Am I crazy - Fantasy Series

My fantasy series I have planned consists of 9 realms. They each have two keepers of the realms. Inside each realm is three - six books. Then the heros of each realm come together in four books in final battle to free the keepers and restore order to the realms, banishing the dark keeper and his followers to the nineth realm. There are migrations between the planets, gates, and such.

Am I crazy for having such a huge series planned, and how hard will it be to find a publisher who would take the entire series? I wish for them to all be printed from one publisher for obvious reasons so they are linear and not split up.

Thanks

Sara

The reason why I am melding them into one series is because I have four books one from four of the realms that already had ties to each other that I hadn't even planned. Also I have books planned of the other realms. And I had bigger things planned for each of them but I wasn't sure what it was, until it just donned on me one day that they were meant to be together.

I speak in numbers because it is the larger picture of it, they all have deep meaning and each one has different struggles and such, but they had common history so to speak. I also speak in general terms because it's kind of hard to explain quickly any other way.

My subconscious tends to do things without letting me know until later what it's up to. At one point in one of my books, the heroine is looking through a mirror that shows a group of people engaged in battle that described a scene from a different book (also now part of this series) and I hadn't even realized I had done it, until someone else pointed it out.

It is a rather large undertaking, but I do feel its important to the individual stories and heros and heroines to have this deeper tie. The main series will be entitled Realms of Chaos, then have the realm name book #. Each series could be read alone and would be considered complete outside the ending which leads into the four keeper books in which they must free the one keeper imprisioned by the dark keeper and their partner is imprisoned on whatever realm they oversee, stripped of their powers save those they had before they were transformed into keepers.

Like in the Kinot Realm one of the lead wizards Mastadon is actually an imprisoned keeper, in bringing together the most powerful and chosen wizards to assume the world council, returning peace in a realm split between those with magic and those without. Behind all this he is also finding a champion who can free his wife Alicifante. She is being held as a prisoner in the Zermon realm by Bavita the dark keeper, who has enslaved his own wife, using her as a puppet to ensnare the other keepers and their champions.

Bavita's realm, Zermon, was almost completely destroyed by the other keepers when they discovered he was meddling with their history and inflicting chaos and pain on everyone including his own people. Through revenge and lust for power he robbed the other realms of their keepers and sense of stability. Some of the Zermon people managed to escape through portals to other realms, one is Arabell, the Elven Realm, they are described as demons and goblins by their looks, sometimes also considered dark elves as they appeared into the world with balls of flame and destruction behind them. Those who saw it figured they had come from a dark portal rather than a realm being destroyed.

The main evil group of each of the realms are minions of Bavita who have pledged their loyalty to him in exchange for power. When they are destroyed in actuality they are returning to the Zermon Realm to further serve him against the Champions when they arrive at that point.

Complicated I know. That is just a very small portion of the way the realms are interwoven to each other.

And all names are subject to change as most were quickly assigned to them so it wouldn't be and this guy goes against that guy, and there's this woman and they live in this place then move to this other place.

jchines said:

My guess is, you'll be better off if you write the first book in such a way that it could stand alone. There's no guarantee that a publisher will buy book two and beyond, so if this book gets stranded, you don't want it just dangling on a cliffhanger.

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Unfortunately the way they are written, the heart of the story and everything are so interwoven they can't be a stand alone. I know what you are saying, but there is no way to resolve what I raise in the first books of each of the realms. Thankfully I will not be ready to publish these for a while which will give me enough chance to get my stand alone books out there and hopefully I will be able to make my mark before this series so it won't be a new writer proposing this series to a publisher.

Kasey Mackenzie said:

AmI reading this right? 9 realms X 3 to 6 books PLUS 4 other books? So you're talking 31 to 62 books in one series? Heh...yeah that's a little bit crazy IMO. If I knew going in that a series was planned to be 31-62 books I wouldn't buy any of the books until the series was finished. Who wants to invest that much time and energy into reading something only to have the author die, or the series be canned by the publisher before it's finished?

I mean, it's one thing to have an open-ended series like J.D. Robb's "In Death" series where each book can basically stand alone but together form a whole. Or even series like George R.R. Martin's A Song of Fire and Ice where you're not entirely sure just how many there will be. But to know going in that it's going to be _31_ to _62_ books?

*Note: This is just my own personal opinion and not meant in an insulting manner. Just how I would react to such a series as a reader. And editors tend to keep such reactions in mind when considering taking novels on.

I agree with jchines that you should write book 1 in such a way it can stand alone. Once you sell it THEN you can worry about the rest.

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Yes you are reading it correctly and in my post above I say why I can't do that. I do plan, however, to write most, if not all of the books before I try to publish the first one. So you wouldn't have to worry about me dying before the last one is written.

I also understand that reaction, but I don't see a way around it as the story lines stand.

In that sense, yes they are all self contained, they all tell a story and introduce the characters so if you didn't read the first one you could still understand the third one you just wouldn't have the whole story.

They all have their own story arc, set of events, beginning and ending points, climax and such, but the bigger story they are part of all continue onward and intertwine.

I do understand that most will not want to read the entire series.

On the elf issue, it is simply the race of the planet, there is a dragon realm, a human realm, a centaur realm, a giant realm and so on and so forth that have intermingled due to the gates on each realm. None of the species are emphasised. The main group would probably be teen but it also covers many dark issues. I consider its content (not writing style and this is not an ego trip just merely audience comparison appeal) in with Lord of the Rings type. People of all ages and reading levels have enjoyed the books already completed in the series, so I am not overly worried about lack of audience.

My biggest worry is getting a publisher to take all of the books so they are not spread across publishers, and it doesn't have to be one book a year, I know some of the larger series have published one every 2 months. So that would really depend on the publisher, and when the books were ready and such, as well as market demands.

So I guess I am crazy. And yes, I do think I can make each one a unique and as well written story as I can write as I do look at them as individual books that are part of a bigger whole.

Anya Smith said:

And the other big problem with very long series is that you have to devote pages and thousands of words to explain what happened before. That could be daunting after even the 15th book. Not to mention very boring for the readers who read all the previous volumes. I just had that problem with Jack Chalker's Well series I recently re-read. After the third book, I was ready to throw it against the wall. And he's one of my fav. authors.

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Actually I haven't had that problem, and the books within the series, the recount would go into the prologue so if the person had read the book they wouldn't have to reread it. It would serve a refresher, and with the different realms I only have to recall what happened within that realm, and not the overall series. Its almost like 10 series with linking attributes and characters if that makes any sense.

Anya Smith said:

OK, it makes sense, and I like series within limits. I still think that's way too many. I'm planning mine for 3 at the most.

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The length and number of books are merely what I estimate will take to get the stories delivered in a workable manner. If they end up being shorter, great, if they end up being longer, so be it. I just want to tell the stories.

DaveKuzminski said:

Write it first. If it works to your satisfaction, then is the time to go about selling it.

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Okay then, Dave, 4 down who knows how many left to go

That's a good idea Sage, I do agree with the trilogy and balance. However, I would feel more comfortable if I had at least nine books written, the first of each realm. I have two other books that are being shopped, well the romance has just been pulled, I need to re-write the first 200 pages because I had a duel romance and when I wrote it I had no idea that those kinds of romances don't get published, so I have to make the first romance all back story.

I am also working on scripts, trying to get my name out that way as well. I have finished 6 thus far and am currently editing two of them.

Anyway, back to the point. Doing three of each and the final trilogy, that would make 30 books total. in the last two years I have been averaging two books a year plus three scripts (as I wrote three last year and three this year). It shouldn't take me 30 years to write the series, I would have to really slack off, much more than I have been (I just had a baby not too long ago), to take that long. The biggest reason why I want to wait, is I want the entire series to have one home, and having a name for myself as well as having the entire series written would make the possibilities a little more favorable.

I guess my main question is are series of this size unheard of, and with series this size if they do happen, are the odds good that if I become known enough and if the first book sells well enough that the entire series would be printed from the same publisher?

Thanks Vuligora,

I appreicate you pointing that out and this in no way would be a series of unrelated events, nor would it take a long time to get to the point.
If you wanted to, you could read one of the realms, a trilogy and get a full story, in fact each book as their own points, main characters, yet are still interwoven. I would hope, however, that the one you read would be well written enough to feed the desire to seek out others of the series.

You bring up very valid points but if you came away from any of my books feeling it is a waste of time, then I will have failed as an author.

Thankfully it isn't a never ending series (I don't think I could even concieve one, I have to have that ending) and has a purpose for the length. The books are also not short, they are all full length novels at an approximate 400 page 100K word length. Since each book have their own purposes you could even just read on book, in the middle or end of the trilogy and get a complete story, with of course plot openings where the other books take place. They would obviously be better served being read in order, but you wouldn't be completely lost either.

Thanks Tir, that's good to know.

Zorn, that is great advice, thanks. It reminds me of Anne McCaffrey's books that are in the same world Pern, and are linked that way, but don't have to be read in order or in a series, they are all their own stories.

I was focusing on the wrong thing, the entire picture and if they would be in one home, but if they are written well enough, I guess that will just take care of itself.

Sara