Thanks to author ninja Alex Cavanaugh for his brainchild:
I want to hear your experiences with writing series. Love 'em? Hate 'em?
I have written one stand-alone New Adult sports romance and one romantic suspense trilogy. I'm considering turning my upcoming NA volleyball romance Blocked into a series.
So I have some writerly questions for you, in my deliberations. Feel free to answer none, one, or more!
1. Do you prefer to read stand-alone novels or series? Why?
2. Have you ever written a series (or plan to write one)? If so, when in the process did you realize you wanted to write a series?
3. If you like series, do you prefer the same characters as protagonists or new main characters featuring "spin-offs" in subsequent novels?
4. How do you decide to write a stand-alone or a series?
5. How many books are ideal for a series? When does a series get too long for you?
THANK YOU! Write on, my friends.
Comments
1 - Either
2 - Yes, and when fans demanded a second book
3 - I like the same characters
4 - I just wanted to write one and never planned on more - it just sort of happened
5 - Three - when you hit Robert Jordan level, that's way too many
1. I love series generally because of the chance to connect with the characters and see them grow over a longer period. It's like meeting old friends.
I also have a habit of an collecting most of, if not an entire, series before reading them.
2. The short answer to this is: yes. I realise it was a series when I had to break up the mammoth story it'd become.
3. I'm good either way. In fact, some of my favourite stories have new characters gradually take over a story. So long as the old characters get closure, I'm willing to move on.
4. I don't decide anything. I start off writing a stand-alone that gains a sequel, which gains a sequel until the idea process stops...
Or, in the case of my first book, I wrote it as one big stand-alone.
5. Four/Five is my ideal series length. Trilogies just don't seem to mesh as a definition of a series to me (don't ask why). The length gets too long when they start to bore me ... which I realise doesn't really translate to a number.
what had to be in the book if I did.
When I decided to write Hold Tight, coming back to Madison and her friends was fun. It was like visiting old friends. As far as how many books should be in a series, I think that just depends on how many different stories there are to tell. And as a reader, I'm okay if the POV for the books shifts to different characters, as long as they are interesting. If the readers of my series are any indication, others are too. (I have readers asking me if I'll do a book from Kaylee's POV. One day, I may.)