Hey all!
Lucienne Diver, my fantabulous, made-of-awesome agent let me rope her into guest blogging today. Who, as you can tell by her picture, is also gorgeous and a published author. Makes you kinda want to beat your head against something hard and brick-wallish, doesn’t it? But, I digress. On to her words of wisdomness about what makes a great series.
Thanks, Lucienne!
Series Success
I’ve been thinking a lot about series lately and have decided that there are two really contradictory things that make a successful series: 1) familiarity – readers knowing that they can count on the same great characters and quality in each book and 2) keeping it fresh, new, exciting, surprising and constantly upping the stakes.
So let’s examine the first – readers who pick up Janet Evanovich’s Stephanie Plum series, for example, or Laurell K. Hamilton’s Anita Blake books do so because they love the voices, the characters, the relationships (maybe even the sex!). They know about what to expect and there are elements, like the callback of a comedy routine punchline, that regular readers look for and appreciate. Getting them is like being part of the in crowd.
But remember Thing Two – keeping it fresh. My idol, Joss Whedon (of Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Angel and Firefly fame) made sure that nothing in his world was sacred. Anyone, even title characters, could die at any time. Plots veered off in unexpected directions; people said surprising things. Hell, he wrote a musical episode that actually worked! Likewise, Marjorie M. Liu in her Dirk & Steele series and Rachel Caine in her Weather Warden novels constantly up the stakes and reveal new and intricate layers of a world (ours, of course, but with unique twists) with enough room for stories within stories. I’m reminded of the immortal words of Shrek, who said “Onions have layers, ogres have layers.” You substitute “series” for “ogres” and you have my point exactly. In the Dirk & Steele series the main characters aren’t the same from book to book, but the familiarity comes from the fact that either the hero or heroine were introduced as supporting characters in earlier books. One of the great things about this and other successful series is that while some questions are answered, others arise and the reader is intrigued enough to keep pulling at threads until the whole mystery unravels.
Finally, whether it’s Buffy’s apocalypse or impending natural disaster, it’s a good idea to keep the pace pounding, the stakes escalating, and the surprises coming. You don’t want to give your readers any chance to look away. And you want to give the impression that they’ll miss something big if they blink or miss the next release!
For more on series, Sarah A. Hoyt is blogging this week about the process here: http://sarahahoyt.livejournal.com. Also, please drop in on my blog (Authorial, Agently and Personal Ramblings) anytime at http://varkat.livejournal.com and see how well I follow my own advice next year with my YA vampire novel VAMPED, forthcoming in May 2009 from Flux!
