Disconnected Series

Sometimes a story needs to be told over a length that is greater than feasible or in some manner desirable. Feasibility is quickly falling by the wayside when e-books can be of any length with no regard for spine width or holding the pages together. Desirability is a function of a few things. Cost asked for the book. The amount of time a reader is expected to stay with a story at any particular interval without seeking a change of pace. A similar need in the author either to write something different for a while or simply take a break. That author break may be researching something different later use, which doesn't break the fiction flow or feel of the current story while still giving the brain cells a chance to change gears. A series of books or stories starring the same main character(s) isn't the only kind of series. This sometimes feels like an idea that gets lost and or forgotten.

I've been thinking about this topic for the last little while because in the recent Killing Time - Horror E-Rag Issue 2-2 I released in PDF the first of my devil stories. It is titled "Toasty Warm" and so far is part of a trilogy where the only tie is that there are devils involved in the plot. Nothing else binds them. No repeat characters; not even the devils. So how is that a series? The stories are related. They are a part of the same vein of the same mythos--at least as I've done them. It's the same as they would be if they were a more coherent continuing series rather than a series in spirit or intent alone. I haven't put much more thought into the series since the conclusion of the third story. The time is appropriate to look at returning to the themes into which these stories play, what they are expressing about that corner of the mythos I wish to build, and should there be more.

The question is more what? The simple answer is that it may be time to look at pulling the strings together between these stories and bring some kind of greater coherence. This could be bringing out an overarching story that requires the previous parts--at least for the continued readership who has been witness to the events from start to newest finish--yet can stand on its own. Moving from disconnected to connected is not a given. It may not even be desirable. Sometimes trying to pull off the connection diminishes the feel that was previously held. It can weaken the strength born of their uniqueness. It may just be unfulfilling and have no bearing on the past. Either way it is a question that needs to be asked before embarking on such a goal. The rewards and the satisfaction are great if it can be pulled off though. It's something that requires a deft hand and good forethought.

Mood: reflective.

Music: Anthem of the World by Stratovarius and Sister of Pain by Vince Neil.

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My Pile-On Exemplar

There was one particular book that gave me the idea “pile on the circumstances”. The idea struck me so fully that I added it to my Windows desktop. This was a custom desktop I had made that had animation on it, and live links to files on my computer. This was back in Win98. The book is one of my favourites; in fact I have it listed at #5 on my list of favourite horror books at Bob’s Reviews. The book is  Cujo by Stephen King.

The book was chockfull of incidences that compounded upon each other to make for a small set of situations that seemed absolutely fated. If a couple of those circumstances had not fallen into place then the outcomes of the story could have been very different. The book itself could have been very different. This convergence, this conflagration built up the tension. It made the book. Not only was it a set of incidences that formed the plot, but it was also a set of lesser plots that formed into a single overarching plot.

This all hails back to the last three, and other previous posts, of this blog. As such it must be said that Cujo is not only a powerful book in its own right, but it is also a huge cornerstone of the “relational series” of Castle Rock books. As a part of that tapestry it drew upon the book before it,  The Dead Zone, and it impacted the future of the series starting with  The Dark Half. It is the familiarity that is brought to the story that gives it more strength than any stand-alone could wish to deliver.

These are the kinds of forces that shape a most enjoyable experience, a fan-base, and a market. It all builds upon itself forming something greater than any of the individual parts on their own. Not only that, but it makes for a phenomena, and who can argue with one of those in their repertoire.

Mood: level.
Music: King for a Day by Green Day and Tragic Kingdom by No Doubt.

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Trilogies and Series

Our friends in the Fantasy community are very used to having their tales done in series of books. From the minimal contact I have with that genre I cannot name a single stand alone Fantasy book except for maybe Piers Anthony’s Killobyte, and with a book like that it is a pretty tenuous connection. Still, in horror we have a few series. Notably there is Stephen King’s Dark Tower, there are the multiple sets of books from Brian Lumley’s Necroscope series of series, and there are the series from Anne Rice.

I for one am a huge fan of book series. I draw this huge mental connection between them and television series. There are things that can be done within the scope of more than one book that are, at the least, much more difficult to do within a single novel. The requirements to write a successful series, of which trilogies are just a constricted scale version, are only extensions of what makes a successful novel. The most important of these are of course the characters. The characters that carry on from book to book have to be that much more compelling and able to carry the reader’s interest for that much longer.

The thing that I really admire about series is the ability that they give the author to be more subtle, and to build more intricate plots and relationships. This can be put to most spectacular use when there is an over-reaching plot to all of the books, an undercurrent that can be separate from each single book’s plot. I am speaking of the difference between the type of series that is like a single novel of immense size broken into separate books, compared to the type of series that is episodic with an overarching plot tying these episodes together.

There is also a third kind of series as well. That would be the kind where the books do not have to have characters in common or a plot that runs through them. These series are tied together by different criteria. An obvious first example comes from Stephen King’s Castle Rock novels. They can be considered a series because of their common setting, the town of Castle Rock. In a slightly different vein there can also be a series of books based solely on a thematic connection. I cannot name such an example from what I have read, but I am writing just such a trilogy. I always practice what I preach.

Mood: harried.
Music: 4000 Rainy Nights by Stratovarius and The Edge by Vince Neil.

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