On Sequel Addiction

Are you addicted to sequels? What's up with that? Sure, you liked the first book, so you have to get the next, right? And then there's another? Let me at it! And another? How many are there? Ok, how long do I need to keep up with these characters? I'm not sure I can just stop reading and forget them. So I must continue. These characters are part of my life now.

Fortunately there are plenty of trilogies around today. It seems to be the preferred format for books of science fiction, fantasy, and urban fantasy, especially if marketed to young readers. It has to do with marketing, I suppose: get the readers hooked and they will buy two more books. I always believed, apparently erroneously, that the trilogy is based on a good plot arc. Hence the story needed to be told across three books, regardless of the profits that might be made. 

Check out these trilogies. 

As a reader, I'm hesitant to commit to a multiple-book package. It's not the money, not the shelf space involved. It's the time and emotional expenditure involved. Usually I will read the first book and then go ahead and get the second book when I am sufficiently invested in the first book - after the first chapter, half-way through book 1, etc. If a novel has plenty of publicity, made into a TV series, I may get the whole set of books at once. (I did that with George R. R. Martin's Game of Thrones and Robert Jordan's Wheel of Time series yet I'm still in book 1.) 

As a writer, however, I was always dead-set on writing stand-alone books. But when the story, the world, the characters are still there at the end of book 1 calling to you...well, you have to return. Both times I've worked on a trilogy they started with one book which I expected to be it, the whole thing, one and done, enough said. Then, sometime later, with the story still bobbling back and forth in my head, unable to let it go, I sit myself down and begin book 2. Then book 3 usually follows quickly after book 2 because it will certainly be a trilogy. There are not many 2-book series.

I have written two trilogies. The second one was completed last night: book 3 of that trilogy.

The first was my sci-fi/steampunk interdimensional warhorse The Dream Land. Book 1 introduces the main characters and how they discover a doorway to another world and learn to function there, even to rise to prominent ranks and affect their new world. One returns home, however, and finds the situation intolerable. Thus, book 2 - what happens next? Inquiring minds wanted to know. 

In the case of this first book, it was going to be a stand-alone, but immediately upon finishing book 1, I had the idea where to go next. Then I got stuck in a plot conundrum after 50 pages and let it sit for what turned out to be ten years. Life and a lot of academic/ scholarly writing took over. It wasn't until a student of mine showed me his story on a similar theme as mine that I was reminded of the novel I'd left unfinished on my computer. I found that file, saw where I'd left off, and now that the plot conundrum had magically resolved itself in my head during the interim, I could continue. I knew what would happen in book 3 before I finished book 2. I started on a book 4 before I was finished with book 3. I knew I was addicted. I just could not stop living in this world, interacting with these people - er, umm, those characters. (I've left book 4 - just a few pages - to smolder a while and see if I want to write it.)

My second trilogy began as a stand-alone. I had said what I wanted to say in that book and believed the story done. With my daughter hooked on the Twilight series - during which her reading time really expanded! - I was determined to convince her of the truth of vampirism, about the medical conditions which led people to appear as vampires and who populated real reports that became the legends that prompted first Mr. Polidori then Mr. Stoker to pen their Gothic tales. A Dry Patch of Skin was my "medically accurate" vampire story, set in the same year I was writing it (2013-14) and, in part, in the same city where I was living and writing it. I made my point about vampires. My own doctor (who was also working on an MFA in creative writing) found no flaws in the medical side of the story. But what would happen next to my tragic hero? Gotcha.

The question nagged me through the writing of two other stand-alone novels.* Finally, I decided to see where the story might go. I started writing, just as a test. It had to be in the future since book 1 was set in my present. That turned book 2 into a sci-fi novel, which made it more interesting to me as a writer. At that point, I knew there would be a book 3 but I did not yet know what would happen in book 3. The main thing in starting the sequel was picking up the same character again but having him changed over the period of time between the books. The world had changed, too. Depicting that change was the fun part. You can read more about plot considerations on earlier blog posts here and here. All right, and here, too. You're welcome.

Now I have book 3 of this trilogy sitting on my doorstep (metaphor, not literally), the first complete draft literally finished last night. I still have that burst of electricity flashing through me, could hardly sleep, and still thinking about what I might have missed in the story that I need to address this morning. Plenty of time for revision, and editing, and proofreading, of course - and beta reading, and more tweaking, and looking for those five words in the manuscript that everybody but me will see are misspelled. I believe I have fulfilled the promise of a book 3: to give main characters their final arc, to wrap up plot points, to put a nice bow on the end of a three book experience. More on this book next time. For now, the experience of writing a trilogy is both rewarding and sad; we work hard to make things happen, like having our protagonist suffer, our antagonist delight in the suffering, a few jokes tossed here and there, some philosophy delivered by the serious character, a flash of eroticism, and voila! Trilogy. 

Then, almost too quickly it is done. And we have the emptiness in our guts as though someone close to us had died. We want that person back in our lives again. So we imagine it was so. And the sequel is born, the characters re-born, and all is well. A sequel has saved us. A trilogy will save us longer.


*A Girl Called Wolf, although a stand-alone, could be considered a sequel of my novel A Beautiful Chill (which was written first) because the main characters of the latter novel appear in the former novel.

After writing my quest novel Epic Fantasy *With Dragons, I felt compelled to continue the story despite having announced to everyone that I had said everything I needed to say about life and love, heroism, and the universe in that book. However, some of the characters wanted me to go on, so I started a sequel but it remains unfinished after about 75 pages.


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(C) Copyright 2010-2018 by Stephen M. Swartz. All Rights Reserved. No part of this blog, whether text or image, may be used without me giving you written permission, except for brief excerpts that are accompanied by a link to this entire blog. Violators shall be written into novels as characters who are killed off. Serious violators shall be identified and dealt with according to the laws of the United States of America.

How I was coaxed into writing an "epic fantasy" with dragons

It seems the year is twice as long as usual. Perhaps because I have spent so much of it engaged in one lofty goal: to write an epic fantasy which happens to involve dragons.

Like many of us, I was pushed and prodded into choosing a set of goals for the upcoming year, the ones we call often call "resolutions" - the ones we drop like hot yams by the second month. And here it is: the second month. In 2016, I was well underway with this new project. In 2017, I am approaching the launch date, so I shall recap how this amazing drama came to be.

For me, nothing can be so straightforward or simple: I resolved to meet the challenge put to me by my fellow authors: to write an "epic fantasy" (often called "high fantasy" or "heroic fantasy" or pejoratively "sword and sorcery")! And to further challenge me, they insist it must include dragons. Why this challenge? Why this stipulation? Pure cussedness, I suspect. (I have written a vampire novel which explained the desperate condition in medical terms, after all, thus metaphorically cutting the wind behind their blood-sucking sails. So it must be pay-back time.)

You see, it was recently discussed among those in my circle of authors that "they" have as their "signature genre" the Epic Fantasy. Yes, I have always kinda accepted that fact as an on-going source of irritation.

Honestly, I have nothing against the epic fantasy genre. In fact, I grew up reading the Amber Chronicles of Roger Zelazny (the first two volumes were life-changing for me as a teenager) and the novels of Michael Moorcock, beginning with The Eternal Champion (another life-altering read) and continuing through the Corum books. I began but did not finish the Elric series. I read several other sci-fi and fantasy authors, as well, but skipped Tolkien. That omission was purely because my mother said to me when I was about 12 that a story I had written was "like" The Hobbit. From then on, I staunchly refused to read Tolkien just so I'd be able to say I did not get my idea from his book! (I still have not read, nor seen the film version, of it.) I even dared to read the William Morris tome The Well at the World's End, dense enough for two paperback volumes! Because of these stories, I dabbled at writing my own fantastic tales and planned others, but I always eventually ran into serious roadblocks: What happens next?

Everyone has favorites: favorite authors, favorite genre, favorite story locations, favorite "book boyfriends" or "book girlfriends", favorite styles, favorite book lengths, favorite cover artists. I do, too. However, what I tend to read has little to do with what I tend to write. Beginning back in the mists of time, I wrote the stories I wanted to read. This situation likely developed because I could not find the kind of story I wanted to read, not consistently (besides, sometimes the plot turned in ways I didn't like). Thus I endeavored to create my own stories. Along that line, I often found myself reading a science-fiction or fantasy book and think to myself: Hey! I could write something like this! And maybe it would be better - "better" meant, of course, closer to the story as I would tell it.

And so I accepted their challenge: to compose a so-called "Epic Fantasy" and have dragons in it. Given the task, I was led to consider what an epic fantasy truly is. Furthermore, I knew I must also consider the nature of dragons. 

To the first order, we understand "epic" to come from the Greeks, the best examples being the Iliad and the Odyssey by the blind poet Homer. It was simply a poetic form: a dramatic tale told in 12 portions (or 24 chapters) which matched the hours of the day. To call it dramatic is a bit of a misnomer, for whence comes drama but in the actions and reactions of mortals? And in the constant interference by the gods! Nothing more, although that would seem to be enough. Whenever the gods get involved.... Today, however, "epic" means something grand in scale, vast in scope, mind-blowing in computer graphics, heroic action, featuring only the best of the best in all facets of production. Even a teenager's Friday night party could be described as "epic" while having none of those traits. 

In the genre called "epic fantasy" we have certain traits (see previous blog post): grand in scale, vast in scope, and so on, as expected. Furthermore, in modern iterations such as those of C.S. Lewis and J.R.R. Tolkien, not to mention George R.R. Martin, the worlds which hold the setting are out of this world; that is, they exist separate from the world we know as Earth. As such, those new worlds abound in strange beings, eternal conflicts between good and evil, and histories we can only guess at. The chief feature, to my understanding, is the invention of a whole new world upon which to lay our story.

That is nothing new, of course. Science-fiction does that, as well. And I have written a science-fiction trilogy set on a highly-detailed world of my invention (At least, I say I invented it; it could be a case of imparted wisdom from an ancient alien civilization, who knows?). That invention began in childhood and expanded through my youth, then was set aside for more adult amusements. Finally, I crafted the books containing those stories that were set on that "invented" world. The difference between science-fiction and fantasy then is that I went full science nerd and made sure that I completely understood all of the astronomical, geological, and anthropological properties of that world; that is, of the planet I was inventing. If I had been writing fantasy, I need not have dealt with the mass of the planet or where it sits within its solar system, or how the geography affects the weather patterns, and so on. I would have laid out the story on a landscape as it suited the story, regardless of any scientific mumbo-jumbo.

I've also been told that "fantasy" must necessarily include the use of magic. To this aspect, I must confess I'm a bit of a *realist. Magic? I subscribe to the notion that magic is simply science which no one has yet explained. Even the Star Wars "Force" was described in scientific terms in Episode I - which I believe to be an altogether likely cause of the particular abilities the Jedi use. It appears as magic to ordinary folks. I saw no reason not to follow that model. So let there be magic! And let the folks in my story call it magic, but let us understand what it really is: certain kinds of science - unless...unless I find I've written myself into a corner. Then, and only then, shall I resort to "magic" in its most esoteric incarnation. 

(*I have written "magical realism" also, which is a genre of realistic and decidedly unmagic stories which nevertheless rely on one key magical element upon which the entire story must rely.) 

So there you have it!  Not so challenging, eh?  After all, most stories are the same: one of the dozen or so universal plots unfold and characters who bear uncanny resemblances to the author and/or his/her various relations seek to solve a problem, big or small, and ultimately win the day. Or not. Isn't it the same in every genre? Only the landscape and the problems change for the particular genre. I still gravitated toward the big, eternal questions of humanity and tried to encapsulate them into small everyday disruptions of the menial tasks of ordinary people. Let them be caught up in things they know nothing about. Let them find within themselves the strength, the courage, the wisdom to proceed in combating the trials facing them, even at the risk of sacrificing themselves, even for the sordid cause of a reader's entertainment.

But with dragons. 

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(C) Copyright 2010-2017 by Stephen M. Swartz. All Rights Reserved. No part of this blog, whether text or image, may be used without me giving you written permission, except for brief excerpts that are accompanied by a link to this entire blog. Violators shall be written into novels as characters who are killed off. Serious violators shall be identified and dealt with according to the laws of the United States of America.

What do Women [Protagonists] Want?

Yesterday was International Women's Day, an event I learned of only by going onto social media in the evening. Lots of great quotes here. However, in celebrating the achievements of women, I am compelled to pause and reflect on the women I know and what they have achieved.

I really dislike how social media is too often a repository of hatred and polarizing debate on, among many topics, the roles of men and women. I like to think I'm above the fray, adopting a neutral stance, and welcoming all individuals of whatever sex and gender and roles a person may have. As a writer of fiction, I try to keep the stories as real or plausible as possible, especially in the relationships which seem to be at the core of each of my novels.

As a male, I'm stuck with a few limitations, first among them is portraying a female character in an authentic manner. That is, letting her be her own person rather than, say, merely a companion to the male protagonist. It has not been easy but I believe I've done well enough. Most of my readers have been women, it seems, and most have liked (even praised) the female characters. However, I do recognize that these female roles tend to fall into two broad categories, which typically fall further into categories made by others as either 1) madonna or 2) whore. This "traditional" dichotomy is quite disagreeable in this day and age.

Although there may be a wide range of traits within each of those categories, enough that they can overlap and even allow a character to possess both, it is not enough for creating authentic female characters. As a young writer I started unsteadily and, thankfully, have grown in my craft and in my sensibilities. I have written the older woman ensnaring the younger man for her own amusement (AFTER ILIUM). I have written the younger woman tricking the older man for various benefits (A BEAUTIFUL CHILL). I have written the career woman trying to adapt herself for a sudden romance with a man transforming into a vampire (A DRY PATCH OF SKIN). In my earlier writing, I created a female protagonist who serves in one instance only as the romantic interest of the male protagonist (AIKO) and, in another instance, almost a "sidekick" to the self-absorbed male protagonist (YEAR OF THE TIGER). I've even dared create an alien society based on a matriarchal model but I follow the husband/father character's adventures trying to return to his family and his world (THE MASTERS' RIDDLE). I didn't want to write about a female of that world suffering, so I let the male suffer--turnabout, eh?

I know, I know, I know: bad boy. Bad male writer. Honestly, I like women, and I like having them in stories. They also say "write what you know"; that stops me in my tracks, obviously: I don't know how to be a woman. All I can do is observe and ask questions of women I know. One woman who eventually read the novel in which the female protagonist was based upon her did agree that I had depicted her perfectly, even though what transpired in the story was not flattering.

My goal as a writer has always been to portray realistic characters. That is, characters who think and act from plausible motivations comparable to those of actual people I have known. Isn't that art imitating life? Like many writers, I borrow from the world around me, incorporating (i.e., "making into a body") living people and their various quirks, mannerisms, speech patterns, body language, and psychological agendas (as much as I can discern) into believable fiction appropriate to the character.

That is the hardest part of writing a novel, I do believe. Getting the character down--harder still if the story is told in the voice of that character. 

So for this day of celebrating women, I think about how I have depicted women in my fiction writing. Flattering? Complimentary? In derogatory fashion? Or as real, multi-faceted individuals? Or, as George R.R. Martin, author of the Game of Thrones series has said, I also try to write female characters as people, not as "just" women. Society has set up women in various roles, like it or not, and in that attempt to create fictional worlds which approximate reality, we must unfortunately depict women in less than ideal circumstances. But the woman who suffers and does not fight back or grow is not a character we want to read about; hence, the applause and cheering for greater women characters who arise from their oppression and achieve great things despite society and the men who try to hold them back. What do women characters want? Probably what real women want: to be real and to realize their innate potential as persons, not as "women."

Along this vein, it is THE DREAM LAND, my science fiction trilogy, where the most interesting female character lives: Gina Parton. In the first volume she is the lead personality in the adventures of two young people exploring an interdimensional doorway. As her male companion, the protagonist Sebastian Talbot tells the story, veering off into his own adventures, Gina reappears only at irregular intervals. I tended to miss Gina in the first book, but I was happy when she became a queen albeit by marriage. In the second book I let her reappear, having her own life, her own adventures, but did not fully realize them. I had plans for a volume that was all of her lives separate from Sebastian.

In Book III, I gave her full stage. After wrapping up several storylines by the middle of the book, Gina returns in her own adventure. By this point in my writing history I was ready to write a very strong, determined, take-no-shit female character who fights for herself and her family and who achieves great things. She enters a city in the future of the world she is trapped on and works hard, rising into the executive class. Her background in science provides her a foot in the door of the space council whose mission is to plan what to do as a fatal comet approaches the planet. Gina soon leads the council, all the while exerting her influence on politics in her adopted city and conducting an affair with a fellow scientist to feed her emotional needs.

The end of the story forces Gina to make difficult choices. To save her daughter, to allow her daughter to get a seat on one of the spacecraft destined to evacuate the planet's select few, Gina bites her lip and submits to the Governor's kinky fetishes. It is the most difficult scene I have ever tried to write, balancing her anger and determination with her mental acknowledgement to give in in order to secure her grown daughter's freedom. She sacrifices herself for the good of others--a role too often assigned to the woman in the story. Here it is simple math: there is a finite number of seats on a few spacecraft but she never loses her fire for justice.

I'm biased, of course, but Gina Parton a.k.a. Jinetta d'Elous is my favorite female protagonist. I love her, but she would not love me. She is too strong to put up with someone like me. She would lose patience with me, and likely write her own damn story. But in the end of such a beautiful, fulfilled life, even the strongest character, female or male, will be ready to let go and watch the comet come down.

In the real world, however, there are plenty of women achieving great things. But there should be so many more left to their talents and ideas, allowed to fully engage in their efforts, left to achieve things for the betterment of all humanity! After all, we are not in competition; we must work together, encouraging each other, lifting each other up rather than putting anyone down.

As the father of a daughter now entering the frantic world of career, family, service--whatever she wants to do--I want her to be free to achieve everything she possibly can and be a leader among leaders who will work to make our world a better place than it, sadly, is today.

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(C) Copyright 2010-2015 by Stephen M. Swartz. All Rights Reserved. No part of this blog, whether text or image, may be used without me giving you written permission, except for brief excerpts that are accompanied by a link to this entire blog. Violators shall be written into novels as characters who are killed off. Serious violators shall be identified and dealt with according to the laws of the United States of America.