What is it about series, particularly in Science Fiction and Fantasy?

It seems almost impossible to find a Fantasy book that isn’t part of a series. Much of it seems to be in homage to Tolkien’s ‘Lord of the Rings,’ the original trilogy. Those with a sense of history (and those who are at all curious) know that LoTR wasn’t designed to be a trilogy. Tolkien wrote it as a single book, but Allen and Unwin (the original publishers) thought it was simply too bulky to release in one whomping great volume.

But once the pattern was set, it seems as if fantasy readers have come to enjoy and even expect a trilogy—or more. There’s something comforting about a series, where you know the characters, the setting and you can revel in the unfolding story. Of course, some series outstay their welcome. Sometimes you get up to Book Four and the characters are still rattling around and you just want to shake them and yell, ‘GET ON WITH IT! YOU’VE GOT A WHOLE DAMN PROPHECY TO FULFIL AND YOU’VE ONLY GOT THREE BOOKS LEFT TO DO IT IN!’

A series is often a natural thing. Once a writer has gone to all the trouble of creating a fantasy world, it seems as if there is more than one story to tell.

Some questions to ponder. The paradigmatical series, the trilogy. Is it one story split into three, or is it three stories glued together into one? LoTR, as mentioned above, is one story chopped up into three volumes for practical reasons. It reads like that, too.

And what about the problem of the second book? The first book sets up the theme, characters, sets the story in motion. The last book brings it all to a conclusion—often with a massive battle. The second book can be a problem. It must have its own integrity. It can’t simply mark time. It shouldn’t be simply a bridge. It’s a challenge for a writer.

And to call a series? ‘The XXX Trilogy’ has been done to death. We have plenty of Sagas, Tapestries, Chronicles, Sequences, Songs, Volumes, Cycles etc etc. What’s left? ‘The XXX Directory’? ‘The XXX Wall Hanging’? ‘The XXX Oratorio’?

We at Aurealis maintain that there are two different sorts of series. One is the classic serial—each book ends on a cliffhanger and isn’t ‘complete’ without the other books in the series. The other is where each book is complete and comes to a whole and satisfying conclusion. The characters and setting remain the same, however, and with each book they have another set of adventures—novel sequences than a series, something like Patrick O’Brian’s Aubrey-Maturin books (to choose a non-Fantasy/SF example). Or—and we hesitate to raise the name of The Master—something like Enid Blyton’s Famous Five books. Although we do wonder about how applicable the notions of story arc and character journey are across the Famous Five sequence…

Series, serial, novel sequence. In the end this is all just hair-splitting. Series are here to stay. Some people roll their eyes whenever a series is mentioned, but for a writer of Fantasy and SF a series can be the expansive canvas that large ideas and large stories need.