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Can you carry a plot or sub-plot on throughout a series in a middle-grade fiction book or should everything be wrapped up by the end of that particular book?
veinglory said:I would say that each book should be statisfying as a stand alone volume but also carry plot elements over -- sort of like episodes in a good TV series.
Christine N. said:Have I thoroughly confused you, because I think I've confused myself.
veinglory said:I would say that each book should be statisfying as a stand alone volume but also carry plot elements over -- sort of like episodes in a good TV series.
Andrew Jameson said:When querying, is it advantageous, disadvantageous, or neutral to mention that a novel could be marketed as either a stand-alone or as the first of a trilogy?
Andrew Jameson said:Question for you published novelists: When querying, is it advantageous, disadvantageous, or neutral to mention that a novel could be marketed as either a stand-alone or as the first of a trilogy?
OK, completely understood. I just thought it would be interesting to mention some things in passing in book A that could be used later in books B and C. Not unresolved issues, but things like referring to an unseen person or event in a character's past that has a *minor* impact on the story in book A, but would have a *major* impact in book B. Something like that.James D. Macdonald said:If the first book doesn't sell, there isn't going to be a trilogy.
Any book can be used to springboard a series -- I'd say let the editor ask if you could write more in the same world.
Andrew Jameson said:Or am I overthinking it?
Andrew Jameson said:OK, completely understood. I just thought it would be interesting to mention some things in passing in book A that could be used later in books B and C. Not unresolved issues, but things like referring to an unseen person or event in a character's past that has a *minor* impact on the story in book A, but would have a *major* impact in book B. Something like that.
I was thinking along the lines of building a house: I want to build a single story (ha! pun!) house, but with an extra-deep foundation and reinforcements in the walls. Takes a bit more work, and anyone visiting my house would't be able to tell, but if I want to build a second story later, the support is already there.
Or am I overthinking it?