I’ve been thinking a bit more about the virtual world pitch that I started to develop for a children’s website. Reflecting on how much I’d enjoyed creating it, I’m now wondering about the possibilities of developing the idea into a children’s fiction series. The concept lends itself to a series of seven books, so I’ve begun the creative process of planning what might happen in each book, and in the overarching story that links everything together.
There are some drawbacks to writing such a long series. As a children’s fiction editor at Scripture Union, it was always the case that the first book in a series sold really well but the sales of subsequent books were significantly lower. And, having read a seven book series by a favourite young adult author, Garth Nix, I found that I’d forgotten what had happened in previous novels by the time the next one in the series had been published. Indeed, before I read the seventh and final book, I went right back to the start and reread numbers one to six.
Yet other long series have grown as they’ve gone on, the most obvious example being Harry Potter – children didn’t seem to mind to read overlong books to see how the story ended.
So, what’s the worst that could happen? I’m going to get some lining paper (an amazing aid to creativity, trust me!) and plan out seven books, to see if the story can be sustained over that amount of novels. Then, it’s time to investigate the self-publishing options on Amazon! I’ll let you know how I get on…
To get hold of Garth Nix’s Keys to the Kingdom series, click here.
Speak Your Mind