Quote:
Originally Posted by pwalker8
I've read more than a few books where the book was a reasonable stand alone book, but was also open ended enough to allow follow on books if the first book was popular enough. Sometimes it became the start of a series, other times, it was simply a stand alone book.
|
Yeah, Star Wars was like that. From what I remember, so was Magic Kingdom For Sale-Sold!
Quote:
I'm sure that there are authors who had the ending in mind when they started a series - J.K. Rowlings supposedly wrote the last scene of book 7 and put it in a bank vault early on. For that matter, David Weber supposedly had a final battle where Honor Harrington dies in mind when he started the Honor Harrington series, but scrapped the idea at some point.
It's very, very hard to keep a series going for a large number of books. The book that I was reading when I started this thread currently has three books in it. When I started the series, it seemed like a three maybe four book series. Now, after reading book three, it seems to me like it's going to be at least a ten book series. It's pretty unlikely that I'm going to maintain interest in the series that long.
|
Sounds like your making my case against series for me. Thank you.
Quote:
|
In general, I'm not happy with authors who start a series with a promised end, then never get there, a la Martin and Rothfuss.
|
Quite honestly, I empathize with Martin and Rothfuss. I doubt these guys are holding back their work just to piss off their audience. You're mad, but imagine how they feel.