I like this author Tamora Pierce who I'm sure you all would find to be an atrocious writer, but I like her heroines, and she's good for a short read. Most of her characters exsist in the same world, and have brief interactions with one another, they're all from different decades though. Anyways I finished my novel about Lucky, the girl who gets struck by lightning and am planning to continue a new novel in which they live in the same world. But I'm having trouble connecting the two worlds. My question is would you consider it to be cheesy (I think that many people might consider Tamora Pierce to be a little cheesy) to have a novel that isn't a sequel but continues in the same world?
Been done before by lots of people, so you're on safe ground. From the fantasy angle, look up LeGuin's Hainish Cycle. From literary fiction, try Inglis Fletcher's historical novels. Those are only the first two that come to mind, and there are tons of others too.
I remember liking Tamora Pierce's series, idr the name, but it was about a girl named Alanna and a boy named Alan who were twins, and they swapped places because Alanna wanted to study to be a knight and Alan wanted to study magic, but because of their genders it was supposed to be the other way around. It was 10 years ago, so my memory might be a little hazy. But I remember liking it! Anyways, no it's not cheesy, to answer your question. As long as the world created is YOURS.
I believe this is sort of the premise of Fear Street series by R.L. Stine. They all take place within the same city but the stories have different characters. I have always enjoyed this concept. Having different stories and characters exist within the same world. I mean why shouldn't it be like this? It would be a great way to expand upon the world you created. Maybe one story only happens within part of that world allowing you only to explore and show us that part. But a different character could be going through something different in a different part of the world. Personally I have always wanted to write some sort of series where the books would end up being interconnected like this. While it wouldn't be necessary for you to read any other book in the series but if you were to, you might pick up on certain things. Like in one book a character could be walking down the street and come across 2 kids arguing about something that would have no relevance towards this story. Yet in a different book, those two characters would be present arguing about something that is relevant to their story. Basicly a giant series that has plenty of cameos and easter eggs
In general, you shouldn't tap into another author's creation, including settings. There are exceptions. Some franchises, like Star Trek, encourage writers to submit novels using theirs settings and characters. And Sue Grafton placed her character in Santa Teresa, California, a town name she borrowed with a nod to Ross Macdonald (but really only the name was borrowed - everything else is Ms. Grafton's creation). You are also cheating yourself out of the joy of creating your own setting.
I didn't mean using her world, I meant continuing a story in the same world with different characters that don't have ties to the previous characters
How is that not using her world? This is simply fan-fiction. As Cogito has pointed out, it is a popular mode of writing these days. Some franchises like Star Trek embrace the idea of new and established authors writing within the world that is Star Trek. Other authors guard their world's jealously. Other than writing the piece for your personal pleasure, it would be a good idea to find out which attitude your originating author takes. The fact that fan-fiction exists as a concept does not make it a safe place to play with cart blanche. I could write a novel called Timmy Ropper and The Lost Shoe Horn which takes place in an around Hogwarts. The fact that it takes place ten generations before the Harry Potter series and contains none of the original cast will not save me from a court date with J.K.Rowling. EDIT ~ I misunderstood your original post. Please read further on for another post that does address your actual question.
To clarify: I interpreted the question as the OP thinking of creating her own series in her own world (let's call it 311World) -- but instead of doing sequels using the same characters, skipping fifty years between each book and using the same 311World setting, just later in time (or earlier). Hence the 'same world' point of confusion I think is being hit upon in this thread. As was mentioned in this thread, that's been done by lots of speculative fiction authors and many authors of other genres (another that came to mind: That John Jakes super-patriotic series that's for sale at every American Salvation Army you go to, which Wikipedia tells me is the 'Kent Family Chronicles.')
I don't see why not its certainly something I am consdering. I have created a whole world. There are other countries mentioned in the stories etc
You know what? You are right! I misread the slightly convoluted original post. Ok, then to clarify myself as well: Same world, different slices of time. Any number of works come to mind. China Mieville's Bas Lag series for one. Larry Niven's Known Space books for another. In both of these series, the slices of time are sufficiently close to one another that there are mentions and nods from one piece to another, sometime with some overlap of time if not place or characters.
Sorry, I have disorganized thoughts, thank you Aconite, sorry everyone else. I giggled at the idea of 311 world
Well, I didn't want to call it 'UntalentedWorld,' anyway! And yish, how could I have forgotten Bas-Lag? Seconding Wreybies' recommendation there too, if you can get through China Mieville's occasional flights of purple, hazy prose.
Responding to another thread just now made me remember M. John Harrison's Light and Nova Swing. Edit ~ And also all of the Darkover novels by Marion Zimmer Bradley which are too numerous to list. I could go on and on and on..... It is a well trod concept.
I don't find Tamora Pierce to be too cheesy, but then again, I've only read one book by her. Using you proposed mthod of writing is useful, because you only need to world-build one time, but, the world really needs to be complete for the universe to be memorable. I oftentimes use the Tortall universe as inspiration as I world-build, because of the aforementioned fullness.
Especially in science fiction. Writers often work hard to create plausible worlds, and they like to use those worlds many times. Isaac Asimov's robot stories aren't really related. Robert Heinlein's Future History stories are unrelated but take place in the same universe. So this kind of thing has been done by many authors for many decades.
As long as the novel doesn't become hard to understand for those who haven't read the previous one, I don't see any problem.
I have read many of Tamora Pierce's books and liked them. Continuing another story in the same world as a previous one is fine. You have created a whole world. It must have more tales to tell then just one. Also, Tamora Pierce is a popular writer, her idea of continuing in the same world obviously apealed to many people.
Agreed. It only makes sense in spec-fic since such care is taken (or rather should be taken) to create the smallest nuances and details which are for granted in a "real world" story. I know that had I spent that much time on the little things, there might be things as I go along that are not too terribly important to the story at hand but which might evoke a, "Hmmm. It would be interesting to flesh that little part out on its own some day."
Many authors do this, and publishers don't mind (although they want your first novel to stand alone on its own merits). After all, if readers find your particular star system or magician school or bloody war fascinating, they may very well return even if the original characters have moved on. Examples from fantasy include the Narnia chronicles, Best Served Cold, The Magic Goes Away, and the books about Chalion written by Lois McMaster Bujold. Sci fi has some of this, of course; the Known Space books by Niven didn't all have the same characters as his Gil the ARM Hamilton stories. And, of course, there are many books where only the narrator or a couple characters remain constant, while all the others change.
I too adored many of Tamora Pierce's books when I was younger. I'm sure on many levels I would still enjoy them today. I think making many stories in the same world is a great idea. If readers follow you and your new books they will enjoy a fullness of understanding of the place and cultures you put into the world. They will enjoy seeing the connections between the different books, and (as long it is done with a careful hand) it will feel more real and more involving.
