Science fiction saga I'm writing

[Blackrook]

I planned to write a five-book science fiction saga and I'm almost finished.

Problem is, the story isn't finished when I finish the five books.

Do I write five more books?

It seems I might have to do that.

 

[Damaged Eagle]

Didn't you have a outline?

Which publishing company do you feel you have the best chance with?

*****CHUCKLE*****

 

[night_son]

I planned to write a five-book science fiction saga and I'm almost finished.

Problem is, the story isn't finished when I finish the five books.

Do I write five more books?

It seems I might have to do that.

You write as many as the story tells you to write. That is unless you have signed a contract with your publisher for five books which must adhere to specific word counts and submission timelines. If you have not done that, then believe me—the world is still your oyster. Do whatever you want with your story, you're still free to do that.

Two of my novels have been published. One is a cyberpunk horror, the other is sort of a Tom Clancy/Jack Reacher meets Stephen King. Both are planned long series, under contract. What that means is whether or not I still have fresh ideas for already sold sequels, I still must write and deliver them according to a rather rigid timeline.

Frankly, since the pandemic began—and with my wife working from home, I haven't written much toward either sequel in either series beyond second books for each. Most days I consider myself very lucky if I even open Word to read and revise old chapters. They only reason I can still meet coming 2021 deadlines is because I've written two further books in each of the series, which only require final revisions before submission. Well, that's not completely true. One of the sequels . . . I can't seem to get the first hundred pages right. However, I've got until October 2021 to figure it out.

These days—these pandemic days—I am mostly fooling around writing short stories and starting novellas I likely won't finish for a decade or more. Ah . . . the lurid call of a new story idea. Gets me every time. It's so much easier to start something new than finish something you're supposed to be writing.

Whatever you decide, good luck with your writing.

 

[Blackrook]

I understand what you're saying. I used to start new stories all the time, then I'd get stuck after a few chapters.

My breakthrough happened when I came up with a character who was a boy, but was confused about whether he was a boy, so he called himself E and used E as a pronoun.

He met a girl named Ellen, who fell in love with him, though the feeling was not returned because E had no interest in such things as love.

A Marine general named Smythe arrived, told E that the Emperor was dead, and that he was the new Emperor.

After that, the adventure begins. I wrote and wrote and ended up with a seven-book science fiction series.

 

[Andylusion]

I planned to write a five-book science fiction saga and I'm almost finished.

Problem is, the story isn't finished when I finish the five books.

Do I write five more books?

It seems I might have to do that.

How much have you done? I have 75 pages of a book, and I find myself wondering if I'm wasting my time. Meaning, how do I know if someone will even read the book?

Mine would also be a multi-book saga, so the story wouldn't end with this book.

 

[Blackrook]

My current saga is much more complicated, as it actually contains five separate stories about five character groups, told over five books. The stories are each broken into five parts, one part in each book. The story parts are arranged so that the overall story is not told in chronological order. If this seems unnecessarily confusing to you, you might be right. But I'm still convinced this is the best way to tell the overall story.

 

[Blackrook]

I planned to write a five-book science fiction saga and I'm almost finished.

Problem is, the story isn't finished when I finish the five books.

Do I write five more books?

It seems I might have to do that.

How much have you done? I have 75 pages of a book, and I find myself wondering if I'm wasting my time. Meaning, how do I know if someone will even read the book?

Mine would also be a multi-book saga, so the story wouldn't end with this book.

My key to sanity is I don't worry if anyone will read my books. I like my books, and that's enough. If I get other people to read them, that's gravy.

 

[Andylusion]

I planned to write a five-book science fiction saga and I'm almost finished.

Problem is, the story isn't finished when I finish the five books.

Do I write five more books?

It seems I might have to do that.

How much have you done? I have 75 pages of a book, and I find myself wondering if I'm wasting my time. Meaning, how do I know if someone will even read the book?

Mine would also be a multi-book saga, so the story wouldn't end with this book.

My key to sanity is I don't worry if anyone will read my books. I like my books, and that's enough. If I get other people to read them, that's gravy.

That is true. I guess for me, the work involved in making a book, is exceptional. I surprised myself, by how hard I started reading up on various things, to make the book more realistic with different cultures, trying to figure out how people in those cultures might react.

Then with all that work, I started wondering if the only one that would ever read it, would be me.

Lot of work, to have something no one sees.

But you have good point. I suppose if you are just doing it for you... then maybe that's enough.

 

[Andylusion]

My current saga is much more complicated, as it actually contains five separate stories about five character groups, told over five books. The stories are each broken into five parts, one part in each book. The story parts are arranged so that the overall story is not told in chronological order. If this seems unnecessarily confusing to you, you might be right. But I'm still convinced this is the best way to tell the overall story.

Oddly, that was somewhat, what I was going for. There was going to be 3 separate books that cover the back story of several of the main characters, before resuming the primary story.

 

[Damaged Eagle]

I've been writing a Sci-Fi since the pandemic lockdowns began. Have about two hundred and fifty pages so far. My wife says it's probably more like three hundred or more pages due to the number of lines on my pages. Will be finishing the first rough draft in about two months. We'll see how it goes once I'm done and the publishing companies tell me it's crap. I'm thinking ACE or TOR.

My wife says I'm twisted.

*****CHUCKLE*****

 

[Blackrook]

My current saga is much more complicated, as it actually contains five separate stories about five character groups, told over five books. The stories are each broken into five parts, one part in each book. The story parts are arranged so that the overall story is not told in chronological order. If this seems unnecessarily confusing to you, you might be right. But I'm still convinced this is the best way to tell the overall story.

Oddly, that was somewhat, what I was going for. There was going to be 3 separate books that cover the back story of several of the main characters, before resuming the primary story.

What I am doing by telling the story out of order is concealing information that the reader would have known if the story was told in order.

For example, a character called Catherine, is first introduced in the second story of book one. The reader knows nothing about her except that she is a by-the-book Space Patrol officer who is very idealistic to the point of naivete.

Later, we learn how Catherine arrived at that point, all the way back to the moment her parents met.

 

[Blackrook]

I will probably self-publish.

 

[Damaged Eagle]

I will probably self-publish.

I know Mike Sheppard is now self publishing.

Is that necessarily better or because the publishing companies are going woke?

*****SMILE*****

 

[Blackrook]

I will probably self-publish.

View attachment 455690

I know Mike Sheppard is now self publishing.

Is that necessarily better or because the publishing companies are going woke?

*****SMILE*****

My story has many "errors" a publisher would tell me to correct.

My asexual character eventually decides he's a man and is interested in sex. A publisher would not permit me to portray that situation.

I use the words "Miss" and "Mrs." A publisher would insist I use "Ms."

At end of the seven-book saga, a traditionalist faction gains power, forcing the Emperor to reverse all gains LGBTQ have made over the centuries. A publisher would not allow me to portray that situation.

 

[cnm]

After that, the adventure begins. I wrote and wrote and ended up with a seven-book science fiction series.

How about a random chapter, to see whether it passes the 'tossed over the shoulder' test. Or even a page you're proud of. That'd probably be enough.

 

[JoeMoma]

George McFly just needed a little confidence.

 

[beautress]

Best wishes on successful sales of your 5 book saga, Blackrook. I have wondered where you have been recently and am sending up prayers that you will be publishing a best seller.

 

[beautress]

I planned to write a five-book science fiction saga and I'm almost finished.

Problem is, the story isn't finished when I finish the five books.

Do I write five more books?

It seems I might have to do that.

You could write a brief outline of 2 more books to conclude this work before doing a full- fledged second series. Seven is a very pleasant number, but your thought process may require it's own unique number. It's probably just me, but eight volumes might seem most substantive if your theme touches on true findings scientificly.

Thanks for sharing your ambitious undertaking with USMB board members who happen by.