This is more for my wife than it is for me:
I have a novel that's being queried to agents right now. The plot doesn't matter, but it's about a career burglar who's trying to get straight and who works as the bouncer in the bar of the hotel his family runs. His love-interest is a pickpocket who's working her way up the ladder in her crime family.
Now, here's the dilemma: my wife is convinced that the protagonist and the love-interest have to get married in the next book, or he has to take over the family business, or something to keep the character progress going forward. Personally, I think that in genre mysteries/thrillers, the less character development the better. I see detective series much like episodic television: develop an interesting main character or cast, but don't change them too much from episode to episode.
Thoughts?
I have a novel that's being queried to agents right now. The plot doesn't matter, but it's about a career burglar who's trying to get straight and who works as the bouncer in the bar of the hotel his family runs. His love-interest is a pickpocket who's working her way up the ladder in her crime family.
Now, here's the dilemma: my wife is convinced that the protagonist and the love-interest have to get married in the next book, or he has to take over the family business, or something to keep the character progress going forward. Personally, I think that in genre mysteries/thrillers, the less character development the better. I see detective series much like episodic television: develop an interesting main character or cast, but don't change them too much from episode to episode.
Thoughts?