Into the Fire

Here’s the thing. If you intend to write a series—let’s say three books or more (and of course we’re talkin’ novels here, and, yes, Christian novels, as usual)—please have them all done before the first one is published. Generally speaking, unless you’re focusing on an individual character in each book (like about a family member, i.e. the Baxter family in Karen Kingsbury’s Redemption, Fame, now Sunrise series), you will be writing about fairly complex plotlines which either involve the protagonist in the first one throughout the series or branches off with a known character(s) in the first one expanded upon in the next two or more. If the protagonist remains the focus and the storyline continues where it leaves off in Book One, you just don’t leave a reader dangling for a year until the next one is available.

Some readers, if they really enjoyed the book, will go back and reread the first one to refresh themselves with the story before or after purchasing the next book. There might be a few who enjoyed the first book but decided they didn’t really enjoy it enough to read through it again, and since the story isn’t really clear in their minds anymore when the next one shows up, they don’t buy it. The third group is anxious for the next book and impatient at having to wait so long to continue with the story.

I think this is more a publisher’s problem than an author’s. Publishers issue contracts and deadlines.

I read a novel a couple of years ago that I was crazy about. The male and female characters grabbed me and wouldn’t let go. I loved them in their uniqueness, their individual strengths and so human vulnerabilities. I didn’t know there would be a sequel when I read the first one which is a stand alone story by an author I truly enjoyed. When I learned there would be a sequel and waited with excitement for its release, just before it came out I reread the first one. This was a first for me. I just don’t reread novels as a general rule—too many more to get to—but I made an exception with this one because I was hook-line-and-sinkered into these characters and the story. I was not disappointed. I read them both three times each—never have done it before or since. Two amazing books. And I still hunger for just one more.

On the opposing side of this, last year I read a book which I mistakenly bought thinking it would be something other than it was. My fault, not anyone else’s. Let me say I would not be the target audience for this novel, and although it was written well enough, I had to make myself finish it. The other major disappointment in the book was that it was a totally unresolved cliffhanger which occurred on the LAST page where I also learned there were two more books to come in this series. Talk about irritation. I trudged through this novel which, had I known it was a genre outside my preference, I wouldn’t have purchased it, only to find out it didn’t end when it was over and there were going to be two more books before real resolution could be found. There is a slim possibility if the second book had been shortly available I might have bought it because I want resolution. However, I have since learned that the second book, which I believe took about a year to be released, has an even less satisfying, more of a cliffhanger ending—if that were possible—than the first one. Count me out.

There are ways to leave a reader dangling and hungry for more in a series, but there has to be some kind of resolution afforded to us, especially if we have to wait a year for another book which I think is a bad marketing approach. Too long. It’s easy for the storyline to become fuzzy and indistinct, for characters to blend together causing us to forget who’s who. As the publishing world keeps insisting, readers don’t have time to read, so why delay in getting them the follow-up books they want if a series is what is being offered. I think 6-7 months is just about right between books in a series.

I just now visited Rebecca Luella Miller’s (guest author on “Saturday Sample . . .”) blog, “A Christian Worldview of Fiction”, after having written the above paragraphs to find she holds the exact opposite opinion! It made me laugh. Our minds are working on the same topic in different wavelengths. So much for diverse opinions for readers and writers.

So what’s your opinion?

Father, you have something for everybody. You have mountains and oceans, hot and cold, opera and rap, and unlimited beauty in your kingdom creation. Thank you that we never have to leave your presence empty or unsatisfied. You are the key to ultimate fulfillment. Please help me to contribute to the beauty in this fallen world. In the Name of Jesus, Amen.