Writerly Ways

[cornerofmadness]

Before I get into that let me say I'm so not ready to go to bed early so I can get up in o'dark hundred so I can drive 100 miles to my early morning doctor's appointment in Columbus. At least I did get a lot of stuff done, everything's unpacked. I still desperately need to figure out what to do with this living room to clean it up and I got some editing done.

This writerly ways poses questions without clear answers. How do you know when to end a series brought to you by Emergency!. I've read that Netflix has a policy of no more than 5-6 seasons because after that things get stale. You know, I can actually see some sense to that. Some shows have dragged on and on and you keep watching but you're not sure why (looking at you NCIS, The SimpsonS) I'm watching Emergency! last night and tonight and it's season 7. It's been a two-parter in seattle as training session with John and Roy barely in it. It is literally the dullest thing I've seen in forever and I have it on as background noise. But all of S6 wasn't that good either.

I'm also a huge mystery reader as you know. Some of them are 25+ books long. Again I find myself reading because it's there (thank you library) not because I think they're good. To be fair a few still are good 20 books in but many aren't. You can really see the formula (I could outline every J.D. Robb Eve Dallas book at this point) and others have gotten so ridiculous you DO give up (and wish the author did too).

So as the author, how do you know when to stop? I think that's a sticky question than it looks because the obvious answer is when you have nothing new to say. But if you ARE JD Robb, Rita Mae Brown etc you are probably locked into a contract that insists you keep popping them out whether you want to or not until it's no longer profitable and then you get axed.

Worse your series might end too soon. I know a lot of readers won't start reading unless a series finished first (more in the SFF crowd as mystery readers know the books are stand alone and a series never ends...) Try not to do that because if book 1 or 2 don't sell well because you're waiting for all 3 or 4 books in the series to publish you're going to doom it to not being published but that's a talk for another post.

Like I said no clear cut answers but it is something to think about.

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Comments

[under_the_silk_tree]

I hope your doctor's appointment goes well.

I am not sure why at this point I still watch NCIS maybe because I have watched it for so long that I just automatically turn it on. I haven't been super invested in like the longest time. I tend to like individual characters more than the storyline. IDK

I am awful when it comes to reading series. I tend to shy away from anything longer than three books unless I am super interested. Although I do have a couple of cozy mystery series that I am invested in enough to keep reading even though they are very prolific.

[cornerofmadness]

Thanks so much

I'm with you, I have no idea why I turn on NCIS other than habit.

When it comes to mysteries you know you're going to be in for very long series because that's all there is for the most part

[sperrywink]

Good luck getting up at o'dark o'clock and driving to Columbus. I hope your appointment goes well.

[cornerofmadness]

thank you

[spikedluv]

You're probably already on the road, but I hope you have a safe trip and a productive appointment.

[cornerofmadness]

thanks so much

[alexseanchai]

I've never heard that Netflix has a policy of maxing out at six seasons. I've heard that Netflix standard contracts involve a greater share of money to the creators starting with the third season, and then hardly anything gets past the second season no matter how much the story would benefit, and a lot of what does is revamped somehow so what looks like it should be the third season is officially the first season of something else, how mysterious. But that's not at all the same thing.

I do know Supernatural has a distinct pivot point where the creator stepped down from being showrunner because his five-year plan (amended) ran out, for values of 'pivot point' that include a chronic inability to have less at stake in each season than the one before. And I'm hoping the several more seasons of Miraculous Ladybug anticipated after the creator's five-season plan runs out (read: last I heard the show is renewed through S7 with plot outlines through S12, and what's currently aired is just through the beginning of S5) will not have the same problem…

[cornerofmadness]

I'll be honest I don't remember where I read that about Netflix but it was a few years back revolving around Lucifer and how it got a couple extra unprecedented years on the platform. With what you described I can see a much uglier reason for Netflix not to give out long series.

That makes sense too. I'm still very salty about Prodigal Son and The Owl House not getting more where others go on forever often long past being interesting. I'm glad you're getting more of miraculous

[ysilme]

So as the author, how do you know when to stop? I think that's a sticky question than it looks because the obvious answer is when you have nothing new to say. But if you ARE JD Robb, Rita Mae Brown etc you are probably locked into a contract that insists you keep popping them out whether you want to or not until it's no longer profitable and then you get axed.

I might be unpopular with this, but I really loathe this enforced series-ness you don't seem to be able to find books without these days... and worse, if you get a mystery without a feckin' proper resolution in the book proper, but only in the next one! *hates* I do love series in general as I do love to follow favourite characters through as much of their life as the author manages to write well and is inspired about, but more often than not, it really shows when a series is marketing/contract-inspired and not really by the need or inspiration of the author to tell this and that and then that of the prota's story.
I used to love the Rita Mae Brown mysteries, until one day I didn't with one just such volume: the originality was gone, it just felt repetitive. I don't remember which one this was, but I haven't looked into another book from her since, and am not inclined to.
Just very generally speaking, I really wish that storywriting - book writing - could be freed of commercialism, so authors wouldn't be tied to these marketing strategies and whatnot. Why can't we just develop some kind of system any author would get a set sum - enough to make a decent living - so their writing would really only depend on what they're inspired to write, not what would sell well. *deep sigh* (I know, I know. Been fully supportive of unconditional basic income since forever, but - one can dream, thoug.)

[cornerofmadness]

I can say this if you are an American mystery author it is almost impossible to do one offs. It has to be a series (whether or not it can be short series I'm not sure). But honestly I'm with you.

Ooh if they have a mystery that does NOT solve the mystery at the end I'm done (lately I've been finding ones where it's solved but they can't touch the bad guy because s/he's too important and that is frankly pissing me off)


To do what you're describing there IS a way. Self publish. It's becoming far more mainstream. I know a couple local authors who survive on their earnings (on the other hand I know far more who can't) but you would be freer to do what YOU wanted with a series

[shanachie_quill]

There was a SciFi series I started by an author I had always followed, that got like 3 books and then died (or it was published so many years later I'd forgotten about it) so yeah I know the feeling of making sure to read books 1, 2, etc in order to get the rest.

Unless you are a huge author in SciFi/Fantasy... readers need to buy so they get all the other books.

[cornerofmadness]

definitely, these are not fanfic WIPs. If they're not monetarily supported they're not going to come out (Though I suppose the shifting to self publishing is changing that)

[shanachie_quill]

Exactly. Self-publishing is shifting that somewhat, but you still need to make money if you're going to publish.

[cornerofmadness]

true because it's fun to do for the love occasionally but we want to make money

[shanachie_quill]

Exactly. I don't think I'm ever going to get rich with my writing, but I'd like to make some money.

[cornerofmadness]

same