The increasing trend in "serial" books.

[theducks]

The never ending Series (Novel length) IMHO 3 or 4 books
WOT, Foreigner,Dresden files ... and others that seem to be just one l-o-n-g story. Same main players in just another episode.

I do NOT oppose Universe set stories : (but there are some)

Pern Books had various cycles that share a common theme and even touched some characters from the others:
Dragonriders
Harper Hall
Renegades

Liaden Universe has cycles that revolve around the cycles main characters

Publishers succumb to Fan input (or the bean counters) and have the Author crank out another episode. At some point the well runs dry and the Author has not really grown new branches to explore
my 2 cents

[BearMountainBooks]

Originally Posted by theducks

The never ending Series (Novel length) IMHO 3 or 4 books
WOT, Foreigner,Dresden files ... and others that seem to be just one l-o-n-g story. Same main players in just another episode.

I do NOT oppose Universe set stories : (but there are some)

Pern Books had various cycles that share a common theme and even touched some characters from the others:
Dragonriders
Harper Hall
Renegades

Liaden Universe has cycles that revolve around the cycles main characters

Publishers succumb to Fan input (or the bean counters) and have the Author crank out another episode. At some point the well runs dry and the Author has not really grown new branches to explore
my 2 cents

Agreed, and I think it's the publishers who push for it. I've read some author posts that say, 'The publisher will not consider any new series by me. They want x." The authors also want to keep earning money...

Janet Evanovich (long running Plum series) said/implied a couple of times that there would be X books and it would end. Then it was 'no, y books instead.' Now she just writes them and puts them out.

[fjtorres]

A couple of the bigger ongoing franchises (163X and Honorverse) have expanded by extending the focus to other characters and settings within the common framework and bringing in other authors.
It allows for a broader exploration of the franchise milieu or concepts without necessarily falling into the "yet another episode" fan service model.

Now, some concepts naturally lend themselves to the "variations on a theme" episode model (STAR TREK, police procedurals, legal and medical dramas) but other concepts and stories don't lend themselves to sequels and trying to graft followups to a one-and-done tends to leave a bad taste and often devalues the original or drives the audience away.

Some times it is best to leave well enough alone.

[DiapDealer]

Originally Posted by fjtorres

but other concepts and stories don't lend themselves to sequels and trying to graft followups to a one-and-done tends to leave a bad taste and often devalues the original or drives the audience away.

Some times it is best to leave well enough alone.

K.J. Parker was once asked (by email or phone or however you get to "interview" Parker):

Have you ever been tempted to write a longer series, George R. R. Martin–or Robert Jordan–style?

To which she (I'm going with "she" today) replied:

Temptation is always with us, but as a friend of mine is fond of saying, the difference between luck and a Land Rover is that luck doesn't work better if you push it.

That's always stuck with me.

[BearMountainBooks]

Originally Posted by fjtorres

A couple of the bigger ongoing franchises (163X and Honorverse) have expanded by extending the focus to other characters and settings within the common framework and bringing in other authors.
It allows for a broader exploration of the franchise milieu or concepts without necessarily falling into the "yet another episode" fan service model.

Now, some concepts naturally lend themselves to the "variations on a theme" episode model (STAR TREK, police procedurals, legal and medical dramas) but other concepts and stories don't lend themselves to sequels and trying to graft followups to a one-and-done tends to leave a bad taste and often devalues the original or drives the audience away.

Some times it is best to leave well enough alone.

And the romance industry began doing series by having the "next" be a brother or sister from the original story get his/her HEA. Or the children of the lucky first HEA couple. When I was growing up (lo those many eons ago) there was no such thing as series in romance. By definition, romance was HEA, so there wasn't much to say after that. These days, they can be more like family sagas where after the main character finds happiness, her drunk brother in law suddenly straightens up in the next novel and HE finds HEA. And so on.

I never used to read the "side-character" spinoffs in fantasy. I did so for probably the first time with Patricia Brigg's Alpha and Omega (the original series was the Mercy Thompson series).

[fjtorres]

Originally Posted by BearMountainBooks

And the romance industry began doing series by having the "next" be a brother or sister from the original story get his/her HEA. Or the children of the lucky first HEA couple. When I was growing up (lo those many eons ago) there was no such thing as series in romance. By definition, romance was HEA, so there wasn't much to say after that. These days, they can be more like family sagas where after the main character finds happiness, her drunk brother in law suddenly straightens up in the next novel and HE finds HEA. And so on.

I never used to read the "side-character" spinoffs in fantasy. I did so for probably the first time with Patricia Brigg's Alpha and Omega (the original series was the Mercy Thompson series).

The Xanth series thrives by focusing on different characters within the same fantasy realm and giving the secondary characters their own turn in the spotlight.

One of the more enjoyable aspects of the DARKOVER novels is that while most are standalones, events and characters from one are reflected in others; the young protagonist of one volume might show up as an older relative in another or a minor character in one be the focus of a different story.

For all the increasing popularity of novel series, the generational saga isn't as common in SF&F as it should. There is a lot of untapped potential there.

[Katsunami]

Originally Posted by BearMountainBooks

I never used to read the "side-character" spinoffs in fantasy.

This is the reason why I decided to NOT start on any other shared universes besides Forgotten Realms. All the books and series tie into each other (even across universes), and you keep reading and reading and buying and buying, while many of the books are not particularly good. There are some notable exceptions, of course; there always are.

So, that's "Hi, and bye! I hope someone else will read you" to Pathfinder, Ebberron, Dragonlance, Greyhawk, and Dark Sun, except if a novel is also part of a Forgotten Realms series.

Still, Forgotten Realms is a guilty pleasure, because it (along with playing Baldur's Gate and reading Tolkien) signified my switch from "read for school" to "read for my own enjoyment". At around the same time I also got to know Terry Brooks and David Eddings, and I still (re)read them, though I feel I have outgrown their sort of fantasy; something which is also true for Forgotten Realms.

[BearMountainBooks]

Originally Posted by fjtorres

The Xanth series thrives by focusing on different characters within the same fantasy realm and giving the secondary characters their own turn in the spotlight.

...

For all the increasing popularity of novel series, the generational saga isn't as common in SF&F as it should. There is a lot of untapped potential there.

I read Xanth and yes, you are right.

Ilona Andrews tried a similar series/technique with "The Edge" series. I think it had 3 or 4 books. It never sold as well as the Kate Daniels series. I enjoyed the first book of The Edge, but the second was flat and I did not continue.

@Katsunami, you do realize that now you've made that statement about not starting any sideworlds/characters other than...a series with such shall immediately pop up and become alarmingly tempting, right???

[Katsunami]

Originally Posted by BearMountainBooks

@Katsunami, you do realize that now you've made that statement about not starting any sideworlds/characters other than...a series with such shall immediately pop up and become alarmingly tempting, right???

No, you're looking at it the wrong way round. I'm not actively going to look for books in other worlds to tie into Forgotten Relams. If, for example, a Dragonlance book happens to tie into Forgotten Realms, it's out. I won't buy it.

However, if a book which is written as part of a Forgotten Realms series and it does refer to another universe, I'll still get it. The only thing I should not do, obviously, is follow up on the tie-in and start reading about the location and/or characters in the other universe that are referenced, because those books WILL contain more references.

If you follow up on references, you'll be creating an unending series that is hundreds and hundreds of books long and won't be reading anything else except D&D-style fantasy. That is exactly what I'm trying NOT to do.

[eschwartz]

Originally Posted by BearMountainBooks

I think that writers who tend to write lengthy books...are going to always write lengthy books. Writing a short story or novella is actually a different technique. Some writers won't even TRY writing a short story because you really have to think differently. It's like when novelist Richard Ford asked Mark Knopfler (song writer/musician) if he had any advice to share about song-writing. The answer: Stick to novels. Telling a convincing story in a song is an incredible talent that I'm sure takes practice. Just like novels or short stories. But they are different practices...

"I have made this longer than usual because I have not had time to make it shorter."
-- Blaise Pascal

(Seems to be the first person to say this now-common theme)

[LadyKate]

Originally Posted by fjtorres

SHADOW OF FREEDOM.
It's a fun read with a full novel's worth and more.
The way it works out the last six books (two in each of the three narrative arcs) are tightly linked. They can be read independently but collectively they add up to a single mega novel, like the first set of Amber stories.
The biggest issue is the last two chapters or so of SHADOEW are a teaser for the next volume. He reached a fine pseudo ending... and kept going.

That is a pain. I notice that it's a 2013 book and that makes me wonder what the next book was lol. Going to have to go back and read Weber again. The last I read was A Rising Thunder I think.

[Tarana]

I won't buy it until it is done. I still feel ripped off by the Sith series. Got every episode, which was later offered for free. Then, only to find out that the last 100 pages requires you to buy the ebook with the collection (an additional $8). Sorry, I won't be a patsy again.

[BearMountainBooks]

Originally Posted by Tarana

I won't buy it until it is done. I still feel ripped off by the Sith series. Got every episode, which was later offered for free. Then, only to find out that the last 100 pages requires you to buy the ebook with the collection (an additional $8). Sorry, I won't be a patsy again.

That's absolutely ridiculous. I am not familiar with that particular story, but egads. What are they thinking? Do they have to be so obvious about classless trickery? I (obviously) have no issue with people being paid for their work, but resorting to such a lowdown trick is absurd.

[NNolan]

Janet Evanovich (long running Plum series) said/implied a couple of times that there would be X books and it would end. Then it was 'no, y books instead.' Now she just writes them and puts them out.

I'm not sure she's even actually "writing" them anymore. Just add one to whatever the last number was for the title, and push a few pre-programmed macro buttons to generate descriptions of Stephanie's latest junker car, bail-jumper to chase down, funeral that Grandma will attend, dinner at the parents house, Lula's outfit and Lula's lunch. The randomizer seems to be stuck on "poison green" for color descriptions. The series can go on forever.

[BearMountainBooks]

Originally Posted by NNolan

I'm not sure she's even actually "writing" them anymore. Just add one to whatever the last number was for the title, and push a few pre-programmed macro buttons to generate descriptions of Stephanie's latest junker car, bail-jumper to chase down, funeral that Grandma will attend, dinner at the parents house, Lula's outfit and Lula's lunch. The randomizer seems to be stuck on "poison green" for color descriptions. The series can go on forever.

And if people keep buying them (whether she writes them or not) they will find SOMEONE to write them. It is one series where I read quite a few of the books, but I stopped at 10--and wished I'd stopped at 8. But it was a good run with some fun moments. Some readers are extremely loyal to a series--it's a case of wanting to spend time with old friends, I think. And with all the books available, buying tried and true is easier than sorting new stuff!