Angela Scott
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Why in the World Would You EVER Want to Write a Book Series? 

2/26/2013

4 Comments

 
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I'd never planned to write a book series...EVER. The reason why: because book series' are hard! Dang hard.

Then I wrote DESERT RICE. I finished the book and didn't have plans to write a second. Guess what? The character of Sam wouldn't leave me alone. She demanded a second book (those of you who are writers will completely understand the concept of being haunted by a character. Those of you who are readers will think I'm crazy, and in a lot of aspects, you're right). That second book HAD to be written. I couldn't get around it, but I didn't necessarily enjoy the idea of doing so. You want to know why? Because what if I didn't write it in the way my readers were hoping for? What if the second book was no where near as good as the first? What if I let them down? *huge, crippling fear*

So then guess what I went on to do? I wrote WANTED: Dead or Undead and part way through I realized there was no way everything would be tied up in a nice little bow by the time I got to the ending. It was going to have to be a series. Dang it. There I go again. The worry, the questions, the fears all came rushing back. And now that I'm in the process of writing book three in the series, it's become even worse, so much so that I'm finding it very difficult to write and most likely won't be able to publish it this coming Summer. It may have to wait until the Fall. 

Readers have expectations. They have their favorite characters and ideas of what THEY want to see happen. But here's the thing: each reader is different, each reader has their own ideas, and each reader is keeping that information locked away inside their own heads and not sharing it with the author. So where does that leave me? I have to write the story that is inside MY head and hope my readers will understand, and hopefully like what I've done and where I've taken the story. The other thing I've come to realize is that even if I wrote the second and third book in the series EXACTLY how my readers were hoping, they'd still be upset because the story was so predictable. I can't win. There's no way I can win.

Ahhh...what to do, what to do?

The only thing I can: write the book that is inside my head. That's it. I got the best advice from my editor that said, "You can't control the response to your book, only the book that gets written." That's all I can do. Simple and to the point. My editor is extremely wise. I love her.

And in the future, I will only write stand alone books. That's my plan. (But we all know what they say about plans, right?).

So I have a question for you: what series of books was your favorite? What ones disappointed? (For me, I loved the first book in the Hunger Games and then each book after that, not as much).  

4 Comments
Kathleen Doyle link
2/26/2013 09:34:00 pm

I'm the same way about the Hunger Games. I get WHY she ended it the way she did, but it didn't sit well with me.
One series that has been the opposite though? The Delirium series, by Lauren Oliver. The first book was just okay, but the second? I LOVED. So far, I've only read a little bit of the third book (what the publisher has allowed for preview) and can't wait to have it in my hands!

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Juliana Brandt link
2/26/2013 11:40:47 pm

Honestly, it's impossible for a second book to be better than the first. The first is the big introduction to the book's world--I've been sitting here thinking of my favorite series and my favorite is always the first book! The Forest of Hands and Teeth? The first book killed me--I loved the second two, but not like the first. Poison Study? It's one of my favorite books. The two after it weren't quite as good, but I still enjoyed them.

Who knows why this is. But the important thing to remember is that loving a first book more than the second doesn't mean the second is bad--it just means that the world you created in the first knocked the socks off your reader :) It's hard to do that the second go-round :)

Reply
Diana Tracy
3/2/2013 01:47:50 am

I think the blame mostly lies with ourselves. We love something so much our minds spend the next year or more (my wait for Catching Fire), dreaming up what will happen next. Then the book comes out and it is nothing like what's been roaming around our noggins, so we find fault. In the end though, when all books are completed a reader will look back and appreciate the series good and bad. If they all worked out well then we wouldn't have something called "fan fiction" where someone else takes a stab at it.

I think writing a series would be hard. By the time I'm done with my book, I'm ready for something else. I don't want to deal with these voices in my head anymore. I want new voices. That is probably the same for the writers of loved series. They want something more and unfortunately, that comes off on the page.

Reply
Kristin link
3/2/2013 08:24:16 pm

Love that picture! Series writing can really be crazy-making. I too loved The Hunger Games. I have of course felt let down by many series, but can't really bring any to mind off the top of my head. I'm currently on the last book of a lovely MG series called The Museum of Thieves. So far I've not been disappointed. :)

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