As many of you know know, my Twins novel in progress was not intended to be part of a series. I started writing it years ago with the idea that I wanted to publish it someday. As I wrote more drafts of it and grew more in my writing skills, I had the idea for a sequel, and then a prequel, and then two more stories to go along with those.
This seems to be the case with many popular books and authors. Some authors plan to write a whole series of books, but there are also many stories that were originally intended to be standalones that turned into series. Narnia and The Hobbit (followed by the LOTR many years later) are two easy examples. Sometimes this happened before publication, and sometimes after.
Why might this be the case? Why are series so popular? If you’re a writer, should you consider writing a series?
There are many things to take into account, but here are a few thoughts:
In a series, the story can continue. This is obvious, since that’s what a sequel is. But when you finish reading or writing a book, you should sense that the story continues. Unless you write a tragedy where everyone dies at the end, the characters’ lives continue even after the last page.
Some of this happens in the reader’s mind, and as one can only continue a story so far, this will always be the case at the end of a book or series. However, if you write a series, then neither the reader or the writer has to imagine what happens after book one, because you will tell them! The characters’ lives will continue, and the side characters have their own stories that will continue. So while you should leave some of it up to your readers’ imagination, use your own imagination as a writer to continue the story! Think about what could happen after the end of your book, or what might have happened before, or what may be happening at the same time to a different character or in a different place. If you’re a writer who’s come up with one story, it is often not hard to come up with another.
You don’t have to start from scratch. From a writing perspective, writing a sequel (or prequel, or side story) can be easier than starting a completely new book because your characters and world are already in place. Yes, you may develop a character more, or change the exact location, but you already have two key components of a story. All you need is to build on what you already created in your last novel and come up with a new plot. That doesn’t mean it will be easy, but you will have a place to begin.
Publishing can be easier. I have not published yet, so I don’t know this from experience. However, from what I’ve heard, publishing five books that go together can be a much easier process than publishing five unconnected and unrelated books, especially if the first one does well. If readers (or your publishers) really like your first story or two, the process can often go faster as well. Of course, then you have to be sure your first story is good enough to get people hooked for multiple books, and that you can stay on a deadline.
If you are self-publishing, you can set your own pace more easily, but you may have more success with people buying your book if it’s the next one in a series and they enjoyed your first.
It is easy to work on multiple books at a time. Sometimes, when writers work on one story for too long, they can get burnt out or bored of the story. This happens to both amateurs and professional writers. You can only spend so much time on a single story! When you write a series, you can work on multiple books in multiple phases at the same time and it is much harder to get burnt out. If you are editing book one, drafting book two, and brainstorming book three, you will have work to do no matter what you feel motivated to focus on. A writer can do this even if your books are not all connected, but it is easier to stay focused and keep making progress when you don’t jump around too much.
Your readers will become bigger fans if you carry them longer. As mentioned above, readers don’t want a good story to end. If you’ve written a good book, you can continue it and people will be happy! Marketing will be easier because you have people waiting for that next book. If your whole series is good, your fans are likely to recommend the whole series and not just a single book to their friends. As a writer, this is exactly what you want!
Of course, you must make sure that the series is actually good. We’ve all read book series where the first one was so good that we couldn’t wait for the next one. Then the next one was okay, so maybe we got the third one, and then we lost interest or were disappointed in the ending. Don’t be that writer! If you’re going to write a series, do it because you love your readers and you love your story, not just because you want to make more money or have a bigger audience. You have to love it!
Are you a writer? Have you written a novel or two as standalones? Do you have ideas for other stories that could go around it? If so, write them down! Perhaps you will find your story is better left as a single novel, but perhaps not. Maybe you will have an idea for a sequel that’s even better. Write what you love and see where it takes you!
Have you written a novel or even a series? Which do you prefer? As a reader, do you like standalones or series better? Let me know your answers in the comments! I always love to hear from you!