+

+ advice, art, fantasy, Fiction, literature, non-fiction, Photography, Science Fiction

Cover Inspiration

by Unknown's avatar

“Hi Jim,

I was just wondering, Divinity’s cover looks really cool! May I ask where you get the ideas for yours? Like what makes you choose one scene in your writings over another? I want to create an awesome cover for my story and was hoping that you could point me in the right direction.”
-Abby

Hi Abby,

I’m afraid that you caught me…

The truth of the matter is that I actually put very little thought into my covers. Put it this way, take a look at my first cover, Magnifica: The Last Enchanter. Then compare it to the next one and the one after that. See how things start to change and improve?
Now this isn’t a strike against my cover artist, so please don’t take it as such. When I first started out, I told my artists exactly what I wanted and how I wanted things. I left virtually no room for creativity on their part… that was a mistake. The artists I went with did exactly what I asked of them and did a very beautiful job, by the way, I’d rehire either of them in a heartbeat.
However, when we got to Magnifica: Gravestalker, a friend recommended an artist to me who had done many of his band’s posters.
When I approached him about doing the cover and told him what the book was about, he started coming up with ideas before I had a chance to lay down any real guidelines. I did get to tell him what I wanted, but in addition to that, he showed me a few other ideas he’d had on the side. Before I knew what was happening, my original idea was all but gone. I’m not complaining, mind you, he taught me a lesson that day.
From then on, whenever I hire an artist, be it for comic art, or the a fore mentioned cover artist I give them free reign. All my cover artist asks me to do is give him a few chapters with key plot points to work with. He does the rest.

This is perhaps the best advice I can give you; hire an artist, tell him what your book is about, let him read segments of it to get an idea for himself, but other than that LET THE MAN OR WOMAN DO HIS WORK! That’s what they’re being paid for. Creativity is a big part of being an artist and the more creative freedom you give them, the better the results. Divinity is a perfect example of this. I let Brett do whatever he wanted. We’d worked together, I knew and trusted him, and frankly, I was thrilled with the results.

I hope this helps.
Readers, do you have other experiences with artists that you would like to share to help Abby? (Good or bad) or any hurdles you’ve had to overcome? Please leave a comment below.

Abby- If you’re looking for a good artist, any of the ones who did my covers are awesome and any would probably love to take on your project. You can find more info about them here.

Readers,

Do you have a question about writing, publishing, my stories, etc? Please feel free to post a comment or email me.
jimthewritingwizard@gmail.com
I’ll use those comments to select my next blog post.

I have been writing for several years, have 4 published works, experience with publishing and independent work, so I can hopefully be of assistance.
Please note, I only do one of these a day and will do my best to respond to everyone, but it may take some time.

Thanks friends!
Catch you on the flip side!

-Jim

+

+ advice, fantasy, Fiction, literature, non-fiction, Science Fiction

Getting Published… the basics…

by Unknown's avatar

So in the questions I’ve had asked, a few of the same came up:

“I have the desire to become a writer, a published writer. I just have no idea where to to start.”

–plasticfacesofdorothy

——————————————————-

Hey Jim,

I’ve come to the point where I’m revising a draft of a novel for mainly grammar and wording, no more major changes to the plot. My question is, when’s the time to start looking into publishing? And where to begin on that front? I’ve never had a work published before, so this is all very new to me. Thanks for your time.

Sincerely,

Stephen Roddewig

plasticfacesofdorothy, I’ll start with you…
Well the first question is, have you written anything? Sorry, I know that sounds extremely condescending, but believe me that’s not my intention. I know a lot of people who have said that they’d like to be published, but don’t have their ideas down on paper yet.

So I’m going to say for your own good that if you don’t have a completed work, stop reading and go finish it before proceeding further.

Stephen, (and plasticfacesofdorothy if you’re continuing)
Well that’s the big thing every writer hopes for. Fortunately, you have several options at your disposal which we’ll get to in a few moments. The first thing I would say to do is work on getting your writers resume built. Write some essays and get them published in the local newspaper, or submit short stories to a small-time magazine. Keep any publications you may already have close, including old school newspapers (they count, believe me).

The next step is dependent on which way you want to go for publishing. There are two routes and each have their positives and negatives:

Traditional Publishing; Getting your book released through an established company.
PROS:
-Less work, expense, and risk.
-More exposure, distribution comes from the publishers relationships with retailers and book signings are handled by your agent or the publisher.
-Publisher is responsible for copyrighted material.
-Editing is done by publisher

CONS:
-Significantly harder field to break into.
-Depending on fiction or non-fiction, may require an agent (this puts an extra step).
-You pretty much surrender the rights to your story. The publisher may ask you to change things.
-Lower % of book profit.

Self-publishing; Getting your book written, printed, and distributed all by yourself.
PROS:
-Higher % of income
-You own the rights to everything.
-How your book is released, advertised, and it’s cover are completely under your control.
-You can still get picked up by a publishing company down the line.
-No agent
CONS:
-No filter… ANYONE can get self-published… and believe me, there is a lot of garbage out there that makes it hard to break out.
-More personal costs.
-You are responsible for copyrights, edits, and everything else that comes up.
-Far more work.

Decided which route to go?
For traditional publishing, I’d first write up a literary query, which is essentially an advertisement for your book. Establish your hook, your resume (like I told you earlier), and your knowledge of the literary agency and/or publisher you’re peddling your work to (that’s right, take the time to research your desired publishers and potential agents.)
So now we need to decide if you need a literary agent. Well for non-fiction, I’d say mostly no. Go ahead and submit your manuscript directly to the publisher. If it’s fiction, start looking at agencies.

One piece of advice on submission, SUBMIT A PAPER COPY! Emails take longer and are more prone to get lost and you’ll wind up waiting months for an agency to reply for no reason. (they tend to take a while).

Be prepared, you are GOING to get rejected. I’m not kidding. Your first 50 letters or so will be rejections. Make sure your skin is thick enough to handle it, because it only takes one YES in a massive sea of NO!

So now you have your agent, they want to sign a contract… get a lawyer and have them look it over before signing anything. Once you sign the contract, remember THE AGENT WORKS FOR YOU! If you don’t get paid, they don’t get paid. Be sure to avoid any agencies that ask for $$ up front. 9 times out of 10, they are scams.

At this point, sit back and wait to hear from the agent while they contact their connections in the publishing world. They’ll sell your book. Just be ready to make whatever edits the publisher asks for and be ready to pretty much sell your soul to the devil, because your writing is now going to be theirs. They will buy the rights and ask you to make any changes they feel are necessary to get the work on the market.

Okay… so that’s traditional publishing. Let’s move on to self publishing…
First thing I would say here is to find your biggest critic, someone who doesn’t hold punches and tells it like it is. Got a person in mind? Print out your book and drop it in their lap. Ask them to read it and give you their opinion. If they think it sucks, rewrite it. If not, you’re good to go. Now find someone competent in the written word and have them edit the book. English teachers are usually a good source for this if you know any.

So now your book is proofed. Next thing I would recommend is looking into where you can get it published. Kindle Direct and Nook are okay for ebooks, but if you want hard copies, I’d recommend looking into Lulu or Createspace. Don’t get me wrong, YOU DO WANT ELECTRONIC COPIES as that’s where most of your money will come from in this day and age. Either of these sites should be able to guide you through the next steps for getting an ISBN# and/or copyright, as well as the correct formatting.

Finally, the cover… the whole thing about not judging a book by its cover is true, but remember someone could be intrigued enough by an attractive cover and choose to read the book from that alone. (I’ve done it.)

DO NOT USE A GENERIC COVER! I’m serious. Find yourself a decent cover artist, someone with animation experience is preferable. They are worth every penny you’ll pay them.

So once you have everything squared away and now your book is ready to go, it’s time to market it. Fortunately, I’ve already covered marketing in a previous post. Please refer to it here. 

That’s pretty much it. Is your head rolling yet? I’d be surprised if it wasn’t. Mine was when I started. The best piece of advice I can give you is a piece that was given to me. Some may tell you that you’re going against the world as everyone and their mother wants to get something published. However, more than half of those people are incapable of writing full-length books, short stories, essays, or poetry. So eliminate them right off. That’s the majority of your competition. Next not everyone has a thick enough skin to persevere through all the hard work, determination, and tolerance it takes to get a book published. So there goes even more. In the end, your competition is one person and only one person; yourself. If you keep at it and keep pushing yourself, you can become a great writer. That is the best advice I can offer.

If you have any further questions or would like me to elaborate on anything a little more, don’t hesitate to send me an email.

Readers,

Do you have a question about writing, publishing, my stories, etc? Please feel free to post a comment or email me.
jimthewritingwizard@gmail.com
I’ll use those comments to select my next blog post.

I have been writing for several years, have 4 published works, experience with publishing and independent work, so I can hopefully be of assistance.
Please note, I only do one of these a day and will do my best to respond to everyone, but it may take some time.

Thanks friends!
Catch you on the flip side!

-Jim

+ advice, fantasy, Fiction, literature, Non Fiction, Writing

Writing Motivation

by Unknown's avatar

“how do we keep motivated on writing? I used to write, then stopped for months, then im starting again, bt how do i keep being motivated? 🙂 would really appreciate the advice :D”
-Senra

Hi Senra,

Great question. Motivation is very important in writing, if you’re not motivated to write and you just keep writing to finish what you’re working on and ‘just get it over with’ it reflects in what you’re writing. Readers pick up on a lot more than we often suspect… and in most cases, would prefer.

A lot of people have different ideas on how to keep yourself going and honestly, usually if you’re inspired to write, you’ve already got your motivation. If the ideas are flowing, putting them on paper should not feel like a chore. So many of them will give you different writing exercises, different things to do on the side while writing, and while those may work, they’re not what I recommend.

Personally Senra, I would say that if you’re not motivated to write, given what I said above, put your pen down, now. I’m not kidding, unless you’re under a strict dead-line from a publisher, there is no reason for you to keep writing. You’re not doing yourself or your readers any favors by writing when not inspired or motivated. It’s okay to put your pen down. Go do something else.

I would recommend going out and trying something new, something you’ve never done before that you’ve always wanted to. Maybe it’s time to dust off the old bucket list and pick something to cross off. Take some YOU time and go do something wild or out of the ordinary for you.

It may take a few days, or even a few months, but I can guarantee you that the new experience will get the creative juices flowing and absence from writing will make the heart grow fonder for it.

Hope this helps, good luck, and I hope to see what you’ve come up with real soon!

Everyone, do you agree, or do you have another method that Senra can utilize that works for you? Feel free to leave a comment and let me know.

Readers,

Do you have a question about writing, publishing, my stories, etc? Please feel free to post a comment or email me.
jimthewritingwizard@gmail.com
I’ll use those comments to select my next blog post.

I have been writing for several years, have 4 published works, experience with publishing and independent work, so I can hopefully be of assistance.
Please note, I only do one of these a day and will do my best to respond to everyone, but it may take some time.

Thanks friends!
Catch you on the flip side!

+

+ books, Comics, fantasy, Fiction, literature, Writing

The ‘Alternate Universe’ Excuse

by Unknown's avatar

In one form or another be it Marvel, Star Trek, Star Wars or even many book series out there, we see writers wanting to change things and thus creates an alternate universe where they can explore things if they’d happen differently. Some do it better than others… Let me explain.

I’ve seen two ways of doing this:
1. Making one or two minor changes in an established plot and showing how those minor changes altered the destinies of those affected by them, if not everyone in general.

2. Drastically altering the universe with very little explanation, rhyme or reason, using the excuse that it’s an alternate universe so they can do whatever they want.

Quite obviously (to me anyway) #1 is the better way of doing this.
Let’s take two examples of this; Marvel’s ‘What if’ series explores what would have happened if one of two things that could have happened, actually had happened and explores the consequences. Maybe the X-Men were slaughtered in a mission they actually won. Who then carries on their legacy?

Star Wars Infinities is one of the most interesting series that I’ve ever read. It takes the established Star Wars Universe in the Lucas films and makes one little change, in the case of the Return of the Jedi issue, it was a very minor change, C3PO unable to get back up after being knocked over by Jabba. This set into motion events that played out quite differently from the original plot line. Is it a better plot, worse? That’s not for me to say. I won’t spoil these for anyone given how excellent a read they are, but the Infinities are extremely well done and are a shining example of how one small move, one little decision can shape the world and alter the destinies of everyone around.

Now… let’s look at the other example… if we must…

If it’s not obvious by now, it should be; I’m a comic book geek. Yeah, I admit it and I’m damn proud of it. Unfortunately, the second example above is the direction many comic books have been taking lately.
Ironically, given my first example, Marvel has become a serious perpetrator of this and for the most part, it’s been essentially tokenism and pandering to the PC crowd under the guise of becoming more diverse.
Let me preface what I’m about to say with this: I love diversity. I love hearing and/or reading about other peoples’ experiences in far off lands, or different walks of life and I like to try to understand how people come to different conclusions of what’s right and wrong, socially acceptable and not socially acceptable. However there is a far cry between this and what writers like those at Marvel are doing.
I still enjoy Captain America with someone else holding the shield and Thor being a woman, because it’s explained well. It works and it all comes together. However when you make one character gay with no explanation (Colossus), or randomly change a character’s race (Nick Fury, Psylocke, and Spider-man), and do so with little explanation simply using the ‘Alternate Universe’ defense for poor storytelling, that’s where problems arise. It’s at this point that the pandering and blatant tokenism becomes obvious. For me, it was when they took arguably the most diverse team in comic book history,  a team that has literally had members from almost everywhere on the planet and actually dealt with bigotry and hatred, and made that team all women. Essentially, they took the X-Men, THE most diverse team and made it less diverse in the name of diversity. How does that even make sense?

Well it doesn’t, but it’s an alternate universe. It doesn’t have to make sense because in an alternate reality, anything can happen!

Sigh… do you see the problem? I don’t care what universe we’re talking about, bad storytelling is bad storytelling and blatant pandering to the PC crowd is usually pretty easy to spot.

So I’m sure someone is going to ask, “How then would you create more diversity?”

To be honest, at the risk of going off on a tangent, I never really thought Marvel needed to create more. Dating back to the 1970s, I thought they were doing a pretty good job of it… but if I were forced…

Basically the story writers during the time of Chris Claremont and John Byrne, Marvel began taking a new direction. The Phoenix saga was meant to end the old X-Men as they were known. Angel and Iceman were off forming their own teams, Beast was an Avenger, Phoenix sacrificed herself to save the X-Men, and Cyclops retired, met a woman and married her. The idea was that, over time, they’d retire older members to occasional cameo appearances and bring all new ones. We see the beginnings of this with Kitty Pryde coming in to replace Phoenix. So instead of haplessly changing characters’ identities with no real explanation or creating alternate realities that stretch the suspension of disbelief (which for comic readers is hard to do) I’d green light this long-dead idea and bring in all new characters with all new stories from different walks of life instead of retelling old tales with slightly altered characters that are barely pale comparisons to the ones we know and love. Using the fact that it’s not the ‘prime’ universe to escape responsibility for poor story telling.

Anyway, do you agree or disagree? Let me know why!

Thanks friends,
Catch you on the flip side!
-Jim

+ advice, fantasy, Fiction, literature, Non Fiction, Science Fiction, Writing

Author’s Advice #19

by Unknown's avatar

Hi all,

Know it’s been a while and I apologize for that. However I hope that Damnation, once it’s published, will make up for this. Anyway, onto today’s advice piece.
Don’t be afraid to break out of your mold.
I hate the term ‘typecast.’ I really do. No one should be stuck into one category as a sci-fi or drama actor or writer or director. Granted, I’m a fan of doing what you know, love, and are good at, but that doesn’t mean that you should be restricted by that.

Are you a fantasy writer who wants to voice their political opinions? Do you have them brewing inside, waiting to burst free? Then you go ahead and write that manifesto. Get it all out on paper and once you’ve finished your Bible-length theories on how a government should run, reread it and see if you can work it into an interesting book, or if it just looks like the ramblings of a crazy person.

Are you a non-fiction writer who is tired of seeing book after book after book turning Vampires from awesome action heroes into… (Insert your own opinion here.) and you want to write them as they SHOULD BE? Then get started.

You’ll face hurdles that you never have in your writing and a little research and reading may be in order BEFORE editing. So I’d recommend following this step by step process:

1. Get the ideas down on paper.

2. Research what you’re writing about.

3. Read other works by people in the same field.

4. Commence editing.

5. Ask for help.

Number 5 especially, even if you don’t think you need it. Let someone else read it, someone impartial who isn’t going to pat you on the head and call whatever scribbling you write Shakespeare. Trust me, you’ll be better off for it.

Now let’s say you’ve done all that, and it still isn’t something you want the public getting anywhere near. Well don’t get discouraged. I know it may seem like you just wasted your time but remember these words from a previous post I wrote:

“Nothing a person does with their own two hands is ever a waste of time. It’s all building towards something.”

You may not have been able to write outside of your own comfort zone successfully, but maybe now you have the bare bones for another story within your chosen genre.

Consider it…

When I started, I wanted to write about religion, fact, fiction, blind faith and corruption. I wanted to write philosophy, but I write Historical Fiction and Fantasy. When I wrote my philosophy piece, upon a re-read, I couldn’t believe how bitter it sounded. That doesn’t reflect me or my beliefs, so I quickly scrapped that idea. However, then I started thinking in context, how can I get my point across while sticking to my respective genre? Then upon seeing the painting “The Wounded Angel,” the seeds for Divinity were planted.

So go ahead and give it a shot, write what you want to write and, success or fail, it’ll be worth it.

Thanks friends,
Catch you on the flip-side,
-Jim

PS – DAMNATION IN THE WORKS BABY!!!

Readers,

Do you have a question about writing, publishing, my stories, etc? Please feel free to post a comment or email me.
jimthewritingwizard@gmail.com
I’ll use those comments to select my next blog post.

I have been writing for several years, have 4 published works, experience with publishing and independent work, so I can hopefully be of assistance.
Please note, I only do one of these a day and will do my best to respond to everyone, but it may take some time.

Thanks friends!
Catch you on the flip side!

+ advice, Inspiration, literature, Music, Writing

More Inspiration…

by Unknown's avatar

This one, from one of the greatest Metal collectives out there, was instramental when I was writing Divinity. It doesn’t end well as Tobias Sammet’s singing cannot match the power of Amanda Somerville, but it’s still a really great song to listen to if writing about a relationship that may not last.

Readers,

Do you have a question about writing, publishing, my stories, etc? Please feel free to post a comment or email me.
jimthewritingwizard@gmail.com
I’ll use those comments to select my next blog post.

I have been writing for several years, have 4 published works, experience with publishing and independent work, so I can hopefully be of assistance.
Please note, I only do one of these a day and will do my best to respond to everyone, but it may take some time.

Thanks friends!
Catch you on the flip side!

+

+ advice, fantasy, Fiction, Historical Fantasy, literature, Science Fiction, Writing

Damnation Status update!!!

by Unknown's avatar

Hi all,

I’m very thrilled to report that Damnation is going very well. The editing is underway and the cover design, care of Brett Warniers who did Divinity’s cover, already has ideas down on paper.

Another facet of the book’s cover that was recently completed was the inclusion of a representation of the main character on the cover. A very special thanks go out to the very talented Rick Chandler, the lovely Nicole Hailer, Jenny French, Nathan Prescott, and the Horrorwood FX team for all their hard work. This is going to be incredible.

Though everything is still being shaped and put into production, we are nearing setting a release date for the book. I thank everyone who has stuck it out this long and appreciate all of your patience with me as this work has caused me to be neglectful of my blog advice column.

Thanks all and catch you on the flip side.

-Jim

Readers,

Do you have a question about writing, publishing, my stories, etc? Please feel free to post a comment or email me.
jimthewritingwizard@gmail.com
I’ll use those comments to select my next blog post.

I have been writing for several years, have 4 published works, experience with publishing and independent work, so I can hopefully be of assistance.
Please note, I only do one of these a day and will do my best to respond to everyone, but it may take some time.

Thanks friends!
Catch you on the flip side!

+ advice, fantasy, Fiction, literature, Non Fiction, Reading, Science Fiction, Writing

Author’s Advice Pt. 18

by Unknown's avatar

Nothing anyone does with their own two hands is EVER a waste of time.

This is especially true when it comes to writing. Too often I have heard people write out a few chapters then look up, sigh, and say that they’re wasting their time. Their story makes no sense, the characters suck, and the progression isn’t… progressing.

That’s not a waste of time, as you’ve just discovered characters, a story, and progression that don’t work together. You didn’t waste time, you tried something and it didn’t work. I honestly think that if we looked at some of our failure stories like this more often, we’d be a lot happier. Who knows, maybe you can use those characters or that plot line later. There is no rule against recycling ideas in a story. If there was… I’d have a lot of answering to do.

P.S. I apologize for the lack of posts recently, getting Damnation ready for publishing and the announcement that our second child is on the way has consumed most of my free time. I will make every effort to post whenever I can, thank you all so much for sticking it out with me!!

Readers,

Do you have a question about writing, publishing, my stories, etc? Please feel free to post a comment or email me.
jimthewritingwizard@gmail.com
I’ll use those comments to select my next blog post.

I have been writing for several years, have 4 published works, experience with publishing and independent work, so I can hopefully be of assistance.
Please note, I only do one of these a day and will do my best to respond to everyone, but it may take some time.

Thanks friends!
Catch you on the flip side!

+

+ fantasy, Historical Fantasy, Historical Fiction, literature, Reading, Writing

Character Profiles: Piero Lorenzi.

by Unknown's avatar

From Damnation
Species: Human
Rank: Ensign
Affiliation: Papal Army, Army of the Republic of Florence

Character Information: A brazen young commissioned officer in the Florentine Army during the War of the League of Cognac, Piero Lorenzi seeks to restore the name of his house, who’s honor was taken due to his father’s cowardice. He serves faithfully though his commanding officer, Captain Ferruccio has frequently noted a troublesome level of tardiness in Piero’s performance when it comes to him being on time for his duty. He loves his city and has vowed to protect it from anyone, be it Emperor Charles V, or anyone else who would dare try to breach their walls.

He is very close to the men in his unit and treats them like family. The men he fight with are his friends and would follow him into battle, regardless of risk.

Piero dreams of partaking in a fantastic adventure like those he’d read about as a child… he may soon get his wish…

+

+ fantasy, Fiction, Historical Fantasy, Historical Fiction, Reading, Writing

Character Profile: General Xaphan

by Unknown's avatar

As Damnation slowly begins to take form, I thought it might be a good idea to give everyone an introduction to one of the main characters and arguably one of the best characters I’ve ever created, Xaphan.

Species: Angel
Affiliations: Choirs of the Most High, Legions of Hell.
Rank: General

Character profile: Xaphan was originally created by Collin de Plancy in his book, Dictionnaire Infernal. While some of the history remained the same, Xaphan’s gender, overall personality, and appearance have been drastically altered.

Xaphan was originally a skilled tactician in the Choirs of Angels. Upon Lucifer’s uprising, she defected and became his general. For an immeasurable amount of time, Xaphan lead Lucifer’s forces against the armies of the Most High, lead by Saint Michael, fighting them to a stalemate. The war seemed to be without end until a courageous band of angels infiltrated Lucifer’s ranks and managed to capture him. Xaphan considered the act dishonorable and unfitting to the ranks of angels.
With their leader gone, Lucifer’s army fell into disarray. General Xaphan managed to organize the remaining legions into a resistance movement, but they were slowly hunted down and overwhelmed. Xaphan herself was captured and hauled before the Choirs for judgement. Her wings were cursed so that she’d never be able to fly to the Celestial World again and she was cast into the Netherworld. No one knows what became of her following her expulsion…

Unlike Lucifer, Xaphan sought neither prestige nor rank. She joined his cause after learning that the world the Most High was creating was not intended as a reward for endless servitude the angels had endured. The fact that it was being given to a child race that would not respect it, or its creator, was more than Xaphan could tolerate. She joined Lucifer in an effort to free her brethren from eternal bondage.

In addition to being a skilled tactician, General Xaphan is unmatched in single combat with the sword, she is ruthless, vicious, unapologetic, brilliant, and incredibly strong. She lives by a strict code of honor which was evident during her first attack. She successfully destroyed the Celestial Temple, but not without first warning the people within, giving them time to evacuate non-combatants. She viewed the spilling of angel blood, any angel, to be a terrible waste.

+

+ fantasy, Fiction, Historical Fantasy, Historical Fiction, literature, Reading, Science Fiction, Writing

Damnation Update!

by Unknown's avatar

For all you crazy cats just waiting for even the slightest tidbit of news about my latest novel… 😉

I’m happy to report that things are progressing smoothly.

We haven’t set an official release date as of yet, but the book is going through editing, everyone I needed for the cover is onboard and working on it, and we’re officially on track. I personally am excited as what I have planned for this work is… ambitious to say the least. So stay tuned everyone, Divinity’s sequel is on its way!!!

+ advice, blog, fantasy, ficiton, Science Fiction, Writing

Are Sequels Really Necessary?

by Unknown's avatar

“When did the need for series and/or sequels start, anyway? I’ve been reading Diana Wynne Jones’ REFLECTIONS ON WRITING, and she isn’t shy about sharing her thoughts on series arcs (that is, she didn’t like them). If memory serves, out of the gazillion books she wrote, only three, maybe four had sequels. Even in the Chrestomanci series, Chrestomanci himself is not always a primary character. Granted, I’m working on a series myself, and feel good about this decision. I’m just wondering how many stand-alone stories the publishing world takes on vs. sure-fire series stories. I hope that makes sense.” -jeanleesworld

So we have a two-part question here. First, when did the need for series and/or sequels start? Pretty much since writing became a serious business, but probably more so since it became a very cutthroat business. Let me explain…

For one, you can write a stand alone book if you want, but you’re going to face massive hurdles if you want it published via traditional methods. In the fiction world, you’d want to start by submitting your manuscript to agents. I can say from experience that most of them, and the publishers, won’t give your work a second look if you don’t plan to write a sequel. Don’t forget, this is a business to them and they’re looking to make money off of it. It’s not about the art to them.

Keep in mind, this isn’t a criticism, you want them thinking this way, because it’s how you’re going to make your money from your published work. Let it be about the art for you, let it be about the money for them. So that brings us to the second half of the question; how many standalone books get published… honestly it’s pretty rare at this point unless you’re going the self-publishing route.

Why is this the case? Well simply put, the more books written, the more money there is to be made. One could argue that a really good stand alone will continue to sell as some of the classic literature pieces do… but who’s going to risk their livelihoods, business, and income on a venture like that when someone else is offering 3-6 books, each of which will sell?

Is it fair? Not really… but that’s the reality of it. Unfortunately, in this day and age, your options are to bite the bullet and write a sequel, or self-publish and hope for the best.
Personally, I’d say start working on a sequel. Fortunately, there are plenty of ways to do this and a sequel doesn’t necessarily have to stick to the same characters.

Hope this helps!

Readers,

Do you have a question about writing, publishing, my stories, etc? Please feel free to post a comment or email me.
jimthewritingwizard@gmail.com
I’ll use those comments to select my next blog post.

I have been writing for several years, have 4 published works, experience with publishing and independent work, so I can hopefully be of assistance.
Please note, I only do one of these a day and will do my best to respond to everyone, but it may take some time.

Thanks friends!
Catch you on the flip side!

A WordPress.com Website.