penpilot mentions above, if the story is done, it's done.

My current WiP finishes in a way that leaves enough unanswered questions to fill another book of about the same length. I could have written a sequel of another 150k words to try and tie everything up in a way I I think might satisfy the reader, but I didn't. The story I wanted to tell ends here, and instead of another book I wrote a 300 word epilogue to answer the main question.

I will be reusing the setting though.
My new story I'm about to start up will take place in the same world, but with different characters. I love my setting and I see no reason to throw it away after I've used it for one story taking place in a small village in the arse end of nowhere.

 

[Caged Maiden]

thank you scribes.

I consider my dilemma from as many angles as I can manage, but the more I try to sort it out, the more wishy-washy I seem to get. I guess it stems from some file-anxiety, by which I mean I have a ton of files on my computer and none of them are really "publishable". I have a dozen short stories outlined, which I'm excited about writing. I have a dozen novels in first draft, most of which don't ever deserve to see the light of day. I have four or five novels partly-written--and those seem to be my biggest problem.

One is a zombie book featuring a main character with no short-term memory. Another is my WiP about to complete its final edit before I send it to a professional editor (it's set in a fantasy version of Renaissance Venice). Then I have a steampunk novella. And a stand alone YA book similar to Where the Red Fern Grows. I also have a graphic novel based on Celtic mythology and another set in Edwardian England. Not to mention the books that are only outlined: a fantasy novel in the spirit of Magic Kingdom for Sale, where the real world and fantasy intersect over an ipod app; a story in the spirit of Firefly, where old west meets airship pirates, and a clock-maker's daughter finds freedom on a dodgy vessel pulled from the scrapyard; and a short story I'd like to turn into a novella, about a princess who wields powerful earth magic who's locked in a tower by her traitorous brother.

I just have so many ideas and while I spent ten years writing those ten novels in my fantasy series I'm now complaining are shit, I'm having a hard time going back to them, not because they're bad stories (because two or three of them are my favorites ever and I love them) but because I'm just so much more excited about my newer ideas and I find the idea of a series that ties together...too... I dunno...limiting?

But as you can probably see, my ideas are all over the board. Is it hard to develop a fan base if you write a hodgepodge of shit like I'm proposing? See to me it feels like a series is the safer option...or maybe more expected. Can a writer find success writing that list of randomness I just shot off? HA! Did I mention I'm bipolar? I mean, it all interests me, or I wouldn't write it. But it feels like I'm hobbling myself by indulging my broad spectrum of interests and writing them all. I'm like a kid in a candy store. I just can't decide on one thing...I want them all! And so writing is becoming tiresome as I try to rein in my creative. Perhaps I'm not meant to. Maybe that's what I bought with those 1.5m words...the freedom to do whatever I want now. Is that what it's like to retire from your career? "Yeah, I did that long enough. Now it's time for a little fun and indulgence."

disclaimer: I might be crazy.

Thank you scribes! You keep me walking whatever path I'm on. I'm glad I'm not alone in this adventure...because it's been...very adventurous so far. BTW, if any of those ideas sounds at all like something I need to jump all over and write right away, please let me know. I never know if I'm being creative or stupid. Plot is not my strong suit.

 

[FarmerBrown]

Is it hard to develop a fan base if you write a hodgepodge of shit like I'm proposing? See to me it feels like a series is the safer option...or maybe more expected. Can a writer find success writing that list of randomness I just shot off?

"Success" can mean many things...if you're writing what you love and some people are reading it and devour everything your produce, I'd say that's "success". If "success" means making a living off what you're writing, then the safer option (according to what I've found in personal research on this topic) is to stick with one niche and write series. It sounds to me like variety is your muse and fuel, so I'd say write whatever the heck you're excited to write about! That usually gets readers, excited too

Also, I just want to let you know that you aren't tied to producing a ten-volume series if you don't really want to.... if books 4 and 9 are your favorite and you can keep excited about them, work with those and publish an epic or a trilogy to tie the two together. I know you said a lot happens between the two volumes, but IMO it would save you time and energy to write another good book tying them together (and maybe adding some introductory stuff to book 4) then agonizing about redoing the whole series. No one has to know (except us) ;-) Good luck!

 

[skip.knox]

By all means go with what excites you. There are two separate issues here--one is what to write, the other is what to publish. You haven't even finished the stories and already you're choosing what is worthy and what isn't. That's backwards.

Write what excites you ... BUT ... finish it! What I see in your post above is many things begun, few done. I *know* you don't need to be told this, but maybe you need to be told this: there's a huge difference between done and nearly done. I'm confident that once you have written stories all the way to done -- which means beta readers, query letters, self-publish, all of it -- then you will see those other million words in a very different light. But as long as everything lies there as potentialities, then yeah, it's exciting and overwhelming and enervating.

I can't think of a single reason why any of us who have yet to publish should work on something that doesn't hold our interest. If it's our twelfth book and the fourth in a series of six, then yeah maybe it's just filling in blanks, meeting deadlines, and keeping the royalties flowing. Until that grim day, though, I say let's write out of passion.

 

[Mindfire]

I'd say stay open to the possibility of a sequel in the future, but don't feel like you're obliged to write one. We're so used to the sequelization of everything nowadays- used to everything being a franchise, or "shared universe" as they put it now- that a stand-alone work is definitely a change of pace, but I wouldn't call it a disappointment. And really, what's worse: getting no sequels or having a story that was intended to be a done-in-one stretched out into a series that nobody (especially the author) ends up enjoying? If the reaction is really positive and people are begging for a sequel, then of course it hurts nothing to investigate the possibility. But only go there if you know you can deliver a solid story that you want to tell and that adds something meaningful to the original. If it comes from demand and not from the heart, the end product will just feel hollow anyway. That's my two cents.

 

[ThinkerX]

One is a zombie book featuring a main character with no short-term memory. Another is my WiP about to complete its final edit before I send it to a professional editor (it's set in a fantasy version of Renaissance Venice). Then I have a steampunk novella. And a stand alone YA book similar to Where the Red Fern Grows. I also have a graphic novel based on Celtic mythology and another set in Edwardian England. Not to mention the books that are only outlined: a fantasy novel in the spirit of Magic Kingdom for Sale, where the real world and fantasy intersect over an ipod app; a story in the spirit of Firefly, where old west meets airship pirates, and a clock-maker's daughter finds freedom on a dodgy vessel pulled from the scrapyard; and a short story I'd like to turn into a novella, about a princess who wields powerful earth magic who's locked in a tower by her traitorous brother.

From the descriptions above, I'd say that at least some of those tales could be set in different parts of the same world. That is what I ended up doing when my world building got out of control: move this entire world (actually a small slice of a continent) to this currently unused part of this other world. My main world, in fact, is made of something like half a dozen such mergers. Alternately, they could be same region, but separated in time.

 

[Mark]

If you love the world, why not create another novel in that world, but with different characters. Or with only some of the same characters, perhaps minor ones from the first book.

 

[Svrtnsse]

By all means go with what excites you.

I think this is really central to pretty much everything when it comes to creativity. In order to produce something that's really good, we have to be truly passionate about it.

 

[Penpilot]

You're definitely not alone. My first novel was epic fantasy. Second was urban fantasy but no vampires etc., third book is fantasy but not epic. Next book I plan maybe another urban fantasy but with classic monsters, and the list goes on and on. I dabble in everything, especially in short stories.

You have to try everything before you can decide if settling on one thing is for you or not.

You may think series are a safe bet, but it's also a big gamble. A series is a huge investment of time to even get off the ground.

There's an fantasy author A. Lee Martinez, and all he writes are stand-alones. If memory serves, he's up to like 12 novels now. And I'm sure there are more authors like him out there, so it can be done.

There's nothing wrong with wanting to conform to standard practices and color within the lines, but if inside you're screaming with the need to color outside of them, maybe you should listen, at least a little while.

If you go off and write other things, the series will always still be there for you to pick up again if you want.

 

[Russ]

But as you can probably see, my ideas are all over the board. Is it hard to develop a fan base if you write a hodgepodge of shit like I'm proposing? See to me it feels like a series is the safer option...or maybe more expected. Can a writer find success writing that list of randomness I just shot off? HA! Did I mention I'm bipolar? I mean, it all interests me, or I wouldn't write it. But it feels like I'm hobbling myself by indulging my broad spectrum of interests and writing them all. I'm like a kid in a candy store. I just can't decide on one thing...I want them all! And so writing is becoming tiresome as I try to rein in my creative. Perhaps I'm not meant to. Maybe that's what I bought with those 1.5m words...the freedom to do whatever I want now. Is that what it's like to retire from your career? "Yeah, I did that long enough. Now it's time for a little fun and indulgence."

It is very, very hard to develop a fan base writing stuff all over the place. Readers want to be loyal to you, but they want you to be loyal to them as well. They have expectations, and can be easily disappointed and fickle if you write things that do not meet their expectations. If you are writing for an audience, any audience, don't disappoint them and don't annoy them. Many writers who do things in different genres or even just step away from their series characters do so under a different pen name. If you are talking about building a fan base and selling your books, but you need to really spread as widely as you seem to want to, this might be the right approach for you.

Commercially consistency is a far better choice. Readers who like you want more of the same. You can also get known as the go to person for people with an interest. Imagine a reader walks into a bookstore and asks a bookseller, "who writes good stuff in the Edwardian period?" If you are known for that they will get pointed your way. If you write all over the map your name will not come up.

I somewhat disagree with the folks here who say until you are published write what you want. If your goal is publishing and sales success, discipline starts now. You can't be all over the map for five years and then decide "holy crap I need to change everything I do in the way I write because I have sold a book." Good habits and focus take time to build.

And whether or not you are published and think your time and writing is precious. I don't think one should regret bad work or misdirected projects from the past because you do learn a lot from them. But the idea is indeed to learn from them and get better and more focused every day if you have ambitions of publication and sales success.

Now you can make a living writing stand alone books that are quite different from one another and even changing genre significantly. But you have to be very, very good to do so, and they are quite rare. Ken Follet and David Morrell spring immediately to mind, but they are supremely talented writers. But similarly talented authors at similar stages of their careers are making more money writing series characters.

Maybe I am a bit rigid (okay maybe I am a lot rigid) but I think it helps to ask yourself what is the goal of your writing, and then start working towards it.

Whatever you do, I hope it satisfies you and works out.

PS- I want to buy that book based on Renaissance Venice.

 

[Mythopoet]

If you want some insight into developing a fanbase as a fantasy writer in today's publishing environment, I strongly recommend following author Lindsey Buroker. Dig through her blog posts, she offers a lot of valuable advice. And she has a very enthusiastic group of fans. The kind that produce fanart and beg for more.

From what I've gleaned from the internet, series still seem to be what most fantasy readers want. But that doesn't mean you shouldn't write any stand alones. This is basically the best time ever for writers to write whatever they want and put it out there for whatever readers will enjoy it. There's no reason you can't experiment with whatever length and format you want and see what attracts readers.

One thing that not enough writers seem to be considering is a serial format like in the old pulps or a format where you write standalone novels tied together by some consistent element, like Terry Pratchett's 30+ stand alone novels that share the Discworld setting. I'd love to see more authors doing something like that.

 

[Xitra_Blud]

Interesting that you post this now. I just recently decided to make my WIP a series a few days ago. For the longest, I figured would only be a stand alone, and thought there was no way I could make it a series but, lo and behold, just the other day my mind got an idea and before I knew it I had come up with not one but to more additions to what is now a series. I guess, if I can't control my imagination it will end up being a series all in all.