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    •  
      CommentAuthorJeni
    • CommentTimeAug 23rd 2011
     

    http://www.avclub.com/articles/the-perils-and-pleasures-of-longrunning-fantasy-se,60769/

    Makes a good point (especially the last line). Although I was happy with Harry Potter.

    •  
      CommentAuthorYorkshire
    • CommentTimeAug 23rd 2011
     

    Excellent article. While I had some issues with how Harry Potter ended, I didn’t think the final book was entirely “muddled,” as he put it. But the rest of it is a very interesting and thoughtful read. He makes me feel even more convinced that I should write all four books in my fantasy series before trying to publish the first one…

  1.  

    He makes me feel even more convinced that I should write all four books in my fantasy series before trying to publish the first one…

    Or at least know where I’m going with considerable certainty. Anyway, that’s exactly my plan.

  2.  

    I DIDN’T KNOW YOU READ THE AV CLUB JENI

    •  
      CommentAuthorFalling
    • CommentTimeAug 23rd 2011
     
    Huh interesting. I wonder if it's the nature of an long series in general or just ones that have an extended storyline that keeps expanding so that it feels like it's spinning out of control with little hope of solving all plot questions (aka Lost). Versus having contained storylines of trilogies and duologies within the same world.
    •  
      CommentAuthorVirgil
    • CommentTimeAug 23rd 2011
     

    I DIDN’T KNOW YOU READ THE AV CLUB JENI

    THE AV CLUB IS THE BEST

    •  
      CommentAuthorJeni
    • CommentTimeAug 23rd 2011
     

    OH GOD. I’VE BEEN EXPOSED AS A FRAUD.

    ...I don’t. I was just linked there.

  3.  

    ...I don’t. I was just linked there.

    YOU AREN’T COOL

    THE AV CLUB IS THE BEST

    VIRGIL HERE IS COOL

    • CommentAuthorWiseWillow
    • CommentTimeAug 23rd 2011
     

    Good article, but I was rather peeved by the insult to Harry Potter. I liked Deathly Hallows. Though at first I did have a “WHY ARE THEY NOT AT HOGWARTS THIS IS WEIRD” moment at first.

  4.  

    Interesting read. I watched the first season of Game of Thrones and tried to read the second book but I got sidetracked and now it’s due back at the library with someone having requested it :( Are the third and fourth books really going to be a disappointment?

    I think the last 3 Potter books were genius and good in their own right when lots of people seem to think they suck. I appreciated the last book more on the second read through. The difference is that Rowling did plan like EVERYTHING and wasn’t adding more than necessary.

    With LOST I never really cared about the so-called unanswered questions. I am pretty sure a lot of the things people think weren’t answered were, if not in the show then at least in that little epilogue thing. And a lot of the unanswered questions weren’t important. The only thing I feel they messed up was the point of Walt which I think was because of the actor ageing. And again contrary to popular belief the writers had almost everything planned. But sometimes the show got LOST in pointless stuff like Jack getting appendicitis and the writers’ strike screwed up some things.

    My fantasy series is a planned trilogy and it can only possibly stay as a trilogy. I don’t believe I can come up with enough content to fill many more books. It has a strict storyline involving 3 key things that needs to be concluded in 3. To stretch it out wouldn’t make sense and would be unnecessary. I have also thought about writing all the books before trying to get the first one published, maybe lying to the publisher that I only have done the first so instead of feeling pressured to get the next book done quickly I can spend a year fine tuning what I already did.

  5.  

    a) I would never start querying for a fantasy trilogy I hadn’t written in full and edited several times.
    b) Maybe it’s because I don’t read much fantasy, but I find it so hard to understand how a trilogy can grow to seven books that aren’t somewhat self-contained (such as the Narnia series was). I don’t even really understand trilogies. Surely two books is enough to set something up and then finish it. Surely?

    I’ve probably just written a wall-banger there. Sorry, guys.

  6.  

    a) I might if I had a very good plan of what happens in 2 and 3. Right now I have a reasonably good plan of 2 and a vague plan of 3. But it would be good to finish all 3 first in case the plot further develops in a way that needs to change what happened in the last ones.
    b) I guess the authors somehow get lost in other plot threads and just want to show more and more of their world. But often I don’t get how the plot can get so long that it delays the ending for as long as they do. How can it still eventually get to the same ending that was originally planned without all the extra stuff feeling like a pointless waste of time? Unless yeah a plot is concluded and a new story happens after.
    But I don’t agree with you that things should be able to be finished in 2. As long as there’s enough relevant things in each book and/or each book covers a specific part of the story like with each Potter book being a year level at school I’m cool with it. Like I said my series has 3 important things and kind of has a 3 theme going so each book needs to cover 1 of the 3 things so it makes sense to be a trilogy. My story probably has more of a right to be a trilogy than most trilogies.
    c) oh wait there wasn’t any c.

  7.  

    b) I’d say that Potter falls under semi-self-contained books, though.

  8.  

    Oh right yeah but they still connect quite a bit. I thought Narnia was spread out over thousands of years with different characters so it’s more self-contained. Mine aren’t TOO self-contained but still should be split, unless it was to be one big book. I might have so little content to actually write that it could be 1 reasonably large book with small writing. It’s hard to judge how long it will be but I think I’ve got a good amount of stuff in there. Relevant stuff. Not Brisingr stuff.

  9.  

    I actually enjoyed Brisingr, because I’m not a great fantasy reader so I don’t know how much he’s ripping off, and I like meandering books and worldbuilding.

    Here you may catch a glimpse of just how much I have to edit my own work.

    •  
      CommentAuthorFalling
    • CommentTimeAug 28th 2011
     
    Blah I had a multi-paragraph response to a) and b), but I got signed out and it got swallowed up :S
    I'm going to bed, and will consider retyping when I'm not so irritated.
  10.  

    I’d be interested to hear read it.