Allison Symes's Blog - Posts Tagged "stand-alone-books"
First Books You Chose For Yourself
Do you remember the first book you chose for yourself?
The first single book I chose was Jane Austen’s Collected Works. It is handy having them in one volume!
The first book series I collected (and still have) was the Agatha Christie series published via Odhams Books. Remember them? The nice thing with that series is it covers all of her major characters from Poirot to Marple to Tommy and Tuppence. Great stories.
The first fantasy book I chose for myself was The Lord of the Rings.
The first history book I chose was Simon Schama’s History of Britain which tied in with his TV series of the same name.
The first comic series I went for was P.G. Wodehouse’s wonderful works. (I don’t have them all but do have a fair number). I started with Jeeves and Wooster, thanks to the fab TV adaptation where Stephen Fry played Jeeves and Hugh Lawrie played Bertie.
I then went on to Terry Pratchett’s Discworld. I started with Jingo and then worked backwards to the beginning with The Colour of Magic.
Oh and I mustn’t forget Enid Blyton’s Famous Five series. My local (at the time) ITV network, Southern TV (sadly long gone), produced a great adaptation of these and the books were reissued with the covers showing the child actors in their roles. Sadly Southern lost their franchise and I believe the series ended. I don’t know what happened to the books I managed to collect (I used to be able to buy them from the local newsagent - how times have changed!) but loved the stories.
So can TV and film have a great influence on book buying? Oh yes!
The first single book I chose was Jane Austen’s Collected Works. It is handy having them in one volume!
The first book series I collected (and still have) was the Agatha Christie series published via Odhams Books. Remember them? The nice thing with that series is it covers all of her major characters from Poirot to Marple to Tommy and Tuppence. Great stories.
The first fantasy book I chose for myself was The Lord of the Rings.
The first history book I chose was Simon Schama’s History of Britain which tied in with his TV series of the same name.
The first comic series I went for was P.G. Wodehouse’s wonderful works. (I don’t have them all but do have a fair number). I started with Jeeves and Wooster, thanks to the fab TV adaptation where Stephen Fry played Jeeves and Hugh Lawrie played Bertie.
I then went on to Terry Pratchett’s Discworld. I started with Jingo and then worked backwards to the beginning with The Colour of Magic.
Oh and I mustn’t forget Enid Blyton’s Famous Five series. My local (at the time) ITV network, Southern TV (sadly long gone), produced a great adaptation of these and the books were reissued with the covers showing the child actors in their roles. Sadly Southern lost their franchise and I believe the series ended. I don’t know what happened to the books I managed to collect (I used to be able to buy them from the local newsagent - how times have changed!) but loved the stories.
So can TV and film have a great influence on book buying? Oh yes!
Series Books or Stand Alones?
Do you prefer series books or stand alones?
Naturally, I am sure most of us would say we love both of these forms of novel. I certainly do. But both have their own advantages.
In series books, you have the advantage of following characters over the course of several novels and see them develop.
My favourite example is the Discworld series by the much missed Terry Pratchett. The Vimes books within this show him going from a drunk to a phenomenally brave man with a wife (the brilliant Lady Sybil, who is a great role model) and child and how he transforms the City Watch into a decent police unit.
But there are some books where a writer says all they have to say about a character in one gripping story and they’re right not to carry that on.
I don’t know if this series/stand alone debate particularly refers to crime fiction (as the Vimes books are crime novels set in a fantasy world so cross crime/fantasy/humour and to fabulous effect).
Certainly if an author is new to me, I will only read one book of theirs, see how I get on, and then go on to read the others in their series or not as the case may be.
If you have series or stand alone recommendations, do share!
Meantime I carry on very happily reading both kinds.
Naturally, I am sure most of us would say we love both of these forms of novel. I certainly do. But both have their own advantages.
In series books, you have the advantage of following characters over the course of several novels and see them develop.
My favourite example is the Discworld series by the much missed Terry Pratchett. The Vimes books within this show him going from a drunk to a phenomenally brave man with a wife (the brilliant Lady Sybil, who is a great role model) and child and how he transforms the City Watch into a decent police unit.
But there are some books where a writer says all they have to say about a character in one gripping story and they’re right not to carry that on.
I don’t know if this series/stand alone debate particularly refers to crime fiction (as the Vimes books are crime novels set in a fantasy world so cross crime/fantasy/humour and to fabulous effect).
Certainly if an author is new to me, I will only read one book of theirs, see how I get on, and then go on to read the others in their series or not as the case may be.
If you have series or stand alone recommendations, do share!
Meantime I carry on very happily reading both kinds.
Series Books -v- Stand Alones
Do your prefer series books or stand alones? I love both, naturally and can see the merits in both.
Sometimes a story can only be told in one book - The Daughter of Time by Josephine Tey is a great example of that. Nothing can be added.
But I do love series books, such as Terry Pratchett’s Discworld, where the major characters develop over time. Indeed, you can follow a whole life story for them within the overall plots of the individual books.
Sam Vimes is the best example here as you see him go from being a drunk copper to becoming a heroic copper who marries the fabulous Lady Sybil Ramkin (what she doesn’t know about dragons isn’t worth knowing) and then on to being a Duke, still being heroic and never losing sight of himself.
He’s not one for whom fame would get to his head. Love all of that. And you get to see that slowly revealed over many novels.
This kind of thing I think is the best feature of series books and is why crime series tend to do so well. You follow the results of the individual case plus you catch up on what the lead characters have done/are doing. Plenty to like there.
In my field, short fiction, you obviously get to have lots of stand alone stories but you can have series ones too. I write linked flash fiction sometimes where a character will turn up in more than one tale yet each story is its own complete tale. Fun to do and a good challenge.
Am glad to say I will have a new book out next year (more details nearer the time) and I have had fun with linked flash in that. Looking forward to saying more about this later. But you can have series and stand alones in short stories and flash fiction too.
Sometimes a story can only be told in one book - The Daughter of Time by Josephine Tey is a great example of that. Nothing can be added.
But I do love series books, such as Terry Pratchett’s Discworld, where the major characters develop over time. Indeed, you can follow a whole life story for them within the overall plots of the individual books.
Sam Vimes is the best example here as you see him go from being a drunk copper to becoming a heroic copper who marries the fabulous Lady Sybil Ramkin (what she doesn’t know about dragons isn’t worth knowing) and then on to being a Duke, still being heroic and never losing sight of himself.
He’s not one for whom fame would get to his head. Love all of that. And you get to see that slowly revealed over many novels.
This kind of thing I think is the best feature of series books and is why crime series tend to do so well. You follow the results of the individual case plus you catch up on what the lead characters have done/are doing. Plenty to like there.
In my field, short fiction, you obviously get to have lots of stand alone stories but you can have series ones too. I write linked flash fiction sometimes where a character will turn up in more than one tale yet each story is its own complete tale. Fun to do and a good challenge.
Am glad to say I will have a new book out next year (more details nearer the time) and I have had fun with linked flash in that. Looking forward to saying more about this later. But you can have series and stand alones in short stories and flash fiction too.
