My Aversion to Series

I don't like series (series'? serieses? serii?).

Gasp!!!!

Well, I don't. I stand here, staring at all fifteen 800-page novels in my newest favorite series... and I just balk.

But hold up! This may be interesting to watch...

There's something in us, I think, that really enjoys a long, epic, ongoing story arc that spans volumes and volumes. We like to see characters grow, succeed... and sometimes die gruseomely. It's fun and it's inspiring. There's a reason Spidey's still swinging, decades after his first comic run, and why Lord of the Rings is the second best-selling novel of all time... wait, novel? Didn't I just say it was a series? Well, you see... and this is where I get sneaky... Tolkien originally wrote LOTR as a single book. Uno. 525,000 words, one book. The only reason we know it as a trilogy today was because his publisher didn't think people would buy a 2,100 page book (and they were probably right, though the omnibus versions are doing great, now that LOTR is so famous).

So I don't think that having a long story and lots of interconnecting plots is a bad thing. And by no means am I disregarding the fact that there are many, many good series out there. It's just that sometimes I shake my head and think about how I DID NOT need to know that much about the world in Fantasy Series A, and how I really got tired of the dumb hero from Series B. Telling the whole tale in a single, more concise (even if it was a bit bulky) volume could have a lot of good effects, I think. And that's underrated today, in a world where you need a series to sell anything (unless you're Stephen King. He can do whatever he wants and he'll still win. Oh well...).

Reasons why standalones are cool:

I. You don't have an agonizing wait until book 2 (and 3, and 4, and so on and so forth). The storyline is tied up in one part, even if that part takes 600 pages. There's a beginning, middle, and end, and instead of waiting for the next chapter in the same ole' tale to unfold, you get to wait to see what entirely new idea the author has cooked up. OR...

II. Perhaps the author wants to write another book in the same world as the first, though it may not be directly tied to the original. Maybe there are similar undertones, carry-over characters or plot points, but you don't have to read A to understand and fully enjoy B. Someone who does this quite often (so I hear) is Joe Abercrombie... who writes crap, but he does illustrate my point. He has one trilogy and 3 or more standalone novels set in the same world. They have vague ties to each other but they. Each. Stand. Alone.

III. Conciseness and clarity. I see it in heavy-hitters like Wheel of Time. I see it in new-but-potent books like the Inheritance 4-ology. I see it in middle grade series like Heroes of Olympus (and there's only one book in that series!!!!). I like all three, to be sure, but at some point (usually early on), I grunt in frustration... loudly... multiple times. Why? Because I've just read in 500 pages what could have been squeezed down to 100! Sure, it's cool to find out every little detail of the hero's life and journey... but the real art in storytelling is to convey your message and the 'coolness' of your story in the clearest way possible... the shorter, the better, if it's good literature. No baggage, please...

I'm sure there are others, but I can't think of them right now because after #3 I left my computer to do something and my train of thought was interrupted. If I think of more later I'll post. I'm also coming up with a "what I've learned from e-books so far" post, even though I've barely started in that field. It's more of a "what not to do the first time that almost any idiot would know anyway" rant.

Again, I'm not necessarily condemning all series, or even MOST series. I mean, I'm writing a series myself... and it's going to be 9 books long! Talk about hypocrisy.

I guess my disenchantment with series stems from frustration. Frustration that I can't write what I want in a clear, streamlined way... exactly how I want it... the FIRST TIME. You know? If I wasn't roped into my current series, I'd likely try to build my writing off what I've just said, since I like the idea so much. But then again, I'm not Stephen King, so it probably wouldn't work...