The Feeling of Being Addicted
As soon as you have touched the book and read the first few pages, you’re lost, caught in a vicious circle which you will neither want to nor be able to escape. Feverish reading and forgetting basic needs like eating, drinking or going to the toilet are the first signs. As soon as you have read the last word on the last page, withdrawal symptoms will show. The only cure: buying the sequel.
This is how I often feel after starting to read a series. When I’ve finished the first book, I’m usually too impatient to wait until the sequel is available in the library, but I just go out and buy it right away. It’s the same with the third, the fourth or the fifth book in a series. As soon as I’ve gotten into a fictional universe, I’m unstoppable. This usually results in overflowing bookshelves and empty purses, but when it comes to book series, I can’t seem to think rationally.
What I find extremely annoying is waiting for the next book to come out. It takes authors ages to write a sequel, but even more irritating, lectors and publishers seem to take twice as much time to finally get the book on the market. There’ve been times when I went on the author’s homepage at least once a day, looking at the countdown until the publication date longingly, using all my willpower to make it go faster.
How Series Develop
Owing to my extensive experience, I have a personal theory how series usually develop.
The first and second books are, logically enough, still unknown when published. If it is a series is written under a lucky star, a fan group will build up little by little. Depending on the series and the target readers, it will gradually turn into a bigger or smaller hype. At some point, the first newspaper articles will be published about the “shooting star author”, including some shrink’s analysis why the series hit it off so well. In between, film rights are bought and actors are cast.
Meanwhile, fans will wait in agony for the next book publication, always fearing that, as rumours have it, it will be the last. Fans will write emails, begging the author to write another and another sequel – and usually, the author agrees; whether this is out of love for their fans or love for money is another question. As the next publication approaches, fans become more and more excited, buying fan articles and organising release parties. As soon as it is out, true fans read the book in 24 hours straight, are disappointed for another hour or two because it wasn’t what they expected, and then decide to love the book anyway. Then the countdown for the next sequel begins.
Eventually, the day will come when the fictional universe is exhausted. Some authors stop on time when they are at their peak. Others will miss the chance and write their series to death. Fans will be sad when it ends, but then there still are the films to wait for. But finally, even the last film will be released. So what will happen then? There, I have no idea. Whether a series will gradually sink into oblivion or whether it will become real classics, only time will tell.
Why They Are So Attractive
Anyway, that’s how I think series evolve. But it still doesn’t explain why they are so attractive and why this hype comes into being.
Since most series are page-turners and are written in a very gripping way, many readers develop a kind of obsessive-compulsive behaviour. They take the book with them everywhere and read in every spare minute. Usually, the endings of the books are cliff-hangers, almost forcing the reader to buy the sequel. Over the years, you grow to love characters and start to feel at home in fictional universe. You want to find out how the characters’ lives go on and therefore feel compelled to read the whole series. Besides, series offer innumerable opportunities. There are sequels, prequels, interquels, spin-offs and much more. If the author feels like it, he or she can always extend their fictional universe, thereby satisfying their readers’ curiosity.
Anyway, enough of this analysing. My point is that I love book series and that I’m happy there are so many great authors out there writing them. The only thing I’m a bit sad about is that there must be so many more splendid series out there that I don’t know about…
mpurk 