Mythology: Creating a Whole World

[Snowman37]

I am working on my first book, which is coming along nicely. It's the first of a four-parter or tetralogy. Most of my friends like the idea of a four-parter, but... would it be going to far to expand beyond that? I have six or seven more sequels planned, at least fix prequels, and a whole array of spinoffs and spinoffs of spinoffs. Basically, I've created this whole creative world or mythology as some friends might say. This discussion isn't so much about the book I am writing, but I'm asking if you would for or against creating a vast multi-book world.

Thanks for the input.

[MystyrMystyry]

Some people really enjoy epic fantasy, but whether you can sustain it is the question.

On another thread around here somewhere (you've possibly already visited it) there's talk of various series sagging in the centre, deteriorating after the first installment, awkward unwanted plot twists, characterisation not up to standard, series' too similar to other series' and even cheap copies of far better series', and on and on.

In writing a novel (singular) there are certain rules - a big one is you may have complex writing, complex plot, complex characters - but never all three at the same time, at least not if you expect anyone to actually read it.

It's one of those rules that aren't written in stone - but try to to break it at your own risk

[hillwalker]

I think planning to write 4, 5 or even 6 novels before starting your first one is a little over-ambitious, and could in fact have a negative effect on how you progress. My advice would be to get on with volume 1 - and if it has enough momentum move on to 2 (and so on).

As for creating a new mythology - there's a lot of fun to be had there if your imagination is sufficiently adventurous. Again, let the story drive the setting as much as possible otherwise you are in danger of writing another humdrum plot set in a different world.

H

[sithkittie]

The fantasy story I'm writing on (I thought was a 10k short story that's turning into nearly 100k) is a part of something that's becoming a lot more massive than I ever thought possible when I wrote my first short story for the world. Your question is one I'm weighing for myself too, though maybe a little different. With mine, they're not all one solid story, like Lord of the Rings or Dark Tower. They're set around one similar event, but they're separate aspects of it entirely. I could and may expand later and write the other stories in my head, like the background folk tales that come up in the current stories.

Basically, I'm all for creating multiple stories in the same world. I don't, however, like those series that go on and on and, like MystyrMystyry mentioned, end up lagging and turning into crap. Dark Tower for one, though some of the individual books are really great, and Wheel of Time for another. I didn't read enough Harry Potter to know how that one turned out, but what that did have going for it, in my opinion, was the seven book scheduled ending. But then there are things like Dragonlance, which admittedly aren't all very good, and Anne McCaffery's world. They're huge, multi-novel worlds, but not all of the stories are necessarily continuations on each other. I've only read the first of Niven's Ringworld books, but that was one when I read it, I really wanted there to be a series simply because the potential for it was so huge. Actually, looking up the author's name for this I realized there was a series, and now I need to find those books and read them.

[WarmToTheFlaw]

I am certainly for it if (and only if) you can write well and you can write fast. It's terribly annoying when there are 12 planned sequels and prequels and spinoffs and spinoffs of spinoffs of your favorite story line and then the author never finishes them, or worse, dies.

If you cannot, then take them one at a time.