Single title or series?

Not that I'm aware of... I think mainstream is usually stand-alone. I could be wrong. I'm sure there are some marvelous mainstream series out there. But FLOM, I can't think of any.

JenNipps said:

Do you think mainstream/contemporary lends itself to series as much as other genres or are standalone titles more appropriate?

Click to expand...

Mainstream can lend itself to series-- Jan Karon's Mitford series, Jennifer Chiaverini's Elm Creek Quilt series, and Adriana Trigiani's Big Stone Gap trilogy come to mind.

I think there are key characteristics that make for a good mainstream series, in comparison to other genres, though. For example, in a mystery series, the detective solves a new case in every book, but the detective can remain static (but doesn't have to, of course). In a mainstream series, the characters can recur, but usually move forward in time-- i.e. in the Mitford series, the main character meets a woman, who in subsequent books he develops a relationship with.

I don't know if I'm explaining this very well...

The only mainstream/contemporary series I'm aware of is the Tales of the City books... because I saw the miniseries.

Series are possible, but not numbered. It's more like sequels, I suppose.