Showing posts with label speculative fiction. Show all posts
Showing posts with label speculative fiction. Show all posts

Friday, August 05, 2022

Karen S. Wiesner: SURPRISES IN THE COURSE OF LEARNING TO WRITE A SCIENCE FICTION SERIES (15 of 15)


Conclusion: In Which a Clumsy Girl Goes to Outer Space

This is the final of fifteen posts dealing with surprising things I learned in the course of writing a science fiction series.

We've come to the end of my long series dealing with the surprising things I learned in the course of writing my first science fiction saga containing Overarching Series cliffhangers in all but the final book.

Ahh, humble beginnings. Zoë Rossdale, my original Clumsy Girl, was first introduced in Glass Angels, Book 4 of my Family Heirlooms Series, where she was a secondary character who tripped onto the stage and stole my heart. She's quirky, colorful, crazy, klutzy, loveable, and liable to say or do anything outrageous. I couldn't get enough of her so I had to write a spinoff series with the Friendship Heirlooms Series. Zoë was the main character in two of the seven books in that series and a secondary character in many of the others. However, even then I didn't get my fix of the Clumsy Girl from writing two novels in her POV and including her in others. I found myself wanting to do more with her character or simply the legacy of her.

Astoria “Tori” Bertoletti, a descendent of Zoë, became one of the two primary characters in the Arrow of Time Chronicles as the librarian and planet cataloger aboard the Aero. Like her predecessor (Zoë had a gigantic Maine Coon cat that she put a leash on and walked in a dog park), Tori loves animals and nearly has a barnyard of them in her cabin aboard the ship, which provided a lot of fun, lighthearted moments in the series. Raze Salen, mankind's emissary, is the other primary character in the series, and he's Tori's best friend and later her boyfriend and husband. I loved creating these two characters and watching them grow into heroes and legends, sometimes together, sometimes apart.

The original Clumsy Girl Zoë Rossdale from the Family and Friendship Heirlooms series https://karenwiesner.weebly.com/family-and-friendship-heirlooms-series.html

You don't finish a series like this without feeling like Dorothy, forever marked by a beloved, magical world she'll never forget and always want to return to. As hard as the monumental endeavor of writing something this complicated was (and similar, hereafter endeavors are unlikely to get any easier even with practice), along with readers, I was taken on an unforgettable journey in the process of figuring all this out. I got to send a Clumsy Girl into outer space and beyond in matchless style.

Fellow authors and adventurers, whatever your complicated Overarching Series with sprawling, unique worlds; larger-than-life characters is or will eventually be, reach for the stars. Don't you dare think about holding back just because not one aspect of this endeavor will be easy and there will be countless times you'll wonder how many more hurdles you can possibly overcome. Never forget the silver lining: Virtuoso, your magnum opus awaits!

Happy writing!


Based on Writing the Overarching Series (or How I Sent a Clumsy Girl into Outer Space): 3D Fiction Fundamentals Collection by Karen S. Wiesner (release date TBA)

https://karenwiesner.weebly.com/writing-reference-titles.html

http://www.writers-exchange.com/3d-fiction-fundamentals-series/

Karen Wiesner is an award-winning, multi-genre author of over 140 titles and 16 series, including the romantic science fiction series, ARROW OF TIME CHRONICLES

https://www.writers-exchange.com/arrow-of-time-chronicles/

https://karenwiesner.weebly.com/arrow-of-time-chronicles.html

http://www.facebook.com/KarenWiesnerAuthor

Friday, July 29, 2022

Karen S. Wiesner: SURPRISES IN THE COURSE OF LEARNING TO WRITE A SCIENCE FICTION SERIES (14 of 15)


Of Rewards Earned

This is the fourteenth of fifteen posts dealing with surprising things I learned in the course of writing a science fiction series.

Thus far throughout this 15-part article series, we've looked at a lot of what could be considered the hurdles that have to be leapt over in order to write an Overarching science fiction series. But there were a lot of amazing things that came with the endeavor as well. Let's talk about a few of the wonderful perks earned in the process of writing an Overarching Series in a few random musings.

Showing Off Your Baby

Cover art can be the icing on the Overarching Series cake. It's my opinion that the cover designs in the speculative fiction genre can be some of the most eye-catching of any category of fiction…or they can be simply generic, which really sucks and, hey, talk about a missed opportunity! I started designing my own covers for my sci-fi series during the early part of researching the series, and, as my series evolved, I continued looking for just the right cover graphics that truly fit the series and stories contained in each book. I wanted to be able to look at the covers and forever remember the events, thereby immortalizing them in my mind. I also wanted readers to take one look at them and think, Wow, how cool. I gotta read this. Later, just before my series went to the publisher for editing, a professional cover artist finalized my initial designs into the oeuvre d'art you'll see below. I've lost track of how often readers tell me how striking the covers are. 


 The ship on the cover of the first book is my beloved Aero, the Human Corvette cruiser, coming out of a space corridor.



 The graphic on Book 2 is the Vreah battleship, Vashtii, which, despite being a slow, massive, heavily-armored stealth warship also resembles a luxury "cruise" ship in space.




 Book 3 not only shows the light and fast Quing ambassadorial ship Vlacos but you can see that the "black maw" (the dark energy menace in the series) has eaten part of a planet, possibly their own planet Qu or Gurgh.



 Finally, the last cover shows the secret military base Neth-Beo, militarized by the warring Sinshe-Shojani, along with their most deadly dreadnought, Paladin. Behind it is the weapon of mass destruction they've been building, which is also a stealth ship.



While personalizing your cover designs makes them super cool, breathtaking and memorable, there's another reason for going the extra mile with them. Covers this gorgeous can't help but get noticed by the buying population. Additionally, having similar cover designs for each book is a huge help in creating instant recognition for that series and a series logo should also be a priority. (The four-pointed arrow at the bottom to the left of my name is the series logo for Arrow of Time Chronicles. It also served as the series break graphic on the interior.) Looking at the Arrow of Time Chronicles covers above, you can tell they're all part of the same series, can't you? Yet they're all distinctive separately as well. We talked about series branding in Chapter Four, and cover art is definitely part of that, especially for an Overarching Series.

Be proactively creative in even these "outer" aspects in bringing a series to life as well as offering it proudly and lovingly to your readers. Showing off the cover art is definitely one of the most rewarding perks I've found in writing a series like this.

Baby's Got Back…matter

One of the things I love most about the speculative fiction umbrella is all the lore associated with these genres. As a reader, I can't get enough of this stuff and I always buy the books associated with series covering the lore. If I can get that in the back of the books themselves, that's an even better bonus.

In my science fiction series, this meant I finally got something I've always wanted to be a requirement for my books: Back matter! While the word "back matter" can have many definitions, the one I'm talking about here is the sections in the back of the book that provide further reading, deeper explanations, and a whole host of interesting information about aspects of the series. I love reading this kind of thing in any series, whether it's a book, movie, or videogame. I want to know more. In fact, I want to know everything!

In the case of Arrow of Time Chronicles, I had a specific reason for including back matter in each installment of the series that, unfortunately, really had nothing to do with It's just so cool! Because there were so many characters, locations, historically significant events, and distinctive cultures in my series, along with unique Standard Operative Procedures, I included three appendices: 1) a Human timeline/history, 2) brief culture and homeworld specifics, and 3) a dictionary of terms. These were placed in the back of each book in the series. Even the longest one in Book 4 was little more than 30 total pages. I didn't want to significantly add to the page length of any of the books, since most of them were pretty large anyway, close to 100,000 words. The biggest reason the back matter was necessary, was because I didn't want to repeat large chunks of crucial information from one book to the next that could have overwhelmed any of the chapters in the story in a hurry. Instead, I included the important information that readers might have forgotten from one book to the next or simply needed a refresher on in a place that wouldn't overload the text. That freed me up to get on with the storytelling. 

Rejoice when you get to cross a few cool things off your bucket list with the rewards earned.

Next week, we'll conclude this article series covering the surprises I had in learning to write a sci-fi series. 

Happy writing!


Based on Writing the Overarching Series (or How I Sent a Clumsy Girl into Outer Space): 3D Fiction Fundamentals Collection by Karen S. Wiesner (release date TBA)

https://karenwiesner.weebly.com/writing-reference-titles.html

http://www.writers-exchange.com/3d-fiction-fundamentals-series/

Karen Wiesner is an award-winning, multi-genre author of over 140 titles and 16 series, including the romantic science fiction series, ARROW OF TIME CHRONICLES

https://www.writers-exchange.com/arrow-of-time-chronicles/

https://karenwiesner.weebly.com/arrow-of-time-chronicles.html

http://www.facebook.com/KarenWiesnerAuthor

Friday, July 22, 2022

Karen S. Wiesner: SURPRISES IN THE COURSE OF LEARNING TO WRITE A SCIENCE FICTION SERIES (13 of 15)

Of Reader Reactions and Lessons Learned

This is the thirteenth of fifteen posts dealing with surprising things I learned in the course of writing a science fiction series.

Learning to write a complicated Overarching Series brought with it hard lessons I didn't expect to have to learn like reader expectations not being what I hoped for and getting back up after getting iffy reviews or criticism. When the dust settled after the fallout, I also discovered there are unexpected rewards that might make up for any disappointments. We'll talk about the good, the bad, and the ugly you might have to face while writing an Overarching Series in this chapter. 

When I went into writing my first Overarching Series, I had a lot lofty aspirations and weird ideas about producing something so groundbreaking, so electrifying and life-changing, it would be talked about in hushed whispers even after I was dead... Yeah, okay, so maybe that was stupid. I was and still am a novice in this genre and with this type of series in general, but I will admit that, even though I've now got two very complex Overarching Series under my belt, I still go into these particular projects with the hope of coming out with an authentic magnum opus.

Underneath the silliness, I did actually go into Arrow of Time Chronicles with a few unwavering intentions. I deliberately didn't want the series to answer all the questions it posed. The first thing I wanted to embed within the series arc was the unspoken commentary that nothing ever really changes and sentient beings rarely reach a pinnacle of peace and solidarity, regardless of how advanced they might become. Even if you leap forward into the future, most things still work the same way (especially the way so-called intelligent entities fight about every little thing and politics rules every community, whether certain members of it want it to or not). I had a scene in Book 3 where representatives of all the cultures from all around the galaxy are in the same room arguing about the best way to handle a situational conflict that faces them all. That heated conversation was viewed with confusion and surprise from the perspective of a young, mischievous girl, her differently-abled friend, and their unique pets while in a well-chosen hiding place. It's one of my favorite scenes in the entire series for its humorous narration on timeless sociology mores. Did readers get what I was going for with these vows? I doubt it. But it was important to me anyway.

Related to the previous unspoken commentary in the series arc was the second series question I wanted to remain ambiguous. From the start of the series, I knew I wanted to instill the sense that the threat of war is always on the horizon, that wars never truly end, and, when a new threat ultimately presents itself, we'll always realize that it was actually there all along, something left over from the previous war, waiting to resurrect and implode. However, after the series was published, one reviewer commented that, "This novel concludes the series, but a large, threatening thread is left dangling."

We've had in-depth discussions about cliffhanger endings in this manual, but what this reviewer was referring to wasn't a cliffhanger in any sense of the word. My story and series arcs were all resolved completely. She was referring, more accurately, to what I call a "possible reemergence ending". Basically, in the final scene, the conflict or opposition reemerges, implying that at some point the bad thing that happened in your story/series will happen again in the future. Just when you thought it was safe to go back in the water… Readers tend to love or hate these kinds of endings, but if a possible reemergence ending fits, each author has to decide whether or not to take the risk and use it.

In my case, I admit I waffled about including that reemergence epilogue for a long time while I was outlining and then writing the draft of the final book in the series. I finally did decide to go with it because I didn't break the implicit compact that's built into the offering of any book to a reader, which is to satisfactorily tie up every loose end--series and series arcs. I also didn't give anyone a "lady and the tiger" ending, which I passionately hate myself. A little more about that:

Frank R. Stockton's book, The Lady and the Tiger, in which he leaves it up to the reader to decide which came out of the door--the lady or the tiger--is the inspiration behind what writers dub a "Lady and the Tiger" ending. While some love this kind of ending, few would call this type of resolution anything but a cop-out. All loose ends must be tied up adequately in your story and this kind of ending denies that, refuses it, kicks the reader in the face. I personally believe these kinds of unfinished stories are written for the sole purpose of making the author and/or select readers feel superior about knowing something other, lesser minds don't and can't grasp.

Not providing satisfactory resolutions violates the contract between the writer and the reader, forcing him to do without an effective tie-up of some or all story threads. I also suspect some authors do this because they simply want to leave the resolution of the series arc mysterious and unanswered. They either don't have a good enough resolution planned, or they want to encapsulate the mystery indefinitely. For an example, we never did get a straight answer about what really happened to Mulder's sister in X-Files, not in nine seasons and a couple movies (nor did I get the definitive answer in the miniseries that aired in January 2016).

If the author is never going to answer a nagging question, why invest anything, especially time and passion, in the story? Leaving a story thread dangling isn’t something an author can do without making readers furious, perhaps enough to ban your books for life. They’ll feel cheated, and rightly so. Don’t underestimate the damage a vengeful reader can do to your career. (Have you read Stephen King’s Dolores Claiborne?) Seriously, to write a story is to promise the closure and/or resolution of unanswered questions. Authors should never cheat their readers, bowing out before actually finishing and avoiding the provision of an ending complete with answers to all burning questions.

In any case, it bothered me tremendously that the reviewer left my series feeling the way she did, although I knew when I added the reemergence ending that it was a risk. I pointed out to her the truth about what kind of an ending this was, and she did agree I didn't actually leave any of the story threads dangling. Nevertheless, she didn't revise the review she put up everywhere. So I have to live with that and some readers might be turned away from the series unfairly as a result. Sucks, but there's very little I can do other than see the bright side that, luckily, other reviewers put a positive spin on the potential reemergence by saying the ending gave them goosebumps and startled them with new possibilities.

Being misunderstood can and does happen, especially to writers. As I mentioned in the Introduction, I told my husband and son one fateful day of wanting to write something like Star Trek (a series I love in all its many iterations) with a Clumsy Girl on board the spaceship. In truth, I didn't really want to write another Star Trek wannabe. I went out of my way to avoid having Arrow of Time Chronicles end up like any other science fiction saga that was popular. I wrote me, which by definition is probably different than almost everyone and everything else.

One of my first readers of the series had little experience with the genre. Star Trek was actually the only sci-fi program this reader I'll call Bob had ever seen and he hadn't read any other books in that category. Because he was expecting the same premise and story he would get from that sci-fi program, I think there was ultimately no way for him to find a way to like my series, which actually made him a great critique partner because he saw things from a perspective I didn't get from any of my other critique partners. I highly recommend that all writers try to get a first reader or critique partner who doesn't read in their genre by choice just to allow the work to be viewed from every conceivable perspective. As much as I initially hoped to bring Bob onboard and make him a believer, he'll probably never delve any further into this genre in large part because he just didn't get what I was trying to do with mine, even if he found my attempt well-written. Oh, well. Apologies and gratitude, nevertheless, Bob. No hard feelings.

I considered adding a subtitle to this section of the chapter along the lines of "What Else Can You Do with Bad Press?" At this time, all the reviews I've received for my sci-fi series have been between 4 and 5 star ones. However, the lowest ranking review (which still rated 4 very impressive stars) that bothered me most taught me probably more about writing in this this genre than anything else. But, dang, if it didn't hurt more than any other review I've ever gotten in more than two decades of being a published author. Woven in with great comments about the final book in the series, loving and worrying about the happily-ever-after of the characters, fascination with the suspense events that unfolded and resolved satisfactorily, and looking forward to more from an "amazing author", I received a comment that bit the big one. The tactful way to say it is that the reviewer felt the showdown was rushed.

Sigh! Science fiction, like most other thrilling genres, is supposed to be packed full of action and adventure, thrills and spills, awws and oohs. I felt I met that criteria in spades throughout the series, but final battles are hard to write and I doubt too many authors would tell you otherwise, regardless of their popularity or skill. As a writer, you do your darndest to provide readers with lots of hairpin twists and turns, emotional exhilaration and suspense along with nail-biting, whipsawing action. And, as an author, you'll doubt yourself every step of the way, too. Maybe I didn't add enough complications or drama, maybe I didn't raise the stakes and withhold the prize long enough. I've learned to always question my showdowns, always layering the clash with multiple tiers of heightened tension and potential for failures, throwing more obstacles than I'm comfortable with in the way of steady progress toward the story goal, and withholding the ultimate achievement of success until the reader feels like he could collapse on the floor, little more than sweaty pulp, from the tenterhooks of anxiety he's been hoisted up on. I've learned not to be content with stimulating tour-de-force but to take it up a further notch to heady blood-rush. And, maybe most importantly, I've learned to be grateful for positive reviews and not to dwell too much on the negative.

Learning to use the good, the bad, and the ugly reviews not just to take center stage on your dartboard is a skill--a grace, if you will. Accept that you can't please everybody and that not everyone will understand what you're trying to do. But, at least in my case, I still found that the outcome of my efforts were worth every bit of the sweat, blood, and tears I poured into it because I could always remind myself of the burning purpose I felt when I first wrote my series.

It's never easy to pour your heart and soul into something only to have the public throw rotten tomatoes at it. Remember the  purpose that compelled you to write the series in the first place. Learn to take the good from the bad. 

Next week, we'll take on the wonders of writing in this genre in a slew of random musings.

Happy writing!


Based on Writing the Overarching Series (or How I Sent a Clumsy Girl into Outer Space): 3D Fiction Fundamentals Collection by Karen S. Wiesner (release date TBA)

https://karenwiesner.weebly.com/writing-reference-titles.html

http://www.writers-exchange.com/3d-fiction-fundamentals-series/

Karen Wiesner is an award-winning, multi-genre author of over 140 titles and 16 series, including the romantic science fiction series, ARROW OF TIME CHRONICLES

https://www.writers-exchange.com/arrow-of-time-chronicles/

https://karenwiesner.weebly.com/arrow-of-time-chronicles.html

http://www.facebook.com/KarenWiesnerAuthor

Friday, July 15, 2022

Karen S. Wiesner: SURPRISES IN THE COURSE OF LEARNING TO WRITE A SCIENCE FICTION SERIES (12 of 16)

Of Arcs and Standalones, Part 6: Cliffhangers and Conclusions


This is the twelfth of fifteen posts dealing with surprising things I learned in the course of writing a science fiction series.

Last week, we talked mainly about the cons (but also some of the pros) of series arc sequel hooks or cliffhanger endings, which are almost always part and parcel to the Overarching Series gig. Let's talk about the how readers combat the disadvantages of cliffhanger endings, make the most of their advantages, along with the role publication dates of installments play in selling series books.

Many readers generally buy the books in a series that appeals to them as they become available, re-reading the previous…or not. Things are forgotten, major and minor clues, details or nuances are overlooked, and the series simply isn't as rich as it could have been with the installments are read closer together. A lot of people I know won't read any books in a series until all of them are available, then they binge-read them one right after the other.

Publishers are very aware that readers are impatient these days and series books do tend to be released back-to-back, but what that spells from one publishing house to the next is debatable. Some release books in a series one a year, though these days that could definitely lead to bored readers who find comfort in the arms of another series instead. Two or three per year seems wiser, but that's not always doable either, since publishers now expect the authors to do the majority of the promotion and finding time to not only write new books fast and well but also to market the published ones so momentum can build while the books are still in the public eye can lead to creative acrobatics that frequently unsuccessful. Authors and publishers need to make the most of the advantages cliffhanger endings can have on story installments. For that reason, timing publication dates plays a key role in selling series books.

Two authors I talked to mentioned the crux of this issue:

Luisa Buehler: “The books have to be well written and create the word of mouth buzz every author hopes will occur. With the first book of a series, if it takes off, the second one needs to be coming out close enough to keep the buzz going."

N.J. Walters: “The advantage of releasing series books back-to-back is that readers don’t have time to forget about it. The disadvantage is the writer can’t work on anything else. It really pushes you into a time crunch and can make you sick of writing the series.”

I also talked to a number of publishers about how important the spacing of titles in a series is. Anticipation is as crucial as momentum. The author's writing pace is also a factor. Most publishers prefer to work with authors who have proven they can meet the challenge of writing quality books in a short amount of time.

The solution for me when it came to my science fiction series, which relied so heavily on series arc sequel hooks in the first three installments that would either allow my readers to anticipate the follow-up book or ditch the series altogether, was to write them all back-to-back. That way, I didn't have to feel rushed to produce a volume on a timetable that certainly wasn't my own. This also allowed for strict quality control. Additionally, I could make corrections in earlier books if something changed the further along I progressed or if a consistency issue was caught at any point.

In previous posts in this series, I talked about authors who are in the middle of a long, popular series who have left readers dangling for countless years between installments. I won't be too hard on those writers here, I promise. I can't imagine the pressure they feel that at times must reach the pinnacle of outright terror and could very definitely impact the quality of their writing. I would absolutely hate feeling like practically the whole world was waiting on me to deliver. Nothing about this scenario appeals to me, though authors who have gone through this situation have all the money and fame a writer could possibly ever wish for. Add to an already ponderous burden, what if readers are disappointed when the author finally provides series arc resolution with the final volume? If there are special types of hell for writers, that's one right there for sure.

I prefer to limit my story potential development as well as plan my series installments early enough (see my previous posts for specifics about these) with full-on outlines to be certain that each one is the highest quality I can manage and I'm sure even before I begin work on the project that I can finish the series in a satisfactory way.

I wrote my sci-fi series over the course of over 2 years and had numerous critique partners who helped me along the way. When I finally offered all four books to my publisher at once, they were all published in 2020 as close to back-to-back as editing allowed.

In the illustration below of snippets from one 5-star review received for each book in my Arrow of Time Chronicles (all from the same reviewer), I demonstrate how story and series arcs and even release date timing work on readers in the ideal:

Book 1: "I was so invested in the characters I couldn't stop. Wiesner has a way of drawing the reader in against a pulse-pounding backdrop of impending war and intergalactic destruction."

Book 2: "Continues with the same energy and intrigue as Book 1. Just finished and have already bought Book 3. I MUST see how these characters resolve their dilemmas."

Book 3: “The suspense just keeps rising and building! I found myself invested more and more. When I got to the end, I almost screamed. Then I discovered there was a final book already available. Whew!"

Book 4: "Book 4 brought a satisfyingly suspenseful end. At the end of Book 3, I wanted--needed--an ending to this story of all the lives brought into my world. Whether sci-fi or romance fan, you will love this series with all its complex plotlines striving valiantly toward a common, triumphant end."

Next week, we'll talk about random surprises (including reader expectations that aren't always met) that I learned in the course of writing my first sci-fi series.

Happy writing!


Based on Writing the Overarching Series (or How I Sent a Clumsy Girl into Outer Space): 3D Fiction Fundamentals Collection by Karen S. Wiesner (release date TBA)

https://karenwiesner.weebly.com/writing-reference-titles.html

http://www.writers-exchange.com/3d-fiction-fundamentals-series/

Karen Wiesner is an award-winning, multi-genre author of over 140 titles and 16 series, including the romantic science fiction series, ARROW OF TIME CHRONICLES

https://www.writers-exchange.com/arrow-of-time-chronicles/

https://karenwiesner.weebly.com/arrow-of-time-chronicles.html

http://www.facebook.com/KarenWiesnerAuthor

Friday, July 08, 2022

Karen S. Wiesner: SURPRISES IN THE COURSE OF LEARNING TO WRITE A SCIENCE FICTION SERIES (11 of 15)

Of Arcs and Standalones, Part 5: Surprise #5--Mission Impossible: Standalone Series Stories 


This is the eleventh of fifteen posts dealing with surprising things I learned in the course of writing a science fiction series.

We've covered series and story arcs and how to establish them early in the writing process. Now let's talk about the fifth surprise I had about writing this genre after more than 20 years as a published author: That stories with Overarching Series that are so dependent on series arcs running throughout each book in the series just might break an author's ability to provide standalone series stories.

In the literary world, "standalone" has two meanings:

1) A standalone story can refer to a work of fiction that has no relationship with any other piece of fiction and doesn’t fit into a series. In other words, a standalone story stands alone without ties to other books. A standalone story resolves all the plots and subplots specific to that work within that work. The story is encapsulated within a single volume.

2) A standalone story can also mean that readers don't have to read the other books in the series in order to understand it. That's the definition we're focusing on here. Based on that definition, a standalone is a book that has all the story threads tied up logically at the end and the reader isn’t left hanging on any story or series arc points.

What makes standalone stories nearly impossible to have within an Overarching Series is, as the name implies, the overarching series arc or arcs. In previous chapters, we discussed how story arcs are short-term while series arcs are long-term. The series arc is introduced (but not tied up) in the first book in a series. That arc is continued in all the middle books, each one adding something new and critical to that overarching conflict so the stakes are undeniably raised with every subsequent installment. That series arc is only resolved in the final book that completes the series. That's what keeps readers following along from one book to the next. This is acceptable because the story arc in the individual books has been resolved, and the reader can leave the story with a sense of closure, satisfaction, and certainly anticipation for the next book in the series because you’ve given them something (in the form of series arc plots) to look forward to for the future.

Mystery writer Luisa Buehler so eloquently says that a story arc resides within each book, and each book resides within a series arc. “Think of an umbrella covering characters who are each holding their own umbrella. For me, it’s important that each book’s story can stand alone because that’s how the story from the first book can still live in the last book.”

In the past 25 years, I've written 16 series with only a small handful of stories with no affiliation to any of my other books. During all that time, my goal as a writer who mainly writes series verses single titles had always been to offer standalone stories with each and every installment of a series. That readers didn't need to read the others in the series to make sense of each installment--and could even read them out of order!--was a point of pride for me. Imagine my stunned face when I finished writing the first book of the Arrow of Time Chronicles and realized that, while most of the story arcs came to a natural resolution, the series arcs were still hanging out there unresolved. With a series arc so sprawling and complicated, installment standalones quickly became a mission impossible. The nature of the major and minor series arcs I'd devised dictated that those long-term plot threads became the backbone of every single story in that series. There was no way those could be resolved in the first, second, or even the third book in the series (hence the requirement for a fourth and final volume). At the end of Book 1, the series arcs left behind fiery trails of suspense and dread for what might happen in the future. That meant I was forced to end the first three books in the series with something I had avoided almost entirely in the 20 years I'd been writing at that point: Dirty, rotten, unforgiveable cliffhanger endings! Well, actually not quite that horrifying. At the very least, they included series arc sequel hooks at the end of all the books in the series other than the last. But let's talk about cliffhanger endings in general before we establish that the Overarching Series will almost always include a milder version of them in the installments.

In case you've been living in a pocket dimension unconnected to the real world all your life, a cliffhanger is basically a method in which the main character(s) are left in precarious situations at the end of a story and the outcome of that situation will continue to be in doubt until and unless there's another installment. In most situations, the purpose of this method, naturally, is to leave the reader dying to know what happens next. In fact, it's thought that the term originated with Thomas Hardy’s serialized novel, A Pair of Blue Eyes, in which Hardy left one of the main characters literally hanging off the edge of a cliff. This led to the archetypal cliffhanger in Victorian prose and all serial writers began to use it--in many cases, even if they didn’t quite agree with the theory. One such writer in that time period rightly disapproved since the use of this suspense violated “all proper confidence between the author and his reader".

To this day, cliffhangers are hotly debated subjects. Yes, a cliffhanger is like the epitome of a page-turner...only it comes at the end of a book, thereby denying the reader resolution and, as a consequence, mitigating satisfaction with loose ends tying up. Instead, cliffhangers build stressful anticipation and the opposite of relief--dread. Most readers and writers cast a disapproving eye on stories with these endings because it violates the unspoken promise of a proper conclusion for each story, leaving behind the bitter aftertaste of being cheated.

As an author of Standalone Series throughout most of my career, all I could see were the disadvantages to cliffhangers, largely because as a reader myself I wasn't fond of them. It's frustrating and unfair to force a reader to wait--possibly indefinitely--for all threads in the story to effectively reach resolution in the next dubious installment. The publisher might close up shop, postpone the release of a book in a series, or grow bored or disillusioned with continuing the series, the author, and/or the genre. The author might become sick or keel over, or get excited about some other series or story they're working on and never come back. An example that comes instantly to my mind--that's how memorable the first two offerings were--is Dean Koontz, who has to this day never finished his Moonlight Bay Trilogy (Book 1 was published in 1998, Book 2 in 1999). And I'll never forgive him until he does because those first two books were mind-blowing…even as I grudgingly understand as an author how hard it is to get back into a story you haven't visited for countless years. In his case, close to 25.

Few readers want to wait a year or more to find out the conclusion of a story, if it even is in the next book in that series since most series are at least three books long and frequently many more. Let's face it, most readers will probably have forgotten what happened in the original story and, if the time lag is a long one, they may no longer even have that book to refer back to. Also consider that a cliffhanger might, and frequently does, present a situation in which the reader is so desperately anticipating the sequel, the delivery may be a disappointment and can’t possibly live up to what it was building toward. 

Long story short, cliffhangers suck. A lot of people believe they can never be justified because they come instilled with disrespect and unfairness--and authors lead the pack of in terms of feeling swindled. Speculative fiction writer Margaret L. Carter says, “I feel upset, sometimes to the point of outrage, when a novel in a series ends on a cliffhanger. With the long time span that usually intervenes between the publications of successive books, that trick doesn’t seem fair to the reader. Sometimes, of course, this happens because of the publisher’s choice, and the author has no control. I think it’s important that each book come to some sort of satisfactory conclusion, a logical resting place for characters and readers, even if the overall arc continues with unresolved problems and mysteries.”

Clearly, story arc satisfaction is critical in each and every story, even if the series arc resolutions are forthcoming (or never see the light of day, as we've seen happens). For the most part, a milder form of a cliffhanger ending--series arc sequel hooks--are part and parcel to most Overarching Series.

For most of my writing career, the cons of employing anything even vaguely resembling cliffhangers provided all the viable reasons I needed to avoid them completely. Ending three of the four installments in my Arrow of Time Chronicles on series arc sequel hooks was the only way the story could be told. I now understand J.R.R. Tolkien's quandary with The Lord of the Rings. He intended it to be a single volume of over a thousand pages, but that would have been too expensive and readership would have been limited (considering the war taking place at that time). The publisher split the tome into three volumes against the author's wishes. Tolkien called the whole thing a "fudge thought necessary for publication". Do you know he intended The Silmarillion to also be part of The Lord of the Rings? Can you imagine if both stories had been published as a whole instead of divided into two separate works? You want to talk about massive! Would it have been as popular if it'd been offered to readers the way the author wanted? I'm not so sure for a variety of reasons best left to another debate.

In many ways, times have changed from when Tolkien faced this dilemma. These days readers love and even expect to have future follow-ups to an epic story. That's common. It's actually ideal. But times haven't changed so much that publishing houses are willing to publish books that are so big, they're no longer affordable or even interesting to most readers (unless your last name is Martin or Gabaldon, that is). Massive 400-500 page volumes are intimidating to the majority of readers, especially in the last few years when attention spans have shrunk so much that it seems many can't handle even a 200-word back cover blurb in one sitting anymore.

We've covered the very compelling disadvantages to cliffhanger endings, but there are advantages--at the very least--to the less offensive series arc sequel hooks. Paranormal author Dyanne Davis said that she does end each of her books with a version of a cliffhanger, which she knows a lot of readers hate. She never viewed it as unfair. "Considering that I’m also a reader, I don’t mind. I will scream, curse the author…and wait hungrily for the next book." Obviously, the writer who leaves his story on a cliffhanger ending hopes readers will eagerly come back for the next installment, which promises to solve the dire situation the previous story was left in.

Author Joanne Hall added, “In terms of reader fairness, it’s perfectly fair to string them along until they’re tearing their hair out and begging on their knees to know what happens at the end of the last book. It’s not fair to let them down with a feeble ending, or leave important issues completely unresolved. It is okay to leave them a little sad, and to leave a few things hanging, especially if you’re planning future books.” I believe this is the core reason why most authors are fine with leaving installments with series arc sequel hooks and avoiding cliffhanger endings altogether.

I can't even deny that I just finished reading an Overarching Series with a hybrids of cliffhanger endings in all but the last installment. Each of the first four volumes was more exciting than the last. I finished one and immediately started the next because I absolutely could not put it down. When I got to the final in the series, the resolutions matched what they'd been building toward with just enough of a twist to make my joy complete. Right after I finished, I went looking for other offerings from the same author and found not only was there another 5-book spin-off and a prequel, but that the author had two other series not connected to these two. I bought all of them in one fell swoop. You can't deny that is exactly what you want a series to do to readers. For that reason, I have to say that this "pro" of writing and reading an Overarching Series is so monumentally compelling, it may drown out the very many cons.

Next week, we'll talk about ways readers combat the disadvantages of cliffhanger or series arc sequel hook endings, make the most of their advantages, along with discussing the role publication dates of installments play in selling series books.

Happy writing!

Based on Writing the Overarching Series (or How I Sent a Clumsy Girl into Outer Space): 3D Fiction Fundamentals Collection by Karen S. Wiesner (release date TBA)

https://karenwiesner.weebly.com/writing-reference-titles.html

http://www.writers-exchange.com/3d-fiction-fundamentals-series/

Karen Wiesner is an award-winning, multi-genre author of over 140 titles and 16 series, including the romantic science fiction series, ARROW OF TIME CHRONICLES

https://www.writers-exchange.com/arrow-of-time-chronicles/

https://karenwiesner.weebly.com/arrow-of-time-chronicles.html

http://www.facebook.com/KarenWiesnerAuthor

Friday, July 01, 2022

Karen S. Wiesner: SURPRISES IN THE COURSE OF LEARNING TO WRITE A SCIENCE FICTION SERIES (10 of 15)


Of Arcs and Standalones, Part 4:

Establishing Story Arcs Early in the Writing Process


This is the tenth of fifteen posts dealing with surprising things I learned in the course of writing a science fiction series.

Last week, we started laying the groundwork for the series arc with a technique and examples. This is something that it's always preferable to start as early in the writing process as you can--ideally, long before you actually begin writing the first draft. This week, we'll talk about establishing individual story arcs early.

Just prior to the summer of 2018, when I started advance research on my sci-fi series, I'd already written copious notes about the individual stories that were far from organized. So I had no trouble at that point identifying the individual story arcs I needed to focus on throughout each book (with the series arc connecting to and ungirding all the story subplots). This can be done as simply as bullet points on a sheet of paper, as I've done below.

Immutable, Book 1:

·                     Introduce the main Human protagonists onboard the ambassadorial Aero spaceship, establishing mankind's pertinent (to this series) history, present situations, and conflicts or potential conflicts.

·                     Introduce the alien race (which I called "cultures") and the conflict with the Sinshe-Shojani antagonists (settled in a secret location with habitations and massive starships as well as utilizing the planet Neth-beo).

·                     Introduce the friendly culture allies including the Vreah (from the planet Vree), the Strigoni (from the planet Strigon), and the Quing (from the planet Qu) with pertinent history, present situations, and conflicts or potential conflicts.

·                     Make minor allusions to the forthcoming potential allies or antagonists including the Gurgh (from the planet Gurgh), the Hiiwa-Shojani (trapped in a nuclear winter on their home planet of Shojan by the warring Sinshe-Shojani), the Osing of the planet Sing, the Usragos of Usrag, and the Drario of Drar.

·                     Establish the major series arc conflict of having "squatted" in Human habitations above the planet Shojan, along with the minor series arc conflicts with the organic lifeform "eating" planets and all the cultures sharing similar DNA.

·                     POV characters in this book are Halon of the Sinshe-Shojani in the prologue, Raze and Tori, Humans aboard the Aero, Vespera of the Vreah, Arie of the Hiiwa-Shojani, and Makaira of the Gurgh in the epilogue who would become major players in the next book.

With this information, I could create individual story blurbs for each of the books in the series.

Remember that, in order to prevent huge paragraphs that wouldn't fit onto even the largest back cover, these blurbs have to focus exclusively on the main POV characters and conflicts. You may need to leave some of the less important (or less intriguing ones) out of your blurbs. You may also need to generalize situations if the books are extremely complicated.

From the story arc breakdowns for each book in my series above, you could see that in all four stories there were a lot of characters, conflicts and situations which all have their own plots and subplots. Say I wrote a single sentence for each story thread in the first book for the story blurb. The blurb would have been overwhelmingly complicated and long. Blurbs have to be intriguing and focused. Very few readers will give you the time of day if you're not concise and punchy. Additionally, story blurbs have two purposes:

1) As back cover teasers, which can be longer as long as they fit on the actual back cover of a paperback.

2) As promotional blurbs which have to be very short and very compelling.

If you want to learn more about writing blurbs, pick up my manual Writing Blurbs That Sizzle--And Sell!.

Blurbing the story arcs of the individual installments of the series can be done using the same method we did for the series arc, filling in the blanks of this worksheet and then fleshing out the results until the story emerges in a way that's both concise and compelling:

Who _____________________________ (Series Main Character{s})

What _____________________________ (Conflict or Crisis)

Why _____________________________ (Worst Case Resolution Scenario)

In the case of the first book in my sci-fi series, this is what I started with:

Who The crew of the Aero (with Astoria Bertoletti and Raze Salen being the major players) (Series Main Character{s})

What Receive a distress call from one of their oldest space habitations which has been brutally attacked, inhabitants kidnapped or outright killed. (Conflict or Crisis)

Why In searching for clues to what brought about this tragedy, they discover that mankind's desperation when first seeking out alternate spaces in the galaxy led to them invading a hostile alien race's territory. (Worst Case Resolution Scenario)

The back cover blurb I came up with after having the basics established on the worksheet:

Immutable, Book 1

Spacefaring liveship, the Aero, is on a routine mission to the far-flung regions of the galaxy when they receive a distress call from one of their oldest space habitations. The structure has been brutally attacked, inhabitants kidnapped or outright killed. The crew aboard the Aero including Astoria Bertoletti, librarian and planet cataloger, and Raze Salen, mankind's emissary, search for clues to explain the unprecedented tragedy. After several more, similar distress calls, the savage pieces of the mystery begin to emerge--and point to the culpability of humanity's short-sightedness and desperation when they first began seeking out alternate spaces in the galaxy to call home. In the midst of the imminent threat of war Raze and Tori present the immutable evidence of wrongdoing both intentional and inadvertent to mankind's Parliament as well as to their strongest and weakest allies who may have no choice but to desert them in yet another hour of dire need.

Next week, we'll talk about why science fiction stories just might (surprise, surprise!) break an author's ability to provide standalone series stories.

Happy writing!


Based on Writing the Overarching Series (or How I Sent a Clumsy Girl into Outer Space): 3D Fiction Fundamentals Collection by Karen S. Wiesner (release date TBA)

https://karenwiesner.weebly.com/writing-reference-titles.html

http://www.writers-exchange.com/3d-fiction-fundamentals-series/

Karen Wiesner is an award-winning, multi-genre author of over 140 titles and 16 series, including the romantic science fiction series, ARROW OF TIME CHRONICLES

https://www.writers-exchange.com/arrow-of-time-chronicles/

https://karenwiesner.weebly.com/arrow-of-time-chronicles.html

http://www.facebook.com/KarenWiesnerAuthor