Eldon Farrell
asked
Graeme Rodaughan:
Hi Graeme! I read in one of your interviews that your series is set to be 15 books in total. How will you maintain interest in your characters and the world you're building over such a long time horizon? Or is it not a concern?
Graeme Rodaughan
Hi Eldon, those are excellent questions.
[1] I'm going to interpret your first question in two ways. (a) My own interest, and (b) my readers interest.
(a) I'm obsessed with the Metaframe War story. I can read lines from my first book (which I've read many times), or my notes on later books and I get tingles. That has been present for a few years and I can't see it going away. My own interest is not a concern for me.
(b) There are a list of factors that will help to maintain reader interest in the series and bring them along on the journey.
(i) There are multiple main characters with strong story arcs, hence more opportunity for a reader to find a character to engage with.
(ii) Release tempo. Book two will come out at the end of April, or early May 2017 at the latest. That took a year, but that year included a major upgrade to my writing craft and effort to underestand "marketing" which took a lot of time away from writing. Book three will be out 9 months after book two. I plan to maintain a fast release tempo to help readers stay engaged.
(iii) Story time. The actual story occurs over a period of about 18 months. It's basically a major, "suddenly everything happens" scenario that has all the characters, good and bad, scrambling to survive and achieve their ambitions. This results in stories that are full of pace. For example, book three takes forty hours of story time and is full of action and pace as it brings to a conclusion some of the story arcs developed in books one and two.
(iv) Multi-polar conflicts. Having three main organisations battling against each other allows for variation in villains and threats. It also allows for multi-layered conflict as there can be open conflicts and secret alliances. The priorities, strategies and tactics can shift, resulting in greater opportunity for novelty in the story and keeps it fresh for the readers.
(v) Individual book variation. I.e. the basic nature of each book in the series differs from the others. For example.
Book two: A Traitor's war has lots of machinations and schemes, and various maneuvers between the main players.
Book three: Guns, guts and glory.
Book four: Political maneuvers with some very corrupt players within one of the organisations. Intro of two new classes of villains
Book five: Stealth infiltration of a fortified secret fortress, capture a flag, and escape - if you can?
And so on.
(vi) Ovearching story arc is highly progressive. The stakes for all major characters ramp up as the story progresses. There are twists and turns to come that will have readers going "OMG!"
To sum up. Story interest will be maintained by the use of strong characters, fast paced multi-layered stories with plenty of variation of threat, risk, and scenario. An overall story arc that just increases the pressure right up to the very end and a quick release tempo.
[2] No. Not a concern.
For further detail - the long answer is here: https://www.goodreads.com/author_blog...
Also impacted here: https://www.goodreads.com/author_blog...
[EDIT 22Feb2018] My basic premise is to deliver the best books I can, as my confidence has grown I can see myself consolidating some books as they will read better together rather than apart. Just means I have to write faster to maintain a good publishing tempo.
[1] I'm going to interpret your first question in two ways. (a) My own interest, and (b) my readers interest.
(a) I'm obsessed with the Metaframe War story. I can read lines from my first book (which I've read many times), or my notes on later books and I get tingles. That has been present for a few years and I can't see it going away. My own interest is not a concern for me.
(b) There are a list of factors that will help to maintain reader interest in the series and bring them along on the journey.
(i) There are multiple main characters with strong story arcs, hence more opportunity for a reader to find a character to engage with.
(ii) Release tempo. Book two will come out at the end of April, or early May 2017 at the latest. That took a year, but that year included a major upgrade to my writing craft and effort to underestand "marketing" which took a lot of time away from writing. Book three will be out 9 months after book two. I plan to maintain a fast release tempo to help readers stay engaged.
(iii) Story time. The actual story occurs over a period of about 18 months. It's basically a major, "suddenly everything happens" scenario that has all the characters, good and bad, scrambling to survive and achieve their ambitions. This results in stories that are full of pace. For example, book three takes forty hours of story time and is full of action and pace as it brings to a conclusion some of the story arcs developed in books one and two.
(iv) Multi-polar conflicts. Having three main organisations battling against each other allows for variation in villains and threats. It also allows for multi-layered conflict as there can be open conflicts and secret alliances. The priorities, strategies and tactics can shift, resulting in greater opportunity for novelty in the story and keeps it fresh for the readers.
(v) Individual book variation. I.e. the basic nature of each book in the series differs from the others. For example.
Book two: A Traitor's war has lots of machinations and schemes, and various maneuvers between the main players.
Book three: Guns, guts and glory.
Book four: Political maneuvers with some very corrupt players within one of the organisations. Intro of two new classes of villains
Book five: Stealth infiltration of a fortified secret fortress, capture a flag, and escape - if you can?
And so on.
(vi) Ovearching story arc is highly progressive. The stakes for all major characters ramp up as the story progresses. There are twists and turns to come that will have readers going "OMG!"
To sum up. Story interest will be maintained by the use of strong characters, fast paced multi-layered stories with plenty of variation of threat, risk, and scenario. An overall story arc that just increases the pressure right up to the very end and a quick release tempo.
[2] No. Not a concern.
For further detail - the long answer is here: https://www.goodreads.com/author_blog...
Also impacted here: https://www.goodreads.com/author_blog...
[EDIT 22Feb2018] My basic premise is to deliver the best books I can, as my confidence has grown I can see myself consolidating some books as they will read better together rather than apart. Just means I have to write faster to maintain a good publishing tempo.
More Answered Questions
Michael
asked
Graeme Rodaughan:
Why has this not been made into a Netflix or Amazon Prime show?!?!?! It absolutely should be!
Marie
asked
Graeme Rodaughan:
In all of the books, there are high emotions running rampant throughout the series, especially during the book Dragon's Den as so much happened within that book. Was it hard to write the things that happened to the characters in Dragon's Den as compared to the previous books?
About Goodreads Q&A
Ask and answer questions about books!
You can pose questions to the Goodreads community with Reader Q&A, or ask your favorite author a question with Ask the Author.
See Featured Authors Answering Questions
Learn more