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

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

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

Karen S. Wiesner: SURPRISES IN THE COURSE OF LEARNING TO WRITE A SCIENCE FICTION SERIES (9 of 15)

Of Arcs and Standalones, Part 3:

Establishing a Series Arc Early in the Writing Process 

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

In the initial part of this 6-part article, we started defining story arcs followed by series arcs. This time we're going to start laying the groundwork for the series arc before we do the same for story arcs 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. The series arc is the umbrella all your story arcs will fit under, so it makes sense to do that first.

The easiest way to discover your overall series arc is to know what connects all the books.. In this way, you can make sure the series arc runs its proper course through each book in the series until it's resolution in the last book. Establishing the basics for each book in the series can give you countless insights for far-reaching possibilities as you prepare to write each new installment.

The first step is to blurb the series. The series blurb should tell readers how all the books in that series are connected. Most series blurbs range from one to four sentences. Science fiction, fantasy, and historical books in a series may well require longer series blurbs. That's because the series blurb has to make sense of whole worlds, cultures, events, and conflicts, which, in many cases may seem vastly different from those a modern reader is accustomed to. If readers don't understand the premise of your series in the series blurb, they may not bother reading the first book.

When I come up with a series, I almost always have what some writers would consider a freakishly good idea about what will happen in each of the installments. Just prior to the summer of 2018, when I started advance research on my sci-fi series, I had more than enough details at that point to be able to blurb my series arcs filling in the blanks of this worksheet:

Who _____________________________ (Series Main Character{s})

What _____________________________ (Conflict or Crisis)

Why _____________________________ (Worst Case Resolution Scenario)

In the previous post, I talked about the three series arcs in my Arrow of Time Chronicles, one of the major and two of them minor. All three of these series arcs were introduced in the first installment in the series, touched on in different degrees over the course of the middle two books, but only resolved in the final story in the series. Nevertheless, although I knew they'd all be important within the individual stories, I felt like adding the third series arc to the series blurb overcomplicated it so I left it out. Here's the form filled out for Arrow of Time Chronicles:

Who Mankind (Series Main Character{s})

What When mankind realized Earth would soon become uninhabitable, Humans formed a cooperative central nexus in order to save themselves from certain extinction. Together, they built and transferred their population to massive space habitations in orbit of their planet and as many as possible revolving around the other planetary bodies in the Sol System. Only fifty-eight years into their desperate struggle for survival, a hostile enemy with Napoleonic ambitions emerges as a yet another threat to not only mankind's survival. (Major Conflict or Crisis)

A cataclysmic organic menace is beginning to be recognized, ensuring the total annihilation of every living thing in the universe if, together, they can't find a way to stop it. (Minor Conflict or Crisis)

Why The peace mankind has begun to forge with allies from other planets around the galaxy is jeopardized as questionable agendas and hidden motives are unveiled. (Major Worst Case Resolution Scenario) 

Why The organic menace threatens the total annihilation of every living thing in the universe if, together, mankind and its allies can't find a way to stop it. (Minor Worst Case Resolution Scenario)

Below, you'll see the Arrow of Times Chronicles series blurb I eventually modified and refined the worksheet components to come up.

Arrow of Time Chronicles

by Karen Wiesner

A timeless universal truth: No simple solutions, no easy answers, and nothing is ever free…

When mankind realized Earth would soon become uninhabitable, Humans formed a cooperative central nexus in order to save themselves from certain extinction. Together, they built and transferred their population to massive space habitations in orbit of their planet and as many as possible revolving around the other planetary bodies in the Sol System. They also constructed spacefaring "liveships" in hopes of traveling through the galaxy in search of new homes. Unbelievably after almost a hundred years, their communications sent out into the farthest reaches of the universe to discover other intelligent life secures an audience. Their first allies arrived in mankind's solar system in 2073 and shared their knowledge, technology and resources to not only power their liveships for swift navigation through space corridors that fold space and time but also provided the scientific advancements necessary to eventually heal their dying planet.

    Though mankind has a brand-new shaky start, strong potential alliances, and hope for tomorrow, only fifty-eight years into their desperate struggle for survival, a hostile enemy with Napoleonic ambitions emerges as a yet another threat to not only mankind's survival, but also that of their associates who have faced the aliens in times past. Abruptly, the peace the allies have begun to forge is jeopardized as questionable agendas and hidden motives are unveiled. In the wake of these very real, immediate threats a cataclysmic organic menace is only beginning to be recognized, ensuring the total annihilation of every living thing in the universe if, together, they can't find a way to stop it.

Next week, we'll talk about how to establish your story arcs early in the writing process and use this same technique in an example.

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

Karen S. Wiesner: SURPRISES IN THE COURSE OF LEARNING TO WRITE A SCIENCE FICTION SERIES (8 of 15)

Of Arcs and Standalones, Part 2: Series Arcs

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

Last week, we established that every story must have a story arc and we got a basic understanding of what that entails. Now let’s talk about the series arc.

Most series will have an overall series arc (sometimes there are more than one series arcs) along with the individual story arcs specific to a single installment of the series. A series arc is a plot thread that’s introduced in the first book in the series, is alluded to in some way in every single subsequent book, but is only fully resolved in the final book in the series. The series arc is usually separate from the individual story arcs, but both are crucial and must fit together seamlessly. The individual story arcs, as we established last in last week's post, are short-term. They’re introduced, developed, and concluded in each individual book. The series arcs are long-term. As an example, in Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets, the story arc is the chamber of secrets plotline. The overall series arc, in the most simplified terms, is good (Harry) overcomes evil (Voldemort)—and that’s true for every book in that series. The series arc runs beneath the individual story arcs in each book, expanding and intensifying through each book. In that way, each story installment has a piece of the series arc to tell.

In my Arrow of Time Chronicles, I actually had a few series arcs. The major one dealt with the warring faction of aliens that intended to conquer every other culture. A minor series arc was an organic phantom energy that's "eating" its way across the universe. A second minor series arc was that all the cultures in the galaxy, despite their outward physical differences and coming from different planets widely scattered across the galaxy, have similar DNA. All three of these series arcs were introduced in the first installment in the series, touched on in different degrees over the course of the middle two books, but only resolved in the final story in the series. 

There are two types of series that all series can be classified under. Let's lay down the foundation for them. Once we've established the types, we'll talk more in-depth about Overarching Series and the distinguishing qualities of this unique breed of series and its connection to speculative fiction.

Standalone Series

The most common kind of series that can include series in any genre imaginable is the Standalone. In this type of series, every story within the series can stand alone (hence the name). In other words, readers can read each one separately, potentially even out of order, and still derive satisfaction that way without too much confusion. The individual installments of the series include story arcs that conclude within that particular story, providing the reader gratification necessary at the end of each book.

Standalone Series Subgroup: The Open-ended Series

There is an exception to every rule, and I would be remiss in not mentioning this one. There is a type of series set up and developed almost exactly like writing a standalone story and therefore it's simply a subgroup of the Standalone Series.

An Open-ended Series doesn't need a series arc because no clear end is in sight, and therefore there's less need for a tightly-delineated series arc that must resolve in the final book. In an open-ended series (such as some sleuth mysteries with a single recurring character--i.e., Hercule Poirot and the like), each book in the series is a standalone title. There’s little need to come up with a series arc since the author isn’t planning to have a long-term plot thread running through the entire series that will conclude in the final story. Though the Hercule Poirot Series eventually did end, a series arc didn’t run through each of the stories. Even Poirot’s final case was a standalone (though this case connected to details of the very first mystery he solved). In an Open-ended Series with a potentially infinite number of books, any resolution the author has promised readers at the start of one installment in a series will stem from story arcs at the end of that individual book, not at the end of the series. Those resolutions are the ones that fans are looking for and must be given in order to feel satisfied.

Note that developing a Standalone Series is the focus my previous writing manual on the topic of crafting a series. Originally that book was published by Writer's Digest Books and titled Writing the Fiction Series. It will be reissued soon as part of my writing manual collection under the title Writing the Standalone Series. 

OVERARCHING SERIES

This leads us to the second type of series: An Overarching Series, which will be the focus of my upcoming craft manual to be titled Writing the Overarching Series {or How I Sent a Clumsy Girl to Outer Space}. An Overarching Series is a specialized type of series that requires complex and multifaceted character- and world-building as well as necessitating series arc sequel hook endings in all but the final installment. Overarching Series dominate speculative fiction more so than any other category of fiction, though it is possible for one to be in other genres as well.

In the Overarching type of series, none of the books can truly be standalones because the series arc that's introduced in the first book in the series will run through every installment in that series, expanding and intensifying as it goes, only concluding in the final volume of the series. In other words, it's unlikely that the individual titles in the series can be fully understood without the others in that series. This is true even of the first installment of a series because that one won't and can't be complete on its own without subsequent installments.

In addition to the requirement of being read as a set, an Overarching Series needs to be read in the proper, chronological sequence in order to make sense and to become as opulent and robust, as any series needs to be or otherwise what's the point? While this doesn't preclude the possibility that someone could enjoy the stories separately, it's almost a foregone conclusion that they'll miss a lot in doing so and ultimately might end up confused and even disgruntled.

There's a very good reason why Overarching Series can be complicated to write and read: Reader satisfaction is only partially achieved in each book in this kind of series. The story arcs that are specific to individual titles in an Overarching Series will resolve within their particular book, providing the necessary satisfaction when completing the story, while the series arc almost always produces a less upsetting form of cliffhanger ending called series arc sequel hooks in all volumes other than the final book of that kind of series, where it's finally resolved.

While authors do need to find a natural, logical place to leave the series arc from one volume to the next so the "to be continued" aspect won't infuriate readers so much as build anticipation for what's to come, keep in mind that each volume needs to be assigned its own piece of the series arc to tell in an Overarching Series.

Next week, we'll talk about how to establish your series arcs early in the writing process, including a technique for developing yours.

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

Karen S. Wiesner: SURPRISES IN THE COURSE OF LEARNING TO WRITE A SCIENCE FICTION SERIES (7 of 15)

Of Arcs and Standalones, Part 1: Story Arcs

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

Starting this week, we'll begin a 6-part sequence that goes more in-depth about series and story arcs, how to develop them early in the process, and why standalone stories are all but impossible to achieve in an Overarching Series.

Last week, we touched on story and series arcs in the science fiction genre. These are concepts that most authors could probably give basic definitions for, but I can't be the only writer who (before I did heavy research into both for my book Writing the Fiction Series which will be reissued under the title Writing the Standalone Series soon) was a little bit confused about them for the longest time. Before I wrote that writing manual, these two arcs had been presented to me in multiple ways, and none of the explanations quite “fit” my own perceptions in terms of story building. To really get into a discussion about why these are so important in the science fiction genre, we need to establish what both of these concepts are over my next two blog posts.

Story Arcs

In its simplest form, the story arc is an extended or continued storyline. That’s fairly easy to grasp, right? But when it comes to what this definition actually entails and how it serves its purpose in the course of a novel…well, that’s where things get murkier. In a story, an arc is supposed to move the character or situation from one place to another. Essentially, we’re talking about change here--the quest, the causality of narrative, domino-effect transformations. In a story, this follows a pattern that can be described as ordinary life in balance: The character is brought to a low point and the structures he or she has depended on are removed. Therefore the character is motivated and/or forced to find new strength or situations without these structures, and he faces his demons and triumphs. Resolution ensues, restoring balance.

Now, as I said, this story arc has been talked about a lot in writing circles, and it can come in several different patterns and have more or fewer steps to come full-circle. While all have value, I prefer a much more simplified pattern, which is based on the bare essentials that I feel allows the writer a lot of freedom to tell his story in any way that seems right to him.

Story Arc Pattern

1. Introduction

2. Change

3. Conflicts

4. Choices

5. Crisis

6. Climax

7. Resolutions

Essentially, life as well as fiction is balanced with states of emotion over time. In fiction, the emotion is generally more extreme. It has to be, because what is fiction except a portrayal of life that skips over all the dull aspects? You can think of this within the following equation, which your story will move through from beginning to end. Where you see the arrows, insert the words “leads to”.

Introduction --> Change --> Conflicts --> Choices --> Crisis --> Climax  --> Resolutions

These steps visually simplify the mechanics of the arc that should run through every story. Below, I'll sum up each step.

Story Arc Step 1: Introduction

The introduction into a character’s ordinary life, in which he may or may not be content with things as they are, gets the ball rolling.

Story Arc Step 2: Change

Change is a form of conflict and it should be internal as well as external.

Story Arc Step 3: Conflicts

Conflict is what motivates and forces the character to act. Character and conflicts develop in accordance with the character’s choices and goals and motivations.

Story Arc Step 4: Choices

Goals are those things the character wants, needs, or desires above all else. Motivation is what gives him drive and purpose to achieve those goals. These evolve throughout the story as the character modifies his actions in response to conflict.

Story Arc Step 5: Crisis

At the crisis point, the character is faced with obstacles that seem too numerous, too monumental, too impossible to overcome but he must find the strength and motivation to continue.

Story Arc Step 6: Climax

Following the crisis, the climax comes. The character must act if he has any hope of triumphing and bringing about resolution.

Story Arc Step 7: Resolution

The character wins, resolution ensues, and balance is restored although the character has gone through a radical life alteration that may or may not lead to a happily ever after ending.

A story arc is introduced, developed, and concluded within that particular story. There may be many major (plot) and minor (subplot) story arcs in each story depending on its particular length and complexity. Story arcs add complexity, substance, and three-dimensionality to all aspects of the story. Story arcs must mesh and bond in a way that makes all threads inseparable, in a symbiotic relationship. Many times, a plot or subplot helps the author control the pacing of the story, placing realistic, necessary obstacles in the hero’s path and preventing the climax from coming too soon. Additionally, story arcs must advance the story--expanding, enlarging, and intensifying as the tale unfolds.

In a series story, a story arc is short-term because it may be neatly tied-up in a single book within the series. That might sound strange, but this will make more sense when you realize that the series arc is the long-term thread running its course through every book until the series concludes. In a few weeks, I'll show a technique and examples for developing story arcs.

Next week, we'll talk about series arcs.

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