So far I have written one story as a junior/young adult fantasy fiction. I am now writing the second in the series. I have several story outlines, that I have filed away for the same series of books. Trouble is my third story, when I began my story it was an adult action thriller, but the genre didn't work so I moved it and I now have a better story. The third story introduces some vital new characters who are needed for the rest of the series but the story is quite grown up. It starts with murder and abuse. and involves witchcraft. The first scene is quite gruesome someone escapes from a bad situation by biting through their own hand, and crawlling out, and the scene in the house gets worse. Would you keep it or find a new one? I am currently writing the second story and I want to include elements that lead into this one.
Forget series. Write stories. Anne McCaffrey's Dragonrider books are all set in the same world, but some are not particularly youth-friendly, whlie others are clearly intended for a younger audience.
If I forget my plan to have stand alone stories, that are also enriched when read in order, then I ruin my world concept, my stories are all planned in such a way that they build up to the conclusion in my short story. I am not Anne McCaffrey I am not writing Pern, as much as I love the stories, our concept is not even remotely similar. I am writing a Junior Fiction/Young Adult Fantasy series of stories. I have taken CS Lewis as my inspiration for my world in that respect. This one story is the only sticking point I just wonder if I make the books Young Adult could I get away with a Kathy Reichs type story
I think what Cogito is suggesting (at least how I interpret it) is that each story should be stand alone. A truly good series is readable regardless of which book in the series a reader starts with. If there are elements leading up to a story later in the series, fine but if it doesn't fit into your current work you need to decide why you want in there right now. The current story needs to be strong unto itself. There's nothing wrong with foreshadowing or setting up for future stories, but don't allow it to compromise the integrity of the story now.
Both basic stories standalone, the first is a king is assasinated and his tearaway son becomes king. The second is the Queen gets kidnapped, and a party go to find her. The third is supposed to be the most horrific abuse case and the fallout from that. The stories were all decided before the world came into being. As a result my genre and target audience has changed. Also if I go beyond Young Adult the publishing house I am aiming for first (I probably won't get but they are where I would like to be) won't accept me. With each book the world and the characters develop, move forward. Bad decisions taken about that in my second book could prevent the right third story happening and mess up my plan. In someways its one epic story, leading upto the short story I wrote a few weeks ago. Probably got more in common with a TV drama series, each one can stand alone happilly but they build on each other. Character development is crucial because I am writing first person, present tense, without good stand out characters it won't work. I just wonder how gruesome and dark I can go with a young adult book. There are plenty of gritty ones out there.
If you are aiming at a specific publisher you could look into previously published books and see what others have gotten away with. Chances are that you can leave the scene in when not described in gruesome detail.
I think you are right Imo, I can tweak it so its not as gory as the story in my head. I was aiming to be a forensic anthropolgist would be nice to get aspects of that in. I just don't want to have to rewrite a whole series of books later if I can avoid it. I have a friend who had to completlely rewrite six novels because she wanted to kill of a character in a certain way. Its already happened to me as I decided to change the type of falcon I was using in the second story, in order to accomadate it my world needs to change. I now have to rewrite novel number one.
