Seanan McGuire (seanan_mcguire) wrote,
Seanan McGuire
seanan_mcguire
  • Mood: thoughtful
  • Music: Christine Lavin, "The Kind of Love You Never Recover From."

"T" is for "Toby," not "trilogy."

So here's the thing: the Toby Daye books are not a trilogy. According to Wikipedia, a trilogy is "a set of three works of art—usually literature, film, or video games, less commonly visual art like paintings or musical works—that are connected, and that can be seen either as a single work or as three individual works." So, for example, the original three Star Wars movies are a trilogy, but three randomly selected episodes of Veronica Mars are not. The Evil Dead movies are a trilogy; any three given Nightmare on Elm Street installments are not, and so on. Having three of something gives you a trio, but it doesn't necessarily give you an actual trilogy.

Why does this matter? It matters because the word "trilogy" comes with a certain degree of expectation. People say "the Toby Daye trilogy," and they're creating the idea that, come the end of An Artificial Night, everything will be finished, wrapped up nice and neat and ready to move on. They're also creating the idea that—or at least the option for—A Local Habitation to end on an unfinished note, a literary device that's become increasingly common in trilogies over the past few years. (I actually find myself getting angry at books that don't announce themselves as part of a trilogy, and then release a "middle book" with no real ending. Tell me up-front that you're writing a trilogy, and I'll be braced for the mid-trilogy cliffhanger. Tell me you're a series and leave me hanging, and you may have just lost yourself a reader.)

Rosemary and Rue has an ending. A Local Habitation has an ending. An Artificial Night has an ending. Just so you know.

It's true that currently, only the first three Toby books have been purchased by my publisher. This is because three is a very good number for proving a series has legs and can manage on its own. The sales on your first book will be first book sales—they'll be made on the strength of your cover, your back cover text, and your pre-existing fanbase, if any. The sales on your second book will hopefully exceed the sales of your first, and be accompanied by a bump in first book sales, because some people like to wait for proof that a series is actually going to, y'know, continue before they invest their time and dollars. By book three, your publisher will have a pretty good idea of whether the series is a success, and will be able to market and support you a lot better as a consequence. Three book chunks help series succeed. But they still aren't trilogies.

I have nothing against trilogies. The Newsflesh books (Feed, Blackout, and Deadline) are a trilogy. They follow the standards for trilogy pacing, construction, and narrative arc. But the Toby books are very much not a trilogy. Great Pumpkin willing and the creek don't rise, the Toby books will continue for quite some time, and range very, very far away from that initial set of three. The fact that I'm currently neck-deep in book five should definitely tell you that there's a lot more story to tell.
Tags: a few facts, toby daye, writing
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  • 37 comments
...go 1 level up... Expand

seanan_mcguire

September 23 2009, 19:36:03 UTC 7 years ago

Hint: there will be lots of coffee involved.

wcg

September 24 2009, 01:24:27 UTC 7 years ago

I'm kind of guessing there'll be a lot of other liquids too.

You really worked that poor woman over in her debut. She's going to be a textbook case of PTSD before you're done with her, assuming she's still alive.

seanan_mcguire

September 25 2009, 18:42:00 UTC 7 years ago

While survival is rarely a promise for my protagonists, Toby's odds are good. :)

wcg

September 25 2009, 19:17:37 UTC 7 years ago

I figure she has to last through four more books at least, since you've already written them.

That said, I wince at the prospect of what you may do to her. You have the extremely unusual talent for creating a character I actually *care* about. (And wish I could share some hard won knowledge with in terms of personal combat skills and OODA cycles.) I realize it's impossible to keep her safe, but I want to give her all the advantages. Of course, there's nothing I really can give her. It's all up to you, as her Author.