Deciding When to Stop a Series

February 21, 2022 / Business of Writing, Uncategorized / 18 COMMENTS

by Elizabeth S. Craig, @elizabethscraig

Writing in series can be rewarding for writers and fun for readers, too. For writers, there’s often not quite as much set-up work involved because main, recurring characters have been developed (obviously, you’ll need to continue development, but you should already have a good base to work from) and settings are established. For readers it’s fun because they’ve invested time in learning the story world and the people who populate it and have the ability to see new stories set in that same world.

But eventually, there may be a time when you (or your readers) wonder if the series should continue. In the best possible scenario, it’s you and not your reader wondering this.

I think about this a lot. The last thing I want is for the series quality to deteriorate. With 19 books in one series and 15 in another, it definitely makes sense for me to consider series quality with every book.

Here are some of the questions I ask myself:

Are the characters still growing without doing anything too far out of character?  You want your characters to stay consistent, but there still needs to be space for reasonable growth of some kind. If the characters are static, think of ways to shake things up a little.

Is anything about the series stale? This could be anything from the same settings to the same group of characters. Consider whether there are ways to introduce new spaces or even new characters (either sidekicks or conflict-generators) to your books.

How are my reviews? Although it’s never fun to look at them, if you’re writing as many books as I do, it’s important to get a general feel of what readers are saying. The big thing I want to catch is if there are many readers saying that the series has slipped in quality.

How are my sales? How is reader engagement? Like reviews, these are other powerful indicators. Are sales still strong? Are readers still emailing you or contacting you on social media about them? Are they looking forward to upcoming releases?

How do I feel when it’s time to start drafting a book in the series? Is it hard for me to come up with original ideas?  Is it fun anymore? Am I excited to visit the story world and its inhabitants? If I’m not, that’s a bad sign.

Are my series tropes still working? Am I leaning on them too much? I wrote a post on series tropes here. They’re the fun recurring rituals that readers of your series expect (maybe even just a running gag about a character’s messiness, etc.) Are they becoming a crutch or do they still add some fun to the series?

And before anyone asks, I’m not stopping any of my series. :)  But I spend a lot more time on quality control than I used to.

What do you consider when looking at series length?

Questions to Ask When Deciding When to Stop a Series: Share on X

 

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  1. Great things to consider about a series, especially a mystery series that can go on for a long time. I would only write a trilogy in a fantasy series unless I had a super strong story line. I think it’d be hard to make a strong longer series and readers might move on before it’s done.

  2. Are you reading my mind, Elizabeth? This is perfect timing for me, as I’m just about to start writing my fifth Joel Williams novel, and thinking about where (if anywhere) the series goes from this one. There’s a lot to think about, and I appreciate your laying it out like this.

  3. These are great questions! Although, it is difficult to let go of a series, it’s important to be true to the story and characters. Sometimes there has to be a real ending. :(

    Teresa

  4. Great questions! I’ve been thinking a bit about this because I’m currently working on my 2nd series. It’s new and I’d like to have 3 books out before I turn my attention elsewhere. I wondered about capping series 1, but there’s still more I’d love to do there :)

    1. So great you’re working on your second series! Have you tried writing two series at once? Sounds a little scary, but if you do one at the beginning of the day and one at the end, it’s not so bad.

  5. Thank you Elizabeth. Great post as always. I think about that question every time. Now at Book 13… I think I’ll stop the series when it’s no longer fun to write.

  6. Great things to think on. I’m still in the process of getting my first book out there but the idea of writing a series has come up due to beta readers liking the story and knowing it could go further. All of what you said has to be contemplated for the next story. If it feels flat to you as a writer, it will definitely feel that way to your reader. Make sure you are still having fun with the stories you write (stand-alone or series) and they will sing for your readers.

  7. Fab post, Elizabeth! I wonder about this sort of thing all the time. I’ve written 7 in one series so far and working on the 6th in another.

    One issue with writing mysteries in a series: the new character/outsider always appears the likely suspect, because how can you make the murderer someone who’s been in the last five books? You can introduce several new characters as a work-around, but readers aren’t going to seriously consider a long-known, possibly beloved character to be the murderer. Louise Penny has broken with this convention, and so have I (the reactions from some of my readers – and my mother – were hilarious when I did this).

    1. That can be tough to work with! Of course, all cozy towns have Cabot Cove syndrome. :) I do introduce five new characters for each book. They are known by the main, recurring characters in different ways, but are just acquaintances (they teach an exercise class at the church, they own the hardware store, they were taught by my sleuth long ago). Something happens in their lives to suddenly make them a potential murderer…some sort of catalyst. In that way, you can have the *catalyst* (the character who’s a newcomer to the area) be the victim. Or you can have the catalyst also be an acquaintance who suddenly needs money and starts blackmailing folks, etc.

  8. Hi Elizabeth – I can imagine you need to keep more control as each book comes along – so they’re all fresh, even if the template is still there. I’m glad you’re not thinking about giving up and are keeping on writing each series … as always an informative and useful post – cheers Hilary

  9. I had five in my series and felt I’d followed all the main characters. If I ever revisited it, I’d follow ALL of the characters in one book. Because one does have to worry about repeating the same story over and over.

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