Sequelitis

[chrispenycate]

Sequelitis is inflammation of the sequel; the unplanned sequel, the « brides of the son of dunes next door neighbour’s second cousin » type sequel, not the next book in a planned to be interminable series, that’s quite another problem. It normally occurs when an author does a massive amount of research for a good and popular book. The three conditions for sequalisation are present ; he’s (she’s or it’s) got ten times the notes about terrain, technology or magic, family trees, other characters that have hardly been touched upon than were used in the original book, the fans want to know what happened to their favorite character, and the publisher is certain that he (I’m going to use the « he » form from now on - politcal correctness involves more parenthetical interventions than even I’m prepared to put up with) can sell more copies, of both the original and its follow up, by a combination of tie ins and recognition factor.
And quite often the sequel is good – sometimes even as good as the original in some cases. Everyone’s happy, the fans start writing short stories based in the same universe, the author gets money (which is generally considered a good thing, particularly by authors, for some reason) and the publisher offers a larger advance for the next book in what has now become « the series » The notes to prevent nasty little nitpickers like me from bringing up inconsistancies between volumes now take up a small bookshelf and most of a hard disc, and every single volume has to be stand alone, which means anything essential related in any of the other books has to be recapitulated, but in a way that it doesn’t disturb those who’ve read the previous volumes, customs mentioned in one book must always be maintained, even when they become inconvenient for a later story, any invention or spell must be remembered in case its use might invalidate a crisis in a later volume. Ultimately, even the author dying can’t stop the inevitable progress, or the hero is flung off a waterfall in an ultimate showdown with an ultimate vilain. (Or, just occasionally, the author says « enough ! » and goes off to some other venture, leaving the fans in hope that « some day ». This is, evidently, the most satisfactory outcome, but not the commonest)
Rarely is the quality maintained. Certain series (example Piers Xanthony, where by now all the characters know that they are characters, becoming autosatires though not autosatyres) run in parallel with an authors other works, becoming a harmless and profitable sideline, while others expand to absorb all of his available time.
Which leaves me with Pern, Dune, Valdemir, Darkover, Ringworld and I could go on which started as great stories, but didn’t know when to stop. What does anyone else feel ? (oh, and you can include films, too, which suffer from exactly the same constraints, only more so)

[HieroGlyph]

*chuckles a bit*
*pretends to clap a bit*
But, seriously, well said!
I like it: "...political correctness involves more parenthetical interventions than even I'm prepared to put up with..." and "...autosatires but not autosatyres..." There I was, 'wound'ering about what became of real the satyrs... Not that we wish to know!
[Edit... I just might add that this is in a sense a "Vent and Rant" topic, though of course, any view can be seen as such... In other words I wish to pipe up about something else: I need a anti-GRRM filter for a day. I mean, I do a quick new-post search and *poof* nowt but more GRRM threads. "Soap, soap, someone get the soap" or am I talking of that soap as in ... Coronation Street (set in Feudal Petersborough)! Eeesh, spare me, for once, plz. Sorry, Chris, should have taken this over to the requisite thread, but... Im currently on the run... and I can see their emblems and coat-of-arms from here - ooo, Bye!!!]

[Neal Asher]

So really, Chrispenycate, you're not complaining about sequels but about bad books, which are equally as likely outside sequels.

[littlemissattitude]

I tend to avoid series most of the time. Oh, there are those I am slavishly devoted to, like anyone else around here, but that has usually happened when I started with a first book when it first came out, or when I picked up the first in a series not knowing that it was first in a series. But, if I know that there are already three or five or, gods forbid, ten or more books in a series, I won't even start. This is not so true in the mystery genre as it is in science fiction and (more commonly) fantasy, but usually the mysteries are more or less discrete stories even when they comprise a series (the Kellermans, for example, or Robert B. Parker, or the late, lamented John D. MacDonald).

Now, once in awhile I ignore my rule, as when I picked up Tim Powers' Last Call knowing that two more books followed, and am rewarded with great reads. But that seems to be the exception that proves the rule (silly cliche, that, but it seemed to fit here).

You know, though, with the internet, writers have another weapon in their arsenal to keep continuity, especially when it has been awhile since he or she have written a book in a series. They just go on their forum and ask the readers for help. I know that a while back, over on Orson Scott Card's website, whose forum I visit regularly, on popped OSC himself one night, asking for readers to remind him of a plot point or some kind of detail (I can't recall which, since it is one of his series that I have so far successfully avoided reading), as he had hit a point in the new work where he needed to reference that and he could not remember. Within just a little while (a few hours or a couple of days) two or three people had come to his rescue with the required information. The cool thing, I suppose, is that when the book came out those particular individuals had garnered a mention in the book's acknwledgements.

I don't know. I don't have anything against sequels in and of themselves. It's just that so often, they become more exercises in marketing than in literature.

[dwndrgn]

I think, from now on, my answer to any and all posts will be this: "As in all things, moderation is the key."

There.

[littlemissattitude]

Even moderation?