Last night I tried to start work on one half of the story that was Amaranth, pulling out the crucial pieces and renaming it Evening Primrose. I’m hoping a re-christening will give me a fresh perspective.
I shouldn’t be stressing yet. But last night a question occurred to me that is causing me some consternation. The first inklings of this novel in my imagination consisted of three elements: a forbidden love, a medieval cozy mystery with fantasy elements, and a castle full of inhabitants who all play a part in the story, including servants.
The troublesome question is this: It feels like a series to me, and I have never read a mystery that wasn’t part of a series. (As for “fantasy-mystery”, which this book is, I have no point of comparison by which to judge.) But if it’s to be the beginning of a long series, I want to pace the forbidden love element out to span the series. In otherwords, the characters involved shouldn’t marry in the first book; I want the feeling of sustained tension. However, the way I was taught to write (and the stance I generally agree with) is to never save anything “for the next book in the series”, because that next book may never be written.
So I’m in a bit of a quandary. Maybe I can resolve smaller questions about the relationship during the course of this book? But how to create the necessary dramatic tension to break the reader’s heart?
I will miss the title Amaranth, but I think it may be best to leave it behind, at least for now.
I agree that you shouldn’t hold back on important things for “the next book”, but I would think that some things would have to wait until other pieces are in place. Otherwise, how could you even write a series? Why write a second book if everything is covered in the first one? Perhaps you only need to include what you need to make it feel complete enough if the series were to not continue after that installment. (I’m not a writer, as you can tell by that last sentence lol)
That’s a hard one — I don’t know how you’d maintain the tension and yet have the book resolve to something satisfactory to the reader. Maybe they could reach some sort of “milestone” in their relationship, but yet not be married? Realize mutual affections, something like that? (Tossing out ideas here, since I don’t know what the relationship is.)
In any case, I wish you luck!!
I think you both are right that I could bring the relationship to a certain threshold and give the story a sense of completion that way. I think part of the problem is that I’m just keen to get started, and the story isn’t ready yet. I think maybe the ingredients necessary to get started aren’t quite there.