Any advice on natural break point in a saga?

Hartgrave · Mar 27, 2014

Hey Folks,

I’m a newbie here and I was hoping some of the more veteran members here could give me a few tips or advice. I’ve been writing for a few years now and Ive finally drummed up the courage to consider publishing a book. The model I’m looking at utilising at the moment is an ebook for Kindle.

The book I’m writing at the moment is intended to be a trilogy. As such I don’t want to show all my cards in the first book regarding potential plot develop.

My question is, as a writer of a connected saga of erotic fiction, what advice or tips would you give regarding natural break point between books? Should it be a cliff-hanger?

Any advice you could give would be greatly appreciated ?

- MH

Filigree · Mar 27, 2014

If you are self-publishing, you can break at any reasonable point in the narrative. The stronger the cliffhanger, the more vociferous and antsy your readers might be. But if you have the whole thing written, formatted, etc. it could drive reader interest, provided you published the second within a couple of months.

Whatever you choose, try to make the first book readable as a standalone, with a satisfying 'ending' that closes off one part of the narrative.

HSLane · Mar 27, 2014

I'd try to reach a point in your saga where many (but not all) of the plot lines are resolved, and use a particularly momentous event with a resting period after as a climax/epilogue. If you need to add in scenes or cut stuff to make it work, I'd do that - nothing irks me more than a book which just stops at some arbitrary point.

Hartgrave · Mar 31, 2014

Thanks for the advice

Cathy C · Mar 31, 2014

A good example is a movie trilogy--"Star Wars." The destruction of the Death Star ends movie (book) 1. You know there's a war still to be fought, and the bad guy got away, but today is ours. In movie (book) 2, progress is set back on its heels by the bad guys winning the day and the hero's weaknesses being revealed. In movie (book) 3, the hero starts to rely less on luck and natural talent and grows into his training and becomes a force to be reckoned with, thus earning the final win.

Is that possible within your planned trilogy?

Hartgrave · Mar 31, 2014

Well I have a broad structure for the arch but going on the advice about I've found a natural enough break for book one ( I hope). It should all become clearer once I polish up the final draft. Still another few weeks work I think minimum. Aiming for a summer launch.

Any advice on natural break point in a saga?

Hartgrave

Filigree

Mildly Disturbing

HSLane

Hartgrave

Cathy C

Ooo! Shiny new cover!

Hartgrave