There really isn’t much to say about this one. It’s an encounter I’ve been wanting to do since the first book. In War of Nytefall: Savagery, we finally get to see a familiar face make their presence known.
So, I was asked how I chose the length for my series. With War of Nytefall: Savagerybeing the 6th volume, I felt now was as good a time as any to explain. Then again, there isn’t any science behind this. As much as I organize and plan my series, I don’t really set out saying ‘it will be this long’. The reason for that is because the plots are grand adventures that can be somewhat open-ended. Characters drive the action, so they can always create a new volume if I see now. So, the process goes something like this:
Come up with series and write down characters.
Decide on the length of series.
Start character bios and realize I can add more books.
Begin outlining of books.
Toss a few since they don’t work.
Add another because I had a cool idea.
Rearrange order and junk a few.
Bring them back because it was right the first time.
Write the first book.
Keep going.
Why did the characters do that?
Add a fresh volume to handle new idea.
Give stern warning to future volumes that they need to behave.
Eliminate one as an example . . . secretly keep them in a separate folder and bring back at last minute.
Keep going.
End and act like it was a smooth process while you’re shrieking on the inside.
Turn jettisoned book ideas into spin-offs or cannibalize for other series.
Not the cleanest or simplest path, but that’s how it tends to happen. War of Nytefall has gone from a trilogy to 12 books to 4 books to limbo to 7 books and finally ending on 8 books. Legends of Windemere was similar going from 10 to 12 to 14 to 12 to 14 and ending on 15. This is what can happen with long series. You may find that a subplot or an unexpected pathway opens up a new volume. This shouldn’t be forced, but it’s always a possibility. Honestly, I see this as part of the adventure for an author. You need to be flexible at various levels and allowing for an extra volume to appear means that you won’t strangle your story for the sake of a rigid plan. If you can play it off as a spin-off then that’s fine, but you never know if a surprise storyline will appear.
So, how do other authors choose their series lengths?
As you can see, I published my newest book this week. It was a nice surprise in that I got everything together. This meant I got to publish the book in time for my birthday. Every year that I publish around a big holiday, I forget about the balancing act. Still, I got everything done when I wanted. Finished writing up the last of the requested promos last night too. Now . . . I can try to stay awake for the rest of the day.
I think this post being late speaks for the whole week. I only had enough energy to do the promos last night before I crawled into bed. I was up later than usual with my son watching cartoons, which is why I didn’t get to anything else. He’s with me for this weekend and a little of next week, so we’ve been busy. Everything we hoped to do during Spring Break is getting handled now since we didn’t get that time. Clothes shopping, Lego sets, video games, drawing, and the list keeps going. I always feel like my time with him is so limited. Need this damn pandemic to be over because I miss the old schedule where we got more time together.
Work was crazy since we came back from break and it was the end of the quarter. Lots of changes there and my son was in the same boat, so tons of homework. All of this has been making me think about testing. So many kids are able to do projects, research papers, or discussions on topics, but fail at tests. Yet, we make tests the benchmark for grading. It helps those who are only good at testing and has no effect on those who can excel at all categories. It only hurts those with focus issues, memory issues, reading comprehension issues, and other challenges that make tests harder. Sadly, I have no answers for this beyond reducing tests and switching them for other ways of figuring out if a student knows a topic. Not a popular thing in this country.
You can tell I didn’t do much this week besides publishing a book and working. My mind is locked on strange things. Like how some people can get away with being manipulative while others can’t even get away with being honest. It’s amazing how many people I’ve seen lie, leave out facts, or put on an emotional show to get others to side with them. It inevitably results in the other party getting made out to be a monster and be shoved onto the defensive. I’ve noticed when a person is frantically defending themselves and panicking, they end up losing. It doesn’t matter if they’re right while the other person manipulates the situation. People see the loss of control as a sin instead of them possibly being provoked. Very frustrating and sad to witness.
Writing has been rather non-existent. I finished some editing and never got much time during the week. My nights were spent handling some personal issues and getting extra sleep. I got a little of an outline done during one day of school, but I’m not expecting to touch it again for a while. My plan is to dive into the ‘Slumberlord’ outlines next weekend when I’m not doing any late birthday stuff. Maybe I’ll do some during the weeknights if I have the energy since I don’t have any blog stuff to prepare. I don’t know what I’m doing for June with it being all poetry. Should I use it to promote books or just come up with random topics? I think I’ve got a post coming up next Sunday about it since I don’t know what I’m doing.
Television-wise, I haven’t done much. I watched this short anime called ‘Uzaki-Chan Wants to Hang Out’. It’s a ‘Slice of Life’ comedy that a friend enjoyed reading, so I gave it a shot. Not bad, but it wasn’t easy to binge watch. I think it works best if I watch an episode or two then go off to do something else. Watched the last of the ‘Rurouni Kenshin’ live action movies too. That finished off Spring Break. After that, I started watching a classic called ‘Tenchi Muyo’ . . . It’s not as good as I remember. Can’t put my finger on why I’m not into it like I was long ago.
Next week isn’t going to have anything special. I have my son for the first half, but we’ll be focused on school. Last quarter means things are going to get tougher. I have no novels to work on until I finish outlining things. There’s a big tinkering I need to do with ‘Slumberlord’. Basically, I’m changing a female character to male, but keeping their love interest male. It’ll be my first attempt at a gay relationship, so I’m being very careful even with the outlines. They’re only in the first book, but I know how people get about these relationships. It’s not even the main character involved. This might be why I’ve been dragging my feet on getting to the actual outlining. That and I haven’t done a big outline in over a year. I feel rusty, which is made worse by the lingering depression and anxiety I’ve had for months. Did I say I want the pandemic to end? The beating my mental health has taken is agonizing. Anyway, I’m hoping to get the first book outline done by the end of next weekend. It’ll be a longshot given my energy and brain, but we’ll see.
Decent way to get to the goals of the week list:
Time with son
Work
Outline ‘Tales of the Slumberlord’ books
Try to improve sleep schedule
Go out with a friend for a late birthday thing
Finish ‘Tenchi Muyo’
Puzzle time
Think of June poetry topics
Maybe make a list of July topics to make sure I don’t forget
Legends of Windemere 