Writing: Maintaining Story Tension in a Long Series

 

One difficulty writing a series--long or short--is maintaining both the author's and the reader's interest over time. The secret to that is to have a real story to tell in every single book.

I don't know if this is still a common problem, but back in the day when writers were SO focused on getting past the gatekeepers of Legacy Publishers, they would throw all of their passion into the first book of what they hoped would become a trilogy. That included making the first book "stand alone," so that Legacy Publishers would be willing to take a chance on it even if the other two books in the series weren't "picked up."

The result might be a fantastic first book... that left nowhere for the other books to go. Sometimes that second book was a true drag, and then, if you were lucky, the third book would redeem the series. But sometimes, the third book was even worse.... as the story floundered, either simply reprising the first book, or, worse, taking away everything the characters achieved in the first book merely for the sake of giving them something new to do.

And the usual subplot that suffered the most would be the romance. If the author gave the heroine and hero a HEA (Happily Ever After) at the end of Book 1, they had to be torn apart artificially in Book 2 so they could struggle back together... or, worse, be matched up with a new partner. (A plot trick I hate at a visceral level.)

"But, Tara," those of you who have read any of The Unfinished Song might be saying, "Don't you repeatedly tear apart Dindi and Kavio right when they are on the cusp of achieving happiness?"

Why, yes. Yes, I do. Or, rather, yes, the Story does. I take no blame or credit, as I am only the conduit.... Ahem, back to the point.

There was once a version of The Unfinished Song (known in those days as The Corn Maiden) where Dindi and Kavio's story ended happily at the end of one gigantic Book 1. I then had other novels planned... prequels about Vessia and Vio, sequels about the maiden doomed to be sacrificed to the Lord of Nightmares.... 

But I changed my mind. Because of the nature of the ending of The Unfinished Song, I realized that letting the song "finish," any prequels or sequels that followed would inevitably fall short. (As prequels and sequels to excellent movies so often do.) 

So instead, I decided to follow Tolkien's example, and simply write one long story that worked like a Windwheel, spinning Past and Future into the "current" story through Visions and Traveling (to the past and future). Maybe if I'd realized that was going to introduce all the problems of time travel into my story, I might have reconsidered, but, eh, whoops. 

(Remind me to write a post about the trope of the Prophecy in Epic Fantasy, and how, to me, that is already a form of time travel, bringing up all the same issues with free will and predestination.)

So back to my approach to The Unfinished Song, which is modeled on the master, Tolkien with a dollop of Shaherazad. The Unfinished Song is one long story, divided into twelve volumes; or, rather, it is multiple threads of story, some reaching deep into the past and some growing past the books' current time into the future, but all related to one another. Cliffhangers come at the end of each book, not to aggravate you, but to let the reader know that the story isn't finished yet, and won't be, until the end. By that point, we'll have had a peek into different possible futures Dindi and Kavio could choose, but the series itself ends with their choice. 

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That's all well and good, but there's still the matter of making each book stand on it's own... to have a goal, urgency and achievement, even as it also leads to a new problem. I had to be certain that every step Dindi and Kavio take is an important stage of the journey that leads them to the ultimate battle and choice. Part of that is simply allowing them to grow up. The series starts when Dindi is 14 and ends when she 21. More importantly, when the series starts, she is truly a child, innocent, fun-loving, self-conscious, clumsy and shy, but by the time the series ends, she's grown up, taken responsibility, found out that power has a price she can't avoid if she wants to protect and save those she loves.

The first half of the series is a Coming of Age story, all about leaving one's family to become an individual. The second half of the series is more like a Second Chance story. (Remember, their society is more primitive than ours, so 21 is more mature for them compared to us.) The characters have become their own individuals, and made choices that put them at odds with one another. The question is, how can they resolve their differences and find a way to work together to save Faearth from destruction?

In pragmatic terms, as a writer, the entire 12 books form one large Story Arc. Within that story arc are four trilogies, each of which have their own story arc. And within that, each novel has a story arc as well, so, despite the inevitable cliffhanger, something important is gained in every book. (I hope that it's impossible to appreciate the story if any book is skipped.)

I treat each novel as it's own Hero's Journey, usually with a cast of different supporting tropes than the last book, so it's not simply a re-hash of a McGuffin Quest. I also look for the most interesting parallel stories going on that support or undermine our Heroine and Hero, to bring those stories to the fore. These are the stories that I had planned to make independent books, so I know they have enough "grit" to stand on their own. But by making them subplots, I can allow them a little more leeway to go in different directions. 

This brings me back to Sworn. This is the first book in the last trilogy of the series. Although by now, the readers should know Dindi and Kavio, the heroine and hero, fairly well, I can't afford to rest. I have to establish what, in this book, at this moment, makes each one heroic, flawed, and likable. I have to make sure they are heroes worth rooting for, that the reader wants each one to succeed... which, of course, is impossible, since at this point in the story, Dindi and Kavio want very different things.

I do have some real villains too, and they are getting stronger, crueler and closer to their own goals. But if Dindi and Kavio were simply a loving couple of great people fighting a Big Bad, in my opinion, it would be a lot more obvious that they need only defeat the Big Bad and win. I'm not afraid to promise that my series does have a HEA, but there will be a few bittersweet notes.... and I hope it isn't obvious at all how, given Dindi and Kavio's irreconcilable visions of the future, they can find a way through the maze to their happy ending.

You can buy the first book HERE. 

Or...

Would you like to read the first book The Unfinished Song for FREE? You can! Just click here and I'll send you the book.