Sabina Jeffries | Why Write Series?
Why NOT write them? The connected series is a staple of most genre fiction. Mystery series have abounded for decades, as have fantasy and science fiction series, but only in the last fifteen years has the romance series become popular. At the beginning, they were rare. When an author did write them, as with Johanna Lindsey’s Malory series, they weren’t necessarily planned out ahead, the way they are now, with publishers announcing the series connections from the beginning. More often, authors wrote isolated connected books here and there, like Jayne Ann Krentz's Gift of Gold and Gift of Fire (two of my all-time favorites).
Eventually the romantic series came into its own, and now authors write them more often than not. My own School for Heiresses series, Regency-set historicals featuring the spirited graduates of Mrs. Harris’s School for Young Ladies, is the fourth series I’ve written. These unconventional heiresses who prove a match for society’s most irresistible rogues are connected only by their association with the school, but I’ve also written series where the characters were friends, royal half-brothers, and sisters. Here’s why I like writing them:- The over-arching themes—in this particular series I include a running thread in the epigrams, of letters between Mrs. Harris and her anonymous benefactor, “Cousin” Michael. It’s such fun to play around with those two characters without actually revealing who Cousin Michael is.
- Seeing the same world through the eyes of more than just one book’s hero and heroine gives me a broadened perspective of the milieu.
- For faithful readers of the whole series, I can include inside jokes that only they would get. It enhances the experience, for me AND for them, while hopefully not alienating readers who pick up only one book.
If I fall in love with a secondary character, I can have a second go at him or her. That’s what happened with Eliza, a minor character in ONLY A DUKE WILL DO. She just sprang off the page, so I had to include her in a future story, which turned out to be the novella in the SCHOOL FOR HEIRESSES anthology.- I can explore a character outside his/her relationship to the heroine/hero. That’s hard to do in one book. I can also explore a character’s growth over a longer period than one book.
So what about you? Do you read series? Do you like them? If so, why? If not, why not?
Sabrina Jeffrieshttp://www.sabrinajeffries.com/
Labels: Anthology, Historical, Romance, Sabrina Jeffries
posted by Fresh Fiction @ 7:00 AM
11 Comments:
I adore series! As a matter of fact, if faced with the choice of buying a stand-alone book or one that is part of a series, the series wins every time!
That's one reason you are such a favorite of mine, Sabrina. I know you will deliver on and on and on!
Whatever you do, please don't stop writing series!
Hi-ya Sabrina! Series are an absolute yes. I'll more likely pick up a new author if I know they're a series writer over stand-alone.
I'm not a big fan of triligies, but rather where there's several books connected and the author can stay with a family or group for a while. But my preference is open-ended series. They are my favorite to read and write.
Oh, I love series. It's so much fun to stay in a world you love, to be with characters who charm you every time you're with them. I do prefer to read a series in order, but it's not necessary to my enjoyment.
Yes, I love series! Especially yours, Sabrina. But I honestly can't say which is my fave or yours. They keep getting better and better.
Thanks for the many hours of reading pleasure!!
NicoleJ
I love series and connected books! I love the feeling you get diving back into a familiar world, it's like coming home.
Keep them coming, Sabrina, please! We'll take all we can get!
I do hear complaints sometimes from readers who miss the "old days" when all the books tended to be stand-alone, but I've never really understood that. I like to see familiar characters show up time after time, as long as it doesn't become a parade of them in each book.
Do you find there's ever a time when there are TOO many series characters coming in and out of a book? Do you ever get confused?
Eep. Lone dissenter here. I'm the one buying those non-series books. I do miss the days when a book was more than likely on its own, but I can understand the series appeal for others. More often than not, I don't "get" it myself, but that's why there's chocolate and vanilla, right? (And out of those two, I prefer coconut ;) )
I do get confused, especially when certain hero/heroine names turn up again and again in different series by different authors. If I see a Nick, Sophie, Lucien, Anythingbelle, etc, I'm more than likely to pass on the book because they'll meld in my poor noggin with other characters with those names that are from other series, and I'll end up flipping through past books from the wrong author's work trying to find previous scenes that are in different "worlds" altogether. But I'm likely the exception to the rule.
Not to say that I run screaming into the night at the first sign of any connection. I'm more likely to enjoy connected books with a passage of time -- say the focus is on mother/daughter/granddaughter than sibling/sibling/friend. If it's the multigenerational sort, that will usually hold my interest longer, but for friend/sibling connections, about three books is my maximum.
You're not a lone dissenter, I'm sure, but there do seem to be enough people out there loving series to keep them going, not only in romance but in other subgenres.
I understand your problems with the names, too. Unfortunately, there aren't a lot of Christian names that are period. Most people in the period were named John, Jane, Charlotte, Emily ... It makes it difficult to find a name that stands out. I have the Oxford Dictionary of English Christian Names, and so few of them are considered appropriate for our period that I sometimes want to tear out my hair!
I love books in a series. The reason being that if an author is good, she will leave you with a desire to know more about other characters than just the main ones. I find myself emotionally satisified at the end of a book but a half and hour later....
I begin thinking about the Lady or Lord with that certain something and what happened to them. Then I jump in the car on the way to the book store, to pick-up my next adventure.
Amanda
For me it depends on the author, and the characters. Some I've read I stopped reading after a couple of books. Some I can't get enough of. And it KILLS me to have to wait a YEAR for the next book in the series. WHY do publishers torture me thus?
Well, sometimes that's the author's fault. Some authors don't write as fast as others.
Then again, if an author is midlist, she doesn't generally get to be published more than once a year, so there's nothing she can do about that. I mean, they DO have to publish other authors' books occasionally, you know. *G*
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