SERIES INTENTIONS
The series is a cornerstone of sci-fi and fastasy writing. Alex Davis offers advice on building worlds and developing the overarching ‘big story’ over three books or more
We’ve all been there – you’re browsing the science-fiction and fantasy shelves at your local high street, or perhaps checking out some second-hand books a little more off the beaten track. You pick up a book, you like the sound of the title, the look of the cover and – lo and behold – it’s the third part of a trilogy.
I’m sure that will ring bells for many of you, and is probably one of the frustrating elements of the popularity of the series within this side of the genre. But that popularity is doubtless there, and as many readers again will have been on board from Book 1 where you perhaps missed out on it.
There are plenty of reasons speculated as to why the series is so predominant in SF and fantasy, particularly within those titles emerging from the Big Four publishers. Market demand is very likely a part of the equation, as well as the fact that from the business angle a successful series has a lot of financial scope for a publisher. It remains true that Book 1 tends to be the bestselling of the series, but numerous books in its wake can still do extremely well in their own right.
It does of course beg the question – if you’re wanting to write your own series, how do you go about it? The popularity is there, but the existence of long-running series can potentially make it hard for a debut author to find their way onto the SFF bookshelves. In this article, we’ll be offering a range of tips and advice on how to bring the very best out of your own speculative fiction series!