Thornton tells two children about dragons. Seer, book two, only begins to tell the entire story.Ī story suggested by one of the characters in Dreamer when he outlines events of the past, yields the plot for the second book. Underlying themes always spark my work, and I had left many things unsaid. When I chose to write more than one volume in the Chronicles of Marithe, the decision was motivated by Dreamer, the first of the series. In fantasy we often create an entire world that continues in the reader’s minds long after our characters have played out their roles. Sometimes the reason is as simple as a continuation of similar plots or characters, like mysteries all surrounding a single detective. Others tie several stories by location, time or characters to create multiple texts. However, some authors also consider a cliff-hanger a way to bolster bookshelf sales. Books beyond what is considered a normal word number are separated into volumes for the sake of magnitude. Often the plot is too complex to be contained in a single tome, but usually it is a question of document size.

They are multiples of the same…that are different.Īuthors choose to divide a single story into a series of books for various reasons.

It grows from a simple story into an elaborate sequence of plots all tied together by a place, a time, a theme, an opinion, or a thread. In my third and last post (for now) on the work of self-published author, Patrick O’Scheen, I turn the blog over to the man himself for his thoughts and reflections on the art of series writing.

Seer by Patrick O'Scheen