posted
II am just saying some of my novel idea to make sure it sounds good and is not a rip off. I know the entire story of my epic and I am ready to write. There are two main characters, one whose blood line traces to a demigoddess created by order, an entity of good while the other friend bloodline traces to a dark warlord created by chaos, an entity of evil. The story revolves around these two characters in an epic battle between good and evil. Eventually the character of the dark bloodline will learn his identity and he is given a choice to betray his past and join his friend are to accept his bloodline and betray him. In the first book a underground dark movement aspires to start chaos across the world and bring forth a new son of chaos to rule in a new dark order. So far my epic is going to be 11 books.
Posts: 5 | Registered: Apr 2006
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posted
Welcome Nate. The idea sounds okay. The betrayal/coming of age storyline.
The eleven books sounds... scary.
Hmmm, maybe write the first one and make it an absolute ripper, then who knows? Make the first one rock-soild and you may find that you have exorcised that particular story-demon.
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PS: If you have all this worked out, make sure you ditch anything that is not absolutely necessary. Don't write endless books about 'what the party did on the way to the adventure.' Pick the crucial moment and begin your story there.
Also, think about writing something else as practice, and when the first 'rock-solid' novel is finished, wait to get feedback and get published before writing books 2 - 11.
BTW: It does sound a bit Robert Jordan to have so many books cued-up.
[This message has been edited by hoptoad (edited April 26, 2006).]
posted
Thank you for the comments I do have a tendency to go overboard on an idea. In the past I had failed attempts to write novels because I end up making so complex that I overwhelm myself. I have the beginning and end in mind so Ill just start at the beginning and see where I go from there. I don’t want to fail on this idea.
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posted
Actually I have been thinking that my friend and I have an idea for a novel, a simpler one to write. I think that I should try writing that first and see where it takes me. I might post my idea later. Besides my grammar is not the best and I need a partner for right now to help me to get going.
Thanks for the feedback. It has helped me tons already.
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One last note on my behalf for the night after reading replies on Robert Jordon. I am keeping my limit to only 5 books at most in a series. There is no need to bore the reader. Like I said Ill start book one and see where it goes.
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It doesn't really matter how many books you're planning to write.
The problem comes about if you start to think that the first book (or any other book in the initial trilogy) doesn't have to be a complete narrative because "it's a series." Jordan did not make this mistake. His first book is a self-contained narrative with proper dramatic structure. You can read it and be satisfied (though you'll probably want to read the next book). The same is true of his second book (usually the weak link in a series), it is properly structured and has a dramatic climax. You can also read it without having read the first book, though it's not clear why you'd want to do so. The third book completes the trilogy, it can't be read properly without having read at least the second book, but assuming you have done that it has excellent structure and the dramatic resolution resolves the overarching story conflict of the entire series.
The later books don't have such good structure, they appear to have been tacked on more or less to explore the rest of the milieu while continuing the narrative past the logical ending point. I doubt that Jordan planned to write any of them when he started, he just saw that there was a demand and frankly loved to meet it.
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