Writing a Series of Five Books

[DamaNegra]

See, my cousin and I decided to get together and write a novel; that was when I decided to be a writer. However, due to distance and the demandings of the story itself, it's not going to be an ordinary five-book saga.

The first two books are kind of paralel stories, stories that happen to two different MC's (actually, two sets of twins), but it happens during the same time frame (a year). The same goes true for books 3 and 4.

Book 3 is the continuatino of book 1 and book 4 is the continuation of book 2. Books 3 and 4 also happen during the same timeframe, and the MC's stories start drawing close, but they don't meet yet.

And then, during book 5, the stories get together finally, and the MC's get together for the final bout, their stories are completely interlaced and can't be sepparated.

My question is, is this concept new? I mean, is there someone out there who has tried a series that was not exactly linear? How marketeable is this idea, would someone like it?

[blacbird]

My first reaction is to wonder if you're not really over-planning, which can be a form of procrastination. I suspect that most such series (Card's Ender saga is something like this; Lewis's Narnia Chronicles, too) grow organically as the writing proceeds, and are not so clearly pre-ordained.

caw.

[Novilia]

I think you already discussed this under a different thread. Perhaps you didn't get my reply.....

First off, yes, it has probably beem done before. Is it markatable? If it is a good series, thern of course it's marketable! Even if it starts out fairly new all great things must start off as new things! I think you should write it that way if the book demands to be written that way.

Use the force! (Could not resist,:) )

Anyway, let me know if it ever gets published. I like exploring new ideas!

[James D. Macdonald]

Make sure book one has a beginning, a middle, and an end. A satisfactory story with a strong conclusion.

Why? Because if the first book doesn't sell, books two through five definitely won't.

[zeprosnepsid]

Doesn't this happen in Lord of the Rings? At least one or two of the books are divided into Book 1 and Book 2 and in some of them you follow completely different stories. Like Sam and Frodo in one book and everyone else in the other.

It's not exactly the same, but it's the same idea.

[DamaNegra]

My first reaction is to wonder if you're not really over-planning, which can be a form of procrastination.

caw.

Not procrasinatin, writing a story between two people requires meticulous planning to make everything fit together perfectly. And yes, we've been working almost four years with books 1 and 2 (each of us writing one), but I expect it's still going to take us longer, because these novels have been our teachers, we've been learning about writing as we write them, so they still need a lot of work because we still have a lot to learn.

Hopefully, this will be our masterpiece.

[Mistook]

<CURMUDGEON RANT="MILD">

Call me cynical, but I've never seen a collaboration between friends/siblings come to anything. It's almost a guarantee that one of you will slack off and leave the other to do the whole thing by himself.

Is the concept for the storyline original? Yeah, I'd say it's probably never been done, but to pull this off the way you plan, you're going to have to rely on this cousin of yours to stick with it for like five to ten more years.

Even if you both have every intention of staying the course, there's bound to be creative differences in your future. You'd be surprised how ugly that can get. I may just be a jaded, spoil sport on this occasion, but...

take it from a guy who spent five years with a brother in a rock band, and who also attempted to create a comic strip with a best friend in college. I ended up in more than one physical brawl with one, and am currently no longer on speaking terms with the other.

You say you guys have been at it for five years already. To me that could be either good or bad. There's a kind of "Folies a Deux" situation you have to be careful of. If planning the dream, and talking about the outcome is more satisfying than actually doing the work, you could both be keeping one another from getting anything done.

On the other hand, you could be the Wright Brothers, dilligently working your way to a breakthrough of earth-shaking proportions. But being that this is a duopoly of novels we're talking about, and not a scientific breakthrough, by now you guys should be close to having some finished drafts.

My advice: If you want something done right, you have to do it yourself.

But if you really believe that this partnership is going to pan out, I'd give it another year. If you're still spinning your wheels, it's time to ask yourself whether or not you'd do better working independantly.

</CURMUDGEON>

[blacbird]

I only brought up the procrastination issue because a few years ago I witnessed a similar situation, also a collaboration, in a local writers' group. The main instigator of this had meticulously planned out something like forty (not an exaggeration) thrillers of the secret agent variety. Every meeting we would get a new plan; but precious little writing, and what of that we did get was utterly atrocious. Not accusing you of doing anything like that, only mentioning a possibly instructive episode.

Incidentally, he wound up "publishing" two or three of these through a vanity POD, and got them placed in the local library. They're as atrocious in print as they were in manuscript.

caw.

[Sage]

Dama, I'd suggest taking each book individually, but keeping the plan for the others in mind. That way if something were to happen to keep your cousin from finishing, you still have a publishable product. You can go to a publisher/agent with the finished book & start working on the next, or choose to do something else. If you finish before your cousin, or vice versa, one of you can start the process while the other finishes. Then if your book is doing well, you can explain the series to the agent & get a better response.

This is my uneducated suggestion (not published, myself)

[DamaNegra]

Lol, it was actually me who slacked off and left all the work to my cousin... And yes, I'm making up for it. This is a dream we both share, and if she were to pull away from it, I'd be more than happy to write all the books, 'cause I love writing!

Anyway, I know her. She's hard-working and sticks up for something once she's started. She lives in another city, though, so that might prove to be a problem. However, books 1 and 2 are planned to be stand-alone stories with a continuation. Each book is an episode in the story, they compliment each other but can make it alone.

And no, we don't spend much time planning. There was only one night in which we stayed at 2 a.m. to finish off all the details to make our stories work together, but that was it. Ocasionally, we e-mail each other if we think of something, but that's rare. Mostly, we just stick to writing :)

[Cathy C]

Call me cynical, but I've never seen a collaboration between friends/siblings come to anything.


You're cynical, but I forgive you. :kiss: My co-author and I have been writing together for ten years, have 7 books written and on their way to the shelf and are still very good friends. It can be done, but it does take effort to make sure that we each hold up our share. Sometimes this means that when life sucks for one of us, the other one CAN take up the brunt of the writing. It's like a marriage. 50/50 is wonderful when you can get it -- but more often it's 90/10 or 10/90. But partners support each other even in rough times. It merely takes dedication to an exceptional product.

I'm pretty sure that Uncle Jim writes with his wife, too, and I know several other husband/wife teams and best friends teams. But admittedly, I haven't heard of many sibling writing teams. I wouldn't think it would be any different though, so long as each party has established boundaries and achievable goals.

[Mistook]

Dama & Cathy,

It's good to know collaborations can work. If I understand you both, it sounds like you are each involved in a male/female collaboration, so maybe there's something to that.

[DamaNegra]

Hmmm no, my cousin is female, actually. I tend to work better with guys, though, but I don't know why that may be. Maybe there's an interesting research idea there.

[Cathy C]

Dama & Cathy,

It's good to know collaborations can work. If I understand you both, it sounds like you are each involved in a male/female collaboration, so maybe there's something to that.

LOL! :ROFL: Nope. We're both girls -- and not THAT sort of "friends!" I'm happily married and she's a single mom.

[Mistook]

Well so much for that theory. :Shrug:

Dama, I don't know why but for some reason I assumed you were a guy. And Cathy, I also don't know why I assumed your co-author was a guy.

[DamaNegra]

A small mistranslation, perhaps? Dama, translated, is Lady. So my nickname means: Black Lady. lol.

[PeeDee]

I'm rotten at collaberation, but it's always my fault when they go to pieces. Which is a shame, because I'd love to succesfully manage one. I'm either too bossy (because my mind kicks in gear and I Figure The Story Out) or I'm too laid-back and nothing gets done (because I'm trying hard not to figure the story out and work with the other person.

It DOES sound like a cool concept DamaNegra, and I hope it works. I'd love to read a series that bounces like that, if it comes off well.

James is right, though: book one really has to be self-contained, I think.