A Series of Fortunate Events

In recently reading a series, one I was not particularly enjoying, I realized there is a lot of difference in the writing of a book that is part of a series and a book that is a stand alone. I finally gave up on the series and handed it over to my sister to see if she could enjoy it more than I had. I rarely give up on books, but this one just wasn't holding me in like I wanted. This, after reading a book that was entertaining plot-wise, but was not written as smoothly as one might have hoped. Here's hoping STRAY by Rachel Vincent lives up to its hype.

A lot of paranormal books nowadays are part of a series. The Blood Books by Tanya Huff, The Dresden Files by Jim Butcher and the Anita Blake series by Laurell K. Hamilton are all series where there are overarching themes, but they can also be read as stand alones. The entire series is written much like many TV dramas - each book has it's own plot, but it also fits into the series as a whole. This allows for a lot more tension and drama.

There is a difference between these series and a romance series - in part, because your main character can only fall in love the one time, so each book in the series is usually about secondary character in another book. I have read several series by Nora Roberts and Jude Devereaux. Each has themes that interrelate them, but are individual books by themselves. The pace is more realistic that way, and I think it makes the stories more interesting.

However, when a book is written with a series in mind, the drama can often go a lot slower. The action is held off so as to make the series more interesting and to keep readers involved in the plot. Sometimes this backfires. The attitude going in makes a difference in how a book is written, or so it seems to me. If the first book was written as a stand alone, and the series was written after it, there is an appreciable difference.

A newer example of this style is the Pink Carnation series by Lauren Willig (the next book, THE SEDUCTION OF THE CRIMSON ROSE comes out January, 2008). Her books are multilayered stories with the action continuing from one book to the next, but each one also centers on the adventures of spies who just happen to fall in love while extracting themselves from one crazy (but historically entertaining) situation after another. The frame story about a graduate student doing research on the spies during Napoleon's reign also provides continuity. To me, that's what a series should do - lead you from one to the next, while entertaining you on every page.

Nicole