Ever feel like you peaked a series early?

[BrokenSpokes]

I’m working on the next three or four chapters of my series. The story is working fine, but I’m pretty sure none of the next chapters will be as good as Chapter 3, which just seemed to come together perfectly.

Anyone else ever have that feeling? Does it put a damper on your writing? Do you just hold off, rewriting and revising until you feel it’s good enough to stand up to your favorite chapter?

 

[YDB95]

Yes I did, with my Elizabeth series, I definitely think I peaked with the third story. The ending to that story has a twist that, I realised after the fact, put me at a disadvantage for the rest of the series. But I did manage to get seven more stories out of it, and they have decent ratings.

 

[bushyTrail]

I’m working on the next three or four chapters of my series. The story is working fine, but I’m pretty sure none of the next chapters will be as good as Chapter 3, which just seemed to come together perfectly.

Anyone else ever have that feeling? Does it put a damper on your writing? Do you just hold off, rewriting and revising until you feel it’s good enough to stand up to your favorite chapter?

Sort of. I feel like the first chapters were those that peaked with the readers, who became less interested in those at the end, because my story is about a fetish and those are the places where the tropes of the genre take place. It bothers me, because if they stop halfway, they lose the meaning of the story, which just becomes jacking off material. Sure it is erotica... I don't know, perhaps I'm weird.

Anyway, regarding your problem, it is inevitable that in a story there are more straight-forward parts, where nothing out of the ordinary happens, next to those where you narrate something worth narrating, it's just like in life. If they are necessary for the rest to make sense, you just can't escape it. If you are instead trudging forward, perhaps you should ask yourself if you should find something more to say... It really depends on your story.

 

[Blind_Justice]

Yes, happened to me too. "Ghost in the Machine" is eighteen and a half chapters long and I'm pretty sure #5 is by far the best in terms of atmosphere, arc and tension.

Granted, I've improved by leaps and bounds since then and I now know how to slowly ramp up the intensity, stakes and pace in a long series. Case in point, my current "Mud and Magic" thingie. "Start small, end big, add some bumps in the middle" was my game plan and I've managed to stick to it so far. It has fewer installments than my earlier series, but every chapter is at least 20,000 words, so it adds up in the end

 

[Willy_Wanker]

I’ve had the same thing, got to the climactic action too quickly and realised the getting there was more fun. My lads holiday story should have had more illicit peeping and stuff before any action took place, not sure where to go with it now.

 

[SimonDoom]

I think it's challenging to maintain an erotic story series. The trick is to ratchet up the action with each chapter. It's not easy to pace yourself. As a reader, I find that many-chaptered series rarely hold my interest. I can tell that the author's creative energy is exhausted after a few chapters, and the story is just running on fumes. I ended my first series at 8 chapters and was glad I did because it was time to bring it to an end. I have another series with 3 chapters written and 3 to go and I haven't finished it because I want the last three chapters to match the first three in quality and it's a challenge.

 

[ElectricBlue]

I have another series with 3 chapters written and 3 to go and I haven't finished it because I want the last three chapters to match the first three in quality and it's a challenge.

Suzie sighed. "Mom, we're never going to get out of Dodge City."

"Yes, but at least this time there's a good reason."

 

[NotWise]

I’m working on the next three or four chapters of my series. The story is working fine, but I’m pretty sure none of the next chapters will be as good as Chapter 3, which just seemed to come together perfectly.

Anyone else ever have that feeling? Does it put a damper on your writing? Do you just hold off, rewriting and revising until you feel it’s good enough to stand up to your favorite chapter?

I don't know of any reason why you can't have multiple peaks in a story. Unlikely Angels (not on Lit anymore) crested three times in the 21 chapters (12 parts) I published. I never got close to writing the ending, but it would have been more climactic than any of the intermediates because three different story lines converge at the end.

There are multiple paths forward from your situation, but I have no idea what kind of solution you might want.

 

[Privates1stClass]

Ever feel like you peaked a series early?

Yes, I've had that feeling, too. It's probably better that I map out my plot before I begin writing rather than discover the best sex is in the middle. After that, if it just peters out, my readers are going to say, "Meh..."

 

[Hypoxia]

Premature e-peak-i-zation? In series I've mostly finished, no. A few series that could stand sequels or spinoffs could stand more peaks (or piques) too. A couple series that NEED sequels haven't really peaked-out yet. I've one aborted series where ch.02 (an afterthought) really wasn't needed, which is why ch.03 will likely never occur.

Or maybe when an arc is complete, any follow-up would be superfluous, page-filling banter or agony. Like many of Stephen King's later chapters. He doesn't follow Billy Wilder's rule about knowing when to stop.

IMHO pre-peaking an indefinite series is not problem. Follow each unlikely wrap-up with new challenges. That's how adventure stories work -- each escape only leads to fresh pursuit. A basic rule on plotting: when faced with options, take the least likely and pump it up. Then readers can gasp "WTF IS NEXT?!?" and eagerly grease their fingers.

 

[CoffeeWithMonkeys]

Yeah. I'm feeling the blahs on No Such Thing As Time. Maybe I should have added zombies...
NO! I'm glad I didn't.
But I'm feeling like it's getting boring, repetitious, something.
It's on hold for a bit now anyway because I don't have time to work on it. Maybe another detour will come to me to spice it up a bit.