The Cases For and Against Long Fantasy Fiction Series

Multiple book series are the mainstay of the fantasy genre. Many reasons explain this common format for fantasy literature, including tradition, reader demand, and publisher business models.The very nature of most fantasy stories demands more than one book to completely tell the story. An epic is not a short and simple thing. A story like the famous The Lord of Rings by J.R.R. Tolkien needed to be a trilogy of books. This trilogy very much defined the fantasy genre and created a reader base with an appetite for long adventures that spanned multiple volumes. In addition to Tolkien, the roots of fantasy come from the pulp publications of the 1920s and 1930s, where authors such as Robert E. Howard, the creator of Conan, made a deep mark on the fantasy genre with an epic hero who thrilled readers with numerous adventures published over time in periodicals. Another notable 20th century fantasy writer was Edgar Rice Burroughs who wrote Tarzan and the Martian Chronicles. All such ea
rly writers of fantasy fiction contributed to the expectation of storylines that sustained large and ongoing narratives.Usually multiple book series suit the fantasy genre well because once readers find a writer, character, cast of characters, and fantasy setting that they enjoy, they naturally want more of the same. Other genres, especially mystery, also share this adaptability to series.Long fantasy fiction series are also attractive to publishers. To begin with, once author recognition has been established, it is easier to market multiple works by the same fantasy writer instead of continually introducing unknown authors of new fantasy books. When a fantasy writer achieves a hit book, then it is nearly mandatory for the author to continue the story into a series so as to achieve more book sales. This model works nicely for publishers because subsequent novels in a fantasy series require decreasing amounts of marketing dollars because author name recognition and a reader b
ase have been established.Under such circumstances, the long fantasy book series appears to be a win-win situation for readers and publishers. Fantasy readers get many books to enjoy and publishers get to sell more books. A problem emerges when this model gets stretched. Success inevitably leads to the temptation to push the limits of the business model. If a story could be told well as five books, then stretching it out to seven books might work too, right? Maybe, maybe not. What started for the reader as exciting reading can gradually deliver diminishing returns with no end in sight.Speaking for myself and probably other readers, I think that no matter how much you are enjoying a story, you still want it to end. Readers want to find out what happens to their favorite characters. They want to find out how the bad guys lose, or if they lose. Using the terminology of storytelling, a story is supposed to arc. It starts, rises, and then descends to a conclusion that is hopefull
y satisfying to the reader. Even Odysseus made his way home after 20 years.Another problem that can arise with fantasy series is the long wait between novels. Writing novels definitely takes time, but when a book is being written for the sake of satisfying the cravings of a business model instead of telling readers a story, then the years continue to stretch out as readers go without learning what ultimately happens. Of course this problem is alleviated for readers who start a series that is already complete and all the books, including the final book, are published. Therefore older fantasy series have appeal for both readers and publishers. Readers can read the whole story without long waits and publishers can continue to sell series for decades to come.Until a series is finished, however, readers caught up in developing series must wait for each installment. Right now many fantasy readers are awaiting the next book in George R.R. Martin's series the Song of Ice and Fire. T
his is a tremendously good series, and I was engrossed by the first three novels and pounced on the fourth book when it came out in 2005, but then I felt that something had changed. Martin's fourth book A Feast for Crows started introducing new subplots and left everything that was enthralling about the epic in a holding pattern. All the interesting characters and storylines were left hanging until presumably the fifth book. I had the distinct feeling that I was being slow played. Of course, the fourth book was sufficiently captivating to leave me wanting the fifth book, but now I'm on guard. If the next book in the series still does not satisfy, I might lose interest in what was a stunningly well-written epic of truly grand scale during the first three books.Just how many books should a series be? At what point does an epic fantasy switch from exciting to tedious because the storytelling has been subverted by the business need to milk more books out of the concept? The answ
ers to these questions are subjective. A series that is dragging for some readers might be sufficiently interesting to other readers. The fantasy book series is a good publishing business model, but all systems have their limits. Publishers are certainly smart business people and I'm sure they run the numbers and produce the number of books that will make the most money. Essentially, my opinion is that more weight should be given to good storytelling instead of stretching successful series unnecessarily just to sell more books. If a great epic can be told in six volumes then do so and don't spread it out over twelve books.

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