How can I tell if a novel idea is made for a series or a stand-alone?
If I have an idea for a novel (consisting, let's say, of a premise and a vague idea of characters), how can I tell if the idea will turn into a series or a stand-alone? I don't want to start development on what I assume will be a stand-alone novel, only to find out half way through that it would actually be better as a series.
Question: Are there indicators I can look for in a story idea alone to tell me if it should be a series or a novel?
1 answer
I started out refusing to write a trilogy. I enjoy reading series, but I sometimes think writers like Christopher Paolini just needs a better editor who was willing to trim his series down into one book.
I finally had to admit I was writing a trilogy because I had three very distinct stories. At the end of the first story , the characters succeed in their quest, but they find out that discovering the solution brings several questions into light and they need to find those answers.
In the second book, they discover that the people they have been saving the entire time were their real enemies.
In the third book, they fight to take down their former allies and fix the problems they caused when they solved the first quest.
Those are three very distinctly different stories that all connect to tell one over arching story. They just have to be three separate stories.
In Terry Pratchett's Disc World, there are so many characters and events going on and they all have their own story to tell. He has many stories that share little more than the world. Of course that leads itself to a series.
I think that I wouldn't try for a series unless it turns out to be the best or even the only way you can best tell your story. Don't force it to be a series if it doesn't need to be one. It could make your story thin and weak or cause you to unnecessarily pad your story to stretch it out.
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