[Writer Blog] Series Books vs. Sequence Books
Last week I read Texas Gothic by Rosemary Clement-Moore. For a reader of any age who enjoys smart and funny paranormal romance (think more ghosts and demons rather than vampires) I highly recommend Rosemary. When it comes to vampires – you can’t go wrong with Rachel Caine. Both authors are “Young Adult” but (as any well-written book should) they “translate” well for those of us who are “young at heart”.
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Texas Gothic is the newest of Clement-Moore’s stand-alone books. She introduces us to the Goodnight family – a family of women who are witches and psychics – except for Amy. Amy is the “Gatekeeper”, the one with the least talent who blurs the lines between the weird and the “normal”. Or so she believes, until one summer when she and her sister, Phin, “farm-sit” for their aunt in Texas. Then all bets are off.
Clement-Moore really draws you into this family. She makes you care about them and want to know more about them. In fact, right after I finished reading the book, I posted along the lines of “If there aren’t any more books about the Goodnight family, the world would a much sadder place.” Fortunately, I’m told, the world will not be a much sadder place.
Which brings me to the topic – Sequence books vs. Series books. I love a good series. Let’s face it, who doesn’t? It’s great to follow a character – or set of characters – through a period of time. We all felt like we “grew up” with Harry Potter. We went to Mordor with Frodo. I’m sure I wasn’t the only one waiting to see if Miles Vorkosigan would finally find love and be happy in Lois McMaster Bujold’s series. And I can’t wait to see how Jim Butcher tortures Harry Dresden further, I mean really the poor guy can’t escape even when he’s dead.
But there’s something equally satisfying about “Sequence books”. These happen more in romance genres than other genres, but I’ve seen them in others. Sequence books are similar to series. There’s a unifying “thing” – a universe or a family – but the stories stand alone. Sequence books let you move around, do different things in different places without losing cohesion, but doesn’t require previous knowledge of the family/universe. They don’t have to be read in any particular order without the fear of losing the reader.
In the case of Clement-Moore, she introduced several members of the Goodnight family. Texas Gothic featured Amy. The next one may feature Amy’s sister or one of her cousins . We have the continuity of the family/universe – this is what the Goodnights do/are, but in the context and POV of a completely different family member and setting.
I completely embrace the idea of sequence books. I have story in my Orphan Stories collection called “Why Don’t You Get a Real Job?” which introduces a universe and a space station. I used the same universe – and a different space station – in my novel that I’m trying to sell. While working on the book, there are cultures and planets that I would really like to explore someday – but not within the confines of either space station. And some stuff that can happen on the space stations that aren’t connected to the characters in either story. The unifier would be the UNIVERSE. In some cases, I think it would be 1) more fun for me the writer because I can do different things, and 2) more fun for the reader because they get different perspectives on things.
Of course, sequence books are not the “norm” and are harder to sell. Most people “get” the idea of SERIES. Sequence is just odd enough to rock the boat. But I’m never one to do things the easy way. We’ll see what happens — of course, if someone said, “Hey, we want to publish this as a series”, I’m not saying NO.