Gail asked Joey W. Hill:

How do you decide when a series is done, or is it something you just feel when you get there? (Also, thank you for having a 'this is what I'm working on' section of your website!)

Joey W. Hill Gail, thanks for your question! (And glad that section is helpful - you've reminded me to check it more often to keep it up to date, lol.) As far as my response, it is a lot "feels," as well as the initial structure of the series.

For instance, my Nature of Desire and Vampire Queen series have remained open ended, because it's an exploration of those worlds (the different aspects of D/s relationships and the vampire world, respectively). Which means there are always secondary characters that show up who want their stories told.

But when a series starts with a set group of main characters, the number of books is more obvious. For instance, series like Daughters of Arianne and Arcane Shot have begun with three major players (3 witches, 2 mermaids and a daughter) so a trilogy is more likely (and has happened/is happening with those).

Knights of the Board Room straddled both ideas. It started with a core group of five men, so I assumed "five books." Instead, two additional characters decided they needed their story told (friends of the other five), so it became a 7-book series essentially and THEN it was complete (with one revisit anthology as Book 8, but that's really a bonus set of shorts, rather than a new story).

It created the spin-off Mistresses of the Board Room series, which again has five major characters. Though it might have an additional couple characters like KBR did, I expect it will still complete somewhere in the 5-8 book range.

So "feel" AND structure would be the answer. Let me know if you have any follow up questions on that!

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