How To Finish A Lengthy Fantasy Series
Or 'Why Book Three Is Taking Ages To Get Going'
It’s been a few months since The Riven Crown debuted and I’ve been able to enjoy the satisfaction of having put a chunky fantasy novel out there for people to chew on.
But of course one can’t rest on one’s laurels for long, can one? I’m not finished yet. In fact I’m almost certain that The Wandering Knife will be a five book series. Two down, three to go.
After a month of clearing my head (read: drinking alcohol) and engaging in soul-searching meditation (read: sleeping off my hangovers) I cracked my knuckles and addressed the blank page once again.
Unfortunately, nothing happened.
Potential reasons why fantasy series lie unfinished
It’s no secret that there are some great authors out there with some famously unfinished fantasy series. Authors with huge fanbases eagerly waiting for the next one… and waiting… and waiting.
There’s probably a bunch of reasons for this, but the ones that I think might lie at the heart of the matter are as follows:
It takes ages to write a fantasy novel
Writing fantasy novels is hard
That’s pretty much it.
Now that I am at the midpoint of my series I have full sympathy for any writer anywhere who is struggling or has struggled to move towards The End.
My solution to the problem
Having successfully cracked my knuckles and stared at the metaphorical blank screen, I decided to try a different approach to writing this one.
My previous method to writing novels has been to come up with an outline and to write the first draft as quickly as possible, usually over a couple of months. And then to spend the next three years of my life redrafting the thing until my eyes start to bleed when I look at it.
Always on the lookout for efficient practices, I caught wind of an approach to writing that claimed to yielding faster results.
Write only one draft.
This idea had a great appeal to me. I decided to give it a go. I would come up with a thorough overview of Book Three, then progress scene-by-scene. Each scene would be worked on until it was polished and done. Then, I was assuming, in only a few short months I would have my finished novel.
As it turned out, in only a few short months I’d still not completed a single scene.
So that approach was something of a dead-end, and I’ve since gone back to my original modus operandi, complete with eye-bleeding redrafting schedule.
Oh well.
No really, how do you finish a fantasy series?
I must concede I came up with the title of this post before I’d thought of an answer. And it occurs to me that I can’t really claim to know, as I haven’t achieved it yet. But I will. Unless fate strikes me down in the meantime, I will finish this series.
And if I had to guess, I would say the answer is:
One word at a time.
This bit is the ‘call to action’ I’m supposed to include
I can’t help but notice that, although I’m getting some great read-through for the series, The Riven Crown is a bit light-on for reviews at the moment! I’m guessing that readers as so drained after the emotional rollercoaster that they’ve been on that they’re finding it too physically demanding to click on a link on Amazon and leave a review or rating. What else could it be?
Perhaps some light cajoling will help. Here goes.
If you’ve read The Riven Crown and can spare a few minutes to write an honest review, please do so by following this link! I’d really appreciate your feedback.
Anyway, thanks for reading. Time to add the next word or two to the series.