Communities

Writing
Writing
Codidact Meta
Codidact Meta
The Great Outdoors
The Great Outdoors
Photography & Video
Photography & Video
Scientific Speculation
Scientific Speculation
Cooking
Cooking
Electrical Engineering
Electrical Engineering
Judaism
Judaism
Languages & Linguistics
Languages & Linguistics
Software Development
Software Development
Mathematics
Mathematics
Christianity
Christianity
Code Golf
Code Golf
Music
Music
Physics
Physics
Linux Systems
Linux Systems
Power Users
Power Users
Tabletop RPGs
Tabletop RPGs
Community Proposals
Community Proposals
tag:snake search within a tag
answers:0 unanswered questions
user:xxxx search by author id
score:0.5 posts with 0.5+ score
"snake oil" exact phrase
votes:4 posts with 4+ votes
created:<1w created < 1 week ago
post_type:xxxx type of post
Search help
Notifications
Mark all as read See all your notifications »
Q&A

Post History

50%
+0 −0
Q&A Does a first novel in a fantasy trilogy have to end with a va-voom?

I've devised a trilogy on an Earth-similar world experiencing Earth-similar problems. I am nearing the end of the first draft of the first novel. I am not certain how much of a bang needs to happen...

2 answers  ·  posted 7y ago by DPT‭  ·  last activity 5y ago by System‭

#3: Attribution notice added by user avatar System‭ · 2019-12-08T07:00:51Z (about 5 years ago)
Source: https://writers.stackexchange.com/q/30252
License name: CC BY-SA 3.0
License URL: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/
#2: Initial revision by user avatar DPT‭ · 2019-12-08T07:00:51Z (about 5 years ago)
I've devised a trilogy on an Earth-similar world experiencing Earth-similar problems. I am nearing the end of the first draft of the first novel. I am not certain how much of a _bang_ needs to happen in this first installment.

My instincts (and experience reading) say that the first and second novels in a trilogy finish with some excitement and closure (perhaps narrow escape from a deadly threat) but the real climax and resolution is in the third book. I am leaning towards a narrow-escape ending in this manuscript (first book of a trilogy). But I feel like this ending will be forced, and unnatural.

Is this sort of ending necessary for book #1? Are there other sorts of endings that are as effective to encourage people to invest time in the second installment? Please share other effective options....

Thanks.

#1: Imported from external source by user avatar System‭ · 2017-09-17T20:35:13Z (over 7 years ago)
Original score: 3