Multiple Novels or 1 novel?

[TheGreatMagician]

Hey, what's up. I'm new to SFF Chronicles. I'm plotting out my novel as I'm writing this and having trouble with nt knowing if its multiple novels in one or still a whole novel.

The novel is written from 4 POV character. Each character work as Demon hunters.Each character POV follow them as they each take on different demon hunting missions. The demons they are sent out to hunt and kill are not related to one another.

The only connection between the POV characters is "Drama". Each character is either romantically invovle with one or hate the other or some type of drama that causes them to interact with each other. But like i said, the demons that each one have to hunt on they own DOES NOT relate to the others demon.

Is that 1 whole story or 4 different stories?
Thanks!~

 

[Teresa Edgerton]

This belongs in General Writing Discussion, so I am moving it.

But I will also answer your question (with the same answer you are likely to get from some others): Start writing. That's the only way to find out. You will probably have to write an entire first draft of the story before you have any idea whether you have four books or one.

(And welcome to the Chronicles.)

 

[mgilmour]

Teresa, I completely agree with you.
For example, for my own series of books I have no idea how many novels there will be. I did know that the first (Battleframe) was complete in itself so I pressed the publish button. I'm half way through draft one of book two but I wouldn't be surprised if a lot of it is moved into book three and four.....etc. The important thing for me is to get the writing down in logical blocks so that I can begin to take stock of the other elements of writing.....such as character development, pacing etc. I'm definitely not an expert (like many other's here) but this is the way I work.

 

[psychotick]

Hi,

I'll echo the others. Write it and then you'll know. But I'll also add in this - if you try to tease out four characters into separate books, when they share a timeline and interact with one another, you'll have a hell of a continuity issue to deal with. Each seperate novel has to dove tail perfectlyinto the others.

This can be done. Hugh Cook's W series - the witches and walruses, the warwolf and warlocks etc manages it. But somewhere he must have a master timeline / world map / character arc that boggles the mind. At least if you do it as one book with a straight timeline you can keep it all straight in your head more easily.

Cheers, Greg.

 

[Nick B]

As the others say, write it and see. You could end up with enough material for multiple books, you may end up with just one book. Without getting down and writing, it's hard to know.
Welcome to chrons and good luck

 

[Denise Tanaka]

Welcome to the Chrons! I'll join the chorus to say that the answers you're seeking must first come from inside your own head. Jump in and start writing.

 

[Toby Frost]

At the risk of sounding brusque, you can't write a series of novels until you can write one novel well. So, I'd suggest that you plan out a single novel within your setting, with a finite ending but leaving room for other adventures, and try to write it. If it works, great, and then you can go on to the next. If it doesn't then you can adjust your plans. It's also possible that you will have another idea in the meantime or want to story to go in a different direction to what you've already planned.

 

[Overread]

Multiple books that cover the same time period but with different characters can work and it has been done, the problems are:

1) Each character will have a different voice and be a different personality (or at least they should be). As a result if you re-do the same time period from 4 different perspectives you can end up with a character readers "hate and characters readers "like". Now in a series where you've multiple points of view through the book the characters readers hate are gotten through because they know a character they like will be coming up soon. Indeed in a good book its more the case of like and love rather than like and hate outright.*

2) Continuity is an issue, but so long as you flesh out the master plan before you write it shouldn't be a problem. Each character can have minor events that shape them as a character, but which play no part directly in the greater scheme. If you fail to create such a master approach then your writing will show it. The first character will get all the action whilst each one there after will have increasingly less and less choice and might well up in plot holes and problems that are just going to force you to do quick-fixes that don't sit right.

3) Writing voice - readers like to pick up a book in a series and have the same "voice" through the whole series. A risk with doing 4 different angles is that your writing style might change to suit the character; this might throw some readers if it happens in a very clear manner (again this supports the notion of writing all at once and then splitting - or at least having the bulk written and planned out in rough).

4) Missing complexity - Complex interactions are great, but if you spread them out over multiple books then the average reader is only going to remember a few key events clearly in their mind (esp if its been a while since publication of the first to second book). As such you might put lots of subtle key links between them that simple get glossed over on a first read through. Because most readers don't want to have to go back to the previous book(s) to keep up.
Doing multiple points of view in the same book you can do the same effect, but without the same forgetful aspect on the part of the reader (and checking is just flicking through a few pages).

5) Pace - if you do four books all covering the same time period then pace within the story can be an issue because you can only cover the rough same time period over and over. This means each character has to have their own final ending - their own conclusion.
I have seen it done where each character splits off in their own tale within the world - each reaching a conclusion of their own that leaves them "ready" for a final book that combined the characters; drawing them together to wrap up the story.

6) Depth - if you do a book per character you have a lot more room to go into deeper depths of the character. You can flesh them out a lot more because you've a lot more room to write. If you do all in one you can still take that time, however you might find that you can't take each one too far apart from the others to go into their own personal background without losing the cohesion**


In short a great part of this is how you want to write it. There is no correct nor right way to write it (unless you ask a publisher who will tell you what they want to see based upon their focus and market research) thus its down to you. Get a plan together; get segments in draft and see how you feel about it; see what will fit your ideal structure for the story.



*Note like/hate/love etc.. I mean in descriptive terms - sometimes the real evil nasty character is the one lots of readers like to reader about

** If you think about books like Game of Thrones whilst multiple characters are often interacting far apart from each other; they do keep meeting up. Each "area" has a collection of characters interacting not just one alone for the most part. As a result you never get the feeling that one character is "off on their own". You can do that for a time, but do it for too long and hte reader will start to wonder why this character, so far removed, is doing nothing much with the main story.

 

[DrMclony]

Definitely as others have said, write, and you will see. Plan for your first story arc, see how you go, and in that time you will get a stronger sense for how long the story will take. One thing that concerns me, is that what you describe, with them hunting demons that are unrelated to each other, it could get episodic to the point of boring. X goes out, hunts demon, chapter ends. Rinse and repeat. That is something to be careful of. I appreciate that you are looking at having the relations between hunters tie things together, but you had best make sure that your characters work extremely well in that case to make the story hold the reader's interest. For that reason, I believe a separate book for each hunter will not work. However, I also feel that you need some greater depth to the demons than random individuals. Perhaps there is something attracting them, or bringing them out, perhaps their usual feeding grounds are no longer sustainable so they are encroaching on the hunter's world? Why are the hunters needed now, more than normal? I would consider these things to give the story a bigger picture for the hunters to develop within. Within the context of a bigger picture, you might stretch out to a series, but otherwise, I would not like to judge.

 

[TheGreatMagician]

Thanks everyone for the advice! I'm working things out now and just gone finish the book and then see what i need and dont need

 

[TheGreatMagician]

Multiple books that cover the same time period but with different characters can work and it has been done, the problems are:

1) Each character will have a different voice and be a different personality (or at least they should be). As a result if you re-do the same time period from 4 different perspectives you can end up with a character readers "hate and characters readers "like". Now in a series where you've multiple points of view through the book the characters readers hate are gotten through because they know a character they like will be coming up soon. Indeed in a good book its more the case of like and love rather than like and hate outright.*

2) Continuity is an issue, but so long as you flesh out the master plan before you write it shouldn't be a problem. Each character can have minor events that shape them as a character, but which play no part directly in the greater scheme. If you fail to create such a master approach then your writing will show it. The first character will get all the action whilst each one there after will have increasingly less and less choice and might well up in plot holes and problems that are just going to force you to do quick-fixes that don't sit right.

3) Writing voice - readers like to pick up a book in a series and have the same "voice" through the whole series. A risk with doing 4 different angles is that your writing style might change to suit the character; this might throw some readers if it happens in a very clear manner (again this supports the notion of writing all at once and then splitting - or at least having the bulk written and planned out in rough).

4) Missing complexity - Complex interactions are great, but if you spread them out over multiple books then the average reader is only going to remember a few key events clearly in their mind (esp if its been a while since publication of the first to second book). As such you might put lots of subtle key links between them that simple get glossed over on a first read through. Because most readers don't want to have to go back to the previous book(s) to keep up.
Doing multiple points of view in the same book you can do the same effect, but without the same forgetful aspect on the part of the reader (and checking is just flicking through a few pages).

5) Pace - if you do four books all covering the same time period then pace within the story can be an issue because you can only cover the rough same time period over and over. This means each character has to have their own final ending - their own conclusion.
I have seen it done where each character splits off in their own tale within the world - each reaching a conclusion of their own that leaves them "ready" for a final book that combined the characters; drawing them together to wrap up the story.

6) Depth - if you do a book per character you have a lot more room to go into deeper depths of the character. You can flesh them out a lot more because you've a lot more room to write. If you do all in one you can still take that time, however you might find that you can't take each one too far apart from the others to go into their own personal background without losing the cohesion**


In short a great part of this is how you want to write it. There is no correct nor right way to write it (unless you ask a publisher who will tell you what they want to see based upon their focus and market research) thus its down to you. Get a plan together; get segments in draft and see how you feel about it; see what will fit your ideal structure for the story.



*Note like/hate/love etc.. I mean in descriptive terms - sometimes the real evil nasty character is the one lots of readers like to reader about

** If you think about books like Game of Thrones whilst multiple characters are often interacting far apart from each other; they do keep meeting up. Each "area" has a collection of characters interacting not just one alone for the most part. As a result you never get the feeling that one character is "off on their own". You can do that for a time, but do it for too long and hte reader will start to wonder why this character, so far removed, is doing nothing much with the main story.

Yu stated that a reader never get the feeling that one character is "off on their own". Well in Game of thrones Arya Stark and Bran Stark story POV has nothing to do with whats going on in the seven kingdoms with the houses fighting for the throne. Nor do they story has anything to do with whats going on at The wall with jon snow or anything to do with Daenerys and her dragons. They just on they own adventure. In the beginning they were apart of the main story but than they went on they own adventure.

 

[Overread]

I would argue that Bran and Arya started as part of larger groups and developed into their own niche; which is not always in total isolation from the other characters.

My point is more toward the extreme where, with only 4 key characters, the OP could end up with one moving into a nearly totally separate story. That's not inherently a problem, except when you want to then strongly tie all 4 stories together into a single narrative experience.

Certainly there are no fixed boundaries with writing and what is impossible, impractical or incorrect can; if done well, work - however you have to be aware of the nature of the problem in order to best manage it.

 

[Michael M]

I would restate the comment that you need to find out whether you have sufficient material for four books before you decide on how to slice your project. Also, if there are four major characters, do you need a distinct book for each character? You may find that the interplay between these four characters leads to a trilogy, or just two books. I agree with DrMclony that four books may become repetitive unless there is some form of chronology taking the entire project forward. It could become repetitive.

You may need a device to bring the characters back to a common point. It could be a building or a place. I believe that you will need to constantly underline the presence of the other characters and the other stories, or the reader will feel they are reading different books that are not clearly related. I agree with Overread that you may find some of your characters ‘drifting away’ from the primary plot. There needs to be a central thread, and the four characters cannot stray too far.

Good luck.

 

[Tim Murray]

Yu stated that a reader never get the feeling that one character is "off on their own". Well in Game of thrones Arya Stark and Bran Stark story POV has nothing to do with whats going on in the seven kingdoms with the houses fighting for the throne. Nor do they story has anything to do with whats going on at The wall with jon snow or anything to do with Daenerys and her dragons. They just on they own adventure. In the beginning they were apart of the main story but than they went on they own adventure.

FIrst off, welcome to Chrons! You could have their separate journey's culminate in a joined venture to close the book. Perhaps the drama and tension of four different personalities coming together out of necessity would provide a good ending.