Gurkhal
Scribal Lord
As mentioned I think that starting with an epic series is just asking for it. Better to start with short stories and work your up from there.
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Starting with an epic: is it even doable?
- Thread starter Feo Takahari
- Start date
Pamela Scalf
Acolyte
When I am writing a story I make it as long as it takes to tell the story well. Sometimes it works out short, sometimes long. I try to stay with what the tale demands. One thing I have noticed from my writing is that when I enjoy the story, it can span more than one piece of work. The characters have more to say...there are more adventures waiting...and I'm having fun discovering what they're all about. If that means ten books or one book, so be it.
Nobby
Lore Master
Hello!
Just a reader here, can you word jugglers please try not to sell me a fifteen volume shelf shatterer when you spend all your joy in the first half of the first hernia inflicting tome?
Thankyou!
Just a reader here, can you word jugglers please try not to sell me a fifteen volume shelf shatterer when you spend all your joy in the first half of the first hernia inflicting tome?
Thankyou!
Tom
Istari
I think you may have this forum confused with Robert Jordan.
To be a bit blunt, I don't like the tone of your post. Your phrasing implies that we writers are all tiresome hacks who can't tell when our books have stretched on too long. Again, you seem to have us confused with Mr. Jordan and his like.
Plus, if someone wants to write a "fifteen-volume shelf-shatterer" of an epic, that's their choice. You don't have to read it if you don't like it.
To be a bit blunt, I don't like the tone of your post. Your phrasing implies that we writers are all tiresome hacks who can't tell when our books have stretched on too long. Again, you seem to have us confused with Mr. Jordan and his like.
Plus, if someone wants to write a "fifteen-volume shelf-shatterer" of an epic, that's their choice. You don't have to read it if you don't like it.
2WayParadox
Mystagogue
I agree with Tom, although I do think that even the world of an epic has limited carrying capacity. I've noticed with several longer series that either middle or later parts just don't have what their earlier counterparts had. I noticed it in the Black Company, in the later series of the Chronicles of Thomas Covenant, Wheel of time, the laws of magic, the book of malazan, it goes on.
evanator66
Master
I tried that. I still have a folder in my documents library with the background stuff. I am still figuring out the plot. Mostly, I just set new stories in it, bet every so often I go back to that epic and do a little bit more work on it. Maybe sometime in the future, but right now I only have an appendix.
Well my first writing attempt was in the game world, I tried doing a science fantasy epic. Didn't end up finishing it.
Over the years, I eventually came to figure out I'm more suited to short stories. And story collections that work together toward a novella. And if I'm humble, I would even say I don't really have the discipline yet to world build as much as I should specifically for epic fantasy.
I'd want to read more epic fantasy, before dipping my toe in the lake.
Over the years, I eventually came to figure out I'm more suited to short stories. And story collections that work together toward a novella. And if I'm humble, I would even say I don't really have the discipline yet to world build as much as I should specifically for epic fantasy.
I'd want to read more epic fantasy, before dipping my toe in the lake.
Ronald T.
Lore Master
Perhaps it was from ignorance and naiveté, but my first bit of writing began with the full intention of producing an epic-fantasy series. I've never written a short story or a novelette, or anything else for that matter. But, at this posting, I'm more than half way through book #3 in my series.
This next part is from my profile bio:
* * *
...I am writing an epic-fantasy series -- THE BLOOD-RUNE SAGA -- that I expect will require 6-10 books to bring about a satisfactory ending. The final book count might be fewer, but it’s unlikely to go longer.
I have completed book #1, THE UNNAMED RUNE (including final edits), at just over 155,000 words. I am finishing the last edit on book #2, A DIRE ONUS, at just over 197,000 words. And I have more than 425 pages written on book #3.
I plan to e-publish book #1 in the near future, soon to be followed by book #2...
* * *
That's where my effort stands at this point.
It hasn't been easy, but I believe it can be done. And as to the quality -- that's for others to decide.
This next part is from my profile bio:
* * *
...I am writing an epic-fantasy series -- THE BLOOD-RUNE SAGA -- that I expect will require 6-10 books to bring about a satisfactory ending. The final book count might be fewer, but it’s unlikely to go longer.
I have completed book #1, THE UNNAMED RUNE (including final edits), at just over 155,000 words. I am finishing the last edit on book #2, A DIRE ONUS, at just over 197,000 words. And I have more than 425 pages written on book #3.
I plan to e-publish book #1 in the near future, soon to be followed by book #2...
* * *
That's where my effort stands at this point.
It hasn't been easy, but I believe it can be done. And as to the quality -- that's for others to decide.
evolution_rex
Grandmaster
I notice it's what a lot of writers want. It's what I wanted as a kid, when I started having dreams of being an author. But then I chose to usually not read books that were part of a series (mainly because I just like absorbing and learning different writing styles to help me write, something I can't do if I spend too much time on one author), and it's caused me to be unable to write a multi-novel plot. However, the ideas I have are usually grand in scale, which I know in the inside I'm also unable to do. But I want to tell the stories I want to tell, and so I can't help that my ideas are 'epic' in nature.