Series or Stand-alone?

[rkvincent]

I’ve been getting a lot of reader mail lately about Pride. (Which is out, now, btw. Forgot to mention that earlier.) More than I got with either of my previous two releases, which is awesome (and good for the faltering ego). And I’ve noticed a pattern with these messages: everyone wants the next one. Now.

This may have something to do with the

Comments

[tmthomas]

I tend to prefer series, because I get overly invested in characters.

That said, I've also given up on some great UF series because I felt there was not much progress. There's only so many bad things that can happen to Harry Dresden, book after book after book, with the unresolved specter of the Merlin's allegiances and the war with the Red Court and Mab's revenge and other unanswered things, before I fade away toward a series that gives me conclusions.

[rkvincent]

So, you'd prefer series to end on a high note, rather than dragging on past the point of interest?

[tmthomas]

Or a low note.
And I can't say where "dragging" begins.
Eventually, though, a series fades out of my "must read" list.

[twistedfates]

As a reader, I prefer a series over a stand alone. I read plenty of both. But I get sucked into a good series better. I like to be taken along for the ride. I'm the kind of person that after everything I read I ask "what happened next?" (me and cliff hangers are not friends though)

My writing friends are not fans of this habit, especially when I ask them after a short story they wrote a long time ago. Lol.

I've not finished my first book yet, but it's definitely going to be a series for the exact same reason. What happened next?

[miriam_kriss]

Nothing makes me want to read like just having finished a good book. If an author's taken you along for an amazing ride, it's like a roller coaster where the minute it's over you're jumping back into the line so you can go again.
I remember being a kid and finishing a really good, can't put it down book in the dead of night. It was a lonely feeling, our big old house quiet for once (there were five of us kids, the house didn't get quiet often) and the story over. The only cure was to immediately start another book and fall asleep in the middle of the story.
I love series because when you've become invested in characters' lives you'll always want to know what happens next. I love a good stand alone as well and I agree that series can go sour and disappoint, but reading a good book always makes me greedy for another hit of the same.

[rkvincent]

M! Your avatar looks just like you!

[jadesymb]

Assuming the plot in a series novel (not series romance) is complete, do you find yourself more driven to read the next book in a series than you would be to read the next stand-alone book by an author?

Yes.
I prefer to read series that are connected in some way. Now, mind, I also do like it when a series EVENTUALLY ENDS. But a dozen books in a series is good to me!!!!

[kellyrfineman]

I like plot threads that carry over, but books that contain a complete plot arc within them.

An example of one that made me nearly batty: the penultimate book in the Gregor the Overlander series, which ended along the lines of "and now the war begins". It was almost literally a "guy hanging off cliff - wait until next time" moment.

[rkvincent]

But it made you really want the next one, right? ;-)

[kellyrfineman]

Actually, it made me really angry. And although I bought the next one as soon as it came out for daughter M, I've not read it yet.

[rkvincent]

Ouch! Duly noted... ;-)