Quote:
Originally Posted by stonetools
As to why trilogies, etc...
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Money quote:
My own take: originality is hard. Building a rich, complex original world is REALLY hard. Most writers don't successfully do it even once. Not surprisingly , most writers who do it tend to recycle (er , revisit) their creations rather than imagine new ones. |
Often true.
But sometimes it's even simpler.
Writers aren't always the masters of their stories; sometimes a story spawns other stories mid-stream, or the ending of one creates the need for another.
One example that comes to mind (given that I already mentioned SPELL SWORD above) is Bradley's FORBIDDEN TOWER, a story spawned by a comment from one of the author's friends about the challenges the protagonists were likely to face to maintain the "happy ending" of SPELL SWORD. More, not only did this lead to a story over twice as long as its precursor, it also led to a revision of THE BLOODY SUN and the above-mentioned SWORD OF ALDONES. So a single comment led to a simple fairy tale-ish standalone story becoming the cornerstone to half the entire Darkover series.
Writing is hard work; writers are often compelled to follow-up whenever a good story or compelling characters present themselves so sequels and series aren't always about milking a popular character or millieau for a few extra bucks; sometimes it's about a muse that just won't be denied.
