Of the Overarching Series and Its Connection to Speculative Fiction
This is the second of fifteen posts
dealing with surprising things I learned in the course of writing a science
fiction series.
A timeless universal truth:
No simple solutions, no easy answers, and nothing is ever
free…
In last week's post, we talked about
why science fiction, especially those in a series, is debatably the most
difficult genre to write in. Another reason this type of series is so
complicated is because it's part of a rare breed of series that I'm calling the
Overarching 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 of the series (except perhaps the first) can be fully understood without the others in that series. Nearly always, they need to be read as a set, in the proper order, to make sense. However, that doesn't necessarily mean that you can't enjoy the stories separately. You'll just miss a lot doing so and ultimately you might end up with a fair amount of confusion.
To be clear about this, a cliffhanger ending is most always
referring to when a book ends in the middle of an unbearably intense or
emotional bit of danger. Instead of concluding at the place where the scene
would reach a natural end, the action is truncated prematurely, leaving the
reader hanging when it comes to resolution. Readers have no way of knowing what
actually happened unless or until a sequel to address this dangling thread is
released and addresses the previous situation satisfactorily (and sometimes the
explanation for how the danger was actually averted can be less than gratifying).
Frequently, readers consider employing this technique as outright cheating
because they've been purposely deprived of the unspoken promise of a proper
resolution.
Kind of a downgraded definition of a cliffhanger ending is
any thread left dangling. In the case of series arc thread, writers generally
provide story arc resolutions within the individual volumes of the series while
holding off on resolving series arcs until the final volume. For the purposes
of my upcoming writing manual, Writing the Overarching Series, I'm
calling these not-quite-a-cliffhanger endings "series arc sequel hooks".
While readers maybe shout "But what happened to--?!" upon reaching
the end of any series installment, the place each particular volume ends should
feel natural and not an affront or trickery employed to avoid genuine resolution.
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. The reason for
that may be obvious but I'll state it anyway: The series arc can't be resolved
until the last book of the series. 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. Some
well-known Overarching Series book series, TV series, and movies are The Lord
of the Rings, Divergent Series, Harry Potter Series, Twilight Series, Supernatural, Grimm, and Star Wars.
Another interesting thing about
Overarching Series is that an Overarching miniseries (or more than one) can
exist within an existing series of stories that could otherwise be considered
series standalones. In literary terms, a miniseries is most accurately referring to a finite set of stories told within an existing series. Both the Star Wars and Star Trek series have quite a few
Overarching miniseries along with standalone stories. Star Wars original
miniseries included three stories in a trilogy: Star Wars (sometimes also called
A New Hope), The Empire Strikes Back,
and Return of the Jedi. Rogue One and Solo are individual stories within the series. Star Trek has a host
of miniseries within the Overarching Series, including but not limited to The Next Generation, Voyager, and Discovery. In my Woodcutter's Grim Series (fantasy/paranormal/mild
horror), I have two miniseries that qualify as Overarching Series within the
overall series. One of the Overarching Series is untitled and deals with the
Shaussegeny Curse (Books 4-7). Another is called Bridge of Fire, Book 10, which has three separate novel parts.
Books 1-3, 8, 9 and The Final Chapter could be considered standalone titles
within the series.
Perhaps the most defining factor of an
Overarching Series is that the individual volumes could easily and maybe even should be ideally packaged as a single
work if cost and reader acceptability weren't factors.
You might have noticed something very
specific about all the Overarching Series titles I mentioned above: They could
all be included under the Speculative Fiction umbrella. Speculative fiction is
particularly well-suited to the Overarching Series structure. While it's certainly
not out of the realm of possibility that an Overarching Series could fit in
other genres of fiction, they do crop up most often in speculative fiction. All
the techniques and strategies I employed in the process of completing my Arrow
of Time Chronicles are actually ones that could work just as well for any fiction
genre as well as for any type of series.
Let's talk more about the speculative
fiction before we get into why these particular genres work so well for an
Overarching Series.
There are a lot of different definitions for speculative fiction (or "spec
fic" as it's sometimes called). Basically, the definition I'm using here is the one that's
most likely to come up if you put the words "speculative fiction"
into any search engine: "A
genre of fiction that encompasses works in which the setting is other than the
real world, involving supernatural, futuristic, or other imagined elements."
The spec fic umbrella would cover (but isn't limited to) science fiction,
fantasy, superhero fiction, science fantasy, horror, utopian and dystopian
fiction, supernatural and futuristic or any combination of these along with
other potential offshoots too numerous to mention. The point is, spec fic
almost always has enormous requirements when it comes to:
1) World building. You might need to come up with a
variety of environments either all in one location, like a planet, or sprawled
across great distances--maybe an entire universe--that you have to figure out
how to traverse. Most if not all of these locations have to be unique and
complex enough to be believable while still retaining some semblance of realism
capable of luring current readers.
2) Character building. In these genres, not all your
characters will be human. In fact, a good portion might be from an alien
culture or some kind of supernatural creatures that the author has to construct
from the ground up. You're not just describing and personalizing living and
breathing, sentient beings. You're figuring out who and what they are,
where they came from (their history, present day situation, and the future are
yours to formulate!). You'll be required to explain how their family life,
culture, government, religions, monetary systems, and countless other
structures work in their very individual worlds.
Overarching Series are frequently utilized in genres
under the speculative fiction umbrella. However, not all
speculative fiction series are Overarching Series. The reason for that is
because you can easily have standalone series titles in a speculative fiction
series. Trust me, we'll figure this all out in the next few months and it'll
make perfect sense when we're done. We'll
also talk more in-depth about story and series arcs, types of series, and
standalones, and cliffhangers in later posts.
Next week we'll talk about my very first big surprise in writing a
science fiction 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
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