You mean IN the book? If it's a separate project you're working on, and this is to do with being a published writer, no one's going to care - they'll read it if they want to read it, and the ones who don't will probably be mildly irritated they have to wait a little longer between publication of one book and the next in the series. Almost no one will buy all your books at once, and read them in publication order with no breaks or any other media to interrupt. Now, if you mean there's a random chunk of historical fiction in the middle of your sci fi novel, we might have more to talk about.
Historical fiction in the sci-fi novel? How will that work? You mean like an extended flashback of something that happened ages ago? (Like if the book were set in 2121, yet for a few chapters, we're sent back to the year 2002?) A book like that would just irritate the crap out of me. "Yeah, yeah, I get it. Some guys long dead did something. Who cares?" and I'll be flipping to a chapter when I'm finally at the guys I care about.
If you get that far you can do whatever you want, but, yes, it will annoy the reader. Case in point: George R.R. Martin. But don't let that bother you while you're writing your new novel bathing in the sun on the back of your private yacht.
I'd doubt I'd go that far and have enough $$$ for a yacht, but I appreciate the sentiments. XD Still, I'm curios as to how historical fiction would work in a sci-fi novel...
If you had a few books done by the time you got the first one published, it would definitely not be a problem as there would only be one published per year or so. I agree with Guamyankee that delaying the release of the next book in your series would annoy your readers. Also, I kind of doubt that newer writers would be able to get away with the kind of delays between books that GRR Martin has. I think publishers would be stricter about your deadlines than they are with really high-profile authors.
I've seen authors frequently do this. As a fan, I can't help but dramatically shout, "Noooooo~!" with my fists raised. But in all seriousness, feel free to drop a project of a series in order to write a book about something completely different. Your work would probably suffer some by forcing yourself to continue to write a series when you're heart wants to work on a different project. Just be sure to go back to the series and finish it. You don't want sad fans.
As Lemex said, try to fit them together. If I was torn between the two, I'd try to fit them or merge them. You know, maybe throw in some history to back up your science fiction. Weave the two together. At the moment, I'm writing a three book series. The first is going to be fantasy. But the second I figured out early on would be science fiction. Why? I know it's not the most practical idea ever, but I equally love fantasy and science fiction. So to compromise I'm doing both genres in a single series. EDIT: Heh, that wasn't much of a good answer. Let me try again: Hmm, in my opinion, it could be good, it could be bad. If you've built upon a science fiction foundation in your first four books in a series, your readers might get turned off by the historical fiction. They began to read your books because of its science fiction basis. But then again, if you can blend the two in a good way, your readers might enjoy the merge immensely. It's all in how your write the books. By what I can tell from previous threads you've written, Link, you like variety: Mystery, sci-fi, fantasy, historical fiction, and whatever else. So try to merge them. New things can be done. Just write something you'd enjoy reading.
If you can multitask it along with your other novel in the series so your next installment comes out around when readers expect it, cool. Go with it. But if it means pushing back the due date of your installment, it will piss of fans of the series and is probably something to avoid.
first, you would have to be successful enough to have fans...then you'd have to have fans who're rabid enough to even notice if you didn't turn out the next book in a series in a certain period of time... and finally, you'd have to have a publisher that would let you off their contract hook long enough to turn out a different book, before you finished the contracted-for series... given all of that, i seriously doubt any readers would give a flying fleep if you did it, since how could they know another series book was planned, or not, anyway?... however, if any did, publicizing your hiatus to write a historical novel would spur advance sales of both the 'break' work and your next offering in the series, thus making the time-out a win-win situation for you and your publisher...
Orson Scott Card and Iain (M) Banks comes to mind. Orson Scott Card does the Women of Genesis stories alongside his SciFi. Iain Banks writes detective fiction, Iain M Banks does sci fi (hopefully have that the right way round). I am not published, but have a small fan base. The people that read my stuff seem to cope with my genres being all over the shop. I have several different things going main ones being High Fantasy (one adult/one YA), Paranormal pensioner detectives and I have a new crime duo. Also have other bits and pieces. Find the people that like my writing tend to read most of it or have their reasons for not reading parts.
I'm not sure what the question is, Including historical fiction in a sci-fi or work on as a seperate piece? In Sci- fi everything...well almost everyhting is possible. Working on two seperate pieces, I currently have at least seven different stories I am working on. One will inspire me to work on it above the rest, the others sit on the back burner until they are the motivating story. You must be able to keep the stories straight and the characters seperate, but it can be done.
Good points, y'all. I guess if I can write different stories at once (I can), it's all right. The "wait" between the books wouldn't be that long.
Well, the wait between Harry Potter Book 4 and Harry Potter Book 5 was three years! By the time the fifth book came out, I got sick of waiting for it and moved on to new interests. I pretty much skimmed the last three books to get an idea of what happened. :/
Depending on how successful you are, the publisher might not contract your whole series anyway. They might just have an option on your next book (meaning you agreed in the previous contract to submit your next work to them before going to any other publisher) in which case you wouldn't have a time limit. I think signing a contract for a whole series is more for cases where sales of the next few books are assured.
If they are hooked on the series, they will wait for the book. Your readers will want the best book you can produce. If some other work is distracting your mind, but you force yourself to work on this piece, it might not be your best work. Also I think that setting a work aside to simmer can help keep the writing fresh. Day 233 of writing book three of a five book series, but got to keep going... I think my saying applies here; Don't let the work of writing, ruin the fun of writing.
I'm one of those readers who gets a kick out of reading a book and seeing the story title worked into the flow of the story, usually in a conversation between two characters. I don't know if it's a case where the story came first and the sentence seemed like a good title, or if the reverse is true. But in a few of my past writing attempts, I found that I was happiest with stories where the title came up in conversation. Especially if it doesn't seem like it was forced. Am I alone here? Are there any schools of thought associated with this concept? Is it a cliche as such, or is there any particular reason why something like this shouldn't be done? I appreciate your thoughts.
I'm not in favour of shoehorning the title into a story. Silence of the Lambs did this, with a convoluted final paragraph which felt contrived and dampened the effect of the novel as a whole. The worst part was that it was completely unnecessary. As a reader, I understood the title without Harris saying it outright. My suggestion (and my own strategy with this) is to come up with the title last. That way you can take an element of the story, and use that as the title, and it will feel natural and not forced. I very rarely start writing a story from the title, but rather derive the title from the finished (or at least begun) story.
Banzai's advice is sound and practical. Though, like you, I take an odd, irrational delight in encountering the title in a work and might be tempted - for my own amusement - to slip it in (and then maybe take it out again on the final proof-read).
The alternative is to take the title from a line in the book. Like you I like reading it find it a fun moment - Someone Else's Life was easy, Socrates' Children I doubt will make it in though. Coffee Killer will make it but doubt Stoned Witches will. Publisher may change title anyway.
It should never feel like it's forced. Don't feel like you have to weave in a title at some point. Key point - Don't worry about the title until the entire novel is finished, and think of a good title based on what you've written. Don't ever feel like you have to slant the writing to reflect the title. The title is ALWAYS the dependent variable.
My bet is more often than not what looks like the title shoe-horned in, is in all actuality a pre publication marketing move to replace the working title.
My advice is to come up with the title last of all, then you can take something from the story or change a few things slightly to fit it´s message. It´s no more different then comming up with an ending first of all.
Unless you are intentionally spoofing the novel writing process. In that case, blatantly overdo working an obnoxious title into an overly obvious point in the story.
i see nothing wrong with having a title in mind from the start, as long as it's fitting and doesn't have to be 'shoehorned' in... i start with a title more often than the opposite, since an appropriate title will usually hit me as soon as i think of something i want to write about... a case in point is my first novel, 'casa eva'... that was the actual name of the little beach cottage where the story took place and the 'eve'/paradise/serpent theme was a perfect match for the plot... same for another one, 'sin & sanctimony' that was about the 'good' people of 'sin city' and how they enabled at best, abetted at worst, the mob that controlled the city... so there's no good reason to advise always waiting till a story/book is completed to come up with its title, imo...
