A series that changes over time?

phantom000 · 03-14-2012, 07:53 PM

The project i am working on centers around a group of colonies planning a rebellion against their empire and what happens afterwords.

The heroes are a pair of twins that play a major role in what happens.

The first couple books I want to be a classic swashbuckling adventure, with some twists of course. Then as the war begins it switches to a more military-fantasy kind of story.

The last couple books will deal with the new nation formed by the rebel victory and will be more about politics and intrigue.

What I am worried about is people will read the first book and expect the rest of the series to be just swashbuckling adventure and so be angry when later books are something different.

I think that is basically what happened to the Star Wars prequels, Lucas tried to twist the formula he made with the old films into something the fans didn't want.

saraflower · 03-14-2012, 08:20 PM

I personally like the idea. My second novel actually does a bit of a genre switch about halfway. If the change makes sense, then I think it works really well and can make the story more intriguing. A lot of people like unexpected turns in a story.

In a series especially, circumstances and characters can evolve and the premise of the story can naturally change.

I am curious to read what other people think of series genre changes.

Shoestring · 03-23-2012, 02:16 AM

I had been worrying about the same thing with my own project lately. I'm glad to see that it's not such an out-of-the-box idea, like I thought it was, nor does it seem to be a bad idea. Now that I've finally accepted that it's an OK thing to do, my story has grown by leaps and bounds.

I personally like it when long serial-type stories begin to change, but only when it makes sense to the story. As a reader of too many battle mangas, I'm overly familiar with how bad a long story can get if it's not changed to some degree. I think there's a time with any story when it's necessary for it to change, otherwise you end up sacrificing the quality of the story.

03-14-2012, 07:53 PM	#1
phantom000 New Fish; Learning About Thick Skin Join Date: Aug 2011 Posts: 40	A series that changes over time? The project i am working on centers around a group of colonies planning a rebellion against their empire and what happens afterwords. The heroes are a pair of twins that play a major role in what happens. The first couple books I want to be a classic swashbuckling adventure, with some twists of course. Then as the war begins it switches to a more military-fantasy kind of story. The last couple books will deal with the new nation formed by the rebel victory and will be more about politics and intrigue. What I am worried about is people will read the first book and expect the rest of the series to be just swashbuckling adventure and so be angry when later books are something different. I think that is basically what happened to the Star Wars prequels, Lucas tried to twist the formula he made with the old films into something the fans didn't want. __________________ "If you have a little voice in your head that talks to you, don't worry your human. If you have three or four voices that argue with each other, don't worry your a writer!"

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03-14-2012, 08:20 PM	#2
saraflower New Fish; Learning About Thick Skin Join Date: Mar 2012 Posts: 28	I personally like the idea. My second novel actually does a bit of a genre switch about halfway. If the change makes sense, then I think it works really well and can make the story more intriguing. A lot of people like unexpected turns in a story. In a series especially, circumstances and characters can evolve and the premise of the story can naturally change. I am curious to read what other people think of series genre changes.

03-23-2012, 02:16 AM	#3
Shoestring The Power Pixie! > Rebooting... Join Date: Mar 2012 Location: We all live in a busted submarine... Posts: 811	I had been worrying about the same thing with my own project lately. I'm glad to see that it's not such an out-of-the-box idea, like I thought it was, nor does it seem to be a bad idea. Now that I've finally accepted that it's an OK thing to do, my story has grown by leaps and bounds. I personally like it when long serial-type stories begin to change, but only when it makes sense to the story. As a reader of too many battle mangas, I'm overly familiar with how bad a long story can get if it's not changed to some degree. I think there's a time with any story when it's necessary for it to change, otherwise you end up sacrificing the quality of the story.