The Series

Writers sometimes create characters, settings, indeed entire “universes” which they revisit for several books. This technique is termed writing a series. There are many positives in this approach. Sales of series titles tend to be better, because a reader who enjoys one title will want to read the others in the same series. Also, a nifty character can be revisited, even if a main character in one tale becomes a minor one in another. However, a great character can succeed as a main character again and again. Here are three diverse examples—

One of my first experiences in reading a series began with Lois McMaster Bujold’s Shards of Honor. The first two books (now available in a single volume) focus on Cordelia Naismith, who marries Aral Vorkosigan. Their son, Miles, becomes the main character in the rest of the series, and what a marvelous character he is! Alternately humorous, cunning, and inspiring, Bujold’s Miles has enough problems and strength to carry him through many adventures. I’ve pictured one of the better late entries in the series, A Civil Campaign, which describes Miles’ matrimonial adventure, but my absolute favorite Miles adventure is a short story, The Mountains of Mourning. Regarding the writing of a series, “Bujold has also said that part of the challenge of writing a series is that many readers will encounter the stories in ‘utterly random order’, so she must provide sufficient background in each of them without being excessively repetitious. Most recent printings of her Vorkosigan tales do include an appendix at the end summarizing the internal chronology of the series.”

Another science fiction writer, but one with a different approach altogether, is David Weber. His Honor Harrington series is ongoing, but I have given it up. I found the last few entries stray farther and farther from focusing on his main character. The earlier books, especially the first eight, are among the best space opera I have read. Weber has a wonderful grasp of technical matters, and his books are sorta like the Tom Clancy of science fiction. Honor is not particularly successful as a female, but she is wonderful as a military heroine. My most favorite entry in the series, The Honor of the Queen, is pictured. Weber has stated that this series began as an 80K essay which he terms “Honorverse.”

Several years ago, a friend loaned me a mystery by a local author, Kathy Hogan Trocheck, and I enjoyed it enough to revisit the Callihan Garrity series, set in Atlanta. A former AJC reporter, Trocheck often bases her plots in crime stories in the Atlanta area. I was fortunate to hear her speak at a writer’s conference in Athens, and she let her audience in on some of the problems facing the series writer. Her main character is the owner of a cleaning service, which serves as a way to let her be a private detective and get into the homes of her clients and her suspects. This series is often humorous, but she admitted that it is hard to keep everything straight. An example she cited was using a beat up Chevy van in one book, but switching to a Ford in the next one. Her editor’s suggested solution was a writer’s guide, where she kept track of these details. In recent years, she has moved to the more popular “chick lit” perspective, writing as Mary Kay Andrews, but she is still writing a series.

My editor for Trinity on Tylos suggested that I make it a series. That is still a possibility, and I did use a guide when I was writing Trinity on Tylos, so that I could keep the characters and the physical layout of the Excalibur straight. If you want to see part of it, just flip to the back of that book; my editor suggested that the character list be a part of the book so that readers could keep them straight as well. If I ever revisit the “Trinity on Tylos” universe, I will certainly use that guide again.

Not Another Remake!

Recently, I have noticed that many television and films in the science fiction genre are retreads of previous offerings. I’m not just talking about Battlestar Galactica, Flash Gordon and even more Star Trek, which is going to be revived with a prequel film later this year. Actually, I am also talking about middle-of-the-road and blockbuster science fiction on the screen. Recent genre films included I am Legend, which is based on the 1954 horror novel by Richard Matheson, and Beowulf, which is very loosely based on an Anglo-Saxon epic. Later this month, Jumpers will debut in theaters. This film is based on a series of books for young adults which began in 1992, but the plot deals with teleportation, hardly a new science fiction concept. Further out, Universal pictures is remaking The Wolf Man, and Fox is remaking The Day the Earth Stood Still. Warner Brothers’ planned feature film version of Justice League, based on an animated television show, which in turn is based on fifty plus year old comic book heroes, has been delayed due to the writer’s strike. Not long ago, Entertainment Weekly published an article, Is science fiction out of ideas? Maybe.

As a long time genre fan, I have often asked why? Yet, as a teacher of middle and high school students, I do remember that teaching science fiction; a topic I seldom used in the classroom, did not endear me to many students. The excellent ezine, Sci Fi Dimensions ran a pair of commentaries on this topic a couple of years ago. The tone of “Kids and Sci Fi” is quite sarcastic, but the author’s points are well-taken. Students just don’t get science fiction themes, and young people are the future. If they don’t enjoy science fiction stories and films, the genre will die off. Kevin Ahern’s “Meekly Going Nowhere” is a more thoughtful discussion of the lack of new ideas in science fiction.

Yet, a look at the highest grossing films of the past couple of decades would indicate that science fiction is healthy enough on the big screen. Video games often use this genre for settings and plot. Unfortunately, many of those are also retro in theme, and again, there is a dearth of new ideas.

Editors and publishers must look for new and entertaining ideas in the manuscripts which come to them. Serious science fiction has long suffered from a focus on dystopia, which is just not particularly entertaining. Some of the mid-sized publishers such as Baen Books are doing a better job of finding action/adventure genre stories, but Baen loves the “series” writer, and the problem with those is that the same characters and themes naturally repeat.

As I have stated previously, I do think some of the small publishers have picked up some of the more entertaining manuscripts lately. Tigra and The Key were both printed by small publishers, and either of these would make a fabulous film, without resorting to a remake of anything. Now if Hollywood would just take a look at Pam’s Pages, I could steer them away from yet another remake.