The Reading Vent & Rant Thread

[JSWolf]

When you red a series that's not yet finished, a book you may think is standalone may not be when another book is released that references that book. Also, you can only say (IYHO) that a book is standalone if you've read the entire series.

[ownedbycats]

Originally Posted by DNSB

For many authors, it's hard to carry a series past 3 to 5 books. At some point, you begin to feel that you are writing the same book with minor changes so keeping the story fresh enough to appeal to the reader and to keep you motivated in writing the story gets hard.

In one case, last book there was a preview of an upcoming book that apparently just... never got published.

[John F]

Originally Posted by JSWolf

When you red a series that's not yet finished, a book you may think is standalone may not be when another book is released that references that book. Also, you can only say (IYHO) that a book is standalone if you've read the entire series.

Doesn't that mean you can't say any book is stand alone? An author may decide to make it into a series after they see how a book does?

How about if an author writes a book in a "world" that another author has written about in the same "world"?

[DiapDealer]

I don't understand why people seem to want to overcomplicate this. A standalone book is not a part of a larger body of work. There are standalones and there are installments.

Shared world (and not the "real" world) can possibly get tricky. But unless that shared world is fully fleshed out in each and every novel that takes place in it, then the answer seems pretty obvious to me. If pieces of other works were not relevant, there'd be no reason to share them in the first place.

[Quoth]

A series and a serial are not the same thing.

[theducks]

I subscribed to Analog Sf & SF for over 40Y.
Many popular novels were first provided as a Serial in their pages.
Dune, Pern ...
None of those monthly releases would have really stood by themselves (without the summary of what came before).

[DNSB]

Originally Posted by Quoth

A series and a serial are not the same thing.

IIRC, a series is spread over multiple books and a serial is a single book split into multiple episodes.

There were quite a few books that I read serialized in various magazines. (F&SF, Astounding/Analog, Galaxy, If, etc.).

[DiapDealer]

Originally Posted by Quoth

A series and a serial are not the same thing.

I'm not sure how that's relevant to my point (if it was intended to be--maybe it just happened to follow my post). Neither has installments that I would consider standalone. Their installments are parts of a larger whole--regardless of how self-contained each piece may strive to be. They are a piece of something bigger by intent. A standalone is not a part of anything bigger by intent. Neither serials nor series are comprised of standalone installments in my opinion.

I've said my piece. I'm out. Before anyone suggests a new thread should be started.

[Quoth]

Instalments are a feature of serial, not a series. A true series can stop at any volume.

[DiapDealer]

Originally Posted by Quoth

Instalments are a feature of serial, not a series. A true series can stop at any volume.

Then there are no true series. If they're not installments, there is no series. If there's no connections, then there's no need for the book to be a part of a series. And if there's connections, they're not standalones. None of this is rocket science. Books are standalones (or not standalones) by intent; not structure. Intentionally slap a series (subseries/serial/whatever) title on it and none of its pieces are standalone anymore.

And yes. I know. I lied about being done. Sue me.

[Solitaire1]

Originally Posted by theducks

I subscribed to Analog Sf & SF for over 40Y.
Many popular novels were first provided as a Serial in their pages.
Dune, Pern ...
None of those monthly releases would have really stood by themselves (without the summary of what came before).

So was The Adventures of Pinocchio by Carlo Collodi. It was released chapter by chapter and was supposed to end with Chapter 15. Fan demand lead to Collodi continuing the story.

[Cactus Chef]

Been reading The Woods of Arcady, which for whatever reason is a complete slog. I usually devour Mr. Moorcock's works, but the fantastical adventure-cum-autobiography interspersed with stream-of-consciousness just isn't doing it for me. I currently have a sunk-cost fallacy where I keep reading because I've already put time into it, but it ends up only being a measured sip each night. And it holds me up from reading other stuff.

[ownedbycats]

Reading cozy mystery. Find myself distracted by the narrative having the ambulance speed away with sirens blaring for a sprained ankle.

[DNSB]

Sounds like one story a while back where police, fire, ambulance and CPS responded when a barely walking toddler fell down and got a minor cut on their lip. Evidently, it was supposed to tell us how seriously potential life-threatening injuries were taken in that world. From my family (siblings, children, grandchildren, etc.), I tend more to the suspicion that the author was indulging themselves by wasting a few hundred words.

[Cactus Chef]

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