With
Crown of Blood out early next month (6 April), I thought it might be
interesting to consider the pros and cons of writing a trilogy,
compared to writing stand-alone novels or a loose series, which has
plots contained entirely within one novel but a recurring cast and
world.
Pros:
Tell
a bigger story
Allows
more detail for secondary characters
Readers
perhaps likelier to buy books 2 and 3 of a trilogy than books B and C
of a loose series
Cons:
More
complicated which means more planning is required and writing takes
longer
Telling
story arcs that work both within each novel and across the trilogy is
difficult to balance
Readers
often don’t want to start an unfinished series
People do like series,
whether the traditional trilogy or larger scale mega-series (I’m
reading the third entry in the Stormlight Archives myself right now).
From a writing perspective, if someone likes book 1, they’re
likelier to get books 2 and 3 of a tight series (with a single
ongoing storyline) than books B and C in a loose series (with
recurring characters but self-contained plots). Obviously, writers
like selling books, as it gives them a warm, fuzzy feeling as well as
the means to afford little luxuries, like food and rent.
Naturally, a tight
series enables a larger, more complex/intricate story to be told than
a single volume self-contained novel. Some stories are just too big
to cram into one normal sized book (there is the enormo-book option,
but some people are put off by a page count measured in the
thousands). When I think about The Bloody Crown plot and trying to
cut that down to one ordinary-sized book, it’s difficult to think
what I’d discard to make it fit.
This brings us to the
start of the cons list. A bigger story means it’s more complicated,
and splitting the plot between three (or more) books means more
planning is required. All that takes time. On top of getting that
right, the division also means you need ongoing plot threads that are
tied up in books 2 and 3, whilst also having self-contained and
completed plot arcs within each individual book, otherwise a book,
whilst having a place within the series, feels a bit under-cooked.
That’s a tricky thing to get right.
Another problem for
writers is that, particularly with larger series, later entries can
be delayed. And some readers are reluctant to start series that
aren’t finished. Which makes them being finished less likely if the
first instalment is released before the others are ready to go,
because fewer people buy them and the author sees little interest. Of
course, you can finish the whole thing and release them with 2-3 week
intervals, but that means writing, redrafting, editing, and proofing
the entire trilogy/series before seeing any return at all.
Personally,
my favourite approach is to have a loose series, as most of the pros
of a tight series are present, but the significant drawbacks are not.
It makes books quicker and easier to write (along with, for the Sir
Edric series, fewer POV characters and being comedic rather than
serious in nature).
For
those wondering, my next move will be to sort out the release of Sir
Edric and the Corpse Lord (Hero of Hornska book 4), which I’m
hoping to release in the latter half of 2019.
Crown
of Blood purchase links
Amazon UK:
Thaddeus
