Introduction
I’ve had a good experience with the Learning 2 Bake from Scratch series. I’m considering a Learning 2 Write series.
I had a space opera in mind, but writing out the timeline stretched it WAY into the future. I don’t really want to try to write about technology in the year 3000. There are too many ways that can go wrong (see, for example, the card sorter in Galactic Lensmen).
I’ve also read a lot of LitRPG since then. Magic is easier because, well, it’s magic. It’s hard to be wrong about something entirely fictional to begin with. I have a story that I want to try to write. I’m not making much progress. Hence this idea.
If I’m going to write it, I’m at least going to pretend that I want to sell it. The way to make money on Amazon is not to publish a book. It is to publish a series. I think I’ll start by looking at the structure of various series that I like, liked, and disliked. The past-tense “liked” is “I liked the first X books, then got sick of it.” X is usually around 10, but I’m persistent so I actually get sick of it around book 8 and press on, anyway.
There will be spoilers galore, so if you plan on reading any of these series, don’t read these posts. I’m going to start with (not Amazon affiliate links):
- Fire from the Sky. This one is recent. I KUed them the first time through then bought them last week for a second. I’ve caught up to the author at book 15 and I’ve loved them all – despite the fact that they are post-apocalyptic, which I usually dislike (because it’s so grim).
- Primal Hunter. This is not recent. These are the only books I’ve ever pre-ordered on Amazon. They’re better the first time through, but still good. I caught up to the author way back around book 7. It’s now at 15. I’m getting less excited about the new ones, but still pre-ordering.
- April. Another older one and another I KUed the first time and bought for the third, when I started feeling guilty. I’ve read this so many times. I start reading it to figure out why I like it so much and then get sucked into the story and keep going, which is of course why I like it, but why does that happen? Family Law starts off independent, but they come together, eventually.
- Atlas. This is older, but new to me. The author’s next series is quite good. This one is not. I couldn’t make it through the first book.
- The Legend of Randidly Ghosthound. This feels a lot like Primal Hunter; almost as if they were both given the same writing challenge. I don’t like this one as much. I quit at book 7, when I caught up to the author, and I haven’t felt any desire to continue. Book 13 is on pre-order, now.
- He Who Fights with Monsters. I gave up on this one at book 9; there are 12 now. I was tired of it sooner, but I pressed on in vain.
- The Belgariad. I bought these in paperback, wore them out, then bought them in hardcover, back in the day when they were being published (long before Kindle existed, let alone me having one). I may buy the first one to reread just for this (my paper books are in boxes in the garage, waiting to be given away).
- Destiny’s Crucible. I’ve been caught up with this one for years (currently book 9). It has a very slow publishing pace, because it has so much detail and research. I don’t want to write a book like this because it would be super hard. However, it will make a good comparison point.
That should be enough for a number of “compare and contrast” posts. I’ll throw in some additional ones if there’s something pertinent for a particular post. For example, one cannot discuss point-of-view without at least referencing Romance, which can be pretty good if you can find any without explicit sex in every other chapter.
I wonder what I’ll do about pictures. WordPress really likes the “featured image” at the top of every post.
Marked Up 