I'm currently remaking an old novella of mine and making it longer and more detailed, along with a few added and deleted plot points, but I've got the plot of the first novel planned, along with the second. While in between those 2 will be around 15 books, each varying in length. The plot would be of 600 years of the main antagonist of the first novel hunting down each of the people in the bloodline of the main protagonist. But I think that, while the 15 books would bridge the 600 year gap, it may make it needlessly complex,but I don't want it too simple. I was mainly wanting to use them not only to bridge the time gap, but also to show the antagonist's physical transformation and mental transformation which ties in with the plot, so I need some kind of help with this, like how to make it less complex etc. If anymore information is needed, feel free to ask. Thanks in advance to any help.
I can't help but think the basic element of the antagonist hunting down an ancestor of the protagonist might become overdone after 15 instalments, particularly if each book in the series is based around an individual murder plot. You can transform characters in a hundred pages or less, both physically and mentally, so I would hope there are many more plot threads spanning subsets of those fifteen books, the most important of which is set in motion in the first and concluded in the last.
I maybe interpreting your response but, the antagonist isn't hunting down ancesters, but instead descendants, each a different person,different era but the same bloodline, leading down to the main character in the second novel. Plus each book would focus on not only the murder plot, but on the life of the Lumiere (protagonist surname) of the era, I could condense it down to a minimum of 6 but it would involve putting around 2-3 books together. Now, the antagonist's transformation is one of jelousy and hate for the entire bloodline, from his first and to his last defeat, mostly circling round his phrase "As long as there is a Lumiere, Del Mortes will live on" which I want to use as a way of forever linking the two. Plus the transformation would be diffilcult within a hundred or so pages, as his transfomation could only take place at specific time eras, most notably his physical transformation, being him replacing himself with machinary, which would be difficult in medieval times (the first novels time era.) Finally, the main plot thread is the constant battle between the Lumiere's and Del Mortes, which I will conclude in One Hero 2, but the names Zeth Lumiere and Del mortes, I will use in most other novels I ill make in the future. Thanks for your input, if this changes anything then, okay. If I miss-interpreted you in anyway, then correct me.
I would just write it books I thought that would be a series have fitted into one, short stories have become novels and at least one standalone novel is now spawning a series.
True. Very true, but I'll see after a few more replies. By the way, That's a very interesting,true and uplifting statement that I've never heard yet. Bravo.
Make sure each book can stand on its own merit, getting your first published will ne the biggest hurdle.
Yes, well, I think each one will be able to stand on it's own, mostly after the first is done. The first publication is always the biggest hurdle, too true.
I had read "bloodline" to mean ancestry rather than issue, but I think my point still stands that it will be quite a lot of effort to develop a scheme for the antagonist in each book that will be both novel (for reasons of readability and continuity) and engaging, and to tie these to overarching plot lines. From what I understand, then, the deathless antagonist (Del Morte), hell bent on the destruction of the Lumieres, hounds the family for six hundred years in the hope of eradicating them and their issue. I imagine he has some very compelling reasons for going to those lengths, and he probably sees himself as a righteous man who has sacrificed even death to rid the world of the hated Lumieres. As he is really the only constant, he's probably going to be the series' main character and therefore will have to rationalise a lot of the evil he does, and there are plenty of tragedic works out there where a protagonist's flaws lead him to disaster- but of course this disaster can't be too disastrous, as he reappears in the next novel. It'll probably be a hard road to tread between the Saturday morning cartoon villain, who does variations on a theme every week, only to be thwarted and try again next week, and the tragic hero whose flaws lead him to destruction from which there is no realistic hope of return.
Woah. That was a brilliant idea you have there, plus you have seemed to grasp my plot almost perfectly, thank you. The best idea you had would be the protagonist's flaws leading to disaster, I could implement that into the final Novel, but your reply has made me question the resons of Del Morte's want of Lumiere eradication, his only reason was because the original Zeth Lumiere, from the first novel, took away his demonic immortality, thus rendering him mortal and weak, due to centuries of living beforehand. But your ideas are brilliant. Thank you.
You could have it both ways. Make the novels straight forward, but allow the overall arc of the series to be more complex. -Frank
