Comments on: Roxanne St. Claire asks: Do You Disconnect If You Don’t Connect?

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By: Alex

Alex — Fri, 25 Aug 2006 17:32:39 +0000

Great topic, really – HUGE food for thought. This is all so strange to me, a newbie to authorship (although not to writing). I have NEVER been a fan of series’, except I guess Miss Marple. I always thought that if you take a book to all the places it should go, it’s simply redundant to revisit those characters. There are very few books and authors for which I actively seek out a sequel, and I’m almost always disappointed in the follow-up when I do. I’m very loyal to the authors I love, but I tend to skip over the follow ups in a series and wait for the next NEW book.

I guess I’m going to have to wait for the feedback and see if the characters in my books resonate so much with my particular audience that they WANT more, in which case I would think about it.

I guess it’s like the difference between film features and TV. Film sequels are usually, well, stupid and inane. But a great TV series can go on and on and on and on (I have to say… DEADWOOD… I think I’m going to have to kill myself when it’s over)

By: Evanne

Evanne — Fri, 25 Aug 2006 14:38:17 +0000

Great discussion – up until reading it, I’d never thought about the autobuy list in terms of series. Yep – every author on it is writing connected stories. For me the author’s voice is number one in choosing books to buy. But here’s an irony, in the best books the author’s voice disappears. The characters come alive and their special world becomes real. As long as the author continues to spin that golden story thread I’m loathe to leave the series.

By: Allison Brennan

Allison Brennan — Fri, 25 Aug 2006 03:55:16 +0000

Fabulous comments! I love connected series, and like Barbie I’ve read (nearly) every JD Robb book. I never read the first four and I can’t go back to the beginning because I’ve read all the others since. Weird, know. I didn’t realize it was a series when I started reading. Duh.

Anyway, I love writing them but I fear that I’ll get bored, so right now I’m only planning finite connected books (i.e. 3) . . . that may change, but they’ll still be finite.

My upcoming trilogy is more connected than my last, but they still stand alone because I don’t want someone who reads the last book to feel like they can’t read the first two, or they missed something important.

Anyway, I’m beat and going to bed! More on my trip next week . . .

By: Natalie

Natalie — Fri, 25 Aug 2006 01:33:30 +0000

Hi Rocki,

So glad you visited us today. I have a three book series about a dance teacher in Ogden, Utah (cozy mystery) that will debut in April, so I found this entire topic fascinating! I originally set out, when I wrote my first book, to be a “series” writer. Only problem was, no one would buy the first book. It was published by a small independent publisher (POD), and is now about of print. Well, now I’ve sold the second in the series to Five Star. So, I guess I have to think about writing the next in the series. If I ever get some downtime from writing my books for St. Martin’s and Berkley.

Thanks again for joining us, Rocki!

By: Diana Peterfreund

Diana Peterfreund — Fri, 25 Aug 2006 00:55:42 +0000

I love series. I’m writing one.

It’s a weird thing, though. While I’m likely to love any individual book in a series that I love more than any book that is not in a series, I am ALSO likely to dislike a book in a series I love with much more ferocity than any book that I dislike that is not in a series.

In other words, if an author f***s with my beloved series, she has earned untold ire from me. If she just f***s with a book not in a series, not so much.

A corollary: I am far more likely to start disliking books I love in a series if the series as a whole goes down the tubes later on. I may have loved book one, but if you lose me with book three it is unlikely I will ever read book one again, or be able to think on it without book three leaving a bad taste in my mouth. A book not in a series gets off scot-free. A notable exception: Narnia. I simply pretend book seven does not exist, and I’m fine.

By: Alison Kent » Blog Archive » Readerly Food for Thought

Alison Kent » Blog Archive » Readerly Food for Thought — Thu, 24 Aug 2006 23:01:29 +0000

[...] From Roxanne St. Claire: Here is the mother of all understatements: readers like connected books. No, thatâ€™s not true. Readers LOVE connected books. Frankly, this connection with connection is so extensive, pervasive and attractive to readers that very often they wonâ€™t consider books that arenâ€™t connected, much in the same way they wonâ€™t consider certain genres, time periods or settings. (…) But it wasnâ€™t until I climbed aboard the connected book bandwagon that my career did more than chug, and I know that forward motion is no coincidence. Readers, Iâ€™ve learned in my recent travels to bookstores and libraries, demand connected books. They are, in truth, way past disappointed when they pick up one of my backlist and use it to point to a stack of another title and say, â€œAre these a series?â€ [...]

By: Cece

Cece — Thu, 24 Aug 2006 22:12:37 +0000

Rocki that’s the same reason I haven’t picked up any of the Plum books!!! I’d be so far behind. However I love connected too–and this dates back to Julie Garwood and Jude Deveraux historicals. Yes, my age is showing

AS a writer I, too, love going back to visit old friends just as much as readers do.

By: Barbie

Barbie — Thu, 24 Aug 2006 21:10:48 +0000

Ok, I could just say “ditto” to all the above, EXCEPT that I have read every JD Robb book, and I absolutely love that series. What amazes me about series/connected writers is how they continue to come up with fresh ways to keep the characters interesting. To this non-writer it seems like an incredible task to write ONE story that could hold anyone’s attention; to do it over and over again, with the same characters no less, seems next to impossible. I guess that’s why I’m not writing books. But I love reading them, and I now have a new author, Roxanne , to get into. Your “bullet catcher” books sound irresistible.

One of the things I love about discovering another author with a series is that I can finish one book and pick another one right up. No waiting for another year for the next installment. I seem to get more out of the characters when I can read one book after the other. I tend to forget some details when there is a time gap between readings.

By: Danniele Worsham

Danniele Worsham — Thu, 24 Aug 2006 20:44:51 +0000

Rocki,
Interesting post! I’d never really thought about my feelings on connected books until this, but then I realized I have definite opinions.
I like connected series to a point. After about 3 books, I’m ready for something else. My sister loves Sherrilyn Kenyon and has encouraged me to read all her books, which my sister owns. But I’m not willing to wade through so many when I have so little reading time. If I catch a series near the beginning, I enjoy it more, as long as the books/storylines stay fresh.
I’m currently reading a paranormal series and I have found something I don’t like about it. The overarching storyline (a conflict that carries throughout all the books, outside of the main characters’ conflict) has become so complicated and full of characters that I’m losing sight of who is who. So my suggestion as a reader would be, don’t involve so many people that we can’t keep them straight.

Can’t wait to have you over at The Writing Playground in September!!!!

Angel