Quote:
Originally Posted by Catlady
Maybe it's the POV character that should be the most important factor in distinguishing whether a book is a stand-alone or part of some form of series. So the Miss Marple books are a series, even though they're self-contained and need not be read in order. But Linwood Barclay's non-trilogy books are stand-alones despite the fact that they inhabit the same fictional world.
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I take no issue with that. But having no experience with Barclay's works, I have to wonder why--if they share a fictional setting--it's important for you to consider his non-trilogy books as "Stand Alone" rather than Self Contained novels in a shared milieu? Self Contained (but with a shared fictional setting/background) carries no inherent negative connotation and it acknowledges the shared milieu for those to whom it might make a difference (good or bad). I know it's a detail
I would like to be made plain.
There have been countless authors over the years who wrote multiple books which shared no fictional components. So why the desire to make books that have clear connections (read "author intent") to other books seem like they don't? That question is not being directed at anyone in particular, by the way. it's almost like some feel that a book is being slighted in some way if its connection (however esoteric) to other books is noticed and/or considered relevant. As if being denied the stand-alone label is punishment or a "strike against" a work.
Guy Gavriel Kay's works are all tied (however tenuously) to his fictional Fionavar universe, for example. But with the exception of one trilogy, all of his novels are very-much self-contained. One might have to work hard to notice the connections, but they are there. Even so, I would never dream of trying to hide the fact (from prospective readers) that Kay expressly wrote his novels with a unifying subcurrent in mind (much like Sanderson's Cosmere) by using a term that implies no such interplay exists. "Self-Contained, but ...." is much more apt, in my opinion. It gives people for whom it matters, the knowledge they need to determine for themselves which of an author's "self-contained, but ..." novels they might want to begin with and/or the order in which they wish to proceed (or skip altogether).